Advanced DNA, Identification & Forensic Facility

Species identification is fundamental to tackling illegal trade of plant and animal materials. ADIFF's partner organisations, Australian Museum and Flinders University have developed and applied species identification tools for:

• illegal import and export of CITES listed plant and animal species;
• the domestic trade in nationally protected plants and animals; and
• differentiating captive vs wild caught animals, and cultivated versus wild harvested plants.

Case studies

World-first DNA technology to prosecute rhino horn poachers

The number of rhinos poached in South Africa is has dramatically increased over the past 10 years, from 13 in 2007 to ~1200 in 2015. Selling at $95,000USD/kg on the black market, the cost of rhino horn exceeds that of both silver ($45,000USD/kg) and gold ($50,000 USD/kg).

Professor Adrian Linacre from Flinders University, has developed a DNA detection tool that can quickly identify rhino horn.

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Is it a bird?

Bird strike - or more accurately in Australia, ‘wildlife airstrike’ - costs the aviation industry millions of dollars annually and represents an additional risk for airlines and airports to manage.

Our partners at the Australian Centre for Wildlife Genomics (ACWG) at the Australian Museum assist the aviation industry by carrying out DNA-based species identification of the wildlife involved in these strikes. ACWG have been working with commercial and defence airports since 2006 and have used DNA to identify 100’s of different bird and bat species involved in collisions with aircraft across Australia.

Australian Centre for Wildlife Genomics

20,000 elephants killed for their ivory

Often large shipments of whole tusks are seized at the border. However, identifying which species of elephant the ivory originated is crucial. DNA tests can be used to determine the number of elephants killed and where they were poached.

ADIFF has developed a simple and quick DNA screening test to distinguish between African Bush elephant, Asian elephant and African forest elephant, or from another species such as hippo, narwhal and mammoth.

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Working with enforcement agencies to assist in combatting illicit transnational wildlife crime by developing novel statistical and mathematical approaches.

The growth and commercialisation of the internet has greatly modified the environment in which pet markets and illegal wildlife traders can operate.

Given the complex and cryptic nature of these online networks, the development of advanced web intelligence techniques are core to the successful disentanglement of the trade.

As these online platforms and networks grow, so too does the risk of biodiversity loss and new species invasions. Many of these activities go unreported and hence pose a serious emerging biosecurity risk. This creates special imperatives to identify hazards early, and to intervene cost-effectively.

Associate Professor Phill Cassey leads a research-intensive invasion ecology group at the University of Adelaide, and is director of Centre for Applied Conservation Science.

Associate Professor Cassey and his team aim to extract and tease apart the great deal of relevant online information that is available in order to assist biosecurity agencies and decision-makers to take early preventative action to protect the environment and economic activities including agricultural and social assets.

Case studies

Where did all the pangolins go? 

The pangolin is greatly sought after for its various body parts, largely driven by demand from China. The mammal has been driven to the edge of extinction in Asia, with two Asian species listed as critically endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

With declining Asian pangolin populations, a shift in trade from Asian to African pangolin species has been suggested.

Using the CITES Trade Database, our researchers investigated global trends in pangolin trade at the species level between 1977 and 2014. An increasingly complex international network was identified through time, with the United States of America (US) being the dominant player in the global pangolin trade that was reported to CITES.

CITES trade in Asian pangolin species decreased through time, whilst trade in African species increased post 2000. The US was the most frequent trade country throughout the entire period and was the greatest importer of pangolins and their products.

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Alien birds in Taiwan 

The global trade in alien cage birds is flourishing. In 2008, BirdLife International estimated that in the 1990s, up to 5 million birds were involved in the global bird trade annually.

Species in the pet trade can become alien invaders if they are released or escape from captivity and subsequently succeed in establishing a viable population.

Taiwan has an extremely active trade in alien cage birds. More than 180,000 individuals of over 200 parrot species were imported there between 2001 and 2011, from 20 countries.

Associate Professor Cassey and his team used phylogenetic regression models to compare the traits of alien species recorded in the cage bird trade in Taiwan. The researchers investigated whether the birds have or have not subsequently been recorded at large in the wild. They also explored the traits of species recorded in the wild.

Alien species were more likely to be recorded as successfully introduced if they were commonly for sale in the Taiwanese pet bird trade, and possessed songs considered to be more attractive to people. Species that have been sold in the pet market for a longer period were also more likely to have been recorded in the wild.

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ADIFF have been instrumental in the implementation of scientific verification within international timber supply chains.

Deforestation is a major environmental problem with the legitimate or illicit logging of timber one of the significant influences to this.

The timber industry is a major driver with 10-30% of timber exports being illegal. For example, New Zealand imports around 1% of its domestic consumption. However, 2008 estimates claimed that over 10% of these are of questionable legality.

Advanced DNA analysis tools can be applied to timber samples for:

• species identification;
• geographical provenance of a sample; and
• individualisation for illegal logging and chain of custody analysis.

Professor Andrew Lowe and Dr Eleanor Dormontt work closely with The International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC). Specifically, they work with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as part of an Expert Group on Timber Analysis.

As a result of this work. the UNODC best practice guide for forensic timber identification was published. This project was led by Dr Dormontt.

Case studies

DNA matching helps convict traders of illegal timber 

A genetic individualisation tool was used to verify legal Bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) products and facilitated the guilty plea from four United States defendants to all charges under the Lacey Act.

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Identifying non-conforming building materials 

Genetic tools have been used to verify species and region of origin of Australian sandalwood to help maintain the integrity of the timber trade and reduce illegal harvesting.

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Plant identification applied to crime, biosecurity and conservation management.

Professor Michelle Waycott is the Chief Botanist at the State Herbarium of South Australia and professor of plant systematics. The state herbarium provides a valuable resource for plant identification.

Professor Waycott continues to be involved in forensic cases involving plant identification. She has delivered plant identification training to professional staff at South Australian Police (SAPOL) and Forensic Science South Australia (FSSA).

Professor Waycott is also involved in environmental pest and weed identification in terrestrial and marine realms for:

• Primary Industries and Regions SA’s (PIRSA) Biosecurity SA division;
• the state herbarium;
• the federal Department of Agriculture and Water Resources;
• natural resource management regions; and
• offers contract services for shipping companies.

ADIFF uses plant identification to answer key questions including:

• Taxonomic identification associated with a crime scene
• Identification of ‘stolen’ plants
• Provenance or population origin identification
• Advice on imported plant materials to customs
• Restoration projects
• Diet analysis for conservation

The key research areas we’re involved in include:

• Species concepts and identification of new species.
• Plant systematics, taxonomy, population genetics, marine plant biodiversity and biodiscovery.
• Molecular tool kit development for building high resolution reference libraries for uncharacterised species.
• Development of molecular markers enabling identification of species, subspecies, varieties, populations, individuals.

Physical, chemical and biological analysis of soils for forensic science and restoration ecology.

Forensic soil analysis of highly individualistic soil characteristics can be used to link an object, person, or location to a crime scene.

Professor Rob Fitzpatrick is the founding Director of the Centre for Australian Forensic Soil Science (CAFSS). He has undertaken soil analysis to provide critical evidence in many investigations and inquiries.

Based on the extensive casework experience, the centre has published ‘Guidelines for Conducting Criminal and Environmental Soil Forensic Analysis’.

CAFSS traditionally analyses the physical characteristics and the inorganic fraction of soils. However, CAFSS involvement with ADIFF has enabled the integration of advanced soil DNA analysis techniques to analyse the biological soil fraction.

CAFSS is administered by CSIRO Land and Water in Adelaide, South Australia. It is a partnership between the following organisations:

• CSIRO
• Flinders University
• Forensic Science South Australia
• University of Adelaide
• National Institute of Forensic Science
• ChemCentre, Western Australia
• Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia
• Australian Federal Police
• University of Canberra

Case studies

ADIFF has been involved in the following investigations:

• Similarities between mineral assemblages in soils on a shovel and quarry solved revealed the location of two buried bodies and solved a double murder.
• Analysis of soil minerals from clothing and vehicles in sexual assault and kidnapping cases.
• Identification of the possible overseas and/or Australian provenance of soil on boots, rakes, shovels and mattocks belonging to suspected terrorists.