“The strange appearance” reveals OTER POO a role in the parasites control

Receiving an undesirable image from the tube of the animal affected by the worms would make anyone affected, unless you are an expert in parasites such as Katrina Lohan. When a colleague sent her a snapshot of a water pile of stools with a red fireworm inside, she was immediately fascinated.

“You sent this to me and it was like,” I think this is a parasite, are you interested in studying river foxes? “I was like,” Oh, I think this is a parasite as well.

Her colleague, Scat OTER, discovered a berth on the Serc campus in Cispik Bay. Scientists are surprisingly known for a little foxes that live in the coastal areas affected by blood, but these predators play a vital role in ecosystems. The study of parasites in its tube would provide a valuable vision of their eating habits and the validity of their habitats. Therefore, Lohan cooperated with Calli Wise, Serc’s biological research technician and the first author of the new study published in the magazine Borders in mammal sciences On Thursday August 14.

The wise was especially suitable for this study, as it was already I am Search for toilets is a Otter river. Yes, I have read this correctly, but wiping that picture of a wonderful small brick grocery from your mind. “Outter toilets are mainly the areas of the group in the territories. The foxes of the river themselves are not only mitigated in these axes, but also eating, playing and hall there. These animals are night and semi -bottom, which makes it difficult to take into account in their natural environment, but researchers can learn a lot of things they leave in toilets.

Wiz and her colleagues hunting for toilets along about 7.5 miles (12 km) from the coastal line of the Road River, Fire from February of the Chessabic Bay. “You are looking for areas of turmoil where it seems that an animal could have moved from water to the ground,” Wizi said. She said, “Indeed, beyond just looking, I was the best of my nose. You can smell the smell of the toilet.” Go the shape.

The researchers collected SCAT from 18 active toilets and brought them back to the laboratory. In addition to observing samples under a microscope, they analyzed the DNA using a metabolism. This DNA sequence technology includes extracting small DNA scraps, amplifying them, then compared to a database of excerpts of well -known species. This allows researchers to identify the species in complex biological samples.

“This method has never been used on SCAT in toilets in general, for diet or parasites,” Wise said. She and her colleagues found the DNA from a wide range of parasites that extend to six classified categories in Scat samples. Most of the species identified by the prey of the injured river foxes, but there was also some of the water foxes themselves.

Luhan said: “The fact that this method provided a level of accuracy to the point that we were not only able to know what they were eating, but also seeing the parasites in their prey, really wonderful.” Moreover, the results indicate that parasites play a major role in the Utrers River meals. Luhan explained that its negative impact on the health of the host may facilitate the foxes of the foxes to make it easier for the foxes of the river to chase them. She said that these predators may disrupt the infected individuals from the population from their prey, but they confirm that this will require more research.