Adams J R, Kelly B T, Waits L P
Department of Fish and Wildlife, University of Idaho, College of Natural Resources, Moscow, Idaho 83844-1136, USA.
Mol Ecol. 2003 Aug;12(8):2175-86. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-294x.2003.01895.x.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) Red Wolf Recovery Program recognizes hybridization with coyotes as the primary threat to red wolf recovery. Efforts to curb or stop hybridization are hampered in two ways. First, hybrid individuals are difficult to identify based solely on morphology. Second, managers need to effectively search 6000 km(2) for the presence of coyotes and hybrids. We develop a noninvasive method to screen large geographical areas for coyotes and hybrids with maternal coyote ancestry by combining mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis of faeces (scat) and geographic information system (GIS) technology. This method was implemented on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (1000 km(2)) in northeastern North Carolina. A total of 956 scats were collected in the spring of 2000 and 2001 and global positioning system (GPS) coordinates were recorded. Seventy-five percent of the scats were assigned to species and five coyote/hybrid scats were detected. Placement of scat location coordinates on a map of the experimental population area revealed that four of the coyote/hybrid scats were detected within the home ranges of sterilized hybrids. The other coyote/hybrid scat indicated the presence of a previously unknown individual. We suggest this method be expanded to include more of the experimental population area and be optimized for use with nuclear markers to improve detection of hybrid and back-crossed individuals.
美国鱼类及野生动物管理局（USFWS）的红狼恢复计划认为，与郊狼杂交是红狼恢复面临的主要威胁。遏制或阻止杂交的努力受到两方面阻碍。其一，仅依据形态很难识别杂交个体。其二，管理人员需要在6000平方公里的区域内有效搜寻郊狼和杂交个体。我们开发了一种非侵入性方法，通过结合粪便（粪便）的线粒体DNA序列分析和地理信息系统（GIS）技术，在大片地理区域内筛查具有母系郊狼血统的郊狼和杂交个体。该方法在北卡罗来纳州东北部的鳄鱼河国家野生动物保护区（1000平方公里）实施。2000年和2001年春季共收集了956份粪便，并记录了全球定位系统（GPS）坐标。75%的粪便被确定了物种，检测到了5份郊狼/杂交个体的粪便。将粪便位置坐标标注在实验种群区域地图上发现，其中4份郊狼/杂交个体的粪便在绝育杂交个体的活动范围内被检测到。另一份郊狼/杂交个体的粪便表明存在一个此前未知的个体。我们建议扩大该方法的应用范围，涵盖更多实验种群区域，并针对核标记进行优化，以提高对杂交个体和回交个体的检测能力。
