Stephen Sarre, based at the University of Canberra in Australia, has made a career out of collecting and analyzing poop.
We don’t generally add items to the news room relating to animal research but the issues of contaminated samples, hoaxing and false positives run across research integrity and go well beyond animal research.
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In 2012, after analyzing thousands of fecal samples, Sarre published a paper in the Journal of Applied Ecology which boldly claimed that “Foxes are now widespread in Tasmania.” But many outside researchers didn’t buy it, and quickly voiced their criticisms of the paper, namely that there may be problems with false positives and the methodology used to analyze the samples. Recently, the journal issued an expression of concern for the paper, citing an ongoing investigation into the allegations.
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