PhD candidate Steve Allain gives a talk on his sideshow interest, Alytes Obstetricians for the Herpetofauna Worker’s Meetingm non-native species symposium.
PhD candidate and Herptologist Steve Allain has been asked to present a talk on the 5th of February at the Herpetofauna Worker’s Meeting on his research investigating the presence and origins of midwife toad populations in Great Britain. Not directly linked to his PhD; it is an area Steve has been working on in his spare time since 2017.
‘This started with studies on the Cambridge population while I was living there and has continued to evolve as I have progressed through my academic career.’ Steve explained ‘My team and I have identified over 30 populations of midwife toads in Great Britain, many of which were previously unrecorded. We’ve taken DNA samples from a number of these, to determine where the toads came from, and which populations are related to which.’
‘Midwife toads aren’t native to the UK, they can be found across continental Europe. They’re quite small and secretive, known for making high-pitched beeping sounds which almost sound electronic in origin/nature. Whether these toads threaten our native species, we’re not sure as of yet. However, we’ve been swabbing them for disease as well (as they could act as a vector of the major amphibian diseases to our native species). So far, the populations we’ve sampled for disease, are disease-free. We’re hoping to be able to answer the questions regarding where the toads came from, and how many origin pathways there have been later this year. So far, we’ve been limited by a lack of comparative genetic sequences, but a big analysis has just been published, which should allow us to finally come to the conclusions we wish to.’
If you’d like to hear the 20 minute talk sign up to the online Herpetofauna Worker’s Meeting non-native species symposium.
Feb 5th 2022, 1.30pm.