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The Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science

Wildlife Forensic Biology Subcommittee

The Wildlife Forensic Biology Subcommittee focuses on standards and guidelines related to taxonomic identification, individualization, and geographic origin of non-human biological evidence based on morphological and genetic analyses.

Officers | Members | Standards | Other Work Products

Officers

Christina Lindquist, Subcommittee Chair, UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory Forensic Unit

Tabitha Viner, Subcommittee Co-Vice Chair, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Terminology Task Group Chair)

Tasha Bauman, Subcommittee Co-Vice Chair, Wyoming Game and Fish Wildlife Forensic Lab

Ashley Spicer, Subcommittee Co-Executive Secretary, California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Eileen Larney, Subcommittee Co-Executive Secretary, Clark R. Bavin National Fish & Wildlife Forensic Laboratory

Members

Alyse Bertenthal, Wake Forest Law School (Legal Task Group representative)

Kelly Carrothers, ThermoFisher

Nicole Chinnicci, East Stroudsburg University

Michael Cruz Penn, Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Hope Draheim, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Robert Grahn, University of California Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory

Rachel Houston, Sam Houston University (Quality Task Group representative)

Rebecca Johnson, Smithsonian Institute

Kelly Meiklejohn, North Carolina State University

Erin Meredith, California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Benjamin Neely, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Teagen Partin, U.S. Fish & Wildlife National Forensics Laboratory

Kristine Pilgrim, USDA Forest Service-National Genomic Center for Wildlife and Fish Conservation

Jeff Rodzen, California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Christopher Saunders, South Dakota State University (Statistics Task Group representative and Trace Materials Subcommittee affiliate)

Piper Schwenke, NOAA Fisheries

Michael Stockdale, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

Dyan Straughan, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Jen Tinsman, U.S. Fish & Wildlife National Forensics Laboratory

Miko Wilford, Iowa State University (Human Factors Task Group representative)

Wildlife Forensic Biology Affiliate List

Standards

On the OSAC Registry

ANSI/ASB Standard 019 Wildlife Forensics General Standards, 2019, 1st Ed. (added March 2, 2021)
ANSI/ASB Standard 028 Wildlife Forensics Morphology Standards, 2019, 1st Ed. (added June 3, 2020)
ANSI/ASB Standard 029 Report Writing in Wildlife Forensics: Morphology and Genetics, 2019, 1st Ed. (added March 2, 2021)
ANSI/ASB Standard 047 Wildlife Forensics Validation Standard—Validating New Primers for Sequencing, 2019, 1st Ed. (added June 3, 2020)
ANSI/ASB Standard 138 Standard for Collection of Known DNA Samples from Domestic Mammals, 2022, 1st Ed. (added November 7, 2023)
ANSI/ASB Standard 180 Standard for the Selection and Evaluation of GenBank® Results for Taxonomic Assignment of Wildlife (added January 13, 2025)
OSAC 2022-S-0011 Standard for Construction of Multilocus Databases (added June 4, 2024)

Published by a Standards Developing Organization (SDO); [Pending Evaluation & OSAC Acceptance for Registry]

At an SDO for Further Development & Publication

ASB Standard 216 Standard for Construction of Multilocus Databases
OSAC 2022-S-0011 Standard for Construction of Multilocus Databases (OSAC Proposed Standard on the Registry)

Under Development

Genetic Methods to Determine an Individual of Potential Hybrid Origin
OSAC 2021-S-0014 Standard for Reference Collections in Wildlife Forensic Biology: Genetics and Vertebrate Morphology
OSAC 2025-S-0012 Best Practice Recommendations for Publicly Sharing Short Tandem Repeat Data from Wildlife Panels
OSAC 2025-S-0021 Standard for Validation of Multilocus Databases
Standard for Developing and Validating STR Multiplex Panels
Standard for Validation of Multilocus Databases

Other Work Products

Interlaboratory Study

In 2023, an interlaboratory study was conducted to assess the practical utility of OSAC 2021-S-0006, Standard for the Use of GenBank for Taxonomic Assignment of Wildlife. This proposed standard outlines a series of criteria for evaluating sequences returned from a BLAST search, and determining the most appropriate taxonomic level for reporting (i.e., species level or higher). The general concepts from OSAC 2021-S-0006, although curated specifically for GenBank, could be utilized for other public sequence databases. For this assessment, eleven wildlife forensic laboratories participated in the interlaboratory study. The laboratories were asked to taxonomically assign ten unknowns using OSAC 2021-S-0006. The results of the study determined that the species level assignments were correct in 98.3% of cases and 100% congruence was observed among laboratories.

The full article was published December 2023: Interlaboratory study to assess the practical utility of OSAC proposed standard 2021-S-0006: Standard for the use of GenBank for taxonomic assignment of wildlife

Research & Development Needs

See the research and development needs identified by the Wildlife Forensic Biology Subcommittee.