most depressing thing about working in biodiversity: it feels like all we do is finding better ways to measure an ongoing car crash. most of my research so far translates to 'the car continues to crash, but the video of the crash has more frames now'

Start of the 2025 NSW Coastal Conference, pretty sweet venue with great views over the Richmond River. Excited to learn more and share some of my own research!

2-years #postdoc #position: #eDNA 🧬🔬for integrated #ecosystem and #biodiversity assessment apply.refline.ch/673277/1297/... In the new Eawag/WSL Biodiversity Monitoring Initiative we will strengthen & advance effective and scalable #biodiversity #monitoring methods & implement into practice. 🌐🌳🐟📈

We have TWO post-doctoral fellowships in the Biodiversity Centre at UBC next year! Am happy to chat if you might want to be hosted in my lab. biodiversity.ubc.ca/training-and... Deadline January 15th!

Heartbreaking loss: juvenile humpback whale (~8m) entangled & drowned in shark net off NSW coast. Shark nets don’t necessarily do what we assume -- protect beach-goers -- and pose serious risks to sharks, whales, dolphins, turtles, and other non-target animals. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Save the date! Free webinar - 21st November: Women in Ocean Science x environmental DNA With superstars Dr Miwa Takahashi (@csiropublishing.bsky.social) and Dr Lara Denis Roy (@utas.edu.au) #eDNA #WomenInOceanScience

Sigh. We're gonna need a bigger story...

JOB ALERT in our office!

Australia's much loved wildlife and places sorely need greater care and legal protection. Our latest for @aunz.theconversation.com. theconversation.com/labor-is-clo... With good friends and colleagues, @drphilmccormack.bsky.social & @yungenchee.bsky.social.

Coral reef conservation is under pressure to act boldly in the face of climate-altered futures. But how do we choose sustainable, responsible options? Here, myself, @proftiffanym.bsky.social & David Bellwood introduce "MIMO". 👇 @cp-cellrepsustain.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Attempted eradication of smallmouth bass promotes rapid evolution. Here's the study that is the focus of the Scientific American article: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

It's mid-October & ARC haven't updated us since mid-July on the Brand New Grants System. When will we be told? What schemes will even run? ARC "paused" (cancelled?) the only Indigenous scheme, plus Laureates & all Industry Fellowships, and so far there's no replacements. ARC? Anyone?

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...

Calling all marine & freshwater sciences students 📣 @marinefreshwater.bsky.social has a new #StudentPrize! The first winner will be announced in 2027 to allow time for submissions and nominations. More details: www.publish.csiro.au/mf/forauthor... #MarineFreshwaterRes

Marine & Freshwater Research is officially on bluesky! We’ll share peer-reviewed articles about ecology and management of aquatic environments, marine and freshwater. Make sure to follow to stay up to date with latest articles! #MarineFreshwaterRes www.publish.csiro.au/mf

🌊 Whether you paint 🎨, dance 💃, doodle ✏️, weave 🧵, write ✍️, design jewellery 💎, compose music 🎶, build Legos 🧩, cut potato prints 🥔or create in ways we haven’t even imagined, this is your invitation to join a global arts movement Inspired by #IconicFishes 👉 www.iconicfishes.art/updates/intr...

Report on Australian Higher Education finds: 🔹️ Council members have no lived experience of universities 🔹️ Council members have COIs with consultancy firms 🔹️ Council meetings are closed affairs that lack transparency 🔹️ Leaders' exorbitant salaries could not be justified

Over the past 7 months, South Australia has experienced the largest recorded mass mortality of leafy seadragons and weedy seadragons. Thousands of these iconic fishes have died during an extended harmful algal bloom. Read more: www.iucn-seahorse.org/news/2025/9/...

Winter estuary #eDNA surveys DONE! The NSW south coast is a special place, even had a fur seal joining us in the Bega River on the last day. Finished the trip with a new tradition: a dip in the stunning (but cold) ocean pool in Bermaguie

Beautiful south coast of NSW

Cleaner Crabs 🦀 Climate-driven floods in northern NSW are washing chemicals into estuaries, threatening seafood safety. Researchers and crab fishers show that simple post-harvest steps - like cooking or depuration - can keep crabs safe. Adaptation works, from catchment to coast: tinyurl.com/2tf7e6rk

Fieldwork time! Currently conducting #eDNA surveys in southern NSW to study estuarine biodiversity. It's been great fun working with the Jerrinja (Shoalhaven River) and Walbunja (Clyde River) rangers this week!

🧵 1/4 🔬💧 Over 600 scientists from across Europe have signed a joint statement calling on the EU to urgently update its water pollution rules. 📢 Freshwater ecosystems are collapsing - and outdated policies aren't keeping up. Full statement ➡️ www.fba.org.uk/fba-voice/sc... #HandsOffNature

Job opening! CSIRO @csiropublishing.bsky.social is currently hiring 2 #eDNA Postdoctoral Fellowships! sednasociety.com/2025/09/04/j...

Great news! We are restarting our eDNA webinar series this year to share exciting new research with the eDNA community. Our first webinar is by Josh Koh (DCCEEW): Explainable Multimodal Machine Learning Using Combined environmental DNA and Biogeographic Features for Ecosystem Biomonitoring

For the first time, our course goes fully offline with @angmcgaughran.bsky.social ! 🎉 🎥 Recorded lectures 📄 Annotated hands-on scripts 💬 1 week of Slack support Designed for a global audience and flexible learning 🌍✨ If interested: www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...

#PhD opportunities at UTS in seadragon #ecology and #conservation 🐟 🏢 UTS Fish Ecology Lab, University of Technology Sydney 📍 #Sydney 💰 Normal graduate research support + $5,000pa scholarship for up to 3 yrs 📨 Contact Prof David Booth: profiles.uts.edu.au/David.Booth

SCB’s 2025 Graduate Student Research Awards are open! Ten $1,000 grants for grad students advancing #biodiversity conservation. You can use the funds for travel, field gear, or materials. Apply now + read guidelines: conbio.org/mini-sites/s... #grants #conservation #studentawards

#PhD #opportunity optimising #seagrass restoration at the University of Tasmania 📍#Hobart #Tasmania 💰$33,511 pa scholarship 🚨Deadline: Wed 1 October 2025 👀https://www.utas.edu.au/research/degrees/available-projects?id=1948

#JobOpportunity: Tasmanian Government is #hiring… 🎣 Manager – Recreational Fisheries 🗓️ permanent, full time 💰 $129,302 to $136,089 👀 careers.pageuppeople.com/759/cw/en/jo... 🚨Deadline: Tue 02 Sep

#PhD opportunities at UNSW in fish passage and fishways design 🐟 🚨22 Sept 🏢 UNSW Water Research Laboratory 📍 Sydney 💰 Scholarships available 📨 Jasmin Martino: www.linkedin.com/in/jasmin-ma... 📨 Iain Suthers: www.unsw.edu.au/staff/iain-s... 📨 Stefan Felder: www.unsw.edu.au/staff/stefan...

"Australia has the second-lowest public expenditure on tertiary education institutions in the OECD…This has resulted in an endless chase for dollars (international students & “the next big thing”) rather than thinking about what an educated Australia should look like” www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

#OnThisDay in 1858, a seminal journal article comprised of papers by Alfred Russel Wallace FRS and Charles Darwin FRS on the theory of evolution by natural selection was published by the Linnean Society, the first public announcement of the theory of evolution. bit.ly/3k8fq4u

The New Zealand Molecular Ecology conference returns for its 27th year! This meeting brings together students, researchers, & industry to divulge the latest in ecological genomics and eDNA. This year, the meeting is held in Raglan, 26-28th of November. You won’t want to miss it! shorturl.at/inWqz

“You are here to learn to ride a bicycle, not to invent a bicycle.” 🚲🧪 Read my story in Science Magazine on how I dealt with my "Mid-PhD Crisis". www.science.org/content/arti... @science.org @sciencecareers.bsky.social #ScienceWorkingLife #AcademicChatter #AcademicTwitter #ScienceTwitter

Introducing the SeDNAs Members Starter Pack 🧬 Connect with fellow members of the society, grow your eDNA network, and spark new collaborations! Comment below or message to be added to the pack go.bsky.app/GBwDbax

🚨 Calling all eDNA folks! 🚨 The 2027 Southern #eDNA Society Conference is coming to Canberra. We’re forming the Organising Committee—keen on science, comms, logistics, or hosting? Get in touch or tag a mate! Let’s make this a good one. @sednasociety.bsky.social

🧬 💻 Help shape the future of national eDNA analysis support Australian BioCommons & SeDNAs have launched a short survey to identify the computational and bioinformatics needs of our community. Your input will guide future investments—don’t miss the chance to have your say! 👉 tinyurl.com/yc3eu2ns

📣 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

🌊 Read the latest from our SPS SG members Dr David Booth and @maartendb.bsky.social! The paper looks at what we know and don’t know about leafy, common and ruby seadragons, and what’s needed to better protect them 💙. 🔗📖Dive in: link.springer.com/article/10.1... #Seadragons #SavingIconicFishes

🧬 Membership renewals are now open for the 2025–2026 financial year! If you're passionate about environmental DNA (eDNA) and want to stay connected, now’s the time to renew (or join!) SeDNAs 🧬🌏 Benefits of being a member👇

The TropWATER eDNA lab (JCU) is looking for a Postdoc Research Fellow for a full-time, 2-yr role on applied biosecurity & biodiversity monitoring projects across Nth Aus. Join a passionate team applying eDNA tools to real-world conservation and management challenges. tinyurl.com/bdh43rum

Curious about what lives in NSW (Australia) estuaries? We established a new open access baseline with more than 10,000 taxa for >250 sites using #eDNA methods. Short summary online today with links to video and a site map theconversation.com/from-surpris... @sednasociety.bsky.social

New paper alert! Read the latest from Dr. David Booth, (lead author and our SPS SG member) on the unprecedented mass stranding of weedy seadragons in Sydney — impacts, causes, and what it means for the future. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

I finally have some time to start exploring the BIG #eDNA dataset I've been collecting the past year, and it is looking spicy! >7000 taxa in 33 estuaries (>2,000 samples) across 1,100km of coastline = great step towards mapping biodiversity in Australian estuaries @wilderlab.bsky.social

🚨 NEW PAPER 🚨 Real-Time PCR Assay and Environmental DNA Workflow for Detecting Irukandji Jellyfish, Malo bella (Cubozoa) Led by Jess Strickland, this study presents a new #eDNA assay for detecting M. bella - a small but nasty Irukandji jellyfish found along WA’s Ningaloo Reef tinyurl.com/3yvvnxzc

Remember the shark-riding octopus? youtu.be/F9osYO9VRlg?... I made a comic about it (which is also about argonauts because they're the best; here's an article I wrote if you want to know more about the cowgirls of the sea: octonation.com/should-you-p...) 🦑🐡

Just completed 3 weeks in the field assessing the impacts of the floods caused by tropical cyclone Alfred Estuaries in northern NSW copped it pretty bad. First #eDNA results expected mid May

🧬 Big steps for biodiversity science in northern Australia! In June 2024, 55 experts came together to assess the status of DNA barcode libraries for the region’s unique species. Their insights are now available online, offering a roadmap to strengthen our genetic reference data.