Description

This database provides up to date information on the wildlife tissue collection held at the University of Canberra. Accompanying the tissues are locational data, and for some taxa, validated museum records, location data from published accounts and sightings supplied by ecologists. As an example, the distribution of  Australasian Freshwater Turtles is relatively complete.

All records have been verified to the extent that is possible using  Google Earth, and species designations are accurate. Data where the  species identity or the locality data are uncertain have been omitted. 

Taxonomy follows that of the official list of species prepared by the Australian Society of Herpetologists and for other species the Australian Faunal Directory. Drainage basins are those defined by the Commonwealth National Mapping Division of the Department of Minerals and  Energy in 1975.

SNP datasets associated with these tissues are findable on the DArT Portal.

The data contained in the Wildlife Tissue Collection is linked to the Atlas of Living Australia. Lodging your tissues or records (including captures but no tissues) is a way of having them integrated into the living atlas once validated.

Access

Access to the data is not restricted but you will need to request a usercode and password.  If you use the data, please reference the Wildlife Tissue Collection and Distribution Records maintained by the University of Canberra.

Conditions of Access to Tissues

Tissues listed in the collection are available on the condition that

• They will be used for research purposes only;
• The proposed research does not conflict directly with work  currently undertaken by researchers already drawing upon the collection  (see list of projects below);
• Where other tissues are to be collected for the study, sufficient material is taken to meet future (perhaps unanticipated  needs), in addition to the immediate needs of the current project;
• Such additional tissues will be lodged with the Wildlife Tissue  Collection, on the understanding that they may be drawn upon by other researchers at a future time, governed only by these conditions;
• Consideration is given to providing opportunity for the person/persons who collected the samples to make an intellectual contribution to any arising papers, at a level with the potential to lead to co-authorship. Such co-authorship is not essential, and is dictated by circumstances specific to the project. Acknowledgement may be sufficient.
  

Current projects

• Phylogeography of Myuchelys latisternum [Georges, Zhang], Emydura macquarii (including krefftii, nigra and emmottii) [Shaffer et al.], Emydura subglobosa, tanybaraga and victoriae [Shaffer et al.], Chelodina expansa [Hodges et al.], Chelodina longicollis [Hodges et al.] and Chelodina rugosa/burrungandjii [Georges, Alacs, Zhang et al.];
• Hyrbridization between Chelodina longicollis and Chelodina canni [Georges];    
• Population genetics of Carettochelys insculpta {Young, Georges];    
• Molecular phylogeny of the chelid turtles based on whole mitochondrial gene sequences [Georges, Zhang, Unmack];    
• Turtles of the World Project -- NSF [Shaffer et al.]

How can you help?

Drawing from the tissue database is destructive, so we are always after  new tissues and would be grateful to receive them subject to the above  conditions. The idea is to have the inflow of tissue exceeding  their destructive use, as an investment in the future.

Substantial contributors to sightings recorded in this database  include Deborah Bower, Kate Hodges, Darren Fielder, Bruce Chessman, and  John Marshall. You can assist by providing reliable records of captures  and sightings in Australia and the region.

Substantial contributors to tissue samples in the collection include  Brad Shaffer, Scott Snyder, Tony Tucker, Gerald Kuchling, Colin Limpus,  Duncan Limpus, Enzo Guarino, Scott Thomson, Damien Fordham, John Cann, Erika Alacs,  John Roe, Erica Todd, Deborah Bower, Kate Hodges, Carla Eisemberg, Darren Fielder  and Bill McCord. If you are undertaking turtle studies, you can assist future work by contributing tissue samples to the  collection. Make the best of the public investment in your work. Email us for a kit.