van Schingen, Mona, Ziegler, Thomas, Boner, Markus, Streit, Bruno, Crook, Vicki and Ziegler, Stefan (2016). Can isotope markers differentiate between wild and captive reptile populations? A case study based on crocodile lizards (Shinisaurus crocodilurus) from Vietnam. Glob. Ecol. Conserv., 6. S. 232 - 242. AMSTERDAM: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV. ISSN 2351-9894

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

The international wildlife trade in allegedly captive-bred'' specimens has globally increased during recent years, while the legal origin of respective animals frequently remains doubtful. Worldwide, authorities experience strong challenges to effectively control the international trade in CITES-listed species and are struggling to uncover fraudulent claims of captive-breeding''. Forensic analytical methods are being considered as potential tools to investigate wildlife crime. The present case study is the first of its kind in reptiles that investigates the application of delta C-13 and delta N-15 stable isotope ratios to discriminate between captive and wild crocodile lizards from Vietnam. The CITES-listed crocodile lizard Shinisaurus crocodilurus is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List mainly due to habitat loss and unsustainable exploitation for the international pet trade. Our results revealed significant differences in the composition of the two tested isotope systems between captive and wild individuals. Isotope values of skin samples from captive specimens were significantly enriched in C-13 and N-15 as compared to specimens from the wild. We also used the weighted k-Nearest Neighbor classifier to assign simulated samples back to their alleged place of origin and demonstrated that captive bred individuals could be distinguished with a high degree of accuracy from specimens that were not born in captivity. We conclude that isotope analysis appears to be highly attractive as a forensic tool to reduce laundering of wild caught lizards via breeding farms, but acknowledge that this potential might be limited to range restricted or ecologically specialist species. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Item Type: Journal Article
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCIDORCID Put Code
van Schingen, MonaUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Ziegler, ThomasUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Boner, MarkusUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Streit, BrunoUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Crook, VickiUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Ziegler, StefanUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
URN: urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-280472
DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2016.03.004
Journal or Publication Title: Glob. Ecol. Conserv.
Volume: 6
Page Range: S. 232 - 242
Date: 2016
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
Place of Publication: AMSTERDAM
ISSN: 2351-9894
Language: English
Faculty: Unspecified
Divisions: Unspecified
Subjects: no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:
KeywordsLanguage
STABLE-ISOTOPES; DISCRIMINATION; CONSERVATION; CHINA; DIET; DELTA-N-15; DELTA-C-13; PROJECTS; TISSUES; RATESMultiple languages
Biodiversity Conservation; EcologyMultiple languages
Refereed: Yes
URI: http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/28047

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Altmetric

Export

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item