Your help is urgently needed. The “dusky duck” in Texas as experienced precipitous population declines in the mottled duck’s traditional range, and management alternatives are being considered. Here’s a chance for you the listener to possibly participate meaningfully in real-world waterfowl management and help avert catastrophe. Waterfowl Geneticist, Dr. Phillip Lavretsky, joins Ramsey Russell to discuss. They recap North American mallard-like genetics discussed in a previous episode (Just a Mallard? Think Again) and status of African Yellow-billed Duck and African Black Duck tissue samples/ biometric data recently collected by Ramsey. Lavretsky then explains what’s possibly going on with Texas’s mottled ducks, why he’s been contacted by TDWFP officials to perform genetic sampling and how you can specifically assist. We duck hunters are without doubt the most passionate waterfowl conservationists on earth. Here’s your chance to possibly become hands-on and involved in real waterfowl management.
Related Links:
Donate to Lavretsky Labs Conservation Research
Previous Episode: Just a Mallard? Think Again.
The Surprising Genetics of American Black Ducks and Mallards
UTEP Professor, Smithsonian Researchers Make Genetic Discoveries Related to North American Ducks