Keele UniversityFaculty of Natural Sciences
Forensic Science
Explore this Section
- Faculty of Natural Sciences >
- School of Physical and Geographical Sciences >
- Forensic Science >
- Latest News >
- 2012
Saving the Large Blue
Dr Falko Drijfhout, head of the chemical ecology group in the School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, pictured, with Dr Sue Shemilt and Sheffield University researchers, Stephen Martin and Rhian Guillem, have developed a fast, cheap and reliable technique that vastly improves the chances of successfully reintroducing the endangered large blue butterfly to the UK.
The test, using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, can easily tell the difference between two ant species that look virtually identical - one that is essential for the large blue's survival, while the other spells almost certain death.
The ants in question – two species of Myrmica red ants – are difficult to distinguish and only a handful of people in the UK can do this. But even if two ant species look alike, the chemical compounds on their bodies can be very different, and by using chemotaxonomy the two species of red ant can be distinguished.
Other large blue butterfly species across Europe are also in serious decline, but Guillem says the new technique could help stop them from becoming extinct.
The study was published in Biological Conservation and a report has appeared in the spring edition of Planet Earth.
< back
