A NONINVASIVE METHOD FOR DISTINGUISHING AMONG CANID SPECIES - AMPLIFICATION AND ENZYME RESTRICTION OF DNA FROM DUNG

Endangered San Joaquin kit foxes Vulpes macrotis mutica can be sympatr ically distributed with as many as four other canids: red fox, gray fo x, coyote and domestic dog. Canid seats are often found during routine fieldwork, but cannot be reliably identified to species. To detect an d study the endangered kit fox, we developed mitochondrial DNA markers that can be amplified from small amounts of DNA extracted from seats. We amplified a 412-bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene from seat samples and digested it with three restriction enzymes. The resulting restriction profiles discriminated among all five canid spe cies and correctly identified 10 'unknown' fox seats to species in bli nd tests. We have applied our technique to identify canids species for an environmental management study and a conservation study. We envisi on that our protocol, and similar ones developed for other endangered species will be greatly used for conservation management in the future .