TY - JOUR T1 - Barcoding and traditional health practitioner perspectives are informative to monitor and conserve frogs and reptiles traded for traditional medicine in urban South Africa JF - Molecular Ecology Resources Y1 - 2023 DO - 10.1111/1755-0998.13873 A1 - Phaka, Fortunate M. A1 - Netherlands, Edward C. A1 - Van Steenberge, Maarten A1 - Verheyen, Erik A1 - Sonet, Gontran A1 - Hugé, Jean A1 - du Preez, Louis H. A1 - Vanhove, Maarten P. M. AB -

AbstractPrevious literature suggests that Indigenous cultural practices, specifically traditional medicine, are commonplace among urban communities contrary to the general conception that such practices are restricted to rural societies. We reviewed previous literature for records of herptiles (frog and reptile species) sold by traditional health practitioners in urban South Africa, then used visual confirmation surveys, DNA barcoding and folk taxonomy to identify the herptile species that were on sale. Additionally, we interviewed 11 IsiZulu and SePedi speaking traditional health practitioners to document details of the collection and pricing of herptile specimens along with the practitioners' views of current conservation measures for traditional medicine markets. The 34 herptile species recorded in previous literature on traditional medicine markets included endangered and non‐native species. Spectrophotometry measurements of the DNA we extracted from the tissue of herptiles used in traditional medicine were an unreliable predictor of whether those extractions would be suitable for further experimental work. From our initial set of 111 tissue samples, 81 sequencing reactions were successful and 55 of those sequences had species‐level matches to COI reference sequences on the NCBI GenBank and/or BOLD databases. Molecular identification revealed that traditional health practitioners correctly labelled 77% of the samples that we successfully identified with DNA barcoding in this study. Our mixed methodology approach is useful for conservation planning as it updates knowledge of animal use in Indigenous remedies and can accurately identify species of high conservation priority. Furthermore, this study highlights the possibility of collaborative conservation planning with traditional health practitioners.

VL - Online UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13873 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Population genomics of introduced Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Repeated introductions since colonial times with multiple sources JF - Molecular Ecology Y1 - 2022 DO - 10.1111/mec.16479 A1 - Geraerts, Mare A1 - Vangestel, Carl A1 - Artois, Tom A1 - Fernandes, Jorge Manuel de Oliveira A1 - Jorissen, Michiel W. P. A1 - Chocha Manda, Auguste A1 - Danadu Mizani, Célestin A1 - Smeets, Karen A1 - Snoeks, Jos A1 - Sonet, Gontran A1 - Tingbao, Yang A1 - Van Steenberge, Maarten A1 - Vreven, Emmanuel A1 - Lunkayilakio Wamuini, Soleil A1 - Vanhove, Maarten P. M. A1 - Huyse, Tine SP - 3304 – 3322 VL - 31 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.16479 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Hidden biodiversity in an ancient lake: phylogenetic congruence between Lake Tanganyika tropheine cichlids and their monogenean flatworm parasites JF - Scientific Reports Y1 - 2015 DO - 10.1038/srep13669 A1 - Vanhove, Maarten P. M. A1 - Pariselle, Antoine A1 - Van Steenberge, Maarten A1 - Raeymaekers, Joost A. M. A1 - Hablützel, Pascal I. A1 - Gillardin, Céline A1 - Hellemans, Bart A1 - Breman, Floris C. A1 - Koblmüller, Stephan A1 - Sturmbauer, Christian A1 - Snoeks, Jos A1 - Volckaert, Filip A. M. A1 - Huyse, Tine VL - 5 UR - http://www.nature.com/articles/srep13669 IS - 1 JO - Sci Rep ER - TY - JOUR T1 - DNA barcoding fishes from the Congo and the Lower Guinean provinces: assembling a reference library for poorly inventoried fauna JF - Molecular Ecology Resources Y1 - 2019 DO - 10.1111/1755-0998.12983 A1 - Sonet, Gontran A1 - Snoeks, Jos A1 - Nagy, Zoltán T. A1 - Vreven, Emmanuel A1 - Boden, Gert A1 - Breman, Floris C. A1 - Decru, Eva A1 - Hanssens, Mark A1 - Ibala Zamba, Armel A1 - Jordaens, Kurt A1 - Mamonekene, Victor A1 - Musschoot, Tobias A1 - Van Houdt, Jeroen A1 - Van Steenberge, Maarten A1 - Wamuini, Soleil Lunkayilakio A1 - Verheyen, Erik SP - 728 EP - 743 VL - 19 UR - http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/1755-0998.12983 IS - 3 JO - Mol Ecol Resour ER - TY - JOUR T1 - First genomic study on Lake Tanganyika sprat Stolothrissa tanganicae: a lack of population structure calls for integrated management of this important fisheries target species JF - BMC Evolutionary Biology Y1 - 2019 DO - 10.1186/s12862-018-1325-8 A1 - De Keyzer, Els L. R. A1 - De Corte, Zoë A1 - Van Steenberge, Maarten A1 - Raeymaekers, Joost A. M. A1 - Calboli, Federico C. F. A1 - Kmentová, Nikol A1 - N’Sibula Mulimbwa, Théophile A1 - Virgilio, Massimiliano A1 - Vangestel, Carl A1 - Mulungula, Pascal Masilya A1 - Volckaert, Filip A. M. A1 - Vanhove, Maarten P. M. SP - 6 VL - 19 UR - https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-018-1325-8 IS - 1 JO - BMC Evol Biol ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Testing the potential of DNA barcoding in vertebrate radiations: the case of the littoral cichlids (Pisces, Perciformes, Cichlidae) from Lake Tanganyika JF - Molecular Ecology Resources Y1 - 2016 DO - 10.1111/1755-0998.12523 A1 - Breman, Floris C. A1 - Loix, Sara A1 - Jordaens, Kurt A1 - Snoeks, Jos A1 - Van Steenberge, Maarten SP - n/a EP - n/a UR - http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/1755-0998.12523 JO - Mol Ecol Resour ER -