iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Rainy season in the subarctic 🌧️ ☔ We're harnessing it all to detect forest-dwelling creatures 🫈 🦉 #NORTHDIVeRSITY #eDNA #science

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Reposted by Patrick Nichols

Dr. Nyssa Silbiger @nsilbiger.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

New paper! 🪸🌊 As reefs shift, the communities that replace corals can reshape the chemical environment around them. Laurel shows how community metabolism creates “chemical legacies” that alter coral physiology. @aslo.org aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Community metabolism generates chemical legacies that alter coral physiology

Coral reefs are among the world's most diverse ecosystems and contribute substantially to ocean productivity and the carbon budget. Disturbances are shifting reefs to altered community states, yet ho...

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Set up a tarp in the forest, catch rain running off the canopy, collect the throughfall with our 3D-printed sampler. Simple as that. We're using OMNIeDNA CANOPY to find out what's living above us... just from rain washing off leaves and bark. 🌲🧬 #eDNA #CitizenScience #Biodiversity #NORTHDIVeRSITY

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Testing our open-source 3D-printed OMNIeDNA TORRENT sampler in Finnish rivers Simple, efficient, and designed for anyone to use... we're democratizing eDNA biomonitoring from the Baltic to boreal streams. 🔬🧬 #eDNA #OpenScience #Biodiversity #CitizenScience #Finland #NORTHDIVeRSITY

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

2 yrs of eDNA on Hawaiian reefs shows a persistent core (sponges, annelids, algae) anchors site identity. Rare taxa drive temporal noise (wind/waves/tides). eDNA = stable communities, not just transient DNA. Spatial > temporal. #eDNA #biodoversity #coralreefs 📄 doi.org/10.1111/mec....

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

🧬⚓️ Sailing the Baltic with S/V Godzilla to test portable eDNA tools. Monitoring key species under industrial pressure using simple DNA tests from a moving boat to inform conservation. Part of the Nordic-Baltic State of the Art network. #eDNA #BalticSea #NORTHDIVeRSITY

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Off to sea soon! ⛵️ Built this eDNA sampling planner to figure out how many sites I can actually sample before I go. Play with the parameters & plan smarter. Free to use! pknichols.com/ednabler/ #eDNA #MarineScience #Fieldwork #NORTHDIVeRSITY

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I'm tired of seeing conservation efforts bottlenecked by the cost of fancy equipment. So, we went back to the drawing board. If we want to protect biodiversity, we need tools that can be deployed at scale. Fewer bells and whistles. More data. #eDNA #Biodiversity #Conservation #NORTHDIVeRSITY

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Just wrapped #BioMonWeek26 on democratizing eDNA. Passive samplers (PEDS) for invasive algae + detection of endangered seals & otters. Simple, scalable, no-frills filtration. Let's make molecular biomonitoring more accessible!! 🧬

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

eDNA flagged Chondria tumulosa far beyond Hawaiʻi, but multilocus sequencing revealed a cryptic sister lineage, not range expansion. Takeaway: “false positives” in eDNA can reflect hidden diversity, not detection error. Single-locus markers ≠ enough. #eDNA #CrypticSpecies #InvasionBiology

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Winter has arrived. Commuting through the snowy wonderland is quite the change of pace!

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

After nearly a decade studying marine biology in Hawai‘i and earning two degrees at UH Mānoa, it’s time for a new chapter. Grateful for all the lessons, mentors, and aloha that shaped me here. Excited to begin a postdoc in applied conservation and genomics — a hui hou, Hawai‘i🌊#PhDone

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Can we circumvent the cumbersome filtration of #edna from seawater to detect rare taxa? Yes! Passively deploying simple cost-effective cotton membranes can, with trade-offs of course. @sednasociety.bsky.social doi.org/10.7717/peer...

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Ready or not, here we go!! Are molecular tools reliable enough for routine monitoring of coral reefs? #edna #ecology #coralreef #conservation

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Finally got around to uploading photos from the #tongariro alpine crossing! So many beautiful biomes and such a humbling and powerful place!

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Where in the world is Chondria tumulosa?? New insights into the geographic range of the cryptogenic red alga, which was discovered in 2015-2016 smothering native reef systems in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument! www.hawaii.edu/news/2024/12...

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Reposted by Patrick Nichols

Erin Hahn (she/her) @erinhahn.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

PhD student, Patrick Nichols, is using #eDNA to hunt down elusive pesky algae - slapping passive samplers everywhere! #SeDNA2025

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

@sednasociety.bsky.social who else thinks pumping water is a pain in the ass!?!?

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

"But most of all, don't give in to cynicism or apathy. That's what the people promulgating these horrible policies want - a bored, indifferent public who figures that who cares, nothing matters any more, it's gonna happen no matter what. But it doesn't have to." www.science.org/content/blog...

science.org

Revised and Extended: What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF

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Patrick Nichols @saltwaterpatrick.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

"Navigating uncertainty in environmental DNA detection of a nuisance marine macroalga" where we discuss #eDNA techniques to infer presence-absence of a marine invader threatening the protected #coralreefs of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument 🧬🪸 doi.org/10.1371/jour...

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