Pennsylvania Game News - February 2025 - 7

DNA & WILDLIFE RESEARCH
Analysis of wildlife DNA has applicati ons in wildlife management as well
DNA & WILDLIFE RESEARCH
Analysis of wildlife DNA has applicati ons in wildlife management as well
as law enforcement.
Several years ago, the Game Commission studied elk calf survival. That inSeveral
years ago, the Game Commission studied elk calf survival. That involved
collaring newborns, then examining those that didn't make it for clues to
their cause of death. If there was evidence a predator killed the calf - or even
just fed on it aft er it died from something else - crews swabbed those bite
marks, then sent them out for testi ng, to determine what kind of predator
it was.
" That's really cool, " said Game Commission elk biologist Jeremy
Banfi eld. " We would never be able to discover that stuff without
DNA. "
It was through DNA research that the Game Commission was
eld.
able to defi niti vely say that the turkeys in Michaux State Forest
are, in fact, descended from wild birds rather than pen-raised
ones, as some wondered.
When it comes to white-tailed deer, a study done here in
Pennsylvania using DNA showed that you can't assume a fawn
and doe are related if captured together.
The Game Commission is also using DNA to assess populati on
diversity, inbreeding and minimum viable populati ons in Allegheny
woodrats; the eff ecti veness of White-Nose Syndrome treatment
strategies for bats; and the parentage of federally endangered
piping plovers that breed on Presque Isle State Park.
er
Beginning this year, the agency also will collaborate on a project
Whit
ea
Beginning this year, the agency also will collaborate on a project
examining the feasibility of using eDNA, short for environmental DNA,
to locate rare species.
The use of eDNA is something a lot of fi sh and wildlife agencies around
the country are trying because it doesn't require capturing a live animal, or any
animal at all. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Whitney Geneti cs Laboratory
in Wisconsin, for example, is sampling for the presence of invasive Asian
carp in numerous river systems and Great Lakes tributaries by looking for
geneti c clues - samples as small as a few cells - the fi sh leave behind
equir
in the water.
" Environmental DNA is a major breakthrough in wildlife and fi sh
er
" Environmental DNA is a major breakthrough in wildlife and fi sh
monitoring, " says the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Nati onal
Genomics Center for Wildlife and Fish Conservati on in Montana.
Conser
" It can reveal important informati on about species presence or
absence more quickly and cost-eff ecti vely than traditi onal sampling
techniques. It is parti cularly useful for detecti ng organisms
in low abundance, like threatened and endangered species or
individuals at the leading edge of an invasion. "
Scienti sts used eDNA from fi ltered water samples to detect
the spread of invasive feral pigs in the southwestern United States
and Burmese pythons in Florida, it said.
" It's becoming more accepted as a technique as it becomes
asiv
more reliable, " said Lisa Williams, the Game Commission's Wildlife
Recovery Division Chief. " With the search effi ciency it provides, this
technique will conti nue to be an important tool in the search for hardto-fi
nd species. "
That's the nature of science and research, Banfi eld said.
" You'd fi gure eventually we'd run out of questi ons, " he said. " But we
won't. The old joke is that if you're doing research right, the one questi on
you're studying will lead to 10 more. "
FEBRUARY 2025
7
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Pennsylvania Game News - February 2025

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