Overview

  • DNA metabarcoding
  • eDNA assays
  • Consultation
  • Interpretation of results
  • >500 completed projects for agencies, consultants, universities, and NGO’s
  • Broad taxonomic scope
  • >12 SFF peer-reviewed publications
 Who we are: wildlife geneticists, ecologists, and bioinformaticians  Our mission: to offer species identification services to further wildlife research, management, and conservation globally

Questions?

Please see our FAQ page for more information and downloadables. For further questions and quotes, contact Dr. Faith Walker

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Who we serve

We use the newest genetic technologies to assist wildlife managers and researchers.

Image of turbines at a wind farm.

Get Wind of This

If you are a wind energy company, we can identify bat mortalities to the species level even from degraded tissue for accurate information in your reports.

Image of a bridge frequented as a roosting site for bats.

Bridging the Gap

If you are a Department of Transportation, we can tell you whether federally-listed bat species use bridges that are scheduled for repair or replacement.

Image of pronghorn laying in grasses.

Go Global

If you are a wildlife management department, conservation organization, or university researcher, we can identify diets of herbivores, insectivores, carnivores, and sanguivores (i.e., anything that poops!).

Image of bat flying.

Be Batty

If you are a wildlife management department, conservation organization, or university researcher, we can identify bat assemblages at roost sites.

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S p e c i e s  f r o m  F e c e s

Genetic ID Services

Species from Feces offers a wide range of species identification services to further wildlife research, management, and conservation globally. We develop environmental DNA assays and deploy DNA metabarcoding and qPCR to answer diverse questions.

We work with any taxon

While the bulk of our research genetically identifies bats, we can identify any species and its diet. From bridge maintenance to wind energy to important roosts, we have helped wildlife managers and researchers get the data they need to make ecologically sound decisions for their projects.

Click below to find out more information about our genetic ID services.

Bat Species from Feces Accordion Closed

We developed a robust genetic assay to identify bat species from their feces (Walker et al. 2016, 2019), which has been applied globally for a suite of applications for bat conservation and management. We use a collection of guano to identify bat community composition within roosts such as bridges, caves, mines, and buildings. Please see our searchable database to determine the utility of the assay for your species of interest.

Image of Dan Sanchez, PhD, operating a centrifuge.

Bat carcass ID for wind farms- We commonly identify bat species from tissue harvested from carcasses.

 

Diet Species from Feces Accordion Closed

We genetically identify diet of any species. Projects to date have included herbivores, carnivores, insectivores, and sanguivores. We regularly identify diet items to the genus or species level. Our ability to identify taxa to finer levels depends on the match between the DNA in the feces and the barcode data available. If needed, we can generate DNA barcodes for potential diet items as part of the project.

Pathogen Species from Feces Accordion Closed

We identify a variety of bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens from feces.

Examples include rabies virus and Pd (white-nose syndrome).

Species detection via environmental DNA Accordion Closed

We develop and perform DNA metabarcoding and qPCR assays to detect bats and other taxa from air, vegetation, soil, and water sources.

Close-up image of bat flying. Close-up of a giraffe's face being groomed by oxpeckers. Image of buck walking through wooded area.

 

Image of sideview of a bat flying.

 

Genetics is the answer

Whatever your needs, contact our team to see if we can use the latest genetic technology to get answers for your wildlife project.

Species from Feces logo- test tube filled with DNA with eDNA sources (animals, insects, and plants) surrounding it.

Walker Lab Testing

Species From Feces provides taxonomy from trace DNA to managing wildlife responsibly.

Image of a bar plot with the percentages of sequencing reads for bat species found under bridges.

Analyze

We give you a final report summarizing the taxa detected, and include figures, a spreadsheet, and raw data.

Digital art of DNA double helix.

Sequence

Our researchers are trained to sequence from complex samples and trace DNA, using leading genetic technologies.

Image of a handful of15 mL conicals of guano.

Train

We provide consultation, a sampling kit, and the information you need to maximize and preserve DNA.

Principal Investigator Walker Lab

Faith Walker

Faith Walker is an Associate Research Professor in the School of Forestry and an Associate Director of PMI for heading the Ancient DNA Core. Her lab uses trace DNA to study wildlife ecology and disease.

Image of headshot of Faith Walker, PhD.

 

Client Quotes

“We are working to protect bats in Rwanda and the Species from Feces program allowed us to better understand the ecosystem services bats provide through pest control and seed dispersal. This not only helps us gather important knowledge on bat species in Rwanda, but is also a powerful tool to shape our community education and awareness-raising programs to help people see that bats have a positive contribution to our society.”

-Olivier Nsengimana, Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association

“Northern Arizona University’s helpful genetic lab staff are wonderful to work with, providing guidance and tips on how to successfully collect samples. The test results are clearly summarized in graphs and in text format, making them easy to read and share with regulating agencies and the public.”

–Anonymous Consultant

“These are great results, and certainly give us information about prioritizing spring WNS surveillance efforts, show more species diversity than expected at most sites, and show MYLU presence at more sites than expected!”

–Biologist, NPS

“Our team has relied on the use of NAU’s DNA testing for dozens of unknown bats found during monitoring studies throughout the Midwest. NAU has reliably delivered identifications, even for bone and tissue samples that are discovered in the field after months of decay in humid conditions.”

–Anonymous Consultant

“This is phenomenal, I can’t tell you how excited I am to get these results!”

-Mauro Hernandez, NPS

Read more

Our Mission Accordion Open

Our mission is to further wildlife research, management, and conservation globally by offering species identification services. As part of that mission, we leverage genetic approaches for global bat species conservation.

Bats are the second most diverse and abundant mammalian order, but probably the least understood due to their cryptic biology. Because bats fly, most are small-bodied and nocturnal, and many travel great distances nightly or annually, they have until recently been difficult to study.  New genetic tools are key to unraveling the secrets of bats and thereby assisting conservation efforts. Our Species from Feces Initiative reliably identifies bat species from around the world from guano, and has generated considerable interest from federal and state agencies, mining and wind companies, and internationally-focused NGOs. Our success with bats led us to take all vertebrate taxa under our wing for species and diet identification from feces.

Our Database Accordion Closed

The searchable database on our website allows users to determine the power of our assay for identifying bat species that interest them. The Species from Feces tool has immediate application in the U.S., where bats are under threat from White-Nose Syndrome, and is also useful globally with the ability to identify over 90% of bat species for which genetic information is available. Please see our 2016 and 2019 papers.

Who We Are Accordion Closed

We are a team of bat and wildlife ecologists, wildlife geneticists, bioinformaticians, graduate and undergraduate students, genetics research specialists, and field technicians. We develop and use emerging genetic approaches to better understand bats and other taxa. Species from Feces is a powerful tool for difficult-to-study vertebrates, in a time of great conservation need.

 

 

 

 

 

Photos © José G. Martínez-Fonseca and Faith Walker

Photos of our Team at Work

Photos of our Team at Work