Non-invasive DNA analysis combats the illegal trafficking of hawksbill turtle shell products

Abstract

Abstract The hawksbill turtle Eretmochelys imbricata (Linnaeus 1766) is distributed in the global tropical areas. Despite being listed as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN, the illegal trafficking of E. imbricata shell products is reported worldwide as highly profitable. In the study, we used non-invasive sequencing of mitochondrial COI DNA to characterize tortoiseshell products provided by the law enforcement. Genetic analysis of a consensus of 167bp sequences indicated that the 86 samples belonged to three distinct haplotypes in E. imbricata. Two haplotypes joined the reference sequences (refs) originated from the Indo-Pacific stock (PS), i.e. P1 (n=25 plus 8 Refs) and P2 (n =13 plus 3 Refs) and the other one was combined with the refs derived from the Atlantic stock (AS), i.e. A1 (n= 48 plus 20 Refs). An additional haplotype, A2 (n=3) occurred in AS. The K-2-P distance between stocks (3.97%±1.53%) was significantly higher than the distances within stocks (PS, 0.27%±0.28%; AS, 0.05%±0.05%). This non-invasive sampling-based DNA analysis provided a time-efficient and cost-effective way for accurate identification of species and stock origin of tortoiseshells and assistance in combating the illegal trafficking of sea turtle and other wildlife products.