Our primary mission is to conduct research that advances both the persistence of wild canid biodiversity and our basic understanding of canid evolution and ecology. In this context, the Canid Diversity and Conservation Group (CDCG) is an educational entity, providing opportunities for graduate, undergraduate, veterinary student, and post-doctoral research. We collaborate internationally and locally with other academic investigators and work closely with state, federal, and local agencies to ensure that our research has practical application. The CDCG also hosts students and volunteers from other universities and community colleges, providing opportunities for students with diverse backgrounds to come together, collaborate, and learn from one another. Although genetic tools are a cornerstone of our methodologies, we use of both field and laboratory based approaches in our research. The CDCG is housed in the Center for Veterinary Genetics wing of the CCAH Building on the UC Davis campus (click for directions).

Links to selected recent CDCL PUBLICATIONS:

Phylogenetic Distinctiveness of Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian Village Dog Y Chromosomes Illuminates Dog Origins. (2011, PLoS ONE, 6, e28496)

On the origin of a domesticated species: Identifying the parent population of Russian silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes).  (2011, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, early view).

A restricted hybrid zone between native and introduced red fox (Vulpes vulpes) populations suggests reproductive barriers and competitive exclusion (2011, Molecular Ecology , 20:326-341)

North American montane red foxes: expansion, fragmentation, and the origin of the Sacramento Valley red fox (2010, Conserv. Genetics, 11:1523-1539)

The Native Sacramento Valley red fox (2010, report to Calif. Dept. Fish and Game)