Jamie Wood

Dr. Jamie Wood is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences within the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology at the University of Adelaide. His academic home is in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department where he maintains an active research program and supervises graduate students.

As a terrestrial ecologist, Dr. Wood specializes in molecular ecology and palaeoecology, applying evolutionary and environmental genomics approaches to study terrestrial ecosystems over the past 50,000 years. His research integrates multiple analytical methods including palynology, macrofossils, radiocarbon dating, and stable isotope analyses.

• Climate and environmental change
• Ecological impacts associated with initial human settlement
• Systematics and phylogenetic relationships of threatened and extinct species
• Consequences of broken species interactions
• Application of ancient eDNA to conservation management
• Development of eDNA-based biodiversity monitoring tools

Dr. Wood is particularly recognized for pioneering the use of coprolites (ancient dung) to study extinct and threatened animal species, identifying depositing species and reconstructing their diets and parasite faunas through eDNA approaches. His current research includes metagenomic analyses of prehistoric Pacific rat coprolites from New Zealand and ancient Adélie penguin guano deposits from Antarctica.

He is eligible to supervise Masters and PhD students, with research opportunities available in ancient DNA and environmental DNA applications. Potential projects include studying the effects of conservation management on parasite faunas, using eDNA for wetland restoration monitoring, and reconstructing past genetic diversity of Adélie penguins using ancient guano eDNA.