One of our new shelter boxes is being used by a ringtail possums, although not quite as intended…
Jamie Wood
@larusnz.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer @ Adelaide University; research interests in palaeoecology, cave sediments, coprolites, ancient DNA, environmental DNA, extinction and evolution
The 3rd AUS & NZ eDNA Conference is currently being organised & we want to tailor the ECR sessions, workshops, & activities to best support the needs of our ECR's Please fill out this survey to help us plan these: tinyurl.com/5c67krkf We look forward to seeing you at the conference next year
"Emeritus professor and the study's lead author David Norton said deer populations have grown back to levels seen in the 1950s and 60s. He told RNZ the decline might not be visible straightaway. He said deer were hollowing out forests of food sources which support forest ecosystems."
Rising deer numbers drive decline in native forests - research
Ecologists are calling for a deer management strategy, as a new report finds the pests threaten native forests' regrowth.
rnz.co.nz
Did #prehistoric Europeans eat #insects?! 🦗🧬 #Metagenomic analyses of 745 #dental #calculus samples, together with human genetic data, suggest that #entomophagy was likely infrequent and mostly incidental. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #AncientDiet #ancientDNA
Genomic evidence for limited entomophagy in ancient Europeans
Ancient DNA traces in teeth and genes reveal that insects played a minor role in prehistoric European diets.
science.org
A new study challenges conventional thinking about what drove the extinction of megafauna.
Giant kangaroos survived until 6,500 years ago on the New Guinea coast
theconversation.com
Favourite part of the native birdlife mural at Glenalta railway station, South Australia
Ok, now I understand, but I'm also hungry...
Making eDNA more digestible: A pizza analogy for understanding false negatives and occupancy modeling
Abstract. Environmental DNA (eDNA) sequencing from water samples has emerged as a promising and cost-effective approach to collect comprehensive freshwater
doi.org
Known #extinctions are just the tip of the iceberg. Many human-driven losses remain undocumented—so-called #DarkExtinctions, absent from the IUCN #RedList, biasing our view of biodiversity loss. Check our new paper in Nature Reviews Biodiversity: www.nature.com/articles/s44... 🌐🌍🧪
New online! Dark extinctions warrant recognition in Red Lists
Dark extinctions warrant recognition in Red Lists
Nature Reviews Biodiversity, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s44358-026-00160-2Poorly documented species extinctions (‘dark extinctions’) are absent from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List — the ‘gold standard’ for assessing extinction risks. This absence has substantial consequences for current attempts to quantify the full scale of extinctions. We propose methodological improvements to explicitly include dark extinctions in the Red List.
dlvr.it
Poorly documented “Dark extinctions” are currently not considered in the IUCN Red List, leading to significant underestimates of actual biodiversity loss. How can we change this?
Dark extinctions warrant recognition in Red Lists - Nature Reviews Biodiversity
Poorly documented species extinctions (‘dark extinctions’) are absent from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List — the ‘gold standard’ for assessing extinction risks. This absenc...
nature.com
So lucky to be able to take a lunchtime trail run when working from home and come across these
Join us Friday 27th March at ** 9am GMT ** for our AaRC TikTalk seminar, given this month by two exciting Australian-based researchers Loukas Koungoulos (dingos!) and Siobhan Evans (cave sediment!) #adna @aarc-community.bsky.social
Scopula optivata on the bathroom mirror - above and below in one photo!
Awesome to be working alongside the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and several other partner organisations on this exciting new project. www.australianwildlife.org/news-and-res...
Historical eDNA unlocks clues of Australia’s wildlife past
Innovative new research project aims to shed light on the historical ranges of some of Australia’s most threatened species.
australianwildlife.org
Wow! An incredible discovery - the first Early Pleistocene fossil terrestrial vertebrate fauna from a cave in New Zealand. Includes a new species of Kākāpō! doi.org/10.1080/0311...
The first Early Pleistocene (ca 1 Ma) fossil terrestrial vertebrate fauna from a cave in New Zealand reveals substantial avifaunal turnover in the last million years
New Zealand has a rich Late Pleistocene–Holocene vertebrate fossil record with numerous sites across the country in dune, cave and wetland deposits, collectively providing detailed knowledge on the...
doi.org
Shown here is one of New Zealand's most unique and charismatic parrot species: the kākāpō, threatened with extinction by the introduction of invasive species. But the decline of this parrot also includes the decline of its unique parasites, tracked over almost 800 years.
Exciting times in the ancient DNA lab today, helping student to sample some very old Australian scats! Age, depositor and content TBC.
A favourite from my collection of signed natural history books. The inscription pretty much says it all.
Introducing the SeDNAs Members Starter Pack 🧬 Connect with fellow members of the society, grow your eDNA network, and spark new collaborations! Comment below or message to be added to the pack go.bsky.app/GBwDbax
Welcome to the world Rēkohu shelduck. You can check out our #openaccess paper about this new extinct duck from the Chatham Islands here (academic.oup.com/.../article/...) & make sure to read our @aunz.theconversation.com piece theconversation.com/the-discover... 1/4
The discovery of an extinct shelduck highlights the rich ancient biodiversity of the remote Rēkohu Chatham Islands
Many birds on Rēkohu Chatham Islands show how ‘island syndrome’ influences evolution – they are distinct but remain closely related to species on the mainland.
theconversation.com
New Zealand birds never fail to amaze. The extinct Hodgen's rail, thought to be a diminutive relative of the Australian waterhen, turns out instead to be a giant crake! link.springer.com/article/10.1... 📷: Paul Martinson, Te Papa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
🧬 📜 New paper alert! 📜 🧬 We review recent literature that use ancient DNA methods in the analysis of archeological artefacts. We hope this will be a useful resource to improve the inclusion of ancient DNA methods into the study of ancient artefacts. 1/🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The necessity for authentication of ancient DNA from archaeological artefacts
The study of ancient DNA (aDNA) has revolutionised the fields of archaeology, human evolution and paleoecology, offering new insights into the past. I…
sciencedirect.com
The necessity for authentication of ancient DNA from archaeological artefacts url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/6eR1CVARMk...
Ancient DNA and morphometrics reveal a new species of extinct insular shelduck from Rēkohu Chatham Islands
Ancient DNA and morphometrics reveal a new species of extinct insular shelduck from Rēkohu Chatham Islands
Abstract. The Rēkohu Chatham Islands, 785 km east of mainland Aotearoa New Zealand, exhibit high levels of species endemism. Prior to human settlement, the
academic.oup.com
