Peter Dearden
@peterkdearden.bsky.social
Geneticist, evolutionary biologist, evolution and development. Working mainly on insects, but also big green budgies and snails. Co Director of Genomics Aotearoa, Deputy Director of Bioprotection Aotearoa. HOD Biochemistry, University of Otago.
Reposted by Peter Dearden
Hornets don’t holiday, so please continue to keep an eye out for this unwelcome visitor to our area. I was happy to contribute to another article, to help promote the fight against the yellow-legged hornet. www.1news.co.nz/2025/12/23/m...
More hornets expected over summer, public urged to remain vigilant
"We encourage all Aucklanders to be on the lookout for these hornets in and around their homes and also on their walks through our reserves and native bush," said North Shore councillor Richard Hills.
www.1news.co.nz
December 23, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Hornets don’t holiday, so please continue to keep an eye out for this unwelcome visitor to our area. I was happy to contribute to another article, to help promote the fight against the yellow-legged hornet. www.1news.co.nz/2025/12/23/m...
Reposted by Peter Dearden
No contest. Just read the first two sentences of the abstract. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
All right it’s time for the annual “please tell us about one (or a few if you are ambitious) paper from 2025 that really impressed you and why we should all read it“! Go! If you tell us how it changed your view of the world and what makes it so powerful and consequential It would be excellent.
December 21, 2025 at 8:31 PM
No contest. Just read the first two sentences of the abstract. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Peter Dearden
Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
December 19, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
Reposted by Peter Dearden
So well deserved - Otago Biochemists Liz Ledgerwood and Louise Bicknell have just been promoted to Professor!
www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroo...
www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroo...
Otago announces 32 new professors
Twenty-six University of Otago - Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka academics are being promoted to the position of Professor, with a further six promoted to the positions of Research Professor and Clinical Researc...
www.otago.ac.nz
December 9, 2025 at 10:51 PM
So well deserved - Otago Biochemists Liz Ledgerwood and Louise Bicknell have just been promoted to Professor!
www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroo...
www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroo...
Reposted by Peter Dearden
Awesome weedy discussion with my phenomenal award winning hoamahi Margaret (with the fab Peter, Amanda and Nick) - our natives need more PR, and let's all be on the lookout for newbies!
This was a fun chat with the Bioprotection Aotearoa team about everything weeds! What's the issue & what can we do about it? So many weeds & so little money! @bioprotection.bsky.social 🌏🧪🌐🌿#invasive #weeds
Under the Lens Ep05 | Weeds hidden in plain sight
YouTube video by Bioprotection Aotearoa
youtu.be
December 7, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Awesome weedy discussion with my phenomenal award winning hoamahi Margaret (with the fab Peter, Amanda and Nick) - our natives need more PR, and let's all be on the lookout for newbies!
Reposted by Peter Dearden
Soft launching our new podcast series - Under the Lens 🎙️
This is our pilot series… warming up the mics, dusting off the pipettes and pulling together the crew for something new.
Its part science, part 80’s nostalgia and all about what keeps our ecosystems thriving.
This is our pilot series… warming up the mics, dusting off the pipettes and pulling together the crew for something new.
Its part science, part 80’s nostalgia and all about what keeps our ecosystems thriving.
Under the Lens Podcast | Bioprotection Aotearoa
bioprotection.org.nz
December 8, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Soft launching our new podcast series - Under the Lens 🎙️
This is our pilot series… warming up the mics, dusting off the pipettes and pulling together the crew for something new.
Its part science, part 80’s nostalgia and all about what keeps our ecosystems thriving.
This is our pilot series… warming up the mics, dusting off the pipettes and pulling together the crew for something new.
Its part science, part 80’s nostalgia and all about what keeps our ecosystems thriving.
We made a podcast for @bioprotection.bsky.social Have a look if you are interested in all things that start with b, Nick singing 80's songs or, perhaps more importantly, why and how to save the planet. bioprotection.org.nz/under-the-le...
Under the Lens Podcast | Bioprotection Aotearoa
bioprotection.org.nz
December 6, 2025 at 9:53 PM
We made a podcast for @bioprotection.bsky.social Have a look if you are interested in all things that start with b, Nick singing 80's songs or, perhaps more importantly, why and how to save the planet. bioprotection.org.nz/under-the-le...
Looks like I’m not reviewing for Elsevier for a while. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Universities in 'battle of the century' with journal publisher Elsevier
One New Zealand university told its staff all universities in New Zealand and Australia would "lose some degree of access" to the publisher's 1600 titles from the start of next year.
www.rnz.co.nz
November 14, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Looks like I’m not reviewing for Elsevier for a while. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Hey anyone at #mpi or #biosecuritynz. We do wasp genomics. I reckon I could tell you in about 24 hours if these invasive yellow legged #hornets you have found in Auckland are sisters, or a larger invasion. For free. Hit me up now!
November 4, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Hey anyone at #mpi or #biosecuritynz. We do wasp genomics. I reckon I could tell you in about 24 hours if these invasive yellow legged #hornets you have found in Auckland are sisters, or a larger invasion. For free. Hit me up now!
Left wing at the back. Seems appropriate!
November 1, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Left wing at the back. Seems appropriate!
Reposted by Peter Dearden
Reposted by Peter Dearden
Take‑home on disease: it’s likely host genetics + virus + environment, not a single mutation “on/off” switch. That’s why species‑wide genomics + ARG‑aware GWAS are so powerful here.
October 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Take‑home on disease: it’s likely host genetics + virus + environment, not a single mutation “on/off” switch. That’s why species‑wide genomics + ARG‑aware GWAS are so powerful here.
Reposted by Peter Dearden
Selection scans also show the Southern subspecies have younger TMRCAs (signals of recent selection) in cilia‑related pathways; hair‑like structures lining airways that trap and clear pathogens. This could help explain why Southern chicks resist RDS.
October 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Selection scans also show the Southern subspecies have younger TMRCAs (signals of recent selection) in cilia‑related pathways; hair‑like structures lining airways that trap and clear pathogens. This could help explain why Southern chicks resist RDS.
Reposted by Peter Dearden
Re: RDS on the mainland. A GWAS within the Northern subspecies and all subspecies flags candidate genes tied to immunity and respiration.
October 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Re: RDS on the mainland. A GWAS within the Northern subspecies and all subspecies flags candidate genes tied to immunity and respiration.
Reposted by Peter Dearden
Using ARGs, we can trace population divergence across the genome. This “excess coalescence” plot shows when genomes begin to diverge. The timing aligns with the BEAST-inferred divergence windows, but using separate methodology.
(Not in the preprint, BTS!)
(Not in the preprint, BTS!)
October 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Using ARGs, we can trace population divergence across the genome. This “excess coalescence” plot shows when genomes begin to diverge. The timing aligns with the BEAST-inferred divergence windows, but using separate methodology.
(Not in the preprint, BTS!)
(Not in the preprint, BTS!)
Reposted by Peter Dearden
Methodologically cool bit: we also used ancestral recombination graphs (ARGs) to time coalescent events & control relatedness in analyses. Hundreds of thousands of local trees support the divergence times based only on mutation rate (generations rather than years ago). #tsinfer #tskit #tsdate.
October 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Peter Dearden
When did they split? Molecular dating points to ~5–16k years for the Northern vs Southern split and ~3–11k years between the two Southern groups, dating to before human arrival in Aotearoa NZ. (Fig. 3)
October 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
When did they split? Molecular dating points to ~5–16k years for the Northern vs Southern split and ~3–11k years between the two Southern groups, dating to before human arrival in Aotearoa NZ. (Fig. 3)
Reposted by Peter Dearden
With Ngāi Tahu kaitiakitanga, three subspecies are proposed:
• M. a. murihiku — mainland “Northern” hoiho
• M. a. motu maha — Enderby (Auckland Is)
• M. a. motu ihupuku — Campbell Is
These lineages are evolutionarily independent.
• M. a. murihiku — mainland “Northern” hoiho
• M. a. motu maha — Enderby (Auckland Is)
• M. a. motu ihupuku — Campbell Is
These lineages are evolutionarily independent.
October 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
With Ngāi Tahu kaitiakitanga, three subspecies are proposed:
• M. a. murihiku — mainland “Northern” hoiho
• M. a. motu maha — Enderby (Auckland Is)
• M. a. motu ihupuku — Campbell Is
These lineages are evolutionarily independent.
• M. a. murihiku — mainland “Northern” hoiho
• M. a. motu maha — Enderby (Auckland Is)
• M. a. motu ihupuku — Campbell Is
These lineages are evolutionarily independent.
Reposted by Peter Dearden
We sequenced ~249 whole genomes 🧬 spanning the mainland and subantarctic Enderby & Campbell Islands. Result: three distinct genetic lineages, with negligible gene flow among them (See PCA/tree in Fig. 2, and migration rates in supplement)!
October 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
We sequenced ~249 whole genomes 🧬 spanning the mainland and subantarctic Enderby & Campbell Islands. Result: three distinct genetic lineages, with negligible gene flow among them (See PCA/tree in Fig. 2, and migration rates in supplement)!
Reposted by Peter Dearden
On the NZ mainland, there are <150 breeding pairs, and many chicks die from respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) caused by a 🦠gyrovirus (YPGV). Subantarctic hoiho carry the virus too, but don’t show disease. Why the difference?
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A novel gyrovirus is abundant in yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes) chicks with a fatal respiratory disease
Yellow-eyed penguins (Megadyptes antipodes), or hoiho in te reo Māori, are predicted to become extinct on mainland Aotearoa New Zealand in the next fe…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
On the NZ mainland, there are <150 breeding pairs, and many chicks die from respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) caused by a 🦠gyrovirus (YPGV). Subantarctic hoiho carry the virus too, but don’t show disease. Why the difference?
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Peter Dearden
Population genomics reveal three divergent subspecies with urgent #conservation implications. #popgen
Population genomics of yellow-eyed penguins uncovers subspecies divergence and candidate genes linked to respiratory distress syndrome
Yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho/takaraka, Megadyptes antipodes ) are among the world’s rarest penguins and are regarded as a taonga (treasured) species in Aotearoa New Zealand. Since 2019, chicks on the N...
www.biorxiv.org
October 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Population genomics reveal three divergent subspecies with urgent #conservation implications. #popgen
Reposted by Peter Dearden
🐧We researched one of the world’s rarest #penguins. The yellow‑eyed penguin (aka hoiho/takaraka) isn’t one homogeneous species after all!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#hoiho #conservation #genomics #birds #nzwildlife #endangered #wildlife #nature
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#hoiho #conservation #genomics #birds #nzwildlife #endangered #wildlife #nature
October 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
🐧We researched one of the world’s rarest #penguins. The yellow‑eyed penguin (aka hoiho/takaraka) isn’t one homogeneous species after all!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#hoiho #conservation #genomics #birds #nzwildlife #endangered #wildlife #nature
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#hoiho #conservation #genomics #birds #nzwildlife #endangered #wildlife #nature
Reposted by Peter Dearden
Amazing group of people to work with! @jemmageoghegan.bsky.social @peterkdearden.bsky.social @annasanture.bsky.social @cegrueber.bsky.social And everyone else not on bsky! Double thanks to Janelle for the amazing pictures!
October 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Amazing group of people to work with! @jemmageoghegan.bsky.social @peterkdearden.bsky.social @annasanture.bsky.social @cegrueber.bsky.social And everyone else not on bsky! Double thanks to Janelle for the amazing pictures!
Reposted by Peter Dearden
A landmark Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka-led study has found the endangered hoiho 🐧 is made up of 3 subspecies, a finding that may help protect the species against fatal disease.
“This is a turning point for hoiho conservation," says senior author Professor Jemma Geoghegan.
Read more here ⬇️
“This is a turning point for hoiho conservation," says senior author Professor Jemma Geoghegan.
Read more here ⬇️
Study reveals genetic secrets of one of world’s rarest penguins
Landmark genomic research has found the endangered hoiho is made up of three distinct subspecies, a discovery that may help guard against a fatal disease.
www.otago.ac.nz
October 28, 2025 at 3:51 AM
A landmark Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka-led study has found the endangered hoiho 🐧 is made up of 3 subspecies, a finding that may help protect the species against fatal disease.
“This is a turning point for hoiho conservation," says senior author Professor Jemma Geoghegan.
Read more here ⬇️
“This is a turning point for hoiho conservation," says senior author Professor Jemma Geoghegan.
Read more here ⬇️