Jamie Wood
@larusnz.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer @ University of Adelaide; Researcher with the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, interests in palaeoecology, cave sediments, coprolites, environmental DNA, extinction and evolution
Exciting times in the ancient DNA lab today, helping student to sample some very old Australian scats!
Age, depositor and content TBC.
Age, depositor and content TBC.
October 16, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Exciting times in the ancient DNA lab today, helping student to sample some very old Australian scats!
Age, depositor and content TBC.
Age, depositor and content TBC.
A favourite from my collection of signed natural history books. The inscription pretty much says it all.
October 2, 2025 at 8:44 AM
A favourite from my collection of signed natural history books. The inscription pretty much says it all.
New Zealand birds never fail to amaze. The extinct Hodgen's rail, thought to be a diminutive relative of the Australian waterhen, turns out instead to be a giant crake!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
📷: Paul Martinson, Te Papa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
📷: Paul Martinson, Te Papa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
August 4, 2025 at 3:53 AM
New Zealand birds never fail to amaze. The extinct Hodgen's rail, thought to be a diminutive relative of the Australian waterhen, turns out instead to be a giant crake!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
📷: Paul Martinson, Te Papa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
📷: Paul Martinson, Te Papa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Word has got around that we have a new sack of bird seed
July 30, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Word has got around that we have a new sack of bird seed
The necessity for authentication of ancient DNA from archaeological artefacts
url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/6eR1CVARMk...
url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/6eR1CVARMk...
July 29, 2025 at 10:16 PM
The necessity for authentication of ancient DNA from archaeological artefacts
url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/6eR1CVARMk...
url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/6eR1CVARMk...
Antlions have a fascinating lifecycle. Their larvae look nothing like the adults, dig pits in sand, and predate small invertebrates (hence their name).
July 24, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Antlions have a fascinating lifecycle. Their larvae look nothing like the adults, dig pits in sand, and predate small invertebrates (hence their name).
Wonderful to be at Fowler’s Gap, NSW, for a couple of days fieldwork - a really stunning variety of landscapes.
July 23, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Wonderful to be at Fowler’s Gap, NSW, for a couple of days fieldwork - a really stunning variety of landscapes.
Picking through some arid zone barn owl material today. Lots of small mammal bones, but a surprising amount of frog as well.
July 17, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Picking through some arid zone barn owl material today. Lots of small mammal bones, but a surprising amount of frog as well.
A laptop case and a warm lamp. What more could a cat wish for on a bleak rainy Adelaide day.
July 9, 2025 at 3:03 AM
A laptop case and a warm lamp. What more could a cat wish for on a bleak rainy Adelaide day.
Impressive work - The number of recognised genera of Australo-Papuan treefrogs has just been increased from 3 to 35!
academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
June 19, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Impressive work - The number of recognised genera of Australo-Papuan treefrogs has just been increased from 3 to 35!
academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
Burrowing Into the Past: Extending Niche Space Models of Procellariiform Breeding Grounds by Merging Fossil and Historic Data doi.org/10.1111/ddi....
May 26, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Burrowing Into the Past: Extending Niche Space Models of Procellariiform Breeding Grounds by Merging Fossil and Historic Data doi.org/10.1111/ddi....
🧬 Introducing Environmental DNA, a free event for those in industry, government, and NGOs who are new to eDNA.
📍 National Wine Centre of Australia, Adelaide
📅 Thursday, 26th June 2025, 9am – 5pm
🎟 Free (limited spots available)
Register now: lnkd.in/gpTepqzF
📍 National Wine Centre of Australia, Adelaide
📅 Thursday, 26th June 2025, 9am – 5pm
🎟 Free (limited spots available)
Register now: lnkd.in/gpTepqzF
May 23, 2025 at 12:01 AM
🧬 Introducing Environmental DNA, a free event for those in industry, government, and NGOs who are new to eDNA.
📍 National Wine Centre of Australia, Adelaide
📅 Thursday, 26th June 2025, 9am – 5pm
🎟 Free (limited spots available)
Register now: lnkd.in/gpTepqzF
📍 National Wine Centre of Australia, Adelaide
📅 Thursday, 26th June 2025, 9am – 5pm
🎟 Free (limited spots available)
Register now: lnkd.in/gpTepqzF
Why did the processionary caterpillars cross the road?
May 2, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Why did the processionary caterpillars cross the road?
Central Australia fieldwork
April 29, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Central Australia fieldwork
Ornithological-themed toilet wall graffiti in Alice Springs
April 28, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Ornithological-themed toilet wall graffiti in Alice Springs
Left it till the very end to check out Chihuly in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens at night - very impressive!
April 24, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Left it till the very end to check out Chihuly in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens at night - very impressive!
Species #382 for our section: Diaphonia xanthopyga
March 29, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Species #382 for our section: Diaphonia xanthopyga
Once widespread, now critically endangered: New study shows kākāpō are the 4th most common bird in NZ's late-Quaternary deposits (>1351 individuals from 274 sites), and occupied all forests and adjacent habitats, on the NZ mainland prior to human settlement
authors.elsevier.com/c/1klUo-4PSD...
authors.elsevier.com/c/1klUo-4PSD...
March 12, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Once widespread, now critically endangered: New study shows kākāpō are the 4th most common bird in NZ's late-Quaternary deposits (>1351 individuals from 274 sites), and occupied all forests and adjacent habitats, on the NZ mainland prior to human settlement
authors.elsevier.com/c/1klUo-4PSD...
authors.elsevier.com/c/1klUo-4PSD...
Thrilled to share this research finally! Our team used sedimentary ancient DNA to reconstruct fauna from Antarctica’s Ross Sea over the last 6,000 years, focusing on Adélie penguin populations and diet, but with a surprise discovery of the elephant seal kind! Read more here: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
March 5, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Thrilled to share this research finally! Our team used sedimentary ancient DNA to reconstruct fauna from Antarctica’s Ross Sea over the last 6,000 years, focusing on Adélie penguin populations and diet, but with a surprise discovery of the elephant seal kind! Read more here: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Local groundskeepers keeping the outfield short
February 25, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Local groundskeepers keeping the outfield short
A bush katydid (Elephantodeta sp.) peering in through our window this evening. Species #375 recorded on our property
February 25, 2025 at 11:43 AM
A bush katydid (Elephantodeta sp.) peering in through our window this evening. Species #375 recorded on our property
The Australia and New Zealand eDNA conference is a truly global event. Breakdown by the numbers. #sedna2025
February 19, 2025 at 4:38 AM
The Australia and New Zealand eDNA conference is a truly global event. Breakdown by the numbers. #sedna2025
Vilma Perez kicks off the University of Adelaide presentations on day 1 of #sedna2025, showing some neat ancient lacustrine microbial communities and function from Kangaroo Island
February 19, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Vilma Perez kicks off the University of Adelaide presentations on day 1 of #sedna2025, showing some neat ancient lacustrine microbial communities and function from Kangaroo Island
You know you're home when you happen across something familiar on display in the national museum 💩! Great to be in Wellington for the Australia New Zealand eDNA conference this week.
February 18, 2025 at 2:07 AM
You know you're home when you happen across something familiar on display in the national museum 💩! Great to be in Wellington for the Australia New Zealand eDNA conference this week.
Classic photo showing the pelvis of an extinct moa with holes thought to have been made by the talons of the extinct giant Haast’s eagle, from Worthy & Holdaway’s “Lost World of the Moa” #fossilfriday
January 31, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Classic photo showing the pelvis of an extinct moa with holes thought to have been made by the talons of the extinct giant Haast’s eagle, from Worthy & Holdaway’s “Lost World of the Moa” #fossilfriday