Samuel Vanden Abeele

Cabot's tragopan (Tragopan caboti), photographed in Mount Sanqing, Shangrao, Jiangxi Province, China, by Sun Jiao [CC-BY-SA-4.0]

Satyr tragopan (Tragopan satyra) at Praha ZOO by Matěj Baťha [CC-BY-SA 3.0]

Temminck's tragopan (Tragopan temminckii) at Washington D.C. Zoo by Jarek Tuszyński [CC-BY-SA-3.0]

🐦‍🔥 Meet the Tragopan: one of the Himalayas’ most spectacular birds

Often called “horned pheasants”, these stunning birds display inflatable orange or blue horns during their elaborate courtship displays.

Sadly, several Tragopan species are under growing pressure from habitat loss and hunting.

🧵👇

BopCo and JEMU are using genetic tools, COI barcodes and SNP data, to trace the flies’ origins and deliver fast insights to authorities.

🌱 Want to help? Applications open this spring to host a fly trap at home for summer 2026!

More info on how to participate: www.africamuseum.be/en/get_invol...

Registration is open for GuardIAS Summer School 2026, with a focus on e-DNA and Invasive Species! 🌊

Explore the program and meet the trainers: guardias.eu/welcome-to-t...

Register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

#GuardIAS #InvasiveAlienSpecies #IAS #InvasiveSpecies #BioInvasions

Looking forward to presenting @bopco-be.bsky.social to the iBOL Europe community!

More info 👇

Community Meeting January 2026 The first community meeting of the year is coming soon, on 26 January, from 15:30 to 17:00 CET! We will start the meeting with Amber Hartman Scholz (Leibniz-Institut DSMZ). With her, we will discuss ...

The first community meeting of the year will happen on 26 January!

We'll be joined by Amber Hartman Scholz (Leibniz-Institut DSMZ), who will discuss the BBNJ Treaty, including Marine Genetic Resources & the requirements for fair & equitable sharing of benefits.
iboleurope.org/community-me...

PhD opportunity at the University of Freiburg in plant-insect-microbe interactions. Focus on drought and herbivory effects on Quercus petrea. Details: https://uni-freiburg.de/en/job/00004720/ #phd

Emergence and diffusion of agriculture in the Congo Basin rainforests Emergence and diffusion of agriculture in the Congo Basin rainforests

Postdoc position in population genomics available in Montpellier, France, focusing on the evolutionary history of food plants in the Congo Basin. Salary ~€2,200/month. Apply by 15/01/2026. More info: https://anr.fr/Project-ANR-23-CE27-0023. #postdoc

🎉 Happy 10th Birthday to BopCo! 🎉
November 2025 marks 10 years of BopCo, the Belspo funded DNA Identification Service at RBINS & RMCA — and what a journey it’s been!

🐟 Fast DNA testing to protect the future of European eels

The lucrative trade of glass eels continues to raise serious concerns across Europe. While the European eel is critically endangered and protected under CITES regulations, illegal trafficking persists due to high demand, especially in Asia.

New NeoBiota special issue explores invasions in aquatic systems Following the 2024 NEOBIOTA conference on biological invasions, a new special issue of NeoBiota has been released, exploring invasions in aquatic systems.

We have published a new special issue on invasions in aquatic systems, which stemmed from @neobiota.bsky.social's 2024 conference in Lisbon. 🌊🇵🇹

🔗 Read all about it on the @pensoft.net blog: blog.pensoft.net/2025/10/10/n...

One week to apply before reviews start for the postdoc I am offering investigating the tempo and pattern of river connections with the closure of the isthmus of Panama and its impact on river plant (Podostemaceae) migration. Genomic+fossil+geological data + fieldwork 👇

Bioinformatician, NERC Museum Pollinator Genomics:South Kensington

Natural History Museum, London, seeks a Bioinformatician for its Insect Pollinator Genomics Project. Position details: https://jobs.nhm.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=431. Required skills include bioinformatics and genomics. #postdoc

🧬Join the Genomics for Biodiversity Conference!

🗓️ 29–31 October 2025 #savethedate
💻 Fully online & free of charge!

More info - including the #opencall for abstracts:
➡️ biodiversitygenomics.eu/2025/08/07/g...

#GenomicsforBiodiversity #conference #BGE @ergabiodiv.bsky.social @ebpgenome.bsky.social

Snowy Owl_by Patrick Danforth Photography [CC BY 4.0]

Barn Owl_by Karen Arnold [Public Domain]

Falco peregrinus - by Avia Venefica_Flickr [CC BY 2.0]

Belgium is home to several breeders of CITES-listed birds such as parrots and birds of prey. Some of these species are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, which has led to illegal practices in the past, such as the collection and raising of eggs or chicks taken from the wild.

🧵👇

Congrats Jesús! Enjoy the new position

🌞 Feeling the summer heat? Step into the frozen world of science with us, at -80°C! ❄️

Did you know that both the AfricaMuseum and @naturalsciences-be.bsky.social house massive tissue collections stored at -80°C for molecular research?

The Delmore lab at Columbia University is offering a fully funded postdoctoral position in Ecology and Environmental Biology, focusing on behavioral and speciation genomics. Apply by emailing a cover letter and CV to ked2195@columbia.edu. More info at: delmorelab.com #postdoc

🔬🧬🍄 @science.org Distribution of haploid chromosomes into separate nuclei in two pathogenic fungi | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@ubcbotany.bsky.social
#fungi #fungisky #mycology #genetics #chromosome #nucleus #DNA #evolution #genome #biodiversity

Piece of wood from port of Antwerp (c) RBINS

Close up wood from port of Antwerp (c) RBINS

🚢 In January 2024, BopCo received damaged wood from the “Berendrechtsluis” in the port of Antwerp. The wood was riddled with tiny holes and tubes — a telltale sign of possible shipworm activity.

Check out our new paper led by the amazing @benkuhnhaeuser.bsky.social in @science.org, exploring how the extraordinary diversity of Asian rattan palms was assembled 🌴

Last 3 days to apply for the #CETAF E-SCoRe Award!
🏃🏃‍♂️ HURRY UP!

🌿 for #natural collections based #researches
👩‍🔬 for PhD #students
💶 prize of 1.000 € + 1.500 € for research trip

Check this page out 👇
cetaf.org/template-act...

#taxonomy #biodiversity #phd #opportunity

Cambridge University Library and University of Leeds - Collections Connections Communities

🚨2025 AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership
First up:
The Hidden Gender of Collections: Women and the Curation of Scientific Heritage
@universityofleeds.bsky.social and
@theul.bsky.social

📅: 30 April 2025
🪶: cc-ee@fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

Apply here👇
www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/initiatives/...
#GLAM

PhD on offer at Kew: Plants and their Products: Biocultural collections at Kew Gardens & the South Kensington Museum during the long nineteenth century

If only I could apply! Fascinating mutual interests of Kew and the V&A in plants. Closes 16 May

www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-her...

3-y postdoc position in (meta)Genomics of Population Declines elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid.... If you have experience with low-coverage genomic data, care about biodiversity loss, want to understand host-microbiomes interactions, this post is for you! #museomics #ancientDNA #mammals

Employment | New York Botanical Garden Find out what employment opportunities are available at The New York Botanical Garden.

Come work with us! The New York Botanical Garden is hiring a Curator at the Assist. or Associate level. Profile: a productive and FUN Mycologist or Cryptogamic Botanist. Happy to talk to candidates about how wonderful one of the best botanical research centers is, easy.
www.nybg.org/about/work-w...

Long-read sequencing and genome assembly of natural history collection samples and challenging specimens - Genome Biology Museum collections harbor millions of samples, largely unutilized for long-read sequencing. Here, we use ethanol-preserved samples containing kilobase-sized DNA to show that amplification-free protoco...

#LIBresearch Museum collections are gems for genomic research! We refined amplification-free long-read DNA sequencing, which led to the assembly of new genomes and moved us closer to reference genomes for all eukaryotes! #Genomics #Biodiversity Read more: doi.org/10.1186/s130...

Just extended the deadline to March 21 for this position in the Plant Phylogenomics group at the University of Vienna. It is sort of a "post doc plus" position funded for up to six years.

Please reach out if you want to chat - I'd love to talk to you about it!

jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Universi...

3-Year PhD position @Uni Mainz (Germany) with @crltt.bsky.social, S. Foitzik, and me

#Neurobiology #genomics #transcriptomics to investigate the olfactory system of ants from genes to neurons

Information: seafile.rlp.net/f/5df9298781...

We still have a postdoc position available for this project.

🦑🧪 Three days left to apply for the postdoctoral position in my lab. We're looking for a population geneticist/ecologist/evolutionary biologist who is interested in studying tiny fishes in the Indo-Pacific! Come join us! 🤗

fishandfunctions.com/s/Postdoc_Ad...

This month’s cover image is of a diverse display of tropical plant species under ex situ cultivation in the glasshouses at Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Cambridge, UK.

Great to see our paper on the front cover @natureecoevo.bsky.social, with the tropical displays in our glasshouse range!

With thanks to all 50+ co-authors.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Nice editorial on the issues facing a variety of ex situ plant collection.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...