Past and present: what museum specimens and detection dogs bring to pangolin conservation

Abstract

Pangolins, a group of scaly anteaters, have recently garnered the attention of both the public and scientific community by the magnitude of trade in their meat and scales. Despite the large volume of legal and illegal trade in pangolins, there is limited information about the impact of this trade on the group of species, especially from a genetics perspective. My dissertation focuses on harnessing the genomic information in museum specimens and trialing detection dog methodology for pangolin sample collection to provide information for pangolin conservation. In Chapter 1, using whole genome sequence data generated from museum samples, historic and modern, as well as publicly available pangolin data, I examine the feasibility of using museum specimens as genetic resources to glean information for conservation genetics. I estimate two metrics of genetic diversity to assess if the demographic decline of pangolins is followed by genetic decline in seven pangolin species. The comparison of runs of homozygosity and heterozygosity within each species show a general decline in genetic diversity over time. In Chapter 2, I identify a putative set of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for wildlife forensic applications. By using geo-referenced museum specimens across seven species and applying stringent filtering criteria, a set of 1094 SNPs are identified. The set of SNPs provide decent accuracy in genetic assignment tests, but the results are limited by the small sample size. I outline future steps to validate and select a set of SNPs for forensic application. In Chapter 3, a pilot study on the training and use of detection dogs for the collection of Chinese and Indian pangolins fecal samples is described. The proof-of-concept study show that detection dogs are able to detect pangolin fecal samples across a range of landscapes and elevation. The chapter details the detection dog methods for pangolin sample collection and identifies solutions to difficulties in acquiring training samples and lack of prior ecological knowledge of pangolin populations.