Author | Lightnews

Phoebe Chapman

@phoebechapman.bsky.social

1.3K followers 1.1K following 66 posts

🇦🇺 in 🇳🇿 at Uni of Otago using genomic approaches to explore diversity, microbes and parasites primarily in aquatic/marine ecosystems. Variously an ecologist, wildlife wrangler/photographer, diver/hiker/skier/etc 🐧 🐢 🐸 🧬 🌊 🏳️‍🌈 http://phoebeachapman.github.io

phoebeachapman.github.io

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by Phoebe Chapman

Australian Antarctic Program Partnership @antarctic.bsky.social · 2d

H5 strain of bird flu on Heard Island? Samples are yet to be tested. "The majority of mortalities were detected in elephant seal pups and in a small number of adults." — Dr Julie McInnes, wildlife ecologist with AAD and @imas-utas.bsky.social

▶️ www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

📸 Matt Curnock

1 16 22

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · 8d

The last paper from our project looking at the link between skin bacteria and a tadpole’s ability to regenerate its tail. A good summary in @frogsquisher.bsky.social’s comments!

Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 8d

The last chapter of our RSNZ Marsden funded work on the microbiome and regeneration is out in Developmental Dynamics 🧪🐸🦠🧫https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dvdy.70088
@phoebechapman.bsky.social

Commensal skin bacteria interact with the innate immune system to promote tail regeneration in Xenopus laevis tadpoles

Background Tadpoles of the clawed frog Xenopus laevis can regenerate their tails following partial amputation, replacing the missing spinal cord, muscles, and fin. However, for a brief period of dev...

anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Phoebe Chapman

Sisyphus @sisyphusreturns.bsky.social · Sep 20

#BirdoftheYear 🇳🇿

3 29 84

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · Jul 31

Would love an add as well if possible Pamela!

1 3

Reposted by Phoebe Chapman

Jamie Wood @larusnz.bsky.social · Jul 24

Parasite extinctions in threatened species may be far more prevalent than previous estimates suggest. Our new study of kākāpō dung spanning from ~1,500 years ago to present, finds >80% of parasite species were lost as the host species declined.

Long-term parasite decline associated with near extinction and conservation of the critically endangered kākāpō parrot

Boast et al. analyze a unique fecal record of the endangered kākāpō parrot to reveal >800 years of changing parasite communities. Parasite losses occur during the species’ decline to near extinction a...

www.cell.com

1 11 28

Reposted by Phoebe Chapman

Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · Jul 7

You want to collect insects (and maybe other arthropods) for reference genome sequencing, but don't want to spend a fortune on dry ice shipping!

All you gotta do is SQUISH. THAT. BUG!

More details in our recent preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

a silly #SciArt redraw of the squish that cat meme, but it is a grey stickfigure squishing a mosquito (that looks like a little cat) with the text SQUISH THAT BUG!

2 21 59

Reposted by Phoebe Chapman

mr dog @firstdogonthemoon.bsky.social · Jul 7

Everyone knows about AMOC but have you heard about SMOC?! Stand by for extreme penguinity! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Ocean current scientists are very upset and you should be too | First Dog on the Moon

It’s bad news for the Antarctic sea ice and everyone who relies on it being there (everyone)

www.theguardian.com

10 59 120

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · Jun 22

Saw this somewhere on the socials today, seems… relevant.

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · Apr 28

Better late than never for #worldpenguinday and #superseabirdsunday! Deadpan Gentoo had enough of my photography crap I reckon #marinelife 🦑 #birds 🪶

Portrait of a plump gentoo penguin from chest up, looking straight into camera. A white chest, black neck and head with white band/crown running behind eyes. Orange and black beak. In the background are large black pebbles.

6 12 130

Reposted by Phoebe Chapman

Philipp Bayer @philippbayer.bsky.social · Apr 23

My nightmare in #eDNA is to detect a rare or threatened species that turns out to be a false positive, so we set out to evaluate some of the commonly used taxonomic classifiers.

The results are finally out: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

1/3

A Comprehensive Evaluation of Taxonomic Classifiers in Marine Vertebrate eDNA Studies

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is a widely used tool for surveying marine vertebrate biodiversity. To this end, many computational tools have been released and a plethora of bioinformatic app...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

2 12 28

Reposted by Phoebe Chapman

Zoë Irene 😷❤️🦈 @getcaughtliving.bsky.social · Apr 17

Plastic pollution along Australia’s coastline has dropped by more than a third over the last decade. Researchers recorded a 39% decrease in coastal debris density and a 16% increase in areas with “no plastic debris at all.”

www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast...

Australia making a dent in plastic packaging pollution on coastlines, CSIRO finds

Plastic pollution along Australia’s coastline has dropped by more than a third over the last decade. That’s according to new research from Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, published in the M...

www.sbs.com.au

12 34

Reposted by Phoebe Chapman

Tyler, from the Internet @tylerfromtheinternet.com · Apr 13

Two children at school in uniforms and it looks like Japan, both of them look like girls or femmes. One is holding a giant tuba so that it's stuffed over the face of the other one that's pinned up against the wall. The one holding the tuba is labeled every company. The tuba is labeled unwanted AI And the one against the wall is labeled me

32 2.6K 7.4K

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · Apr 15

Weee yupes!!

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · Apr 13

For this week’s #superseabirdsunday - hoiho / yellow-eyed penguin, Enderby Island
#seabird #birds 🪶 #naturephotography #penguin #newzealand

A black penguin, turning back to look at the camera. The penguin has a pink beak and light coloured eye, with a yellow band running between its eyes around the back of its head. In the background are green ferns and tall reeds. The foreground is light green lush grass, obscuring the bottom half of the bird.

1 25

Reposted by Phoebe Chapman

Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · Apr 3

SAVE THE PENGUINS.
STOP TRUMP’S TARIFFS.

67 840 2.4K

Reposted by Phoebe Chapman

Heard Island Government @heardislandgov.bsky.social · Apr 4

If you’re new here, welcome. Our Antarctica Nudist Colony Government was formed after Seal hunters left our land around 1920. We occasionally allow scientists to study our 29 mammals, multiple seabirds, and limited flora, but have no permanent human settlement. Australia partially protects us 1/2

17 180 1.5K

Reposted by Phoebe Chapman

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · Apr 3

Even when it's just the two of them, in an otherwise empty Oval office, Trump and Musk still aren't the smartest guys in the room.

"Trade war with penguins":
Trump places 10% tariff on
uninhabited Antarctic
islands
Planned tariffs shared by the White House
included a 10% duty on imports from the barren
Heard and McDonald Islands

39 120 490

Reposted by Phoebe Chapman

Mac McGill @maddmac.bsky.social · Mar 29

Thought I'd revisit Star Wars.

Just in case anyone forgot what starts the whole saga: it's a #TradeWar about #tariffs

6 25 140

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · Mar 30

Hooray! Thank you :)

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · Mar 30

Oh yes please!

1 1

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · Mar 29

Three Southern Royal albatross sharing a juicy piece of gossip on Enderby Island (NZ sub-Antarctic)

#seabirds #superseabirdsunday #marinelife #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #birds

Three large albatross, predominantly white with black mottled wings and light pink bills. The centre bird faces away from the camera, and the birds on either side face inwards towards it; all three have their heads together as if discussing something. They stand on a hill covered in yellow, green and red herbs, mosses and grasses.

2 6 51

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · Mar 29

A bit of Saturday science - our new paper out this week is the first published record of a myxozoan parasite in Murray River turtles (Emydura macquarii) in Australia @vgonzaleza.bsky.social
#parasitology 🪱 #herpetology #turtle 🐢

Renal myxosporidiosis by an unknown Bivalvulidan myxozoan parasite in Murray River turtles (Emydura macquarii) in Australia

This case series provides the first published record of a myxozoan parasite in Murray River turtles (Emydura macquarii) in Australia. Thirteen turtles…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 1

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · Mar 23

And based in Dunedin!

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · Mar 23

I dunno about Harlequin but I can give a plug for my wife @zgrokit.bsky.social who writes lady-loving-lady romance

1 2

Phoebe Chapman @phoebechapman.bsky.social · Mar 23

Not much a skua won’t fight over. Enderby Island, sub-Antarctic New Zealand #birds #marinelife #seabirds #birdphotography

Two medium sized mottled dark brown birds having a tug of war over a long piece of brown kelp on a sandy beach.

3 26