TEXT BY GEOFF VIVIAN

TRADITIONAL Owners are helping scientists from UWA and CSIRO conduct a genetic survey of insects in Kimberley vine thickets for bio-molecular analysis in bulk—a technique that comes under the heading of ‘eco-genomics’.

The team has sampled flying and crawling insects from 36 vine thickets in coastal and

The Kimberley Echo 4 July 2013

island locations between Derby and Kalumburu.

At each site a tray is prepared with the specimens laid out and digitally photographed before they are all placed into a combined ‘DNA soup’ for bio-molecular analysis.

CSIRO evolutionary biologist Dr Owain Edwards says the method is being developed in response to a legislated requirement for environmental approvals before resource projects can commence.

He says traditional taxonomic methods used on single sites are time-consuming, and in a poorly studied region like the Kimberley, give no indication as to whether a newly-discovered species is locally endemic or more widespread.

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This story has also been republished in The Broome Advertiser and Kimberley Echo newspapers.