Branco Weiss Fellow Since
2023
Research Category
Evolutionary Biology, Conservation Genetics, Palaeogenetics
Research Location
Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Background
While illegal killing of elephants for ivory is still a major threat to the survival of elephants today, the ivory trade has a long history spanning millennia. For thousands of years, ivory has been flowing into Europe through the Mediterranean trade routes, as it was, and still is, considered a valuable commodity. Yet, very little is known about the elephants and humans involved in the trade and the chapter of history that so closely binds our species.
Details of Research
Dr. Pečnerová will use the long history of ivory imports into Europe, and she will apply state-of-the-art genomic tools to modern confiscated ivory and historical ivory collections to reconstruct a map of elephant ivory trade routes in Europe and its changes through time. The DNA extracted from tusks and ivory objects can reveal where was the ivory sourced from, if the exchange networks changed with changing cultures, and how did the ivory trade affect the genetic diversity of African elephants. Using her expertise in ancient DNA research and elephant genomics, Dr. Pečnerová will collaborate with an interdisciplinary team of international researchers to study the human and elephant history in parallel, and from a myriad of angles.
