A novel epigenetic clock tool to conserve Australia’s threatened seabirds

其目的是开发一种新的表观遗传学技术，用于对包括信天翁和海燕在内的长寿海鸟进行人口统计评估，以应用于保护澳大利亚各地繁殖的11个受威胁物种。一项重大创新将是一种负担得起的、现场工作友好的技术，可以根据人口统计对任何人口进行指纹识别，结束目前管理中必要的大量猜测工作。预计结果将使(I)科学家和野生动物管理人员能够确定威胁和管理活动对海鸟种群的影响，从而实现量化情景建模，以及(Ii)利益攸关方能够通过基于研究的决策来分析各种威胁并优化管理应对措施。

The aim is to develop a novel epigenetic technique for the demographic assessment of long-lived seabirds, including albatrosses and petrels, for application to the conservation of 11 threatened species breeding across Australia. A major innovation will be an affordable and fieldwork-friendly technique to demographically fingerprint any population, ending the large amount of guesswork currently necessary in management. The outcome is expected to enable (i) scientists and wildlife managers to impute the impact of threats and management activities on seabird populations, allowing quantitative scenario modelling, and (ii) stakeholders to analyse numerous threats and optimise management responses to these through research-based decision-making.