B--DNA Carcass Identification of Deceased Wildlife Resulting From the Seledang Ayu Oil Spill

The US Fish and Wildife Service, Region 7 (Alaska) intends to award a sole source procurment to the University of Alaska Museum for the identification of wildlife carcases that resulted from the Seledang Ayu grounding in Cold Bay Alaska during the winter of 2004-2005. University of Alaska Museum will use their standard UAMX catalogue and its sequential numbering system for keeping track of each carcass with a complete description of remains (eg right wing, skin with contour feathers), its genetic sample, and associated pieces archived here as prepared & preserved morphological material and/or the remains returned to USFWS. Due to physical degradation from predators in addition to oiling, it may not be possible to identify all remains to species. The goal is to make that number of unidentifiables as low as possible using reasonable methods of identification. As many as 50-70% of carcasses may be Aethia auklets which are less important than non-auklets for species-level identification, and a subsample of the auklets identified to species level may be sufficient. The UA Museum will use DNA 'barcoding' to identify some of these carcasses (see below). This first requires that we establish a vouchered 'reference panel' of genetic data for the species likely to have been impacted by the spill. The museum will use the standard 'barcoding' mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase I (COI), which has proven very useful for species-level identifications across many animals, including birds. 26 species were possibly affected by the spill, and the UAM bird collection has vouchered tissue samples of each of these. To accommodate genetic variation within each species UAM will sequence 5 vouchered individuals of each of these 26 species (130 birds total for the 'reference panel'). DNA 'barcoding' will be used to identify some of the physically degraded carcasses by comparing the DNA sequences of unknowns against the reference panel of known samples established in No. 6 above. Ruling out an identification can be as important as making a confident ID; this method should enable very high accuracy - likely in the great majority of cases to be 100% - for identifications of any sample containing amplifiable DNA. The UAM lab is routinely producing DNA sequence data, but the costs of identifying carcasses using this method is higher than using standard morphological techniques. Given that we do not yet know how many carcasses may warrant genetic identifications, it seems reasonable to propose here that UAM barcodes 192 individuals (equipment works in multiples of 16). If more sequencing is warranted, the contract may be modified support additional sequence-based identifications. As a museum with a bird research collection, UAM is an appropriate archive for Alaska bird specimens. Archiving a tissue sample for this project accomplishes two goals: 1) it enables anyone to go back to a carcass and identify it using genetic methods; and 2) it preserves a piece of each animal for future scientists to ask questions about these animals and the environments. All remaining material will be returned to USFWS. These materials would retain their unique number identifications. This notice of intent is not a request for proposals and the Government does not intend to accept proposals received. Award will be made 30 days after the publication of this notice. See numbered Note 22.