Mink research

Mink abundance appears to have declined across Canada during the last 50 years. We are testing putative causes of mink declines, including habitat loss and contamination. We are also testing for effects on wild mink populations of genetic hybridization between ranch and wild mink, and of disease potentially related to mink ranches. The photograph shows a radio-collared mink near Point Pelee, Ontario, sitting in a muskrat house. We have been collaborating in the mink research program with Dr. Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde.

Students

Jill Lalor, M.Sc. student, Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University

Introgression and functional genomics in mammals

Co-supervised by Dr. Paul J. Wilson

Alumni

Dr. Kaela Beauclerc, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2009-10, Laurentian University and Trent University

Co-supervised with Dr. Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde

Genetic consequences of hybridization between domestic and wild mink

Larissa Nituch, M.Sc. graduate, 2010, Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University

Aleutian disease in free-ranging American mink (Neovison vison): prevalence, molecular epidemiology, and sources of transmission.

Anne Kidd, M.Sc. graduate, 2008, Department of Biology, Laurentian University

Mink gone wild: hybridization between escaped farm and wild American mink (Neovison vison) in a natural context

Co-supervised with Dr. Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde

Ryan Gorman, M.Sc. graduate, 2007, Watershed Ecosystems Graduate Program, Trent University

Spatial analysis of population trends of American mink (Neovison vison) in Ontario

Ashley Tamlin, B.Sc. graduate, 2007, Biology, Nipissing University

Effects of domestication on skull shape of mink

Mink publications

Bowman, J., A.G. Kidd, P.A. Martin., T.V. McDaniel, L.A. Nituch, and A.I. Schulte-Hostedde. In press. Testing for bias in a sentinel species: contaminants in free-ranging domestic, wild, and hybrid mink. Environmental Research.

Nituch, L.A., J. Bowman, P.Wilson, and A.I. Schulte-Hostedde. In Press. Molecular epidemiology of Aleutian mink disease virus in free-ranging domestic, hybrid, and wild mink. Evolutionary Applications.

Nituch, L. A., J. Bowman, K. B. Beauclerc, and A. I. Schulte-Hostedde. 2011. Mink farms predict Aleutian disease exposure in wild American mink. PLoS ONE 6(7): e21693.

Bowman, J., and A. I. Schulte-Hostedde. 2009. The mink is not a reliable sentinel species. Environmental Research 109: 937-939.

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Kidd, A. G., J. Bowman, D. Lesbarrères, and A. I. Schulte-Hostedde. 2009. Hybridization between escaped domestic and wild American mink (Neovison vison). Molecular Ecology 18: 1175-1186.

Tamlin, A. L., J. Bowman, and D. F. Hackett. 2009. Separating wild from domestic American mink based on skull morphometrics. Wildlife Biology 15: 266-277.

Bowman, J., A. G. Kidd, R. M. Gorman, and A. I. Schulte-Hostedde. 2007. Assessing the potential for impacts by feral mink on wild mink in Canada. Biological Conservation 139: 12-18.

Bowman, J., and A. L. Tamlin. 2007. The effect of sinus nematode infection on braincase volume and cranium shape in the mink. Journal of Mammalogy 88: 946-950.

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