Abstract:
Pakistan has wide biodiversity in which birds play a significant role in maintaining ecological balance and enhancing beauty. Among birds, raptors or birds of prey are the topmost predators in the food chain and also a sign of dignity for old civilizations. Birds of prey include hawks, eagles, falcons, vultures etc. Unfortunately, number of raptorial birds is decreasing day by day due to loss of habitat, pollution, injuries and poaching. There is a dire need to make conservational strategies as well as taxonomic identification for birds of prey but there is less data available at molecular level due to which there is ambiguity in their taxonomy. Morphological identification system are crude and therefore, are not considered reliable for identification of different species of birds of prey. In this regard, mitochondrial markers play important role for identification of different species. Current study was designed to identify different raptorial bird species from different regions of the Punjab Pakistan using mitochondrial ND2 gene. In the result, complete sequence of ND2 gene of members of two families, Accipitridae and Falconidae, were obtained alongwith SNPs at various positions. Two sub species of falcons are also characterized at genetic level for the first time. This study has not been conducted yet in Pakistan. The sequence of ND2 gene can serve as identification marker for other avian species which can lead to better conservation planning of endangered species of birds.
Page(s):
79-79
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Abstract Book on Second International Conference on Recent Approaches in Plant Sciences (RAPS-23) 4-5 May 2023 , Volume: 0, Issue: 0, Year: 2023
Keywords:
biodiversity
,
Raptors
,
mitochondria
,
ND2 gene