Identifying Cryptic Mammals With Non-Invasive Methods: An Effective Molecular Species Identification Tool to Survey Southern African Terrestrial Carnivores.

ABSTRACT: Carnivores play a vital role in ecosystem health and are thus an important focus for conservation management. Non-invasive methods have gained traction for carnivore monitoring as carnivores are often elusive and wide-ranging, making visual counts particularly difficult. Faecal mini-barcoding combines field collection of scats with genetic analysis for species identification. Here, we assessed the applicability of a mini-barcode based on the mitochondrial ATP6 gene in southern Africa. We predicted amplification success based on in silico evaluation of reference sequences from 34 of the 42 terrestrial carnivore species existing in southern Africa, including the Congo clawless otter (Aonyx congicus) for which we contributed a mitochondrial assembly. We further tested amplificat

SUBMITTER: Wong A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12011410 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature