Tracing Western Australia's pest starlings on The Science Show

Professor Bill Sherwin and Dr Lee Ann Rollins on the The Science Show with Robyn Williams on ABC Radio National on 28 May 2016.

Starlings attack fruit crops, foul grain stores and transmit disease in livestock. Their droppings can also be annoying. As in other parts of the world, they were originally introduced to Australia. Now, in some parts of Western Australia, starlings are a pest. It was thought they were entering the state from South Australia. Lee Rollins applied genetic testing and determined Western Australia’s starlings were entering from many source populations, not just the one bordering South Australia as had been thought. This has allowed control measures to be focussed on the Western Australian populations, and not erroneously on any other one distant population.

Listen to the interview:

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/tracing-western...