ACAD

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.

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

13.08.2025 21:36 — 👍 31    🔁 12    💬 1    📌 0

Kākāpō decline reveals threat of parasite coextinction Researchers from the University of Adelaide, New Zealand’s Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research and University of Auckland have discovered that more than 80 per cent of parasites detected in kākāpō ...

29.07.2025 05:50 — 👍 1    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0

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…

Great to see this paper finally published! What a team effort this was to get up and running. Especially a big thanks to @shyama-mama.bsky.social and @robbiedavidson for taking the helm.
#ACAD #archaeology #ancientDNA
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

29.07.2025 14:34 — 👍 7    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 1

Bones of an extinct duck (left in each comparison) next to those of the closely related extant paradise shelduck (right).

New recently extinct shelduck Tadorna rekohu from the Chatham Islands (on left in each comparison, next to bones of the extant paradise shelduck on right): academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a... 🪶🧪 (📷 @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social et al.)

25.07.2025 13:01 — 👍 22    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0

Genetic transitions in the Neolithic and Bronze Age at Mas d’en Boixos (Catalonia, Spain) Human genetics; Biological sciences; Paleobiology

🚨 New paper!
🧬 We explore ancestry shifts, kinship ties & Mediterranean links at Mas d’en Boixos (Catalonia), from the Neolithic to the Iron Age.
👨🏻‍🔬A long journey since my master’s! Huge thanks to Cristina, Assumpció & @dnatimetravel.bsky.social! @acadresearch.bsky.social
shorturl.at/B8TlB

08.07.2025 15:02 — 👍 11    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 1

Optimized in-solution enrichment of over a million ancient human SNPs - Genome Biology Background In-solution hybridization enrichment of genetic markers is a method of choice in paleogenomic studies, where the DNA of interest is generally heavily fragmented and contaminated with enviro...

Excited to share our new paper! We benchmarked the Twist Ancient DNA kit for in-solution enrichment. It’s cost-effective, robust, and shows no allelic bias, even when pooling libraries!
@acadresearch.bsky.social @dnatimetravel.bsky.social @twistbioscience.com
doi.org/10.1186/s130...

03.07.2025 21:02 — 👍 9    🔁 5    💬 1    📌 1

@leonardtaufik.bsky.social from @acadresearch.bsky.social sharing his most recent results on South Sulawesi during the MBS seminar series.

13.05.2025 06:49 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Last Friday we celebrated 20 years of Assoc. Prof. Jeremy Austin at ACAD 🥳🎉 None of us may have been around back in 2005 when he started, but we are eternally grateful you have stuck around this long. Cheers to 20 more years with us!

08.05.2025 02:00 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Sedimentary ancient DNA from caves: Challenges and opportunities Caves are unique depositional environments that hold great potential for long-term preservation of DNA due to their typically cool and stable internal climates, buffered from external climate extreme...

Sedimentary ancient DNA from caves: Challenges and opportunities doi.org/10.1002/jqs.... , first publication from the PhD research of @siobhane13.bsky.social - congratulations!

15.04.2025 23:31 — 👍 17    🔁 7    💬 0    📌 1

6,000 years of Adélie penguin ecology in the Ross Sea reconstructed from ancient environmental DNA Long-term records of biodiversity provide baselines for interpreting change in threatened environments, such as Antarctica. Our study explores how ancient environmental DNA can provide these baselines, by reconstructing details about past populations and diets of Adélie penguins in the Ross Sea.

Exploration of the past 6,000 years of Adélie penguin ecology in the Ross Sea highlights past population dynamics and diets, offering insights into biodiversity changes in one of Earth's last intact marine ecosystems. The researchers take you behind their Nature Communications paper. 🧪

14.04.2025 16:04 — 👍 31    🔁 11    💬 0    📌 2