Forensic science technique applied for calculation of kinship index

Poster (2010)

Implementing conservation strategies needs the knowledge of relationships inside the concerned population. The aim of this study was to find tools to help scientists and breeders to manage endangered ... [more ▼]

Implementing conservation strategies needs the knowledge of relationships inside the concerned population. The aim of this study was to find tools to help scientists and breeders to manage endangered populations or populations with missing pedigree information. The animal genetics literature often seems unaware of relevant developments in human genetics (and conversely). In this study, an approach called Familial Searching was tested. This is used in forensic science, in addition to matching DNA evidence directly to criminal profiles, to search for people (present in a database) who are related to an individual that left DNA evidence at a scene of crime. This method is based on the calculation of likelihood ratios (LR) between genotype of an individual and genotypes of each other individuals of the database. In order to decrease the number of comparisons, the available pedigree information was used as ‘local’ prior information, i.e. relating to specific pairs of individuals. General knowledge about the studied population (e.g., generation interval, sexual maturity) was considered as ‘global’ prior information. Including prior information reduced the number of comparisons from over 50%. Results showed that the parents were always classified into the 4 highest LR. This method simplified parentage verifications, it allowed the detection of 90% of false parentage (LR=0). It also allowed to create new links in the pedigree through detection of unregistered parents. The method was tested on the Skyros pony, an indigenous Greek breed. For this breed, partial pedigree information was available, and 99 individuals were genotyped at 16 microsatellite loci. The method allowed to check about 2500 possible parent-child combinations, three registered parentages were considered as incorrect and one non-recorded parentage was detected. The method will now be tested on other breed and with other markers, e.g. SNPs. [less ▲]

Forensic Study of Volatile Organic Compounds Released from Decaying Bodies

Conference (2012, March)

Forest and garden: traces of wildness in a modernizing land, 1897-1949 (M.L. Simo).

in Landscape Journal (2004), 23(2), 174-176

Forest canopy perforation in time and space in Amazonian Ecuador.

in Acta Oecologica: International Journal of Ecology (2000), 21(4-5), 285-291

Forest growth data : capture, retrieval and dissemination

Book published by Faculty of Agriculture - First published in : Bulletin des Recherches Agronomiques de Gembloux, [1990] volume 25 (1) and (2), pages 1-236 (1990)

Forest refugia revisited: nSSRs and cpDNA sequences support historical isolation in a wide-spread African tree with high colonization capacity, Milicia excelsa (Moraceae)

in Molecular Ecology (2010)

The impact of the Pleistocene climate oscillations on the structure of biodiversity in tropical regions remains poorly understood. In this study, the forest refuge theory is examined at the molecular ... [more ▼]

The impact of the Pleistocene climate oscillations on the structure of biodiversity in tropical regions remains poorly understood. In this study, the forest refuge theory is examined at the molecular level in Milicia excelsa, a dioecious tree with a continuous range throughout tropical Africa. Eight nuclear microsatellites (nuSSRs) and two sequences and one microsatellite from chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) showed a deep divide between samples from Benin and those from Lower Guinea. This suggests both that these populations were isolated in separate geographical regions, probably for several glacial cycles of the Pleistocene, and a poor mixture of gene pools despite M. excelsa’s wind-pollination syndrome. The divide can also be related to seed dispersal patterns, which should be largely determined by the migration behaviour of M. excelsa's main seed disperser, the frugivorous bat Eidolon helvum. Within Lower Guinea, a north-south divide, observed with both markers despite weak genetic structure (nuSSRs: FST=0.035, cpDNA: GST=0.506), suggested the existence of separate Pleistocene refugia in Cameroon and the Gabon/Congo region. We inferred a pollen-to-seed dispersal distance ratio of 1.76, consistent with wide-ranging gene dispersal by both wind and bats. Simulations in an Approximate Bayesian Computation framework suggested low nuSSR and cpDNA mutation rates but imprecise estimates of other demographic parameters, probably due to a substantial gene flow between the Lower Guinean gene pools. The decline of genetic diversity detected in some Gabonese populations could be a consequence of the relatively recent establishment of a closed canopy forest which may negatively affect M. excelsa's reproductive system. [less ▲]

Foresterie communautaire au Cameroun et typologie du milieu chez les peuples forestiers: des représentations contradictoires?

Conference (1997)

Foresterie en Wallonie: une source d'inspiration ?

Scientific conference (2010, November 10)

Le Forestor Vertex: une nouvelle génération de dendromètres.

in Revue Forestière Française (1998), 50(1), 59-64

The new generation of hypsometers, of which the Swedish Forestor Vertex is representative, use ultrasonic pulses to determine heights from 0 to 100 m, as well as distances and angles. The authors describe ... [more ▼]

The new generation of hypsometers, of which the Swedish Forestor Vertex is representative, use ultrasonic pulses to determine heights from 0 to 100 m, as well as distances and angles. The authors describe the operating principle for this hypsometer and point out some precautions that should be taken when using it. They highlight its main advantages and provide data on its precision. [less ▲]

Forestry curricula at the University Faculty of Gembloux

in Schmidt, Pieter; Huss, Jürgen; Lewark, Siegfried (Eds.) New requirements for University Education in Forestry (1998)