Increasing our understanding of the drivers of international wildlife trade is critical as unsustainable harvesting of wildlife can lead to population decline and the extinction of species. While there is currently a database of legal trade in restricted species, it relies on the submission of annual reports which can be undermined by weak domestic legislation and governance hence we are not getting a complete picture of the industry.Researchers from the National University of Singapore conducted…

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A little late this time but still some very interesting papers for you. You can hold on to them for the coming weekend or read them right away. Your choice.A protocol for obtaining DNA barcodes from plant and insect fragments isolated from forensic-type soilsSoil is often collected from a suspect's tire, vehicle, or shoes during a criminal investigation and subsequently submitted to a forensic laboratory for analysis. Plant and insect material recovered in such samples…

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NSERC has a great video competition for students which runs annually - Science, action! Students are invited to submit 1:00 min videos describing their research projects. The 15 videos that tell the best stories will receive a cash prize and be featured as part of museum exhibits, science fairs and during larger STEM outreach events at schools.It is a great initiative encouraging students to think about creative ways to introduce their work to a non-scientific…

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We are hiring! Five positions for highly qualified postdocs:The Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG) at the University of Guelph has global leadership in the development and application of DNA-based identification systems for eukaryotes with a focus on the animal kingdom. Based in a 50,000 ft2 facility, its unique research capacity reflects the coupling of one of Canada’s largest genomics platforms with a workforce that includes world-class expertise in biodiversity science, DNA sequencing, and informatics (visit…

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Reproducibility of research and the way especially taxonomic research is cited are both subject of ongoing debates. In an attempt to provide some information on the extent of the problem, especially where both debates intersect, our friend Laurence Packer and colleagues surveyed the treatment of taxonomic information in 567 papers published in nine entomological journals in 2016.The alarming find was that more than 98% of the publications contain so little species information on the insects…

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Some good reads for the weekend and the long winter weeks to come (at least in North America according to a group of highly specialized groundhogs)The utility of DNA metabarcoding for studying the response of arthropod diversity and composition to land-use change in the tropics.Metabarcoding potentially offers a rapid and cheap method of monitoring biodiversity, but real-world applications are few. We investigated its utility in studying patterns of litter arthropod diversity and composition in the…

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A colleague and collaborator is still on the hunt for a Research Associate:The Ecosystems & Environment Research Centre seeks to employ a suitably qualified molecular ecologist for a NERC funded research position as part of a 'Highlight Topic' consortium grant centred on the use of community metabarcoding from environmental DNA collected in a range of marine environments. New developments in sequencing, bioinformatics, remote sampling and ecological modelling offer the opportunity to explore and groundtruth the potential…

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DNA barcoding revealed that they all these frogs belong to one species: Phrynobatrachus auritusWhen Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) conservation biologist Jessica Deichmann joined a project to determine how the construction of a road in Gabon’s Moukalaba-Doudou National Park would affect amphibians in the area, she quickly realized something surprising: the frogs are masters of disguise.Frogs that showed marked differences in color, pattern and general morphology belonged to the same species. Consequently, Deichmann and her…

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The lab of Walter Carson at the University of Pittsburgh, with the help of Lee Dyer, is currently working on a publication documenting the outbreak of an unknown Lepidoptera in Tena, Ecuador. We are offering co-authorship to anyone that is able to identify this Lepidoptera to family or genus.The caterpillars, which have aposematic mimicry and non-urticating spines, had completely defoliated an Inga edulis. A flock of oropendola was feeding on them and some indigenous women collected them to eat.  The caterpillar is called tupuli kuru in Quichua. Pictures…

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Globalization and the advent of bioinformatics are rapidly changing the landscape of international scientific collaborations, which now often span multiple jurisdictions and increase the volume of international data exchange and transactions of biological materials. At the same time, researchers engaging in such partnerships are often unaware of the complex policy frameworks governing such transactions, which may carry reputational and even legal liabilities.The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) and its supplementary agreement, the Nagoya…

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