Helen Hipperson

Graphic with details of the UKEOF 2026 conference. Text overlaying a graphic depicting a woodland and a stream in shades of blue with the following elements picked out: birds (swifts) making calls and bats echo-locating, a deer detected on a camera, a salmon detected via its DNA trace in the water, the flow rate of the stream and the atmospheric concentration of nitrogen dioxide.

Today is your last chance to register for our free conference 'Sensing the Environment: Emerging Technologies for Monitoring and Decision-Making'. 24 February, online. Programme, etc. here: ukeof.org.uk/conference/c... #ukeof2026 #environment #monitoring #data #sensors #technology #innovation

Just one week left to submit your abstract for this year's UKDNA working group conference!

Event poster for EGG2026: 70th Anniversary of Ecological Genetics. Abstract submission deadline: 15 Feb. Features a gecko's colorful skin.

The Ecological Genetics Group (@bes-egg.bsky.social) celebrates 70 years of ecological genetics with a three-day conference, 15-17 April 2026. This conference will highlight new research and developments shaping the future of the field.

📝Abstract submissions are now open.
Deadline: 15 February 2026

Join us in Sheffield this April to celebrate 70 years of the Ecological Genetics Group
Abstract submission is closing soon!

New PDRA position with @knightjar.bsky.social @coytelab.bsky.social & me

Community assembly processes in soil microbiomes with focus on bioinformatics and computational modelling of data from field and lab experiments

www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Two PhD positions available to come and work with us - please share!

[1] Detecting rapid evolutionary responses to climate change in UK plants

tinyurl.com/ye262pk2

[2] Natural GM: The role of horizontal gene transfer in crop adaptation and evolution

tinyurl.com/32tkce2w

Characterizing Rocky Intertidal Biodiversity Using Environmental DNA Metabarcoding From Local to National Scales We assess the resolution of eDNA metabarcoding for detecting rocky intertidal taxa across three spatial scales—national, regional, and local. Distinct eDNA signals were observed at each scale, with c...

🚨 NEW PAPER: eDNA in the Intertidal 🧬

We explored how eDNA reveals marine biodiversity across UK rocky shores from local patterns to national trends 🌊

Read it in Journal of Environmental DNA 👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#eDNA #Intertidal #Biodiversity #PhDlife

Characterizing Rocky Intertidal Biodiversity Using Environmental DNA Metabarcoding From Local to National Scales We assess the resolution of eDNA metabarcoding for detecting rocky intertidal taxa across three spatial scales—national, regional, and local. Distinct eDNA signals were observed at each scale, with c...

Groundbreaking work on the use of eDNA for characterizing intertidal biodiversity, comparing it to my MarClim time-series from @dinathebiologist.bsky.social, myself, Tom Webb, Helen Hipperson, and Matt Spencer @thembauk.bsky.social @livuniresearch.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Three Bicentenary research fellowships on offer at @officialuom.bsky.social @fbmh-uom.bsky.social for exceptional ECRs with <3y postdoc experience

3yrs salary + £30k pa research expenses

Do you have a great idea & want to join @mermanchester.bsky.social?

www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/research/sup...

Was great to see Josh Wright presenting on the evolutionary history of mergansers at this year's @bes-egg.bsky.social meeting. Nice to know more of the background to the study ahead of Josh’s @nerc-eof.bsky.social-supported project on whole-genome re-sequencing of scaly-sided merganser.

#EGG2025: On scales of time - British Ecological Society Join the Ecological Genetics SIG for their Annual Meeting focusing on the impacts of time on organisms and processes.

#EGG2025: On scales of time
📆17-19 September
📍 Online

Join the Ecological Genetics SIG for its 69th Annual Meeting, exploring all facets of ecological genetics with a focus on the impacts of time.
🔗

Rapid polygenic adaptation in a wild population of ash trees under a novel fungal epidemic Rapid evolution through small shifts in allele frequencies at thousands of loci is a long-standing neo-Darwinian prediction but is hard to characterize in the wild. European ash tree (Fraxinus excelsi...

Just out in Science: we demonstrate a micro-evolutionary shift in a single generation, involving thousands of genomic loci, giving younger ash trees more resistance to ash dieback, on average, than their parents
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp2990

Our Wrestling Walk-On Songs by Gavin Gouws on Apple Music Playlist · 17 Songs

An informal icebreaker session before the start of @nerc-eof.bsky.social @m-gemmell.bsky.social's R Community workshop this morning - "What would your walk-on song be if you were a wrestler?" - playlist compiled by Gavin Gouws from everyone's suggestions! music.apple.com/gb/playlist/...

Revolutionise your biodiversity surveys with eDNA! 🧬 Our in-person training (Sept 8-12, 2025) covers wet lab techniques (DNA extraction to Illumina library prep) & bioinformatics (raw data to taxonomy & diversity analysis). Choose one or both! Register by July 21st: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

A Metadata Checklist and Data Formatting Guidelines to Make eDNA FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) Environmental DNA (eDNA) has emerged as a transformative tool for biodiversity monitoring and species detection, yet inconsistent metadata practices hinder data interoperability and reuse. To address...

🚨 Out now in #EnvironmentalDNA led by #MiwaTakahashi: Results of a huge, global effort to facilitate the publication of raw and processed #eDNA data & ensure that dataset we are currently generating, adhere to the #FAIR principles & won't be lost. @gbif.org, #ENA,
doi.org/10.1002/edn3...

#EGG2025: On scales of time - British Ecological Society Join the Ecological Genetics SIG for their Annual Meeting focusing on the impacts of time on organisms and processes.

📣 #EGG2025: On Scales of Time
📍 National Museum Cardiff & Online
📅 17–19 Sep 2025

✔️ Abstracts close 31 May
✔️ Registration closes 31 Jul
britishecologicalsociety.org/content/egg2...

Don’t miss cutting-edge talks, posters & socials across time-scales in ecological genetics! 🦊🦗🐡🌲🍄🌾

A surreal experience standing at the Royal Society podium to share my PhD research at the @ukdnawg.bsky.social Conference. Grateful for the opportunity to present my work on eDNA for coastal monitoring and to connect with such a brilliant community of researchers 🧬

📰🐑New Paper! PhD researcher @lizziedrake.bsky.social and collaborators looked at how harsh environments in a Soay's first year can have lasting impacts on reproduction and lifespan, and how they differ for males and females.
Read it here: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Science, Culture & Society What is the logic behind certain food prices? What is the reality of raising a child with more than one language? How does climate change affect habitats f…

I’m speaking at @pintofscience! 🍻🧬Join me to explore how climate change is transforming our oceans — and how DNA might be able to help🌊
🗓️ Tue 20 May 2025
🕖7–9 PM (Doors 6:30 PM)
📍 Frederiks, 32 Hope Street, Liverpool
🎟️ £5 (tickets linked) pintofscience.co.uk/event/scienc...

🔎👀 TropEco Lab is hiring, please share! 🚨
🌍🌴 Position: Senior Research Associate / Research Associate in Field and Molecular Ecology.
🪲🐝🦋 Task: You will use iDNA & eDNA to build bee-plant and dung beetle-mammal networks in the Brazilian Amazonia, Ghana, & Malaysia.
Further details -> bit.ly/4lurR9z

Project supported by @nerc-eof.bsky.social

eDNA (green) found the same species as hand-sorting (brown), but was better at detecting anecic earthworms and species richness. eDNA can also identify juvenile earthworms, which can make up >80% of a soil sample but are difficult to identify to species morphologically.

Great to see @joellanos.bsky.social and Penny Watt's paper out this month highlighting the use of soil eDNA for monitoring earthworms. 🪱🧬

Environmental DNA is more effective than hand sorting in evaluating earthworm biodiversity recovery under regenerative agriculture
doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...

📰🐑 We're on the cover! If you haven't already seen it, check out a piece about how our long term field research helps studying ageing in the wild.

Do giraffes struggle with food shortages in the dry season or do their long necks give them an advantage? @uom-ees.bsky.social PhD student @jgranweiler.bsky.social @susanneshultz.bsky.social joins #NEOF to sequence #giraffe faecal samples & uncover how seasonality impacts diet🦒🌿

Sign up to our next MEE live now! Join Abby Keller for this free online workshop, to find out more about eDNAjoint, new eDNA modelling tool 🧬 🌎 🧪

📆 19th March, 4pm GMT

Find more information and register here 👇

https://buff.ly/4k2hjO8

Postgraduate Researcher Sofia Dartnell in the field collecting bumblebees

a bumblebee on a lavender flower in blossom

@uniofcam.bsky.social Zoology PhD candidate @sofiadartnell.bsky.social is SNP_typing at NEOF-VF to estimate the number of Bombus terrestris colonies invaded by cuckoo bumblebees (B. vestalis) across varying landscapes. These cuckoos are obligate parasites & may indicate healthy bumblebee habitats

Tally heading towards 1500. Please keep going - share and sign.

We are delighted to announce that the 11th #ukdnawg conference will be hosted by the @royalsociety.org London on 13-14th May 2025.

For more information, and to register, follow the links from ukeof.org.uk/our-work/ukdna

🧬 #eDNA #biodiversity

🧬 Fantastic postdoc opportunity up for grabs to work with @jlittlefair.bsky.social - on monitoring biodiversity with airborne #eDNA at the UCL People and Nature Lab 🧬