Survey of Wildlife Forensic Laboratory Research Needs

Dear Wildlife Forensic Scientist,

In 2014, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), created The Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC), which “strengthens the nation’s use of forensic science by facilitating the development and promoting the use of high-quality, technically sound standards. These standards define minimum requirements, best practices, standard protocols and other guidance to help ensure that the results of forensic analysis are reliable and reproducible”.

Most forensic science specialties are encompassed within OSAC, including Biology, which is made up of two subcommittees: Human Forensic Biology and Wildlife Forensic Biology. Subcommittees members are primarily scientists from federal, state, and private forensic laboratories, and academicians involved in forensic science, as well as representatives from the legal community, statisticians, and others. These individuals work in task groups designing standards and best practices, which once developed undergo rigorous review and public comment, before being published by a standards developing organization (e.g. ASTM, ASB) and listed on the OSAC Registry.

One standing task group in each subcommittee is responsible for identifying current weaknesses or challenges that exist in forensic laboratories, that may then be targeted for additional research, including possible financial support from NIST, the National Institute of Justice, or other entities. The Wildlife subcommittee task group for research needs has identified a number of areas that may warrant additional research, and through this survey is asking experts in forensic wildlife biology, such as yourself, both your opinion on the relevance/importance of each currently published research need (listed below), as well as other areas/topics in wildlife forensics that you believe might benefit from additional research and development. The survey is completely anonymous, with the only requested information about yourself being what general role in wildlife forensic biology you play. It is estimated that this survey will only take 15 minutes of your time.

Complete information on OSAC can be found here, and additional developed standards can be found here.

Question Title

* 1. First, which of these most closely describes your current (or past) position:

Wildlife forensic scientist in a government laboratory

Wildlife forensic scientist in a private laboratory

Administrator (or other) associated with a wildlife forensic laboratory

Academician who conducts research and/or casework related to wildlife forensic biology

Private individual with an interest or expertise in wildlife forensic biology

Student with an interest or expertise in wildlife forensic biology

Individual in a field related to wildlife forensic biology (e.g. law enforcement, courts, population genetics, zoology, botany, microbiology, etc.).

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 2. Next, please rate how important you feel each of these previously identified areas of wildlife forensic biology is to your laboratory or casework.

	Highly important	Somewhat important	Not important
Bioinformatics for Next Generation Sequencing	Bioinformatics for Next Generation Sequencing Highly important	Bioinformatics for Next Generation Sequencing Somewhat important	Bioinformatics for Next Generation Sequencing Not important
Development and Validate STR/SNP Panels (including any necessary allelic ladders and databases) for Current Species of Forensic Interest	Development and Validate STR/SNP Panels (including any necessary allelic ladders and databases) for Current Species of Forensic Interest Highly important	Development and Validate STR/SNP Panels (including any necessary allelic ladders and databases) for Current Species of Forensic Interest Somewhat important	Development and Validate STR/SNP Panels (including any necessary allelic ladders and databases) for Current Species of Forensic Interest Not important
Development of New Technologies for Discovery and Characterization of Forensically Useful Markers of Relevant Species' Biogeography	Development of New Technologies for Discovery and Characterization of Forensically Useful Markers of Relevant Species' Biogeography Highly important	Development of New Technologies for Discovery and Characterization of Forensically Useful Markers of Relevant Species' Biogeography Somewhat important	Development of New Technologies for Discovery and Characterization of Forensically Useful Markers of Relevant Species' Biogeography Not important
Development of Proteomic Techniques and Databases for Species and Sex Identification When Forensically Useful DNA is Not Available	Development of Proteomic Techniques and Databases for Species and Sex Identification When Forensically Useful DNA is Not Available Highly important	Development of Proteomic Techniques and Databases for Species and Sex Identification When Forensically Useful DNA is Not Available Somewhat important	Development of Proteomic Techniques and Databases for Species and Sex Identification When Forensically Useful DNA is Not Available Not important
Methods for Distinguishing Captive-Bred from Wild Individuals	Methods for Distinguishing Captive-Bred from Wild Individuals Highly important	Methods for Distinguishing Captive-Bred from Wild Individuals Somewhat important	Methods for Distinguishing Captive-Bred from Wild Individuals Not important
Probabilistic Genotyping of Wildlife STRs Using ANSI/ASB Standard 018	Probabilistic Genotyping of Wildlife STRs Using ANSI/ASB Standard 018 Highly important	Probabilistic Genotyping of Wildlife STRs Using ANSI/ASB Standard 018 Somewhat important	Probabilistic Genotyping of Wildlife STRs Using ANSI/ASB Standard 018 Not important
SNP Panel Development and Genotyping Methods Practical for Wildlife Forensics	SNP Panel Development and Genotyping Methods Practical for Wildlife Forensics Highly important	SNP Panel Development and Genotyping Methods Practical for Wildlife Forensics Somewhat important	SNP Panel Development and Genotyping Methods Practical for Wildlife Forensics Not important
Develop Species-Specific Mitochondrial Primers for Comingled Samples that Require Taxonomic Identification of One or More Contributors	Develop Species-Specific Mitochondrial Primers for Comingled Samples that Require Taxonomic Identification of One or More Contributors Highly important	Develop Species-Specific Mitochondrial Primers for Comingled Samples that Require Taxonomic Identification of One or More Contributors Somewhat important	Develop Species-Specific Mitochondrial Primers for Comingled Samples that Require Taxonomic Identification of One or More Contributors Not important
Verifying the Accuracy of Sequences in Public Databases for Forensic Taxonomic Identification of Diverse Biological Materials	Verifying the Accuracy of Sequences in Public Databases for Forensic Taxonomic Identification of Diverse Biological Materials Highly important	Verifying the Accuracy of Sequences in Public Databases for Forensic Taxonomic Identification of Diverse Biological Materials Somewhat important	Verifying the Accuracy of Sequences in Public Databases for Forensic Taxonomic Identification of Diverse Biological Materials Not important

Question Title

* 3. Finally, please help us in identifying additional research needs related to any area of wildlife forensics. Provide as much detail as you would like, and include as many entries as you can.

Recommendation 1

Recommendation 2

Recommendation 3

Recommendation 4

Recommendation 5

The Research Task Group of the OSAC subcommittee on Wildlife Forensic Biology greatly appreciates your time and effort in completing this survey. If you are interested in joining OSAC and participating in strengthening forensic science, information can be found here.