Biologists pelt one another over mouse

July hearing may set 'endangered' status

Jim Erickson, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Seven dried rodent pelts from a Kansas museum provide new evidence that the Colorado-dwelling Preble's mouse is genetically distinct and should retain its wildlife protections, a federal biologist said Tuesday.

The dried skins reveal a "systemic error" in a genetic study the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service relied on when it recommended last year that the Preble's meadow jumping mouse be stripped of Endangered Species Act protections, said U.S. Geological Survey biologist Tim King.

"It is important to know that there appears to be a systemic error in the data, and that any use of those data should be considered suspect," King said.

The agency's proposal to delist the mouse - potentially removing a costly barrier to Front Range development projects - was based largely on the findings of biologist Rob Roy Ramey, who was working for the Denver Museum of Nature & Science at the time.

On Tuesday, Ramey dismissed King's new findings as "chest-pounding overstatements."

In a 2003 report, Ramey said the seven skins from the Kansas University Natural History Museum contain genes from both the Preble's mouse and a more common meadow jumping mouse, the Bear Lodge mouse.

The shared genes suggest that the two types of mice interbred in the relatively recent past. That finding was used to bolster Ramey's argument that the two creatures are nearly identical and that Preble's doesn't deserve special treatment.

Recently, King obtained the same seven mouse pelts from the Kansas museum and analyzed the mitochondrial DNA they contain. Mitochondrial DNA is found in the microscopic factories that produce a cell's energy, the mitochondria.

King found that all seven skins hold Bear Lodge mitochondrial DNA but no trace of Preble's DNA.

Ramey said Tuesday that if he erred, he will write a correction and submit it to the scientific journal that published his Preble's paper.

But the new King result does not change the bottom line, he said: Preble's is nearly identical to the Bear Lodge mouse.

"If you just took those seven individuals and tossed them, it doesn't change the result that much," he said. "These things are still extremely closely related to each other.

"Tim King's station in life seems to be to do scientific colonoscopies," said Ramey, currently a consultant for the U.S. Department of Interior. "So if he wants to do that, more power to him."

The dispute between the two scientists goes back to January, when King released a study, commissioned by Fish and Wildlife, rebutting Ramey's claims and concluding that the Preble's mouse is a distinct subspecies.

Since then, at least two other Preble's studies - one agreeing with King and the other supporting Ramey - have been trumpeted by opposing sides in this long-running, rancorous dispute.

Last week, King learned that an updated version of his Preble's study has been accepted for publication in the journal Molecular Ecology. The revised version contains information about the seven rodent pelts unavailable when the January study was written, King said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service had no comment Tuesday about the updated King study.

To settle the Preble's dispute, the agency will invite King and Ramey to appear before an expert panel July 6 and 7 in Fort Collins.

Based on the results of that science review panel, Fish and Wildlife is expected to decide in early August whether to retain Preble's "threatened" status or to revoke it.