Revealing the secret night life of owls

Deakin University researcher Dr Fiona Hogan is DNA fingerprinting Australian owls with the help of feathers and a keen public.

Her work is transforming our understanding of the night life of owls, notoriously secretive creatures. From a single feather, Dr Hogan can determine the species, sex, and identity of individual birds.

"Being able to identify individual animals in the wild with DNA has transformed our work. It provides such a wealth of information that it has become the key to conservation," she said.

She has already found a pair of powerful owls who have mated together for at least 10 consecutive years, and found that those breeding in urban areas are typically more closely related than those which breed in the bush.

Australian owls are under threat. As predators at the top of the food chain, owls are an essential part of the Australian environment.

"Without them we could lose many native animals forever, because they help keep species in balance," Dr Hogan said. "In order to conserve owls we need to know more about them and we need that information fast."

Through her work she has perfected the art of extracting DNA from feathers shed by the birds.

"Trace amounts of DNA left behind by an animal, in feathers, hairs, scats or eggshells, can be used to identify them," Dr Hogan explained. "DNA in living organisms is unique and can be used to identify individuals using fingerprint techniques."

Dr Hogan has uncovered a series of 'genetic markers' which can provide a DNA fingerprint to identify an individual owl from a single feather.

As feather collection requires little expertise, Dr Hogan has been able to enlist the aid of people from all over Australia to collect owl feathers for her. More than 2,000 feathers have been collected, with some from highly threatened species, such as the elusive Rufous owl (Ninox rufa) which is only found in remote areas in Northern Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Her techniques have sparked great interest worldwide, and her methods have been adopted in many other places.

"We now have access to a wide range of useful and affordable technologies, which allow conservation biologists to obtain data much more quickly and precisely than using traditional techniques," Dr Hogan said.

Dr Hogan is one of 15 early-career scientists presenting their research to the public for the first time thanks to Fresh Science, a national program sponsored by the Federal Government. She is a lecturer in Deakin University's School of Life and Environmental Sciences.