Description

This database provides up to date information on the wildlife tissue collection held at the University of Canberra. Accompanying the tissues are locational data, and for some taxa, validated museum records, location data from published accounts and sightings supplied by herpetologists. As an example, the distribution of  Australasian Freshwater Turtles is relatively complete.

All records have been verified to the extent that is possible using  Google Earth, and species designations are accurate. Data where the  species identity or the locality data are uncertain have been omitted. 

Taxonomy follows that of the official list of species prepared by the Australian Society of Herpetologists. Drainage basins are those defined by the Commonwealth National Mapping Division of the Department of Minerals and  Energy in 1975.

Access

Access to the data is not restricted. Login is via a Guest usercode  and password supplied at the time of login. If you use the data, please reference the Wildlife Tissue Collection and Distribution Records at the University of Canberra.

Access to the Database

Once logged in you will be presented with a screen form into which you can place restrictions. For example, typing Chelodina in the genus field will restrict the search to only records for the Chelodina.

You may wish to search only on Tissues, or on Museum Records -- there is a drop down menu for this.

To  link to Google Earth (you need to have this installed), simply  type an  overlay name and a link to Google Earth will appear as part of  the  screen printout resulting from your search.  Repeating this, and using  different colours means you can overlay the  distributions of different  species. Clicking on a dot provides some  metadata.

Conditions of Access to Tissues

Tissues listed in the collection are available on the condition that

• They will be used for research purposes only;
• The proposed research does not conflict directly with work  currently undertaken by researchers already drawing upon the collection  (see list of projects below);
• Where other tissues are to be collected for the study, sufficient material is taken to meet future (perhaps unanticipated  needs), in addition to the immediate needs of the current project;
• Such additional tissues will be lodged with the Wildlife Tissue  Collection, on the understanding that they may be drawn upon by other researchers at a future time, governed only by these conditions;
• Consideration is given to providing opportunity for the person/persons who collected the samples to make an intellectual contribution to any arising papers, at a level with the potential to lead to co-authorship. Such co-authorship is not essential, and is dictated by circumstances specific to the project. Acknowledgement may be sufficient.
  

Current projects

• Phylogeography of Myuchelys latisternum [Georges, Zhang], Emydura macquarii (including krefftii, nigra and emmottii) [Shaffer et al.], Emydura subglobosa, tanybaraga and victoriae [Shaffer et al.], Chelodina expansa [Hodges et al.], Chelodina longicollis [Hodges et al.] and Chelodina rugosa/burrungandjii [Georges, Alacs, Zhang et al.];
• Hyrbridization between Chelodina longicollis and Chelodina canni [Georges];    
• Population genetics of Carettochelys insculpta {Young, Georges];    
• Molecular phylogeny of the chelid turtles based on whole mitochondrial gene sequences [Georges, Zhang, Unmack];    
• Turtles of the World Project -- NSF [Shaffer et al.]

How can you help?

Drawing from the tissue database is destructive, so we are always after  new tissues and would be grateful to receive them subject to the above  conditions. The idea is to have the inflow of tissue exceeding  their destructive use, as an investment in the future.

Substantial contributors to sightings recorded in this database  include Deborah Bower, Kate Hodges, Darren Fielder, Bruce Chessman, and  John Marshall. You can assist by providing reliable records of captures  and sightings of freshwater turtles in Australia and the region.

Substantial contributors to tissue samples in the collection include  Brad Shaffer, Scott Snyder, Tony Tucker, Gerald Kuchling, Colin Limpus,  Duncan Limpus, Enzo Guarino, Scott Thomson, Damien Fordham, John Cann, Erika Alacs,  John Roe, Erica Todd, Deborah Bower, Kate Hodges, Carla Eisemberg, Darren Fielder  and Bill McCord. If you are undertaking turtle studies, you can assist future work by contributing tissue samples to the  collection. Make the best of the public investment in your work. Email us for a kit.