Butterflies are marvellous. A single female pearl-bordered fritillary (Boloria euphrosyne) is at the heart of a reintroduction project in the Malvern hills, looking to reintroduce this rare species back onto a site where the species has been extinct for the past 30 years. Read more about this incredible project here
“Croak!” said the Toad, “I’m hungry, I think; To-day I’ve had nothing to eat or to drink” “Ho, ho!” quoth the Frog, “is that what you mean? Then I’ll hop away to the next meadow stream“ Ever wondered what the remarkable differences are between frogs and toads? What does their skin look like, how do they walk and do their eggs form in clumps or strings? How can the genomes that are collected help us understand more about these species? 🐸🧬 Read more about the amphibian discoveries here 🧬🐸
Think the seaside is all about swimming and building sandcastles? Think again! Kesella Scott-Somme and Team Marine at the Marine Biological Association took to the sea caves of Wales, to discover the hidden secrets of Bas’s cave snail (Otina ovata), amongst other species! These fascinating snails look like limpets but they are actually a type of snail that dwells in marine environments clinging to the smoother walls of caves and rockpools. In her post, Kesella explains the importance of these snails as well as starfish and seaweed that they stumbled upon and how their research is shedding light on these species’ important role in the marine ecosystem. 🐌🌊⭐🌱 Read more here 🐌🌊⭐🌱
Success for the Darwin Tree of Life Project: our first genome of a fungus is live! 🍄🌱🧬 If you go down to the woods today, you are in for a big surprise! 🏆🎉 The first genome has been collected and it is none other than the Chicken of the Woods, Laetiporus sulphureus. This fungus is one of the most unusual located in woods throughout the UK. It’s bright orange and yellow colouring is one of the most eye-catching, making its home on many of our native broadleaved species, including oak, sweet chestnut and ash! 🍄🌱🧬 The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has been instrumental in helping deliver this genome. Read more about the fascinating history and work here 🍄🌱🧬
We continue our protist journey by focusing upon the work of Dr Jamie McGowan, a member of our Perfect Protists team, who is collaborating with the Earlham Institute and the University of Oxford to shed some more light on these elusive species. Jamie is working hard to catalogue the different protist species and to ‘analyse the sequencing data, assemble the genomes, work out how they are evolving and how they’re related to each other’… all on a microscopic scale! 🧬🧫 Read more about how the cutting edge research overcomes a number of challenges here 🧬🧫
Imagine a caterpillar. Nice and cosy in its chrysalis and then along comes a wasp who lands on the chrysalis shell, injects some eggs into the chamber and flies away. A couple of months later, what emerges is not what one would expect… instead of a caterpillar, a handful of tiny wasps. Parasites might not be the most cute and cuddly critters but they do have an important role to play in the natural world – they are an essential part of the food chain. Gavin Broad, of our Invertebrate Investigators team, explains why we should be more interested in this diverse group of insects and highlights why it is important to conserve them and more importantly, fill the parasitoid wasp genome gap! 🐝🦋🐛 Read more about Gavin and his research here 🐝🦋🐛
What do you picture when someone asks you to think of a cute animal? Chances are your first thought isn’t a marine worm… but think again! Kesella Scott-Somme takes a light-hearted look into the world of marine worms and helps prove that even those that wiggle can still be awfully cute! 🔬 We love a good microscope image and you cannot beat one where a worm is smiling at you! Check out more of these selfies here 🐛
Ever wondered what lurks beneath the surface in water bodies around the UK? Well, to answer that question is a team of scientists from the University of Oxford who are studying the lesser known protists – single celled organisms – and their important role in developing complex ecosystems. Read more about their fieldwork journey to collect some rare samples from a hidden corner of the Lake District.
Schools @ Darwin Tree of Life runs from March 2021 to July 2022. This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust, grant reference 206194/Z/17/Z and 218328/Z/19/Z. This report will detail progress of the Zone from 15 March 2021 to 14 July 2021. The activity features 35 people working on the Darwin Tree of Life Project. Download the Zone Report (pdf) ❯ Scientists 35 scientists and researchers created profiles in the Zone. See who is taking part ❯ The winner of the Summer Term was Code Crackers. 🏆 The Schools @ Darwin Tree of Life trophy is on its way to the team! 🏆 Students 291 students from 14 schools logged into the Zone. 87% of active students were from target schools: 29% from widening participation schools and 62% from underserved schools. Live chats 32 live chats took place. 13 were booked by teachers and 19 were additional chats, open to … Continue reading
That’s it for the Genomics Lite: Biodiversity & Evolution sessions! This June and July, Genomics Lite and the people involved in the Darwin Tree of Life project have given us all a great insight into genomics, biodiversity, and evolution. Throughout the series, the teams have: Looked at how genomics can aid our understanding of biodiversity and evolution. Discussed and compared methods and challenges in sequencing the genomes of old and new samples. Examined how humans have affected the evolution of malaria and mosquitos. Explored different careers and routes into the biodiversity and evolution fields. Even though the series has finished, you can continue learning with the Genomic Lite resources: Discover how scientists have been able to better understand the history of human evolution and whether humans are still evolving by studying the human genome. Find out more about different types of evolution and what natural selection in action looks like. … Continue reading
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