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annamac.bsky.social
Anna MacDonald
@annamac.bsky.social
10K followers 3K following 200 posts
Uses DNA to study wildlife | plays hockey 🏑 | drinks tea | hikes | adventures with dogs | open heart surgery x2
#conservation #genetics #consgen #eDNA #ecology #Antarctica #biodiversity #seabirds #marsupials #WildOz
Live in lutruwita / Tasmania 🇦🇺🇬🇧🏳️‍🌈 she/her
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annamac.bsky.social
Stunning views of Big Ben from the deck of RSV Nuyina at Heard Island. Big Ben is an active volcano and Australia’s highest peak. It’s usually swathed in cloud, but not yesterday! #subantarctic #MarineScience #eDNA
Big Ben - a snow and ice covered volcano, dominating the view of Heard Island from the ocean. Some blue sky through the clouds. Big Ben - a snow and ice covered volcano, dominating the view of Heard Island from the helicopter deck of RSV Nuyina, with a colleague taking in the view. Some blue sky through the clouds. Big Ben - a snow and ice covered volcano, dominating the view of Heard Island from the ocean. In this photo a glacier flowing down the mountain reaches the sea Big Ben - a snow and ice covered volcano, dominating the view of Heard Island from the ocean.
January 5, 2026 at 7:31 AM
annamac.bsky.social
Moonrise last night, from the heli deck of RSV Nuyina at Heard Island #subantarctic #MarineScience 🧪🧬
January 5, 2026 at 7:12 AM
annamac.bsky.social
Season’s greetings from the Southern Ocean! I’m spending the summer on RSV Nuyina collecting #eDNA samples for biodiversity surveys 🌊❄️🐧🧬🚢🇦🇶 #antarctica
Close up picture of me (in warm clothing) standing on the deck with sea ice behind me Looking back along the port side of the ship, over two orange life boats, to see views of sea ice next to and behind the ship. A trail of disturbed ice shows where we came from A large ice berg in the blue ocean, with paler blue sky and clouds behind Sunset over the ocean, and reflected in the ship’s windows at the edge of the picture
December 27, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
gsegelbacher.bsky.social
very interesting work on mosses in the arctic and their change in spore dispersal over time - also an important argument why we need long term monitoring programs #eDNA #consgen 🧪🌏🦤
jecologyblog.com/2025/11/18/s...
Striking shifts in the timing of bryophyte spore dispersal: What 35 years of airborne DNA revealed about climate change
Fia Bengtsson, Lund University and Norwegian Institute of Nature Research, discusses her article: Rapid shifts in bryophyte phenology revealed by airborne eDNA Most of us walk past mosses and liver…
jecologyblog.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
nicolasdussex.bsky.social
🌊 🐟🦭🐋🐧 I have a PhD position available (4 years, start Mid-2026) at NRM Stockholm to work on the macrogenomics of sea warming.

Apply here:

recruit.visma.com/spa/public/a...

#PhD #MarineGenomics #ClimateChange #EvolutionaryBiology #PopGen #Bioinformatics #conservationgenomics
December 19, 2025 at 5:12 PM
annamac.bsky.social
Happy solstice! This is my longest longest day ever ☀️#Antarctica
December 21, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
jmergeay.bsky.social
🧬 DNA from a biopsy sample taken from a surfacing beaked whale with a modified crossbow confirms these specimens as ginkgo-toothed beaked whales (mesoplodon ginkgodens), a species never (knowingly) seen alive. #consgen 🦊
November 21, 2025 at 4:09 PM
annamac.bsky.social
So long Hobart, see you in February! I’m on board Australia’s icebreaker RSV Nuyina, heading south for the summer to collect environmental DNA samples to study biodiversity. We left yesterday afternoon, heading to Casey Station in #Antarctica and then Heard Island ❄️ 🐧 🧬 #eDNA
This is a selfie of me in my bright green jacket, standing on the heli deck of RSV Nuyina. There is distant land (southern Tasmania) in the background, across the water. The deck has “NUYINA” written in large white letters behind me.
November 25, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
phoca-sapiens.bsky.social
New PhD studentship opportunity in my lab & with collaborators from the Pinniped Genomes Consortium. Come help us unravel the genomics of seal physiological super powers! Closing date 7th January 2026 🧪🦭🧬🌍🦑🐳 #marine #mammals
#consgen #popgen #phylo #molevol #evolution
yes-dtn.ac.uk/research/the...
The evolutionary genomics of life-history adaptations in pinnipeds - Yorkshire Environmental Sciences • Doctoral Training Network
Project summary Pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, fur seals and walrus) are keystone marine predators, and sentinels for marine ecosystem health. Advances in genomic technology open up the possibility to u...
yes-dtn.ac.uk
November 10, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
lauradbertola.bsky.social
We have another publication out! 🎉🎉🎉
“Hybrids along a natural–anthropogenic gradient: improving policy and management across all levels of biodiversity.”
We explore how to deal with hybrids in conservation — scientifically and practically. A thread 🧵
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Hybrids Along a Natural‐Anthropogenic Gradient: Improving Policy and Management Across All Levels of Biodiversity
Hybridization has long been a central topic in evolution and conservation. Recent developments in genomics have increased the ability to detect hybridization, defined here as breeding between species....
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
scienceandfiction.net
This is 💙 Science & Fiction 💙 where scientific results & fictional stories intersect.

A space for people who like to a) learn about #science & b) read exciting fictional stories ✨

🇬🇧 www.scienceandfiction.net
🇩🇪 www.scienceandfiction.net/de

Support: ko-fi.com/scienceandfi...

#scicomm #wisskomm
June 26, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
ednaquaplan.bsky.social
DNA in sediments tells a longer story!
New research shows sedimentary #eDNA can persist up to 132 days & be up to 1800x more concentrated than in water.

What do you think about this?

tinyurl.com/mtr947tn

#Genomics #Biodiversity #Conservation
Fish environmental DNA is more concentrated in aquatic sediments than surface water
Genetic identification of aqueous environmental DNA (eDNA) provides site occupancy inferences for rare aquatic macrofauna that are often easier to obt…
tinyurl.com
October 10, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
maartendb.bsky.social
PhD opportunity: improving #eDNA methods to better understand estuarine health.

A collaborative university-government project to provide solutions and improve the management of estuaries in Australia.

sednasociety.com/2025/10/10/p...
October 9, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
gsegelbacher.bsky.social
why we need genetic diversity
new paper out #consgen 🧪🦤🌏
doi.org/10.1002/pan3...
Genetic diversity is key to a nature‐positive future
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
doi.org
September 24, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
gsegelbacher.bsky.social
what is biobanking about? find our more in these guidelines just published today 🌏🦤🧪
They are freely available and can be downloaded here:
portals.iucn.org/library/site...
#consgen
Picture of cover page of the biobanking guidelines for conservation with title author list and four images of a fern, frog, cryotubes and a seastar
October 6, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
marinednadude.bsky.social
For the first time this Spring, NOAA adopted eDNA into a formal stock assessment of Pacific Hake and this was supported by the Scientific Review Group for the Pacific Fisheries Management Council.

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/s3/2025-03/2...
www.fisheries.noaa.gov
September 17, 2025 at 4:05 PM
annamac.bsky.social
A little more dog spam, Sakura and Syra enjoying a forest walk 🐾 🐾
#RescueDog #AdoptDontShop
Two husky type dogs, one wolf grey and one black and white, standing on a train in the forest with green trees behind. Both dogs look happy
September 16, 2025 at 10:39 AM
annamac.bsky.social
It’s been a while since I posted some dog spam. Here’s Sakura enjoying the beach 🐾
#RescueDog #AdoptDontShop
A photo of a happy husky-type dog walking along the sand at the beach, with water in the background.
September 16, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
polarobs.bsky.social
Astronauts on long-duration space missions could benefit from new #Antarctic research trialing ways to measure changes in brain and body function during deployments.

www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2025/as...
Astronauts to benefit from brain tests in Antarctica – Australian Antarctic Program (News 2025)
Astronauts on long-duration space missions could benefit from new Antarctic research trialing ways to measure changes in brain and body function during deployments.
www.antarctica.gov.au
September 15, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
maartendb.bsky.social
Job opening! CSIRO @csiropublishing.bsky.social is currently hiring 2 #eDNA Postdoctoral Fellowships!

sednasociety.com/2025/09/04/j...
Job opportunities: 2 Postdoctoral Fellowships at CSIRO
CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, is currently recruiting two eDNA Postdoctoral Fellows. Applications close on October 5th. More information and links below. CSIRO Postdoctoral Fell…
sednasociety.com
September 4, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
philippbayer.bsky.social
This is great - we a huge need in the #eDNA community to have data-informed standards for eDNA identity cutoffs, not just the bog-standard 97%
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
For Chordata there is no cutoff that leads to 0% error when assigning species!! (Table S4)
Taxon‐specific BLAST percent identity thresholds for identification of unknown sequences using metabarcoding
The identification of organisms in environmental samples using metabarcoding relies on factors such as taxonomic assignment methods, genetic markers, reference databases and confidence thresholds ...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 29, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
erinhahn.bsky.social
📣 New paper! 📣

We summarise the outputs of last year's @sednasociety.bsky.social Airborne eDNA Workshop & chart a path for airborne eDNA as a transformative tool for #biodiversity, #biosecurity & #conservation.

🔗 tinyurl.com/4a8vb6ja

#eDNA #airDNA #SeDNAS
July 16, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
justinehausheer.bsky.social
“Like climate change denialism, invasive species denialism is toxic” and “does a disservice to conservation.” PREACH 🙌💯 #iccb2025
June 19, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
justineshaw.bsky.social
It's essential to build genetic diversity into the design of protected area. @lausally.bsky.social shares learnings about biodiversity hotspots in Antartcic marine waters informed by genetic data. Supported by @arcsaef.bsky.social #ICCB2025
June 19, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
natforsdick.bsky.social
Elize Ng describes the challenges of coordinating #conservation across the East Asian Australasian Flyway. What has been done, and how successful have these actions such as predator control, habitat protection and restoration been? #ICCB2025 🪶
June 19, 2025 at 1:25 AM