#jameshuttoninstitute — Public Fediverse posts

Next step in our #BEN_EAF project: take a closer at the details! 🔎
We will identify the most important groups of our #SoilFauna to species level in order to close gaps on their distribution in the #CairngormsNationalPark . (#Scotland)
Ground beetles like this Carabus problematicus (#Carabidae) are straightforward, but other much smaller critters are more challenging.
Fortunately, the #JamesHuttonInstitute has experts on the local soil fauna who can help me in the identification. 🤝

Counting, sorting, identifying. 🤓
Time to check all the collected #alpine #SoilFauna from soil samples and pitfall traps from the Ben Avon plateau in the #CairngormsNationalPark in #Scotland .
After a nice sampling season, I am sitting in the soil labs of the #JamesHuttonInstitute in #Aberdeen . Very promising first results already! 🤞

#AlpSoil_Lab #BEN_EAF #SoilMesofauna #SoilBiodiversity #MountainSoilBiodiversity

Do you use DNA approaches to monitor plant pests or pathogens in the UK?

Fill in Beth Moore’s survey on using DNA technologies for pest and pathogen monitoring & option to sign up to be a part of focus group https://hutton.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_41Omm1Snngk5XCK?Q_CHL=qr

The survey is being run as part of the plant health centre project PHG2028_01 at #JamesHuttonInstitute
#eDNA #EnvironmentalDNA #PlantPathogens

Field work seems to be over for now in our #BEN_EAF outgoing mobility project in the #Cairngorms, #Scotland.

We did sample soil for #eDNA #metabarcoding and collected our pitfall traps.

It was a great and quite warm weather! 😎

Next: do some invertebrate identification in the labs of the #JamesHuttonInstitute .

#AlpSoil_Lab #Highlands #ScottishHighlands #SoilFauna #SoilBiodiversity #MountainSoilBiodiversity

Field work half-time for #BEN_EAF! ⛰️

We took small and larger soil samples from whom hashtag#SoilFauna will be heat-extracted in the soil lab at the Aberdeen campus of the #JamesHuttonInstitute. This is mainly springtails (#Collembola), mites (#Acari), and hopeful more small critters!

Further, we did also collect the soil fauna from the pitfall traps: mainly ground beetles (#Carabidae), wolf spiders (#Lycosidae), and harvestmen (#Phalangiidae). 🕷️🪲

Thanks again to Andrea Britton and Debbie Fielding for the help in the field work!

#SoilBiodiversity #AlpineSoils #MountainSoils #Cairngorms #Scotland

Here we go: now pitfall traps are collecting critters on the ground at the #alpine plateau of Ben Avon, in the #CairngormsNationalPark in the Scottish #Highlands. 🕷️🪲🐛

Four habitat types, three pitfall traps each: looking forward!
Maybe we can find some new records of soil invertebrates? The chances are high, as alpine soil fauna studies are rare in the UK.

Thanks to Andrea Britton and Debbie Fielding from #jameshuttonInstitute for helping do field work! ✌️

#BEN_EAF #AlpSoil_Lab #MountainSoilBiodiversity #SoilFauna #Scotland

Here some good news for the #MEB network (microclimate ecology & biogeography, former #SoilTemp).
New #TOMST soil temperature and soil humidity loggers are now installed in alpine habitats of the #ScottishHighlands, in the #Cairngorms National Park. 🌡️

#BEN_EAF #SoilTemperature #Microclimate #Biogeography #JamesHuttonInstitute #AlpSoil_Lab #SoilHumidity

While samplings of #alpine beasties in the #Cairngorms #NationalPark for my #BEN_EAF project at the #JamesHuttonInstitute are still in the preparation, here some impressions of the critters I've found while hiking.
As temperatures go up, so more activity is expected, right?
? 🤓🕷️🐛🪱🧬

#NatureScot #ScottishHighlands #Highlands #AlpineSoils #AlpSoil_Lab #SoilFauna #SoilBiodiversity

Preparations for my #BEN_EAF project as visiting scientist at the #JamesHuttonInstitute are still ongoing, but I could hike in the Scottish #Highlands already!

Looking forward to taking #alpine #SoilFauna samples (cores and pitfall traps) and to compare these with #eDNA samplings. 🕷️🧬

#MountainSoilBiodiversity #Scotland #Aberdeenshire #Cairngorms