Aaranyak has felt the need of expanding its conservation efforts to a new horizon by using high-throughput DNA technologies in the field of wildlife research in North East India. There has always been a paucity of exploration and research on wildlife in North East India, which encompasses an important part of the Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hotspot, one of the 25 global biodiversity hotspots recognized by the international community. Molecular genetic tools provide ample opportunities for studying different aspects of population biology for species which are hard to observe directly through visual observation in the impregnable forests of North East India.

The technology and its applications

With the advent of DNA technologies, molecular genetic tools find wide range of applications in the field of wildlife. In the past decade genetic approaches to answer ecological questions have become more efficient, powerful and flexible, and thus more widespread. The very fact that DNA can be obtained from trace amounts of different biological materials (e.g., blood, muscle, skin, bone, hair, faecal samples, urine, shed skin and feathers from birds etc.) and further amplified with the use of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to make multiple copies of DNA fragment of interest to a detectable amount, makes this technology most versatile in the field of genetic research as well as in forensics. The high resolving power of DNA technologies finds application in different branches of wildlife biology including taxonomy, genetic diversity, reproductive and behavioral biology, estimating population size, migration rates, past bottlenecks, kinship structure, or tracking of individual animals. Combined with Geographical Information System (GIS), molecular genetic tools can be very robust and can be exploited for studying species distribution, habitat preferences etc.

Objectives of the Wildlife Genetics Programme

The programme plans to work in tandem with different research programs undertaken by Aaranyak as well as other government/ non-government organizations and academic institutions. Moreover, with an established GIS programme at Aaranyak, it is envisaged that the proposed lab can highly complement different research activities with the long term goals of wildlife conservation in the North East Indian region.

The major objectives of the proposed programme will be:

1. To build up a reference genetic database of the rich biodiversity of North East India.

2. To standardize DNA based techniques for the identification of species from various wildlife samples.

3. To undertake genetic research in prioritized areas to provide answers to the questions of pressing wildlife management needs.

 Laboratory Facility

Aaranyak has stepped towards building up a wildlife genetics laboratory in order to fulfill the advanced technological requirements while achieving above mentioned objectives. This laboratory is equipped with instruments like PCR, different types of electrophoresis apparatus, High-speed centrifuge, sensitive electronic balance, digital pH meter, other general microbiology and molecular biology equipments as well as data analysis system and software to undertake DNA based analysis.

Important note:

Availability of samples can be one of the biggest hurdles in undertaking wildlife genetics work. Samples from known species are required to build up reference DNA sequence database which can be submitted to public databases and further be used for different analysis as well as identification of unknown sample (Forensic applications). Proper collection and preservation of various types of samples is important for successful DNA analysis. Here given a single page guideline for the collection of various types of wildlife samples in order to undertake DNA based work.

  İAARANYAK 2010                        To know more about this programme please contact Udayan Borthakar at Phone No. +919435728717

                                                           e-mail: udayan@aaranyak.org or udayan.borthakur@gmail.com