Lionfish, Gouldians and the Ice Age

Lionfish have personalities and tactics that change when hunting together. Even when prey is scarce, they don’t stop. Adults are especially efficient, consuming prey at alarming rates. This relentless hunting style makes them powerful invaders, and incredibly hard to control. Come discover how personality and teamwork turn lionfish into one of the ocean’s most effective predators.

Most animals must drink daily. However, this can be a deadly mission as predators loom around waterholes. How animals counteract this threat will be the topic of this talk.

The Ice Age world looked very different from today. Ireland was once home to mammoths, hyenas and bears, but while fossils tell us they were here, their connections to populations across Europe remains unclear. In this talk, I’ll show how ancient DNA preserved in cave sediments allows us to detect and study these long-extinct species. By analysing tiny genetic fragments, we can reconstruct lost ecosystems and trace how animals moved across continents during periods of dramatic climate change. These discoveries reveal that Ireland wasn’t as isolated as we once thought, but part of a much wider Ice Age network. Come and discover how DNA preserved in sediments is transforming our view of the ancient world.