Welcome to the WGL Home Page
Wildlife Genetics - Research in the laboratory WGL site map
Wildlife Forensics - What is it, and what do we do?
People in the lab and contact details
Publications, downloads, programs and facilities
Collaborators and external links
Molecular ecology is an expanding field in conservation
biology. It uses novel and powerful molecular tools to answer applied
problems and uses these findings to inform wildlife managers and conservation
agencies about the genetic considerations they should be incorporating into
management decisions. Although, arguably, genetics should not be the only point
to consider, it will be important in management decisions, as genetics give
another 'viewpoint' on how to best manage existing populations. For
instance, whether to retain genetic separation (if they are found to be
genetically dissimilar, such as we found in the quokka)
or to mix random individuals to maximise the diffusion genes between different
populations. The projects described on this site provide an exciting
opportunity to evaluate the relative importance of dispersal and 
strategies
which minimise inbreeding in the maintenance of small localised populations
through to investigating the taxonomic status (i.e. how many species are
there?) of a number of marsupial species.