Dr. Mary Burak is Appointed Chief Scientist at the International Crane Conservation for AfricaAt dawn in the wetlands of East Africa, cranes stand majestically against the backdrop of sunlight beaming through the mist. These kinds of landscapes are changing quickly as water regimes shift, grazing pressure increases, and we increasingly subdivide habitats that once seemed indefinite.
For the species that depend on wetlands across the continent, questions about their future increasingly focus on how these kinds of magical places will remain connected. Former Kartzinel Lab postdoc Mary Burak has just taken on a leadership role to connect science, strategy, and action in this domain—she has been appointed Chief Scientist of the International Crane Foundation in Africa.
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When Wildlife Eat Poisonous Plants: What to Watch For & How Rapid DNA Testing Can HelpImagine a small group of endangered rhinos has just been reintroduced to a protected valley. The release plan looks perfect on paper: good grass cover, reliable water, minimal risk of poaching or other human disturbances. Then, within days, several animals begin showing classic gut-pain behaviors: repeatedly lying down and getting back up, pawing at the ground, rolling around. A field team notices profuse salivation in one animal and diarrhea in another.
Now the clock is running. In animals like rhinos, with large ‘hindgut fermenting’ digestive systems, the effects of plant toxins can move from subtle to catastrophic quickly. To save these animals, to make sure others don’t get sick, and to protect the future of the rewilding initiative we can’t take a risk in guessing what kind of treatment might work—we have to quickly figure out what, exactly, they have been eating. That’s where any preparation to enable rapid dietary testing can help guide our response in real time. Emerging strategies that enable rapid DNA testing to minimize the economically costly loss of livestock are becoming highly effective and scalable—they are about to spill over into the wildlife sector where they can help bolster conservation initiatives as well. We anticipate this could become especially important for wildlife translocation and reintroduction programs, where animals are presented an array of unfamiliar foods that their systems are not accustomed to. NSF Renews Fray Jorge Project, Extending a 35+ Year Ecological ExperimentIn a dry coastal forest in north-central Chile, fences built decades ago still shape which kinds of plants and animals live or die. Inside some plots, small mammals—rodents like degus—move freely as they are pursued by hawks, owls, and foxes. In others, both prey and their predators are kept out. Over time, those differences have cascaded throughout the ecosystem, reshaping plant communities, altering food webs, and changing how organisms respond to climatic variability. For more than 35 years, researchers have returned to these experimental plots at Fray Jorge. It has been maintained as one of the longest-running ecological experiments in the world. Now, with renewed support from the US National Science Foundation, our most recent efforts enter their second half of a coordinated 10-year research plan. A defining feature of the work happening this decade is the incorporation of genomic technologies to understand how the ecosystem is assembled—and the consequences of its disassembly under global change. HelmBank Release R1: DNA barcodes for wildlife parasites—now availableA new Kartzinel Lab data release, built with partners across Central and South America, is creating the reference tools needed to identify parasitic worms (helminths) that infect wildlife using DNA barcoding. HelmBank links expertly identified and voucher-backed parasite specimens to host species and geographic data—so conservation biologists, wildlife veterinarians, and molecular ecologists can translate parasite detections from sick or free-ranging animals into reliable data. First public release of HelmBank strengthens parasite detection for Neotropical mammals Release R1 publishes 45 parasite DNA barcode sequences, drawn from a larger working collection of more than 100 specimens. Hosts represented across HelmBank already include big cats (ocelot, jaguar, puma), foxes, tapirs, peccaries, sloths, armadillos, anteaters, and opossums—a cross-section of wildlife central to conservation and wildlife health programs across the region. Why this matters for conservation, wildlife health, and One Health DNA-based monitoring is increasingly used to study diets, microbiomes, and pathogens—but parasites are often left out because reference datasets are missing or too geographically mismatched to support confident identification. HelmBank is designed to close that gap by building a rigorously curated "field guide" for molecular parasitology—improving comparability across studies and strengthening our ability to monitor disease risk, which is especially important for both conservation and public health in areas where wildlife, livestock, and humans share landscapes. 🔗 Explore the releaseBiodiversity credits: where markets meet monitoring, DNA reference libraries are a high-leverage investmentBiodiversity credits are moving quickly from concept notes to implementation—and East African savannas are where some of the hardest questions are being tested. The promise is simple: markets can channel finance toward measurable, verifiable biodiversity outcomes at landscape scales. But the challenge is just as clear: unlike with carbon credits, biodiversity "units" can be counted in so many ways. Since a credit is only as credible as the monitoring behind it, a theme that keeps emerging from technical and policy discussions involves trying to figure out whether DNA-powered approaches can help. In principle, any DNA we detect in the environment can help make biodiversity surveys more reliable and harder to game. But all DNA-based approaches rely on unseen infrastructure that most people never consider: reference DNA libraries that must be constructed based on verifiably identified specimens. When biodiversity targets are poorly covered by these libraries, even the most sophisticated survey methods can collapse into reports that are frustratingly full of "unknowns." That message came through repeatedly at recent meetings in Nairobi, Kenya. Last week, Dr. Mary Burak (Senior Postdoc, Genomic Opportunities Lab) attended both the Business for Conservation Conference and the Global Conservation Technology & Drone Forum. A recurring question she encountered in conversations with practitioners, business leaders, and researchers went like this: what would it take to use DNA as "creditable" in savanna biodiversity programs—and who is going to build the databases we need to get there? What would it take to make DNA evidence "creditable" in savanna biodiversity programs—and who is going to build the databases we need to get there? Because translating complex biodiversity data into actionable information is one of our team's core strengths, we wanted to share this post as a practical summary of the field. We will outline how biodiversity credits work, how programs affecting East African savannas are typically structured, and when DNA can add real value. You will discover that DNA reference libraries are currently an undervalued and high-leverage investment that savvy leaders are making—they recognize that you can't make DNA creditable without it.
The key question we reveal for anyone who wants to participate in this market: what is the return on investment you can expect from building the reference libraries that underpin success—and how long will it take for the investment to increase the value of your monitoring services or offset programs? Charismatic Critter Club—Science Illustration that Makes Conservation Click
Alumni Spotlight: Andy Luo (Biology, Honors, 2021–2024)
Metabarcoding vs. Metagenomics: Two Ways to Decode Diets and Microbiomes
Metabarcoding Versus Direct Observation in Wildlife Diet Studies
Metabarcoding vs. Stable Isotopes: Two Ways to See What Animals Eat
Why Your Gift to a University’s Conservation Lab Matters More Than You Think When people think about funding conservation, they often picture supporting land trusts, wildlife rescue centers, or local environmental nonprofits. Those are all essential. But there’s another engine driving progress in conservation that often flies under the radar: university-based conservation programs. But aren’t universities already funded? Shouldn't the government pay for research? What difference could my gift make for a big institution like that? I'll explain how university budgets and research funding actually work and you'll see why they often can’t cover the most urgent, innovative conservation work. Instead, you'll find out that your support can unlock exactly the kinds of impact you want to see: real habitats protected, real species spared, and real people trained to carry your conservation values forward.
Profile: Cecilia Trani Launches a Cross-Continental Parasite Sleuthing Mission to Map the Parasitic Helminths of Atlantic Forest Felids
Inside a Year of Conservation at the Kartzinel Lab
👉 Read our 2025 Annual Report Transparency. Impact. Opportunity. This report is not a highlight reel. It is a clear account of how research, training, partnerships, and funding come together—or fall apart—at a time when biodiversity loss is accelerating and the decision about how to act can’t wait.
Whether you are considering funding, collaborating, or joining in our work, this report is designed to help you understand how we operate, what we prioritize, and where engagement can make a difference. From Data to Decisions: A Theory of Change for Conservation Science
Alumni Spotlight: Bethan Littleford-Colquhoun (Postdoc 2020-2025)Faculty member in Microbiomics, University of Bath (UK). Former NSF Yellowstone Project lead postdoc + Brown Postdoctoral Excellence Award recipient.
Reconstructing 10,000 Years of Caribou Diets from Melting Yukon Ice Patches
Metabarcoding vs Microhistology: Comparing Dietary Analysis Methods
Do undergraduate research in the Kartzinel Lab at Brown
Earn a Master’s degree in the Kartzinel Lab at BrownApplying for a master's degree can be an extremely rewarding step to take in your career! Brown University is seeking to expand its offerings for graduate degrees at this level, and one of them may be a great match to your personal and professional interests. Because you will discover an array of existing and potentially new opportunities to engage with my lab as a master's student, I want to help you navigate the opportunities and answer common questions you may have. If that sounds good to you, read on...! Earn a PhD in the Kartzinel Lab at BrownWhat you need to know is that PhDs from the Kartzinel Lab lead outstanding basic research that can have transdisciplinary extensions with significant conservation impacts in the real world. All PhD students will be enrolled in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology (EEOB), and those who pursue research with a significant conservation component will benefit from unique opportunities within the Institute at Brown for Environment & Society (IBES). If this sounds like an exciting opportunity for you, I'll share everything you need to know about developing a successful application below...! The call for applications to join HelmCamp 2026 at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica 🇨🇷 is now closed. Updates from the field will be posted here and announcements about future offerings will be advertised on the Kartzinel Lab website. Wildlife Molecular Parasitology: From Taxonomy to DNA in Costa Rica @HelmCamp2026
Study: New England is key to survival of diamondback terrapinsA new peer-reviewed study led by researchers at Brown University in partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management revealed that diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin), iconic turtles of America’s salt marshes, face heightened risks at the northern edge of their range in New England.
Story behind the science: Yellowstone wildlife dietsRethinking how we classify animals based on what they eat—and what it means for wildlife management An article by science journalist Livi Milloway chronicles an "ah-ha" moment we had in our Yellowstone National Park research project. The story published in The Wildlife Society Bulletin, titled An herbivore by any other name, unpacks how Hannah Hoff's recent paper in PNAS challenges the status quo when it comes to how scientists study and understand wildlife diets.
Hannah Hoff awarded Blavatnik Family Graduate Fellowship
Research highlight: Apportionment of Dietary Diversity in Wildlife published in PNAS (Hannah Hoff et al.)
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