In Autumn 2021 we were excited to assist in the collection of specimens for the Darwin Tree of Life Project. The Darwin Tree of Life project aims to sequence the genomes of 70,000 species in Britain and Ireland in order to “understand the evolution of the diversity of life, to explore the biology of organisms and ecosystems, to aid conservation efforts and to provide new tools for medicine and biotechnology”. You can find out more about the project here: darwintreeoflife.org.
The fieldwork during which we assisted personnel from the Natural History Museum to collect specimens was carried out on the Thames Estuary. A range of species including Tubularia indivisa, Ceratothoa steindachneri, Macropodia rostrata, Philine aperta and Osmerus eperlanus were collected. The location of where each specimen was collected, along with further information on each individual, can be viewed here: portal.darwintreeoflife.org/gis.
To find out more about Eco Marine’s recent activities, click here.
