Scientists have identified something that may be even more uniquely Canadian than the beaver or moose: a genetically distinct western toad population found only in Canada.
The discovery, made by researchers from the University of Ottawa, points to a rare and previously unrecognized group of toads living in the Canadian Rockies and raises fresh questions about conservation, biodiversity, and how much wildlife still remains to be fully understood.
The study was published in Diversity and Distributions.A toad found only in CanadaWestern toads, or Anaxyrus boreas, are found across a wide stretch of North America, from Alaska to Mexico.But this new research shows that not all western toads are the same.
A team led by University of Ottawa PhD student Jayna Bergman discovered a genetically distinct population that is entirely contained within a Canadian province, something she described as “very unusual.”That discovery matters because a population found only in one country can be especially important for conservation.
If that group is lost, it cannot be replaced from elsewhere.
