Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, North Slave Region
Tags: biology, genetics, glacial history, insects
| Principal Investigator: | Schwert, Donald P. (2) |
| Licence Number: | 12815 |
| Organization: | North Dakota State University |
| Licensed Year(s): |
1995
1992
|
| Issued: | Jan 01, 1995 |
| Project Team: | H. Torpen |
Objective(s): To study the genetics of the arctic beetle species Amara alpina in order to test the hypothesis that the current distribution of Arctic insects is a result of events dting back to the last ice age. Our hypothesis is that the current beetle fauna of the low arctic of central and eastern Canada is derived from populations that survived the last glaciation in ice-free refugia in Alaska and Yukon Territory and not from populations which existed along the southern margin of the North American ice sheet.
Project Description: The sample of arctic-alpine ground-beetles will be collected under rocks and by pitfall traps (dixie cups placed in 8 cm diameter drilled holes) in the tundra habitat. All rocks will be replaced exactly and pitfall trap holes refilled with their soil plugs. No chemicals will be used in any of the trapping or collecting. Specimens will be analysed using DNA techniques which include RLPF's and PCR of mitochondrial genes back at the University of North Dakota
