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Application of stable isotope techniques for verifying the geographical origin of endangered plants and animals subject to international trade
Kopecká, Ivana ; Jandová, Kateřina (advisor) ; Horká, Petra (referee)
Elements in nature can exist in several versions, which differ in the amount of neutrons in the nucleus. These modifications are called isotopes. Neutrons have a neutral charge, but do not have a zero weight, therefore isotopes of a single element are differ in weight. Thanks to the sensitive analytical methods, we can discern that the isotope in the sample is contained in what quantity (mass spectrometry is used, from which to retrieve the ratio of stable isotopes in a sample). This can be used in many fields, such as in geology, food ecology, or discovery of geographic origin. The aim of the thesis is in the published literature to determine the extent to which the method of analysis of stable isotopes usable to verify the geographical origin of endangered species of flora and fauna subject to international trade, especially turtles of the genus Testudo. Turtles of the genus Testudo are protected by CITES treaty, which limits, enables and disables trading in endangered species so as to avoid their extinction caused overexploitation for commercial purpose. However, there is still an illegal trade that the supervising authorities are trying to detect and combat. Key words: traceability, provenance determination, authentication, CITES treaty
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