School for Climate Studies (SCS) and Centre for Invasion Biology (CIB) Annual Research Meeting

Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with the CIB-ARM which is hosted annually in November. This year (after a 2 year break), we see the new SCS-CIB ARM: a joint venture where Masters and PhD students present on their latest research. This event provides an important forum for networking for post-docs and students alike. For the CIB, the entire Core Team is invited to come together with their students from universities up and down South Africa.

Policy from Science

This year, there was a promient flavour of policy from science both at the national and international level. Prof. Melodie McGeogh (Monash University) provided a plenary from her perspectives after participating in the recent IPBES report Thematic Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control. 

In addition, Peter Lukey (Chief Director: Environment Knowledge and Information at DFFE) provided an overview of his experience as a policy maker in the South African government.

In addition to these plenary talks, we had a host of marvellous talks from postgraduate students from the SCS and CIB. This included Jonathan Bell who presented an update on his MSc work on improving the efficacy of the Gutteral Toad eradication programme.

Another great ARM from another year of research for 10s of students working on invasions and climate change. We look forward to next year when the intersection of these two disciplines will be dissected in more detail.

A talk for the University of Portsmouth

Readers of the blog will be familiar with my repeated visits to the University of Portsmouth and in particular the European Xenopus Resource Centre (EXRC). In January 2024 (see here) I became a Visiting Researcher, School of Biological Sciences, University of Portsmouth, and so during a brief visit to Portsmouth this week, I was asked to give a talk to the School.

The EXRC is a special place for anyone working on Xenopus as they hold breeding stock for anyone in Europe working on Xenopus frogs. Recently, we were able to supply them with some gametes from the progeny of wild caught animals from South Africa. I hope to report more on that project here on the blog in future.

Matt Guille leads the EXRC and received a flashing Xenopus neon sign for the EXRC lab.

Measey, J. (2024) What can biological invasions teach us about rapid evolutionary change? 1 November 2024 School of Biological Sciences at University of Portsmouth

A testimonial from Sam and the importance of saying thank you

Today was another long day. I got back from the office to find a whole bunch of messages on different platforms and I made myself a cup of tea before sitting down and going through them. One was a voice note from Sam Peta. Sam did a MSc with me and James Baxter-Gilbert, defending his thesis back in 2022 (see here). The voice note really surprised me. I've asked Sam, and he's given his consent to transcribe it here for the blog:

“Morning John, I hope you're good.

I think I forgot to tell you this but some time last year I had a job interview. I think it was a research field assistant for the Cape Parrot Project in Hogsback. It was like a brief interview to ask about who I am and what I do what was my MSc was about.

I told the lady, I don't remember her name, that I was supervised by Prof John Measey, and she said “Oh, I know John Measey!”

I was like whoa, okay, that's nice. And then she started telling me about her project with the leopard toad and that was quite amazing.

Even with one of the guys that I work with, he said that you taught him, I think when he was in Stellies.

So yeah, I think that the point that I'm trying to make is that I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for you. The amazing skills that I've learned from you, the amazing mindset that I have when it comes to research, or looking at the world the way I look at things. So I'm grateful for the support that you've given me all these years, and now I have the confidence to say that I would like to believe that there's a great future in terms of research, and in terms of finding my way around. They're the small parts of life when it comes to working, is because of the skills that I've learned from people like you and James [Baxter-Gilbert] have helped me so much. I'll forever be grateful for that.

Even when I hear people talk about you, I get that kind of inspiration to say, okay, I've been under the supervision of one of the most incredible scientists in the world. So yeah, I'd like to believe that, hopefully in some way we can just keep in touch enough to work together at some point in the future. Yeah, I'm just wanting to say, before I start my new working day, thanks so much John for everything.”

Firstly, I’m incredibly grateful to Sam for reaching out and saying such nice things. It’s so great to hear that there’s been a lasting positive effect on students that have worked in my lab. Second, is that I have learned that it’s so very important to actually say these things to people. To actually thank them instead of just thinking that it would be nice. It’s not just important that they hear you say it, but also because you might be surprised what you hear in reply.

Here’s my response to Sam:

“Hey Sam – Thanks so much for your kind words. I think what you forget is that this does not only go in one direction. I learn an incredible amount from my students, including you. This is one of the things that makes being an advisor such an enjoyable experience, because I get to work with such enthusiastic people. It’s really my privilege to have worked with you.”

I used to think when I heard aged professors talking about their wonderful postgraduate students that they were just paying lip service to the team of people who really did all the work, but with no thanks. However, what I’ve learned, over the fullness of time, is that for many professors they truly do appreciate their team and the benefit goes both ways.

So, if you have read this far and you have someone in your life that you are thinking – yeah, they really helped me – I’m asking you to reach out to them now and say thank you. If you can, leave a voice note (like Sam did) so that they can hear your voice and know that you really do mean it. It will mean so much to them, and like Sam you may well get some words of wisdom to continue to propel you forwards.

The 10th World Congress of Herpetology in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

It was a great pleasure to attend the 10th World Congress of Herpetology in Kuching this month. The congress was a great opportunity to catch up with herpetologists from across the planet, including many that I have known for many years as well as many many new faces. 

I presented my work on the gut microbiome of Xenopus laevis, and was pleased to see many former members of the MeaseyLab presenting their own work. This included Max who presented work he conducted during his MSc on Scerophrys gutturalis. 

The peculiar tale of Xenopus laevis in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture

There are a few pathways for invasive populations of African clawed frogs, Xenopus laevis. The first, and oldest, has been the accidental (or deliberate) release of animals associated with laboratories using animals for pregnancy testing or as lab models. More recently, the number of invasions due to released pets has been on the rise, and we have seen examples of this in the USA, Belgium and China. Most of the invasions in Japan also appear to be related to pets, but not the population in Hamamatsu City.

In addition to being the laboratory model amphibian, the tadpoles of Xenopus are also used in a method known as FETAX (Frog Embryo Teratogenesis Assay – Xenopus) where they are used to measure toxicity of the water. I presume that it was this reason that led the City of Hamamatsu to release Xenopus tadpoles into one of their polluted Lake Sanaru in 1982 (see Arao & Kitano 2006). This means that the population found by Arao & Kitano in 2005 in an aquaculture area raising eels was over 20 years old at that time, but is now over 40 years old.

I was reliably informed that the animals were still there 5 years ago, and so I teamed up with Dr. Hisanori Okamiya from the Museum of Natural and Environmental History in Shizuoka. After spending a frutless morning searching in Makinohara (which apparently also had a population 5 years ago), Hisanori and I started looking around the eel farms.

A farmer at the first farm that we asked at pointed to a dead floating frog floating in a newly sterilised eel tank and asked us if this was the type of frog we were looking for. I fished it out with a very long net, and could immediately see that it was indeed a (very) dead Xenopus laevis. 

The farmer confirmed that he gets these frogs in his eel tanks all the time, but that the population appeared to be getting smaller over the last 5-10 years. We placed out traps in a large outdoor pond, the presumed source of frogs, and came back the next day very disappointed to find that there were no animals at all inside. 

I suggested that we keep on asking at eel farms and see whether anyone else was finding animals, or perhaps could point to their source. As we headed down the row of farms along the road next to the bullet train track, sightings appeared to be getting less and less. We decided to take a break and have some lunch. It had been pouring with rain all night and all morning, and Hinasori and I had been getting very wet despite waterproofs. It seemed fitting that we have eel for lunch, and so I splashed out. 

After lunch, we headed back the way we came. We stopped in the neighbouring aquaculture farm (not an eel farm, but a farm for koi carp). We couldn't find anyone around. We searched around all of the buildings, but couldn't find anyone. As we were walking through a big puddle at the side of an eel pond, Hisanori saw a frog swimming in the water. Happily, I filmed what happened next, so you'd best watch the video below:

We managed to find the owners of the farm who allowed us to fish around in one of their empty fish ponds, where we found lots of tadpoles and lots more metamorphs, but no adults. 

So it seems that 42 years after releasing tadpoles into Lake Sanaru, African clawed frogs are still alive and well in Hamamatsu City.

Further Reading:

Arao, K. and Kitano, T., 2006. Xenopus laevis from Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. 爬虫両棲類学会報, 2006(1), pp.17-19.