GOS is a charity. Donations are welcome and it is only £12 to join (for which you get the annual bird report, email updates concerning events and an invitation to attend all of our walks / field trips free of charge). Walks are £5 for non-members. We welcome members and non-members alike to the free online talks. For in-person talks there is a nominal fee of £1 on the door to help cover room hire.
We encourage all to join the society and contribute to the bird recording and conservation initiatives GOS promotes.
Darwin Tree of Life project: Bird Genome Sequencing
Dr Ava Jenkins will address us.
Ava is a Wildlife Veterinarian and Research Associate at the Institute of Zoology, and is working with the Darwin Tree of Life project. The project aims to sequence the genomes of 30,000 species in Britain and Ireland. It is a collaboration between biodiversity, genomics and analysis partners that is transforming the way we do biology, conservation and biotechnology.
In this role, Ava organises and collects blood and tissue samples from our native wildlife species by collaborating with the British Trust for Ornithology and their Ringing Scheme, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, and wildlife hospitals across the UK. Ava spends a lot of time out in the field with bird ringers and wildlife experts.
Genomic data helps us understand the evolution of the diversity of life, explore the biology of organisms and ecosystems, aids conservation efforts and provides new tools for medicine and biotechnology. The Darwin Tree of Life Project is one of several initiatives across the globe working towards the ultimate goal of sequencing all complex life on Earth, in a venture known as the Earth BioGenome Project. The Tree of Life project is focussing on the organisms that live in and around Britain and Ireland because they constitute what is probably the best known and most deeply studied biota in the world, explored during centuries of observation and research.