Aces at ACRS

Posted on May 3, 2019 by matthewjodonnell

Matthew O’Donnell presenting 2019 © Adam Bland

Last weekend I had the pleasure of presenting my current research at the Amphibian Conservation Research Symposium – 2019 at Manchester Metropolitan University. A great conference which has a focus on early career researchers and future leaders representing exciting research from all around the world. A big thank you to all those involved in organising it!

My talk entitled – eDNA metabarcoding as a conservation tool for monitoring endangered amphibians, explored the work I have been conducting as part of my MSc Wildlife Conservation at the University of Salford, supported by the University of Manchester’s staff learning and development. This project is an exciting collaboration between the Molecular Ecology Group (MEG) at Salford, the live amphibian collections at Manchester Museum, Manchester Metropolitan University, London Zoo (ZSL) and our partners in Costa Rica – including Juan Abarca.

This incredible collaborative project is working towards optimising cutting edge environmental DNA research to use it for identifying populations of several of Costa Rica’s most endangered species. Developing techniques using collections here in Manchester has helped us to do this, so when we go to Costa Rica later this year we will have a better chance of getting some very exciting and valuable results. Stay tuned as I will be updating the blog over the coming months about this exciting research!