Optimised PCR assays for detecting elusive waterfowl from environmental DNA.

For many aquatic and semiaquatic mammal, amphibian and fish species, environmental DNA (eDNA) methods are employed to detect species distribution and to monitor their presence, but eDNA is much less employed for avian species. Here, we developed primers for the detection of true geese and swan species using eDNA and optimised a PCR protocol for eDNA. We selected taiga bean goose () as our focal (sub)species and sampled water from lakes, from which the presence of taiga bean goose was visually confirmed.

Stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen in hair keratin of suspected man-eating wolves from 1880s.

The so-called man-eating wolves of Turku, a pack of three wolves, reportedly killed 22 children in South-Western Finland in 1880-1881. Enormous efforts were carried out to eradicate them. In January 1882 the last remaining wolf was killed.

The extinct Sicilian wolf shows a complex history of isolation and admixture with ancient dogs.

The Sicilian wolf remained isolated in Sicily from the end of the Pleistocene until its extermination in the 1930s-1960s. Given its long-term isolation on the island and distinctive morphology, the genetic origin of the Sicilian wolf remains debated. We sequenced four nuclear genomes and five mitogenomes from the seven existing museum specimens to investigate the Sicilian wolf ancestry, relationships with extant and extinct wolves and dogs, and diversity.

Museum specimens of a landlocked pinniped reveal recent loss of genetic diversity and unexpected population connections.

The Saimaa ringed seal () is endemic to Lake Saimaa in Finland. The subspecies is thought to have originated when parts of the ringed seal population of the Baltic region were trapped in lakes emerging due to postglacial bedrock rebound around 9000 years ago. During the 20th century, the population experienced a drastic human-induced bottleneck.

Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate.

Arctic ecosystems are changing dramatically with warmer and wetter conditions resulting in complex interactions between herbivores and their forage. We investigated how Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) modify their late winter diets in response to long-term trends and interannual variation in forage availability and accessibility. By reconstructing their diets and foraging niches over a 17-year period (1995-2012) using serum δ C and δ N values, we found strong support for a temporal increase in the proportions of graminoids in the diets with a concurrent decline in the contributions of mosses.