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IMPROVED IDENTIFICATION TECHNIQUES of BIRD STRIKE REMAINS
The FAA and the United States Air Force jointly sponsored a 5 year
program to develop improved identification techniques for aircraft
birdstrike remains. The focus of the research was the development of a
DNA-based identification for birdstrike remains that lack morphological
evidence for feather comparisons. Identification via DNA sequencing is the
‘gold’ standard, but other cheaper and faster methods will likely emerge as
a result of the database development.
Work is being conducted by the Smithsonian Institution’s Feather
Identification Laboratory and has recently been extended through Fiscal Year
2008. Rapid isolation of biological remains in the field is critical, and
testing of several user-friendly field collection protocols is being be
carried out to determine the highest probability of success.
Project
Goals
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Research and develop protocols for extracting DNA from highly
degraded samples
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Sequence 300 species of birds that are commonly involved in
birdstrikes but are not available on GenBank (a national database of bird DNA
sequences)
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Develop and test user-friendly DNA collecting kits
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Continue to identify FAA birdstrike remains using traditional
morphological methods and report those strikes to the national database
manager.
The agreement has been extended through Fiscal Year 2008.
A typical birdstrike containing only tissue and blood with no
feather fragments for Microscopic or whole-feather comparisons. These types
of samples will be the focus of the DNA identification method.
2003-2007 Project Accomplishments
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completed 14,167 birdstrike identifications for USAF and FAA
(through 2006)
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completed 1,500 DNA identifications since Sept 2006
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completed 1,084 (forward and reverse) DNA sequences for some
542 individual bird specimens for the DNA library
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submitted 462 of the 642 complete DNA sequences for North
American Birds to the Barcode of Life Database
For more detailed information about this project
Smithsonian Institution's Feather Lab write up.
For more information on the FAA Wildlife R&D program visit the
Official FAA Wildlife R&D
website.
Contact Project Lead:
Ryan King
Last Update:12/06/07
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