Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Florian Altermatt @florianaltermatt.bsky.social · 11d

In massive #collaborative #effort, we assembled published & unpublished #fish 🐟 #eDNA 🧬 metabarcoding datasets, covering ~2000 sampling sites/>100 river systems globally. 🐟 🐠 🐡 🌐 🌍

Now results out in 2 #parallel #preprints @biorxiv-ecology.bsky.social

#aquatic #biodiversity #meta-analysis
1/6🧵

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Florian Leese @leeselab.bsky.social · Sep 8

Every year a highlight & intense period: Our molecular ecology module! We train advanced Master students on how to apply DNA & #eDNA #metabarcoding to assess riverine #biodiversity.
Long #Day1 today as we sampled until 19:30. Motivation: 10/10. Tomorrow: to the lab! @unidue.bsky.social @sgn.one

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Ecotoxicology lab RC One Health Ruhr @ecotox.bsky.social · Sep 2

New database on thermal tolerance on freshwater invertebrates and fish - major effort by Helena Bayat and many collaborators. Freely available here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Doerthe Tetzlaff @tetzlaffecohyd.bsky.social · Sep 2

There is funding for early career scientists to attend!

Florian Leese @leeselab.bsky.social · Sep 2

15th Water Research Horizon Conference of the #WaterScienceAlliance will take place @ruhr-uni-bochum.de 29/30 September. Focus: #urban water bodies / #watercycle
Time for inter- & transdisciplinary discussions. Also: Award ceremony of new junior #research group
water-research-horizon.de/wrhc.html RT

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Florian Leese @leeselab.bsky.social · Sep 2

15th Water Research Horizon Conference of the #WaterScienceAlliance will take place @ruhr-uni-bochum.de 29/30 September. Focus: #urban water bodies / #watercycle
Time for inter- & transdisciplinary discussions. Also: Award ceremony of new junior #research group
water-research-horizon.de/wrhc.html RT

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Metabarcoding and Metagenomics @mbmg.pensoft.net · Aug 29

By comparing three strategies for local bioassessments in streams using environmental DNA and RNA metabarcoding, researchers find the most effective strategy is to briefly incubate collected organisms in water then analyse the enriched eDNA.

🔗 doi.org/10.3897/mbmg...

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Ecotoxicology lab RC One Health Ruhr @ecotox.bsky.social · Aug 12

Check out this new article on null model selection for multiple stressor research. Fantastic work by Iris Pimentel from @leeselab.bsky.social within the @crc-resist.bsky.social.
Freely available at: dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

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Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung @sgn.one · Dec 11

📣 #Forschungsnews: Senckenberg-Forschende zeigen mit deutschlandweitem Insekten-Langzeitmonitoring: Besonders artenreiche, unbewaldete Gebiete sind aktuell zu wenig geschützt. 🦋 Der entscheidende Treiber für den Rückgang der Insektenvielfalt ist die Landnutzung. 🐝

👇 sgn.one/8x2

Schutz an falscher Stelle: Verlust der Insektenvielfalt | Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Prof. Dr. Peter Haase Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt Tel. 06051 61954 3114 [email protected]

sgn.one

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Physalia-courses@Online @physaliacourses.bsky.social · Feb 12

📢Registrations are now open for the next edition of the Eukaryotic Metabarcoding Workshop with @leeselab.bsky.social @dominikbuchner.bsky.social @tillmacher.bsky.social & @shump.bsky.social

📅Save the dates: 14-18 July

🔗For more information: www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...

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eDNAqua-Plan Project @ednaquaplan.bsky.social · Jun 27

Take a deep dive into this article by @leeselab.bsky.social focusing on new primers for #eDNA metabarcoding, proving that they significantly boost detection of benthic invertebrates in freshwater.
Targeting the right sequences can overcome nontarget amplification
👉 bit.ly/4dC2rlT

#science #water

Improved freshwater macroinvertebrate detection from environmental DNA through minimized nontarget amplification

Capturing benthic invertebrate biodiversity from environmental DNA (eDNA) isolated from water is difficult because of abundant nontarget taxa PCR amplification. A new primer combination maximizes tar...

bit.ly

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Physalia-courses@Online @physaliacourses.bsky.social · Jul 18

🚀 A big thank you to all participants and instructors of our eDNA Metabarcoding course! 🙌

We explored amazing user-friendly tools like BolDigger, Aspcale, and TaxonTable, had a great intro to @nanoporetech.com data, and wrapped up with an inspiring open discussion full of ideas and projects.

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Florian Leese @leeselab.bsky.social · Jul 24

It’s happening again! Our @crc-resist.bsky.social team from @unidue.bsky.social is in Hesse to prepare the next large #ExStream experiment. Stay tuned.
#freshwater #biodiversity #multiplestressors

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Thomas Hörren @thoerren.bsky.social · Jul 19

Wahl zum Wissensbuch des Jahres 2025

Ich freue mich sehr, dass unser Buch „Von Angesicht zu Angesicht“ dabei ist!

Ihr könnt uns sowie unsere Arbeit, mit der wir für biologische Vielfalt begeistern, mit eurer Stimme in der Kategorie „Ästhetik“ unterstützen: www.konradin-service.de/umfrage/inde...

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Florian Leese @leeselab.bsky.social · Jul 18

And it’s a wrap! Thx to all participants - and the instructor colleagues, and the fantastic @physaliacourses.bsky.social team. How good you bring people together through organizing these courses. ☀️🙏

Physalia-courses@Online @physaliacourses.bsky.social · Jul 18

🚀 A big thank you to all participants and instructors of our eDNA Metabarcoding course! 🙌

We explored amazing user-friendly tools like BolDigger, Aspcale, and TaxonTable, had a great intro to @nanoporetech.com data, and wrapped up with an inspiring open discussion full of ideas and projects.

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The Probst Lab @probstlab.bsky.social · Jul 16

We’re happy to announce Dr. Lennard Stach!! 🥳🥳 Well done Lennard for a brilliant defense and thesis!! We will miss you!
Finally, thank you @leeselab.bsky.social for sitting in the thesis committee! 🫶

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Physalia-courses@Online @physaliacourses.bsky.social · Jul 14

🎉 We’re thrilled to kick off the Eukaryotic "eDNA" Metabarcoding workshop with @leeselab.bsky.social @dominikbuchner.bsky.social , @tillmacher.bsky.social , @shump.bsky.social & an amazing group of participants joining us from across the globe—from Australia to Peru, from USA & Canada to Europe! 🌍🧬💻

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Florian Leese @leeselab.bsky.social · Jul 1

Our team @unidue.bsky.social turned 🔟 today & I found myself in a spontaneous celebration event.
Really happy & grateful to work here with such a great bunch of talented & nice people - connected to our collaborators around the 🌎. Life could be worse. Weiter geht‘s. ☀️Maybe more lab work next 🔟 ?

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Florian Leese @leeselab.bsky.social · Jun 28

Very good to see our @pensoft.net journal @mbmg.pensoft.net continues to receive good CiteScores and also now the first #ImpactFactor with a good value of 3.1 ☀️
While I personally don’t care much about these metrics I know they are really relevant for many institutions. Thus: very happy about this!

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Florian Leese @leeselab.bsky.social · Jun 27

🙏 And just as an addition: don‘t use these primers for bulk sample metabarcoding. There others are ways better (we recommend fwhF2/fwhR2n as a good solution; further solutions like BF2/BR3 or mlCOI with dgHCO exist)

eDNAqua-Plan Project @ednaquaplan.bsky.social · Jun 27

Take a deep dive into this article by @leeselab.bsky.social focusing on new primers for #eDNA metabarcoding, proving that they significantly boost detection of benthic invertebrates in freshwater.
Targeting the right sequences can overcome nontarget amplification
👉 bit.ly/4dC2rlT

#science #water

Improved freshwater macroinvertebrate detection from environmental DNA through minimized nontarget amplification

Capturing benthic invertebrate biodiversity from environmental DNA (eDNA) isolated from water is difficult because of abundant nontarget taxa PCR amplification. A new primer combination maximizes tar...

bit.ly

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Florian Leese @leeselab.bsky.social · Jun 10

Immer ein Highlight: die #DGL Jahrestagung. 2025 laden wir zu einer Special Session ein: „Genetischen Verfahren im biologischen Gewässermonitoring“ 🧬 👉 auf 🇩🇪&🇬🇧
Kommt vorbei, meldet euch an: www.dgl-jahrestagungen.de/phone/index....

#Vortrag #Poster #Tagung #Limnologie #omics #eDNA #Monitoring

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Physalia-courses@Online @physaliacourses.bsky.social · May 28

Join us for the Eukaryotic Metabarcoding course w/ @leeselab.bsky.social @dominikbuchner.bsky.social
shorturl.at/wRW4T Till & @shump.bsky.social
Get hands-on experience analysing Illumina & @nanoporetech.com data & learn how to run metabarcoding pipelines from raw sequences to ecological insights

Eukaryotic metabarcoding

14-18 July 2025 To foster international participation, this course will be held online

www.physalia-courses.org

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Nature Reviews Biodiversity @natrevbiodiv.nature.com · May 20

Contributors include: @florianaltermatt.bsky.social, @rosiecblackman.bsky.social, @francoiskeck.bsky.social,
@lorihandley.bsky.social,
@leeselab.bsky.social

Bluesky

b.bsky.social

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Nature Reviews Biodiversity @natrevbiodiv.nature.com · May 20

In our May issue: Perspective led by Florian Altermatt discussing how to bring aquatic eDNA collection and data management in line with the Kunming-Montreal Global #Biodiversity Framework. 🧪🌎
Web link: go.nature.com/4mv2h4W
Readcube: rdcu.be/eh0uC

Utilizing aquatic environmental DNA to address global biodiversity targets - Nature Reviews Biodiversity

Aquatic eDNA-based technologies offer the potential for universal and standardized biodiversity monitoring. In this Perspective, Altermatt et al. discuss how these technologies can help to achiev...

go.nature.com

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Kamil Hupało @kamilhupalo.bsky.social · May 20

It has been a collective effort with a great contributions by Isabel Blasco-Costa, Alejandro Trujillo González & @leeselab.bsky.social. It is also related to our activities within the IMPACT project! Make sure to follow @impact-parasites.bsky.social and check out all other fascinating chapters! 🤩

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Bernd Sures @berndsures.bsky.social · May 16

Great News: Our book Aquatic Parasitology: Ecological and Environmental Concepts and Implications of Marine and Freshwater Parasites has been published online open access! link.springer.com/book/10.1007... @nicojsmit.bsky.social @unidue.bsky.social

Aquatic Parasitology: Ecological and Environmental Concepts and Implications of Marine and Freshwater Parasites

A unique open access collection on ecological and environmental parasitology in marine and freshwater. Covers climate change and parasite conservation.

link.springer.com

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Florian Leese @leeselab.bsky.social · May 14

👍🏼 and regarding international collaboration: we‘d love to have your feedback on a European society for environmental omics (or environmental DNA? Semantics) here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

European Society for Environmental Omics (ESEO)

Dear Environmental Omics enthusiasts! At the AquaEcOmics meeting in Evian (March, 2025), an international group of 35 experts discussed the future of regular European meetings and collaborative effor...

docs.google.com

Florian Leese @leeselab.bsky.social · May 14

Thx for this post @kirstenjharper.bsky.social - hope it is ok I used it in a longer post here www.linkedin.com/posts/floria...

#ukdnawg #london #academia #smes #regulation #consultants #edna… | Florian Leese

I much enjoyed the last 2.5 intense days at the #UKDNAWG meeting held at The Royal Society in #London. Since its start over 10 years ago this group of people from #academia, #smes #regulation and #co...

www.linkedin.com

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UKEOF UKDNA Working Group @ukdnawg.bsky.social · May 14

FAIR #eDNA data and transparent workflows are essential. Harmonisation should come after standardisation. International collaboration and partnership will drive progress #UKDNAWG25

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UKEOF UKDNA Working Group @ukdnawg.bsky.social · May 14

Different labs can produce vastly different results which leads to ‘eDNA doesn’t work’ - ring and proficiency testing is key. Establishing minimum standards (e.g. sequencing depth) and metadata reporting is crucial. Stringency of standards will vary by taxonomic group #UKDNAWG25

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