This is part of Pint of Science 2024 event.

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This is an in-person event ONLY. During drinks sessions in the Library, you can view our current exhibition 'Lovely as a Tree'. 

Does the air trap the essence of us all? What do we shed unknowingly into our environments? Find out about environmental DNA, and how it is transforming the way we discern species presence, populations and aiding biodiversity conservation. Come listen to these real life species detectives in our historic venue – the Linnean Society of London, where Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace first presented their theory of evolution! As this is a listed building/room unfortunately food and drinks cannot be consumed during the event but there will be time to get a drink before & during the break. 

Talk abstracts below: 

It's all in the Air! Combining Air Monitoring and DNA to Understand Nature on a Big Scale

Dr Joanne Littlefair (Lecturer, University College London)

The UK faces issues in trying to track and count species, which are the basic tools we have to understand biodiversity. In the last few years, scientists have been exploring how environmental DNA – shed by all animals and plants – could prove the key to monitoring species on a much bigger scale. Recently, scientists have discovered how this DNA is released into the air and have been examining how this can help us to track biodiversity on land.

Behind the Bars: eDNA’s Potential in Conservation

Stephanie Holt (Ecologist and Natural Historian, Natural History Museum)

New techniques in genomics such as eDNA and metabarcoding can provide us with rapid and detailed new datasets, but what is the value of these new tools and the data they generate to conservation goals and habitat management decisions at a local or site-based level? This talk will discuss what potential opportunities these advances give us, and some of the pitfalls we might need to overcome.

Agenda of the evening

1700: Drinks and networking in the Library 

1800: Welcome to the Linnean Society

1810: Speaker Stephanie Holt 

1830: Audience Q&A 

1840: Pint of Science Quiz!

1900: Drinks break in the Library

1930: Speaker Joanne Littlefair 

1950: Audience Q&A 

2000: End of programme