Metabarcoding and Metagenomics, powerful tools to explore the ecological dimension of biological invasions.

A two-day pre-symposium workshop on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 June 2024.

Led by Melanie Roy, University of Toulouse, France, Mathias Pires, UNICAMP, and Andres Arguelles University of Saõ Paulo, Brazil

Metabarcoding and Metagenomics applied to the study of plant-fungi invasions allow the monitoring of invasive species, as well as community and genomic changes. These techniques have been evolving extremely quickly (e.g., from short to long reads), resulting in a diversity of pipelines and practices, but also diversifying the questions that can be answered. The aims of this workshop, focused on the analysis of plant and/or fungal sequences, are to discuss the importance of bioinformatic choices made during any analyses, the limitations in distinguishing species and classifying invasiveness, and the best practices and most inspiring methods to describe changes in community structure and interactions.

During the two days, we will alternate between practical sessions, presentations from the participants (based on their experience and the practical sessions), and debates illustrating the diversity of approaches and questions around biological invasions. The workshop will enrich participants' involvement during the symposium with critical ideas on these methods, providing a toolbox of approaches for subsequent research.

The workshop is open to individuals not attending the symposium and there will be no charge to attend. However, attendees will need to fund their own travel, food, and accommodation.  Additional nights of accommodation at Casa do Professor Visitante can be added for £50 a night single occupancy (£40 for students or ECRs), or £55 a night double occupancy.  

To apply, interested attendees should draft a short statement of interest. The statement should include:

• Why you want to attend the workshop
• How you are using, or plan to use, metabarcoding and metagenomics in your research
• What research questions you may want to investigate using analyses of these data

Applications will be reviewed within 2 weeks of submission. The workshop is limited to 25 attendees.