9th International Workshop and Symposium for Mangrove Biodiversity Studies by eDNA Metabarcoding

Workshop: 6 January - 16 February, 2025
(with a Symposium on 9th and 10th Feb.)
at the Iriomote Station, TBRC, University of the Ryukyus

Co-sponsored by JSPS Core to Core, e-Asia, AJ-CORE, KAKENHI International (B), OcenShot(Tohoku Univ), and COI-Next@Tohoku Univ.

Welcome to Iriomote Station!

We are pleased to hold the “9th International Workshop for Mangrove Biodiversity Studies by eDNA Metabarcoding” at Iriomote Station, Tropical Biosphere Research Center (TBRC), University of the Ryukyus, Japan for 29 Jan - 14 Feb. 2025.

The international collaboration project for eDNA research on global mangroves started in 2020 by obtaining support from JSPS Core to Core. The project successfully finished at the end of March 2023, and we started the second phase of the program by obtaining support from JSPS Core to Core in April 2024. We will explore further collaborations with Ocean Shot and Nature Positive oriented projects launched at Tohoku University.

In this one-week workshop, we will provide basic training for 12 participants from 8 countries to further use of eDNA metabarcoding for their own studies.

Workshop Schedule

6 January - 8 February: Participants' Arrival at Iriomote Station.
- Researchers and Students from five countries work on their projects using the eDNA lab facilities of Iriomote Station. They will get help, support, and advice from the staff of the University of the Ryukyus to conduct their research.
9 February: International Symposium on Mangrove biodiversity study by using eDNA metabarcoding
10 morning: Symposium (cont). Afternoon: Excursion
11 - 13: Library preparation for eDNA metabarcoding and NGS run by Illumina iSeq100 with Data Analyses session
14 Closing the workshop

Symposium Timetable

9th February

10:00 -
- Opening Remarks
- Presentation by Kondoh, Suyama, Leanne, Harris
- Lunch
13:30-
- Presentation by Basyuni, Emma, Codou, Marizka
- Tea Break
16:00
- Presentation by Badeth, Reimer, Fabian, Ulla, Minegishi
- Dinner
19:30
- Workshop discussion on the use of eDNA and other NGS based methods for biodiversity monitoring (AJ-Core)
21:00: Closing 1st Day

10th February

9:00 Meeting with people who works on biodiversity conservation of world heritage site in Iriomote
- Introduction of conservation activities in Iriomote Island (including eDNA use)
- Discussion on future collaboration
10:30: Start to Urauchi River
- Mangrove site visit of Urauchi River
- Lunch
12:30 Urauchi River Cruise
- 13:00 Start trekking
- 14:30 Kampire Water Fall
- 16:00 return by the last boat from upper pier
17:00 Arrival at Iriomote Station
18:30 Dinner
19:30
- Workshop discussion on the use of eDNA for biodiversity management for the demands from local communities (AJ-Core)
21:00 Closing the workshop

Participants

Researchers and Students who work on their research projects

Emma Rossouw (Stellenbosch University, South Africa) (6 Jan - 7 Feb)
Itchika Sivaipram (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand) (16 - 25 Jan)
Jasrul Dulipat (Stellenbosch University, South Africa) (20 - 31 Jan)
Leanne Frances Yee (University of Nottingham Malaysia, Malaysia) (3 - 14 Feb)
Heng Wei Khang (Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia) (3 - 14 Feb)
Ndeye Codou Mbaye (Cheikh Anta Diop University, Senegal) (2 - 16 Feb)
Jean Fall (Cheikh Anta Diop University, Senegal) (2 - 16 Feb)
Marizka Juliano (Gent University, Belgium) *Lab work supporter
Bernadeth Grace Pananganan (University of the Ryukyus, Japan) *Lab work supporter

Symposium participants

All researcher and students listed above
Michio Kondo (Tohoku University, Japan)
Yoshihisa Suyama (Tohoku University, Japan)
Sioud Imane (Tohoku University, Japan)
Yuki Minegishi (Tokyo University, Japan)
Mohammad Basyuni (Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia)
James Reimer (University of the Ryukyus, Japan)
Fabian Gosser (University of the Ryukyus, Japan)
Ulla von Ammon (University of the Ryukyus, Japan)
Md. Mizanur Rahman (University of the Ryukyus, Japan)
Yukinobu Isowa (TBRC, University of the Ryukyus, Japan)
Tadashi Kajita (TBRC, University of the Ryukyus, Japan)

Organizers

Tadashi Kajita (TBRC, University of the Ryukyus, Japan)
Yukinobu Isowa (TBRC, University of the Ryukyus, Japan)
Keiko Shiromoto (TBRC, University of the Ryukyus, Japan, JSPS RPD)
Bernadeth Grace Pananganan, (TBRC, University of the Ryukyus, Japan), Research Assistant
Md. Mizanur Rahman (University of the Ryukyus, Japan)
Marizka Juliano (Gent University, Belgium) , Internship trainee at TBRC, University of the Ryukyus