@lukeeholman.bsky.social
PostDoc at the Globe Institute, Copenhagen | #biodiversity | #invasions | #eDNA | #OceanOptimist | 🏔️ 🌊 ☕️ 👨💻 📈
🦣🍖🧬 Fully funded 3-yr PhD in palaeogenomics & bioinformatics! Help me push non-model palaeogenomes beyond their limits @DTU in Denmark.
Start: Feb 2026 (flexible)
Application deadline: 24 Oct 2025
For details click here: tinyurl.com/BioExtPhD
Reposts appreciated 😁
In this blog post, Guest Editor Dr Luke Holman discusses their recent #PhilTransB issue, 'Shifting seas: understanding deep-time human impacts on #marine ecosystems': royalsociety.org/blog/2025/08...
19.08.2025 13:41 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0Some thoughts on how our recent theme issue came together
13.08.2025 13:44 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A marine illustration featuring two contrasting marine ecosystems in one perspective.
Here's an illustration I did for the Royal Society Publishing journal and their special release "The shifting seas". It was great fun to work on this hugely educational piece and I wanted to thank @lukeeholman.bsky.social in particular for giving me this opportunity 😊
16.07.2025 17:17 — 👍 123 🔁 24 💬 3 📌 0Thank you so much for your beautiful art. You really captured how humanity has challenged the oceans, while also providing hope for future flourishing seas through recovery and restoration.
🌊
New theme issue of #PhilTransB out today ‘Shifting seas: understanding deep-time human impacts on #marine #ecosystems’. Read here: royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...
10.07.2025 10:20 — 👍 4 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Thank you to all the amazing authors who trusted us with their research. Not to mention our wonderful artists Jacek Matysiak (www.instagram.com/big.hippo.art/) and Maddy Dall (www.instagram.com/maddydall/) who brought the issue to life with their beautiful illustrations.
10.07.2025 10:02 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Contributions use bones 🦴, shells 🐚, old catch records 📜, logbooks 📖, marine sediments 🧪 & more to reach before monitoring began. Using stable isotopes 🧬, ancient DNA 🧫, ecosystem models 🌍 & other tools, they reveal fresh insights into our impact on the seas 🌊.
10.07.2025 10:02 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0My amazing co-guest editors @ruththurstan.bsky.social @kbohmann.bsky.social @mikkelwp.bsky.social @tangeolsen.bsky.social & non-Bskyers Ol Craig, David Orton, James Scourse and I found only enthusiasm and interest from our networks - the amazing research rolled in!
10.07.2025 10:02 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0There wasn’t an obvious place to bring together data from archaeology 🏺, ecology 🌿, and marine geology 🌊…
Then I saw a call from @royalsocietypublishing.org 📣 for theme issues — and suddenly, everything clicked! 💡🧩
A couple of years ago we were beginning to see exciting interdisciplinary datasets coming out of @erc.europa.eu 🌍 @seachange-erc.bsky.social 🌊. It was amazing to begin to understand the complex dance of climate 🌡️, humans 🧍♂️🧍♀️, and marine biodiversity 🐟🪸 across centuries! ⏳✨
10.07.2025 10:02 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
🐚 Out today “Shifting Seas – Understanding Deep-Time Human Impacts on Marine Ecosystems.” 🌊
A theme issue asking how, when, and where humans have impacted oceans over millennia.
🔗 doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0026
🧶 below on how it came to life!...
New paper out now in @natcomms.nature.com!
Multiproxy analysis reveals the earliest evidence of whale bone working and broadens the range of taxa known to have been used in the Bay of Biscay during the Late Paleolithic 🐋
Paper 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Did you know that most 18/19thC coastal plantations were located at places where the largest Indigenous towns once stood centuries earlier? A great example of how deep-time land use practices create legacies that drive future, cumulative human-ecosystem engagements. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s43...
27.03.2025 11:32 — 👍 30 🔁 19 💬 0 📌 2
Did llamas make it to southeast South America before Europeans? 🦙
Our manuscript used #archaeology, isotopes, and palaeogenomics #aDNA to find out 🦙🦴🧬
In summary, nope. Just guanacos hanging on into early historical times.
Read it here: authors.elsevier.com/c/1kvQy,rVDB...
Reposts appreciated 😁
🙌 Thanks to amazing co-authors @kbohmann.bsky.social sky.social, @mikkelwp.bsky.social @seachange-erc.bsky.social, many others not on 💙☁️, & our funders @erc.europa.eu.
Dive into the full study here: doi.org/10.1111/1755...
Lots more detail in the supplements!
💡 Some takeaways:
Different eDNA methods give us different snapshots of ancient biodiversity. Interpret ancient records with care —methodological biases can shape ecological conclusions.
When your material crosses 2-4k years BP be careful interpreting alpha diversity changes.📝
📊 Consistent beta diversity
Despite the richness differences, both methods produced similar beta diversity patterns, highlighting consistent shifts in community composition over time.
Phew!
📉 Very different richness across methods!📉
Our results showed opposing alpha diversity trends:
• Metabarcoding = lower ASV richness in older sediments
• Metagenomics = lower genus richness in younger sediments
A clear reminder that the method truly matters! 🎯
🔍 What taxa overlapped? 🔍
We found that only 3 metazoan genera overlapped between methods:
• Oikopleura (larvacean)
• Gadus (cod)
• Clupea (herring)
(+ 🌿seagrass🌿)
Interestingly we found that only metagenomics provided reliable detections beyond 4k years for all taxa.
🔬 What did we do?🔬
We sampled a long (30m+), old (20y+) marine sediment core from the Skagerrak, North Sea, performing 18S(v9) metabarcoding and shotgun-metagenomic sequencing to see what these very different techniques tell us about ancient oceans.
🚀 Excited to share our new paper:
“Navigating Past Oceans: Comparing #Metabarcoding and #Metagenomics of Marine Ancient Sediment eDNA”
DOI: doi.org/10.1111/1755...
We dive into 8,000 years of marine life from Skagerrak sediments to show what different tools tell us about past #oceans! 🌊🧬
We have so much more to do to support women in STEM! 👩🔬 Here at GLOBE, across Danish academia🇩🇰, and around the 🌍
🚀 Follow these great women, read & cite their work, and stay aware of the biases that can make us miss out on talented researchers & amazing collaborators! 💙 #WomenInSTEM #EquityInScience
Finally, the super talented Lene Bruhn Pedersen! 🧪✨ Her lab skills are crucial to keeping our projects running. 🔬💡
Lene is looking for new opportunities in Copenhagen as our project wraps up. If you need the best lab tech in town, reach out! 👀📢
🔗 More about Lene: seachange-erc.eu/people/lene_...
Working with us on @seachange-erc.bsky.social, we’re lucky to have Giulia Zampirolo! 🧬✨ She brings deep expertise in ancient metagenomics to help us decode past oceans. 🌊
📢 Her latest paper: 🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
👀 More about Giulia (not on bluesky) 🔗 seachange-erc.eu/people/giuli...
Next up, the fantastic Kristine Bohmann! 🧬✨ A metabarcoding & eDNA wizard who is simultaneously:
🌊🔍 PI of @seachange-erc.bsky.social (@erc.europa.eu)
🌬️🦠 Leading the airDNA project (DFF)
🧪🌍 Heading the eDNA group at GLOBE
Follow her for top-notch eDNA research! 🚀💡
🔗 @kbohmann.bsky.social
Firstly, 🔬 Christina Lynggaard is pioneering novel ways to understand biodiversity 🌿 while bringing a #OneHealth 🩺🌍 perspective to tackle tricky problems in ecology and beyond! 🚀✨
🔗 @christinalynggaard.bsky.social
🎉 Today is International Day of Women and Girls in Science! 🔬👩🔬✨
🌍🚀 I’m incredibly lucky to work with some amazing women in science! 💙 If you’re not following these fantastic researchers yet, you definitely should! 📢
🔗 www.un.org/en/observanc... #WomenInScience #STEM #RepresentationMatters
A gif with the text "International Day of Women and Girls in Science. It shows women doing different kinds of science.
Happy #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience 👩🔬
May your experiments work, may your research be impactful, and may those papers be accepted with minor revision 🧬
