Optimizing procedures for genomic analyses of Beaver Hills canid scat
There are significant economic and ecological motivations to study the recently recolonized wolf (Canis lupus) population in the Beaver Hills region of Alberta, Canada. The reappearance of an apex predator presents challenges for land management. Competing claims for both agricultural and environmen...
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ftmacewanuojs:oai:journals.macewan.ca:article/920 2023-05-15T15:50:32+02:00 Optimizing procedures for genomic analyses of Beaver Hills canid scat DeJong, Katie Nanninga, Lucas Walker, Phil Witter, Karli Loewen, Keelaina Van Woerden, Sarah Visscher*, Darcy McFarlane*, Keri 2017-03-14 application/pdf https://journals.macewan.ca/ursca/article/view/920 eng eng MacEwan University https://journals.macewan.ca/ursca/article/view/920/851 https://journals.macewan.ca/ursca/article/view/920 Copyright (c) 2017 URSCA Proceedings URSCA Proceedings; Vol. 2 (2016) info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2017 ftmacewanuojs 2023-01-10T17:07:10Z There are significant economic and ecological motivations to study the recently recolonized wolf (Canis lupus) population in the Beaver Hills region of Alberta, Canada. The reappearance of an apex predator presents challenges for land management. Competing claims for both agricultural and environmental priority necessitate an accurate description of the wolf population to inform an effective management solution. Faecal analysis presents a non-invasive technique for obtaining estimates of the population size, habitat use and genetic structure of wolves and coyotes (C. latrans). As a preliminary step, we sought to develop a procedure for obtaining and analyzing genetic material from canid scat. Ultimately this protocol will be applied to a 500-sample collection gathered in the Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Recreation Area and Elk Island National Park between May 2015 and January 2016. We compared and assessed protocols for scat storage and handling, DNA extraction and diagnostic molecular analyses. Extractions performed on scat samples stored at -20oC using the QIAmp Stool protocol produced DNA that could be successfully amplified using Scat ID primers. Diagnostic restriction digests match published fragment patterns for Alberta canids (i.e., dog and wolf). Based on these findings we present a protocol for species identification from canid scat collected in the Beaver Hills region. *Indicates faculty mentor. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University) Canada |
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MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University) |
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ftmacewanuojs |
language |
English |
description |
There are significant economic and ecological motivations to study the recently recolonized wolf (Canis lupus) population in the Beaver Hills region of Alberta, Canada. The reappearance of an apex predator presents challenges for land management. Competing claims for both agricultural and environmental priority necessitate an accurate description of the wolf population to inform an effective management solution. Faecal analysis presents a non-invasive technique for obtaining estimates of the population size, habitat use and genetic structure of wolves and coyotes (C. latrans). As a preliminary step, we sought to develop a procedure for obtaining and analyzing genetic material from canid scat. Ultimately this protocol will be applied to a 500-sample collection gathered in the Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Recreation Area and Elk Island National Park between May 2015 and January 2016. We compared and assessed protocols for scat storage and handling, DNA extraction and diagnostic molecular analyses. Extractions performed on scat samples stored at -20oC using the QIAmp Stool protocol produced DNA that could be successfully amplified using Scat ID primers. Diagnostic restriction digests match published fragment patterns for Alberta canids (i.e., dog and wolf). Based on these findings we present a protocol for species identification from canid scat collected in the Beaver Hills region. *Indicates faculty mentor. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
DeJong, Katie Nanninga, Lucas Walker, Phil Witter, Karli Loewen, Keelaina Van Woerden, Sarah Visscher*, Darcy McFarlane*, Keri |
spellingShingle |
DeJong, Katie Nanninga, Lucas Walker, Phil Witter, Karli Loewen, Keelaina Van Woerden, Sarah Visscher*, Darcy McFarlane*, Keri Optimizing procedures for genomic analyses of Beaver Hills canid scat |
author_facet |
DeJong, Katie Nanninga, Lucas Walker, Phil Witter, Karli Loewen, Keelaina Van Woerden, Sarah Visscher*, Darcy McFarlane*, Keri |
author_sort |
DeJong, Katie |
title |
Optimizing procedures for genomic analyses of Beaver Hills canid scat |
title_short |
Optimizing procedures for genomic analyses of Beaver Hills canid scat |
title_full |
Optimizing procedures for genomic analyses of Beaver Hills canid scat |
title_fullStr |
Optimizing procedures for genomic analyses of Beaver Hills canid scat |
title_full_unstemmed |
Optimizing procedures for genomic analyses of Beaver Hills canid scat |
title_sort |
optimizing procedures for genomic analyses of beaver hills canid scat |
publisher |
MacEwan University |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://journals.macewan.ca/ursca/article/view/920 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
URSCA Proceedings; Vol. 2 (2016) |
op_relation |
https://journals.macewan.ca/ursca/article/view/920/851 https://journals.macewan.ca/ursca/article/view/920 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2017 URSCA Proceedings |
_version_ |
1766385504943603712 |