M. Ushio
@ong8181.bsky.social
An ecologist at HKUST in Hong Kong. Ecosystem ecology, environmental DNA, statistics, and many others | 香港科技大学、生態系動態、環境DNA、統計解析 | 野外の生態系動態を理解したい
New paper from our lab: Exploring causal factors of coastal chlorophyll-a dynamics and their potential contributions to near future forecasting www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Exploring causal factors of coastal chlorophyll-a dynamics and their potential contributions to near future forecasting
Harmful algal blooms have been causing significant damage worldwide, and Hong Kong is no exception. To understand the drivers of algal bloom formation…
sciencedirect.com
🧬A Perspective discussing methylation of environmental DNA as a promising method for ecological inference: doi.org/10.1038/s420...
The potential of methylation signal detection in eDNA toward functional ecological monitoring - Communications Biology
A Perspective introduces meth-eDNA, using DNA methylation in environmental DNA to infer population traits. Emerging methods could enable noninvasive inference of age, sex ratio, reproduction and stres...
doi.org
Our perspective paper about the potential of methylation signal detection in eDNA research has finally been published! Epi-eDNA is still technically challenging, but I think it has huge potential: www.nature.com/articles/s42...
The potential of methylation signal detection in eDNA toward functional ecological monitoring - Communications Biology
A Perspective introduces meth-eDNA, using DNA methylation in environmental DNA to infer population traits. Emerging methods could enable noninvasive inference of age, sex ratio, reproduction and stres...
nature.com
The next PopBio seminar will be next Thursday June 25. Masayuki Ushio (HKUST) @ong8181.bsky.social will present: "Understanding cetacean ecology from water samples: Cetacean environmental DNA studies in Hong Kong waters" Sign up link: forms.gle/JR8NkjgBBgwD...
A fish robot swimming in HK coastal water. It looks so real (not from my research group).
Corona Discharges Glow on Trees Under Thunderstorms agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Corona Discharges Glow on Trees Under Thunderstorms
A new ultraviolet-sensitive instrument has enabled the first direct observations of corona discharges on trees under thunderstorms Corona discharges are transient in nature, often jumping from le...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
For half a century, researchers suspected treetops on Earth might glow because of thunderstorms. But the phenomenon, an electric outburst called a corona, has only ever been spotted in the lab--until now. Cool story from @hannah-richter.bsky.social for @science.org
In a first, researchers film treetops glowing during thunderstorms
Glimmer sparked by electrical fields detected in nature for the first time
science.org
Our former postdoc, Taka's nice work appeared in bioRxiv. We propose that a "dynamic response trait," calculated based on time series, better predicts fish species range shift: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Urbanization and Spatial Aggregation Impair Multifunctionality in Urban Vacant Lots onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Urbanization and Spatial Aggregation Impair Multifunctionality in Urban Vacant Lots
This study provides the first assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality in urban vacant lots. Although urbanization and spatial aggregation of vacant lots impaired multifunctionalit...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Exploring causal factors of coastal chlorophyll-a dynamics and their potential contributions to near future forecasting www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Exploring causal factors of coastal chlorophyll-a dynamics and their potential contributions to near future forecasting
Harmful algal blooms have been causing significant damage worldwide, and Hong Kong is no exception. To understand the drivers of algal bloom formation and forecast the dynamics of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a...
biorxiv.org
Our new preprint! We used qPCR and µCeta eDNA metabarcoding for detecting the finless porpoises in Hong Kong. "Detecting the Indo-Pacific finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) in Hong Kong waters using environmental DNA" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Detecting the Indo-Pacific finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) in Hong Kong waters using environmental DNA
The Indo-Pacific finless porpoise ( Neophocaena phocaenoides ), a coastal cetacean species widely distributed from the Taiwan Strait to the Persian Gulf, is an iconic species that may represent an ove...
biorxiv.org
Went to a field survey and sighted several Chinese white dolphins again! They must have released lots of eDNA into the seawater.
さきがけ時代にやっていた京都のリアル田んぼでのモニタリング研究の論文が Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 誌から発表されました。 doi.org/10.1016/j.ag...
We have posted our second Hong Kong paper on bioRxiv! We developed species-specific qPCR primers and a TaqMan probe for detecting Chinese white dolphins. The specificity and sensitivity were meticulously tested.
bioRxiv Ecology@biorxiv-ecology.bsky.social · 9mo agoDetection of environmental DNA of the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins in Hong Kong waters using quantitative PCR https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.30.685690v1
Our first Hong Kong paper was published in Environmental DNA! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... We developed cetacean-specific eDNA primers, named µCeta. Please try it if you are interested in cetacean eDNA metabarcoding!
μCeta: A Set of Cetacean‐Specific Primers for Environmental DNA Metabarcoding With Minimal Amplification of Non‐Target Vertebrates
Cetacean eDNA metabarcoding results from the aquarium pool samples using new cetacean-specific primers. μCeta shows superior performance to detect and differentiate different cetacean species.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Contrasting ecological communities in rice paddy fields under conventional and no-fertilizer farming practices https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.12.669982v1
Foraging ants as liquid brains www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Foraging ants as liquid brains: Movement heterogeneity shapes collective efficiency | PNAS
Liquid brains conceptualize living systems that operate without central control, where collective outcomes emerge from local and dynamic interactio...
pnas.org
Ecosystem-based reservoir computing. Hypothesis paper sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Ecosystem-based reservoir computing. Hypothesis paper
Reservoir computing (RC) has emerged as a powerful computational paradigm, leveraging the intrinsic dynamics of complex systems to process temporal da…
sciencedirect.com
🙏 And just as an addition: don‘t use these primers for bulk sample metabarcoding. There others are ways better (we recommend fwhF2/fwhR2n as a good solution; further solutions like BF2/BR3 or mlCOI with dgHCO exist)
eDNAqua-Plan Project@ednaquaplan.bsky.social · last yr.Take a deep dive into this article by @leeselab.bsky.social focusing on new primers for #eDNA metabarcoding, proving that they significantly boost detection of benthic invertebrates in freshwater. Targeting the right sequences can overcome nontarget amplification 👉 bit.ly/4dC2rlT #science #water
Plastic bag bans and fees reduce harmful bag litter on shorelines. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Plastic bag bans and fees reduce harmful bag litter on shorelines
Plastic pollution threatens marine and freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide. Although plastic bag bans and taxes are increasingly implemented worldwide, their effectiveness in reducing ...
science.org
Recovering historical fish eDNA from museum-preserved Antarctic filter feeders via non-destructive metabarcoding. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.07.656140v1
Contrasted effects of human pressure on biodiversity in the UK: a multi-taxonomic assessment using airborne environmental DNA https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.01.651649v1
Flexible Methods for Species Distribution Modeling with Small Samples https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.03.647025v1
We were honored to celebrate with our Awardees at the ceremony. Congratulations to all!👏 From left to right: Hiroshi Tomimatsu (EiC of Ecological Research @hrstm.bsky.social ), Kohmei Kadowaki, Naoyuki Nakahama @naoyukinkhm.bsky.social, Samuel R. P.-J. Ross #ESJ72 #ERPaperAward
μCeta: a set of cetacean-specific primers for environmental DNA metabarcoding with minimal amplification of non-target vertebrates https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.19.644246v1
