Anna MacDonald
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annamac.bsky.social
Anna MacDonald
@annamac.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
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
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
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
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
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
October 6, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
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
A little more dog spam, Sakura and Syra enjoying a forest walk 🐾 🐾
#RescueDog #AdoptDontShop
September 16, 2025 at 10:39 AM
It’s been a while since I posted some dog spam. Here’s Sakura enjoying the beach 🐾
#RescueDog #AdoptDontShop
September 16, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
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
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
📣 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
“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
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
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
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
The use of eDNA to survey invasion risk to Antarctic waters. Frances Perry from @arcsaef.bsky.social @university adelaide explains how ocean environments & ships hull can be sampled simply & easily using eDNA approaches #ICCB2025
June 19, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
Conservation is not a new thing in Melanesia! #ICCB2025
June 19, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
Our #ICCB2025 #conservation congress statement from today’s @scboceania.org members meeting: static1.squarespace.com/static/66c56...
static1.squarespace.com
June 19, 2025 at 5:59 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
Happy World Albatross Day!!

Did you know that the world’s oldest known wild bird is an albatross!?

After her mate disappeared a few years ago, we thought Wisdom, a now 74 year old Laysan Albatross who breeds on Midway Atoll, was done breeding bc they mate for life.

1/2

#ICCB2025
🧪
Have you ever wondered just how big an albatross is?

Wonder no more; meet Jessica Alba, the life-sized albatross! This beauty is for outreach and hauled around by my buddy who works for @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social in the Pacific.

Albatross mate for life, do courtship dances and are majestic!

🧪
June 19, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
Next up, Antarctic biosecurity and conservation session. Justine Shaw, QUT and SAEF. Conserving a global commons. What about the non-migratory species, small species, ice-free biodiversity? Threats and management under climate change. @iccb2025.bsky.social #ICCB2025
June 19, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Next at #ICCB2025 our symposium on using non-invasive & museum genetic samples for conservation. First up is @kymottewell.bsky.social on using scat DNA for ghost bat individual ID and #consgen. The ghost bat is Australia’s largest carnivorous bat (*bat in photo not to scale!)
June 19, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Reposted by Anna MacDonald
All of this!

Thank you, Amy Van Nice, thank you for speaking truth out loud but also providing hope! #ICCB2025
June 18, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Today is World Albatross Day! In a nice coincidence of timing, my #ICCB2025 talk this morning will be about using DNA from albatross and petrel 🪶 and penguin 💩 to inform Antarctic seabird conservation 🧬 #consgen

Learn more about World Albatross Day from ACAP here: www.acap.aq/world-albatr...
June 18, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Of course I should also have tagged this #ICCB2025 thread with #consgen and #ConservationGenetics
I’ve not been very good at sharing science from #ICCB2025 but I attended a great session this afternoon on applying genetics to biodiversity conservation. Talks from @hernmoral.bsky.social, @lauradbertola.bsky.social, Christina Hvilsom and Carolyn Hogg (1/5)
June 18, 2025 at 8:29 PM