Clare Cowgill

A new special feature in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social  aims to highlight recent technological advances that address the challenges of sampling rare species using eDNA 🐬 🧬

The deadline for proposals is 29th June 🕐

Find out more here 👇https://f.mtr.cool/ydtkemkjov

Conservationists call for Lake District to lose Unesco world heritage status Campaigners say designation promotes unsustainable sheep farming at expense of nature recovery and local communities

1. It’s good to see this scandal being called out at last. My thanks and congratulations go to Lee Schofield, Karen Lloyd and Ian Convery. But it’s also absolutely infuriating that it has come to this point, as I explain in this thread.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

An infographic depicting the various ways people relate to and value nature, including living from nature, living in nature, living with nature and living as nature.

Different worldviews and knowledge systems
influence the ways people interact with and value nature. 🌿- IPBES #ValuesAssessment

All these values must be considered to effectively address the #biodiversity crisis. 🌍🧪

Read the Values Assessment Report: www.ipbes.net/the-values-a...

🌊 Blue spaces survey 🌿

Our Rewild research group is exploring how blue spaces like rivers, lakes, and coasts support both people and nature.

🕒 It takes just 5 minutes and is completely anonymous.

👉 app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/hull/blue-...

Thank you so much @shrewgod.bsky.social that means a lot! In hindsight it was so much fun… though I could’ve done without the pre-talk nerves! 😅

Really thankful for the opportunity to present at #UKDNAWG25 - couldn’t ask for a lovelier audience!

Utilizing aquatic environmental DNA to address global biodiversity targets - Nature Reviews Biodiversity Aquatic eDNA-based technologies offer the potential for universal and standardized biodiversity monitoring. In this Perspective, Altermatt et al. discuss how these technologies can help to achiev...

Utilizing #aquatic environmental DNA #eDNA to address global #biodiversity targets: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

🧬🔬🐟🦫🍂🦐🧬

We discuss how eDNA can contribute towards Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Franework #GBF. Out now in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com

European Society for Environmental Omics (ESEO) Dear Environmental Omics enthusiasts! At the AquaEcOmics meeting in Evian (March, 2025), an international group of 35 experts discussed the future of regular European meetings and collaborative effor...

#eDNA #eRNA #omics people: would you support the formation of a European Society for Environmental Omics #ESEO? Please share your thoughts in the questionnaire & spread this message! 🙏
Thank you, the ESEO core team!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Temperate forest plants are associated with heterogeneous semi-open canopy conditions shaped by large herbivores - Nature Plants Temperate forest plants favour heterogeneous semi-open woodlands associated with high herbivore densities, rather than uniform closed-canopy forests. Herbivore loss is therefore a probable driver of e...

🌿 Our new study in @natplants.nature.com: Most European temperate forest plants are associated with semi-open, herbivore-shaped habitats—not closed-canopy #forests 🐎🌳🔆🌸 Highlights the need for trophic #rewilding in #conservation & need to avoid uniform dense #reforestation🌿
📄 doi.org/10.1038/s414...

advert for a PhD position on DNA-based identification of shark and ray catch and bycatch in Indonesia

Exciting new #PhD opportunity to thrust #DNA-based #shark and #ray stewardship into the future!
most relevant to #indonesian and #south-asian applicants.
@joanna-m-murray.bsky.social @dhikafishery.bsky.social
@whysharksmatter.bsky.social @misselasmo.bsky.social
@ljmuimpact.bsky.social

A scientific figure showing a species ecological interaction network derived from environmental DNA for a marine ecosystem. The trophic levels span zooplankton to whales and other large predators.

Can #eDNA recover biotic interactions? Our new study says Yes sometimes! Co-occurrence network analyses with data for the Moray Firth marine ecosystem recovered subsets of known food web trophic links but methodological issues are still a challenge ⤵️ 🧪🧬🌍🐳🦭🐟
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Huge step forward for beavers in England, been a long time coming! 🦫

Tree diversity increases carbon sequestration The world's oldest tropical tree diversity experiment has delivered compelling evidence that forests with multiple tree species capture significantly more

Yet another study finds that diverse forests store far more carbon than monoculture plantations. Previous research in the tropics showed it could be 40x more.

Natural forests also help stabilise the climate in other, equally vital ways. WHEN will this penny drop?
scienceblog.com/tree-diversi...

NFU President Tom Bradshaw boasts that last year the NFU "fended off the Right to Roam".

Labour must decide whether to side with an unrepresentative lobby group, or the grassroots @righttoroam.bsky.social campaign whose ask is backed by 69% of the public.

www.nfuonline.com/updates-and-...

Sheep Eat Oystercatchers, Curlew & Lapwings!

Extraordinary new case study out in BTO's magazine showing that out of 20 predated nests observed by nest cameras, **30% of predation took place by sheep eating the eggs!**

And we still see sheep as benign...

www.bto.org/sites/defaul... (pages 4-5)

We found…
1) #eDNA #metabarcoding is underutilised in terrestrial contexts vs aquatic systems

2) Few studies sample multiple substrates or measure functional diversity metrics

3) sampling design, substrate(s) & assay choice should be carefully considered as they are highly context dependent.

Thank you! ❤️

@lorihandley.bsky.social
@jdjgilbert.bsky.social
@ianconvery.bsky.social

Frontiers | Monitoring terrestrial rewilding with environmental DNA metabarcoding: a systematic review of current trends and recommendations

Excited to share my new (and first!) paper. We reviewed how environmental DNA can be applied to terrestrial rewilding monitoring- particularly which sampling substrates to use and how eDNA compares to other monitoring approaches 🧬

www.frontiersin.org/journals/con...

Sweden begins wolf hunt as it aims to halve endangered animal’s population Five entire families can be killed, totalling 30 wolves, in move campaigners say is illegal under EU law

Shameful decision from Sweden which has no excuse for exterminating wolves like this. Imagine India decided to halve its tiger population, or Kenya its lions? There'd be an outcry.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The MIEM guidelines: Minimum information for reporting of environmental metabarcoding data Environmental DNA (eDNA) and RNA (eRNA) metabarcoding has become a popular tool for assessing biodiversity from environmental samples, but inconsistent documentation of methods, data and metadata make...

Check out our latest paper on #eDNA and metabarcoding data reporting standards 🤓🧬🧪

These minimum reporting guidelines for metabarcoding workflows extend from the physical layout of laboratories through to data archiving enhance trust and reliability in data

mbmg.pensoft.net/article/1286...

The first pre-print from Jake Jackman's PhD on #eDNA monitoring of the River Mersey, UK. We compare multiple filter types across a saline gradient (marine to freshwater) in a strongly tidal estuary. All filters generally work well, including the passive metaprobe! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

a close up of an otter wearing a leash on a leash . ALT: a close up of an otter wearing a leash on a leash .

☎️ calling all budding #freshwater or #molecular ecologists!

Great #PhD with me, Fred Windsor, @danread.bsky.social + @jordancuff.bsky.social looking at impact of stressors + climate change on #ponds with #eDNA #metabarcoding to inform conservation + health assessment

Link below - apply by 13 Jan!

Finished up a fab week at #BES2024 by presenting my research on ‘multi-tool’ monitoring of rewilding. Thanks to everyone for being so lovely all week! #eDNA #Bioacoustics

So proud of this lot… 4 first big conference talks at #BES2024 by @clareycollins.bsky.social @clarecowgill.bsky.social Matthew Morgan and Tom Spencer from #UniofHull #Rewild research cluster + #EvoHull and they all smashed it! 👏👏👏👏

We're offering a PhD place on Rewilding!

This PhD will study the wilder grazing at Purbeck Heaths ‘Super National Nature Reserve’, which is shifting towards the restoration of natural processes to create a more dynamic, complex landscape
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

South of Scotland Golden eagle project plans England expansion A conservation project is looking to build on its success by taking the birds into England and Wales.

Golden eagle project plans England expansion www.bbc.com/news/article...