A talk on rapid evolutionary patterns for Hiroshima University

I was very pleased to be asked to give a talk at the prestigious Amphibian Research Centre at Hiroshima University, Japan. I was hosted by the amazing Profs. Takeshi Igawa and Hajime Ogino. 

There were many students from the Centre who grilled me for what seemed like a very long time after the talk. 

 

After the talk we went for a great meal with many of the students and staff from the centre. 

 

Measey, J. (2024) What can biological invasions teach us about rapid evolutionary change? 28 June 2024 Amphibian Research Centre, Hiroshima University, Japan 

Collecting Xenopus from WuHu, Anhui Province

My friend and collaboratory Prof. Supen Wang had mentioned to me that he had captured Xenopus leavis  near his laboratory in WuHu, Anhui Province, China. So, In mid-June Qen Qen and I flew up to WuHu to see what we could collect. 

It was great to meet up with Profs. Wang and Zhao again. I had been capturing Xenopus with Prof Wang in 2019 in Kunming, but I hadn't seen Prof Zhao since Beijing in 2016. Qen Qen and I were accompanied by their students, Zhirong He and Yuting Wang, to the field sites where we set some bucket traps.

Walking out with our bucket traps

Setting traps at the site of an established population of Xenopus laevis  outside WuHu.

We were successful in capturing some Xenopus laevis (albino) alongside Ambystoma mexicanum (axolotl) in the same trap! Both species are widely available in the pet trade in China.

Many of the animals we captured were very small metamorphs, making dissection challenging!