William Waugh

Citation

Thesis Title
DNA Barcoding the Birds of New Zealand

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Mr Waugh’s researched centred upon testing the efficacy of DNA barcoding as a means of distinguishing species when applied to the native and endemic birds of New Zealand. A database of DNA barcodes for these species was constructed and successfully used for identification purposes. In addition, this method was used to identify for further investigation taxonomic groups that showed divergent DNA barcode region haplotypes, indicating potential cryptic species. Where species were difficult to distinguish using DNA barcodes, further analysis was carried out to clarify their taxonomic status. DNA barcodes were also used to identify bird remains from aircraft birdstrike incidents.

Supervisors
Professor David Lambert
Associate Professor Evelyn Sattlegger
Dr Craig Millar