Dr. Melissa M. Marr

International Conservation Translocation Conference 2026 | The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies Website for the International Conservation Translocation Conference 2026

vet.ed.ac.uk/ictc
'We are pleased to announce that the 4th International Conservation Translocation Conference (ICTC) will be held in the UNESCO World Heritage city of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the Monday 7th to Wednesday 9th September 2026' #ICTC2026 #naturescot #RDSVS

First year of wildcat restoration hailed big success New research confirms first year of wildcat reintroduction to Scotland has been highly effective.

Fantastic news from the Scottish wildcat reintroduction programme. Survival and reproduction rates above expectation 👏👏👏 #naturescot #scottishwildcat #wildcats #scottishwildlife #conservatin

www.nature.scot/first-year-w...

Gene editing offers transformative solution to saving endangered species Gene editing technologies - such as those used in agriculture and de-extinction projects - can be repurposed to offer a transformative solution for restoring genetic diversity and saving endangered…

Gene editing offers transformative solution to saving endangered species www.uea.ac.uk/about/news/a...

Senior Research Associate in Population Genomics (RA2327) in University of East Anglia | UEA View details and apply for this Senior Research Associate in Population Genomics (RA2327) vacancy in University of East Anglia. Faculty of Science School of Biological Sciences Senior Research A...

A 4-year postdoc position in population genomics is available in my group at the University of East Anglia, to work on a project sequencing a thousand fox genomes across rural and urban environments in the UK.

vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/15...

Come and join me on the 14th May, 7pm, online via The Orkney Nature Festival, for a geeks history of Scotland's red squirrels with some genomics thrown in.

Scotland's red squirrels: a genetic journey through time. 🐿️🧬🐿️🧬

Booking here (it's free!) 👇
www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/orkneynature...

Happy birthday, David Attenborough! 99 ways he has inspired us, by Barack Obama, Billie Eilish, Morgan Freeman – and many more This week the presenter turns 99. To celebrate, we asked 99 nature lovers – including Margaret Atwood, Jane Fonda, Bono, Kate Winslet and Michael Palin – how he has helped us see the world with fresh ...

Happy birthday Sir David, living legend 👑🦋🐍🐒🐝🦊🐟🐞🐻🌿🍄

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Our new paper on difference of sexual development in a (rather adorable) pygmy goat 🐐🐐🐐 #DSD #pygmygoat
www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15...
@mdpiopenaccess.bsky.social @roslininstitute.bsky.social @thedickvet.bsky.social

I’d love to hear about Isobella Gordon OBE (The Grand Old Lady of Carcinology), the first permanent female employee at the NHM ☺️

Tracing the Spread of Celtic Languages using Ancient Genomics https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.28.640770v1

Beaver releases into wild to be allowed in England for first time in centuries Exclusive: Government to grant nature groups a licence for release of rodent species after earlier setbacks

Licensed release of beavers in England has now been approved, paving the way for the first official reintroductions into the wild in centuries. Fantastic news from @naturalengland.bsky.social and defra 👏🦫👏🦫👏 #beavers #rewilding #conservation

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

#Gaelic is Scotland’s oldest surviving language, and for many centuries it has been spoken throughout these glens.

At Dundreggan, you can explore its deep connections to the land and rewilding 👉 visitdundreggan.co.uk/things-to-do/

#SeachdainNaGàidhlig #WorldGaelicWeek

Science under threat | Royal Society The Royal Society will use its voice and the expertise of our Fellows to resist the various challenges to science.

Science advances our economic, physical, and social and cultural wellbeing, and is key to a sustainable future. However, we live in times of great change, and the values that have driven science for the benefit of humanity are under threat. Read our statement here: royalsociety.org/news/2025/02...

Long read Greenland shark genome, this is rather cool. Estimated lifespan of 392 +\- 120 😳 🦈🧬

How Scottish Gaelic is helping protect Scotland’s seas Around 75% of fishermen in the Outer Hebrides speak Gaelic. Their daily use of the language at work helps keep it alive.

Scottish Gaelic is spoken by 75% of fishermen in the Hebrides; conservation of the language is linked to conservation of the marine environment #scottishgaelic #marineconservation

theconversation.com/how-scottish...

Comparative population genomics of manta rays has global implications for management Understanding population connectivity and genetic diversity is of fundamental importance to conservation. However, in globally threatened marine megafauna, challenges remain due to their elusive natu...

New publication:

Comparative population genomics of manta rays has global implications for management

@emilyhumble.bsky.social

Read more here: doi.org/10.1111/mec....

Careers at Colossal - Colossal Colossal is a breakthrough bioscience and genetic engineering company that builds radical new technologies to advance the field of genomics.

We're looking for a next-gen sequencing engineer to help run our sequencing core 🧬🦣🦤

Position is onsite in Dallas TX colossal.com/careers/?gh_...

scotlandsnature.wordpress.com/tag/roddy-ma...

A Gaelic View of ‘Wild’ The Gaelic equivalent of the English word ‘rewilding’ is ‘ath-fhiadhachadh’. Roddy Maclean argues that the word, and the concept, sit comfortably within a Gaelic world-view.

As a new Gàidhlig speaker, I'm still learning how to communicate wildlife research in this new tongue. So I was delighted to find Roddy MacLean's gorgeous writings on Gàidhlig, the land and the concept of fiadhaich (wild). scotlandsnature.wordpress.com/2022/08/05/a... #scottishgaelic #wildlife

With @katiejenike.bsky.social and a bunch more of our fellow k-mer enthusiasts, we put together a manuscript on k-mers in biodiversity genomics. A guide if you will, that covers k-mers from basics to some really funky stuff...

genome.cshlp.org/content/35/2...

Lack of diversity threatens red squirrels’ future Scotland’s red squirrels have among the lowest genetic diversity of any species, leaving them vulnerable to disease outbreaks, a study shows.

Congratulations to former Daphne Jackson Fellow Dr @melissamarr.bsky.social whose research on lack of diversity in the red squirrel population is giving us new insights into species vulnerability.

Read more: www.ed.ac.uk/news/lack-of...

Ancient genomics and the origin, dispersal, and development of domestic sheep The origins and prehistory of domestic sheep (Ovis aries) are incompletely understood; to address this, we generated data from 118 ancient genomes spanning 12,000 years sampled from across Eurasia. Ge...

Thread and open access version to come-
Ancient genomics and the origin, dispersal, and development of domestic sheep | Science search.app/gtSKYHF5HqRa...

#adna

CASTER: Direct species tree inference from whole-genome alignments Genomes contain mosaics of discordant evolutionary histories, challenging the accurate inference of the tree of life. While genome-wide data are routinely used for discordance-aware phylogenomic analyses, due to modeling and scalability limitations, the...

In a new Science study, researchers present CASTER, a tool that uses arrangements in DNA sequences known as site patterns to infer “species trees,” which are diagrams that depict the evolutionary relationships among species.

Learn more:

In the new Heredity Podcast:

Katja Guschanski @kguschan.bsky.social discusses using microbiome fossils from teeth to study antibiotic resistance through time! And her first Popgroup.
@gensocuk.bsky.social
@uni-of-edinburgh.bsky.social
@onehealthgenomics.bsky.social
@animecol-uu.bsky.social

Global meta-analysis shows action is needed to halt genetic diversity loss - Nature A comprehensive meta-analysis of global terrestrial and marine genetic diversity covering more than three decades of research demonstrates rapid loss of genetic diversity and identifies conservation i...

Out now in @nature.com! Our comprehensive meta-analysis of global terrestrial and marine genetic diversity demonstrates rapid loss of genetic diversity and identifies conservation interventions that could mitigate this process
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪🌍🦤🧬
#consgen #PopGen

Early humans' hunting habits reshaped scavenger communities, study suggests A new study indicates that human behavior around 45,000 to 29,000 years ago contributed to a change in the composition of scavenging animal species living nearby. While smaller scavenging animals such...

phys.org/news/2025-01...

Genomic Insights Into Red Squirrels in Scotland Reveal Loss of Heterozygosity Associated With Extreme Founder Effects Remnant populations of endangered species often have complex demographic histories associated with human impact. This can present challenges for conservation as populations modified by human activity...

Right on time for Squirrel Appreciation Day 🐿️👏, here is our new paper on genomics 🧬 of red squirrels in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿. We find extremely low diversity linked to historical bottlenecks and founder effects. #redsquirrel #genomics #conservation #scotland doi.org/10.1111/eva....

Returning from #pag32 in #sandeigo and the merry dancers are putting on a show over Canada #aurora #northernlights #britishairways