During a visit to the Kaunas Tadas Ivanauskas Zoological Museum, Director of Nature Research Centre, Prof. Dr (HP) Sigitas Podėnas, and Director of the Kaunas Tadas Ivanauskas Zoological Museum, Ramūnas Grigonis, signed a collaboration agreement. During the meeting, representatives of the institutions gave profiles of their research and infrastructure, visited museum exposition and collections, shared ideas of collaboration, and discussed joint research activities and doctoral studies.

On 24–27 April, Vilnius University Life Sciences Center hosted The COINS 2023, the largest international life sciences conference in Europe organised by Bachelor and Master students.
Poster presentations were delivered by young researchers of NRC Laboratory of Ecotoxicology:

Doctoral students:
Renata Butrimienė “Impact of graphene oxide and metals mixtures on salmonids-specific bacteria culture” (supervisor Dr N. Kazlauskienė)
Mindaugas Kazlauskas “Toxicity study of graphene oxide and metal mixtures for microalgae (Scenedesmus quadricauda) and crustaceans (Daphnia magna)” (supervisor Dr D. Montvydienė)

Students doing traineeship or preparing theses:
Agnė Bučaitė “Effects on hematological and morphological parameters in fish after chronic exposure to microplastics” (supervisor Dr Milda Stankevičiūtė)
Toma Černauskaitė „Quantum dots toxic effects on brown trout (Salmo “trutta fario)” (supervisor Dr Gintarė Sauliutė)
Ula Marija Statkevičiūtė “Condition factor analysis of spawning Salmo salar during migration period in Lithuania” (supervisor Dr Roberta Valskienė)
Vita Žvynakytė “Differential blood cell ratios in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) after microplastic exposure” (supervisor Dr Janina Pažusienė)

Student research was conducted within the framework of RCL funded projects: ARFA, No S-MIP-22-51; FISH, No S-MIP-20-22; MULTIS, No S-MIP-21-10.

The 66th International Conference for Students of Physical and Natural Sciences “Open Readings 2023” was held in Vilnius on 18–21 April, with participation of over 350 students from different countries of the world.

Poster presentations were delivered by NRC researchers: Dr. Tomas Makaras “The effects of graphene oxide and metal mixture on freshwater brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) swimming behaviour” (Laboratory of Ecotoxicology ), Agnė Bučaitė “Genotoxicity and cytotoxicity assessment of microplastics on fish” (Laboratory of Ecotoxicology), and Deimantė Tiškevičiūtė “Response of Entomopathogenic Nematode Steinernema feltiae to 1-Nonene, the Volatile of Insect Cadavers” (Laboratory of Chemical and Behavioural Ecology).

Poster presentations were also presented by students from Vilnius University Life Sciences Center doing traineeship or preparing theses at NRC Laboratory of Ecotoxicology (supervisors Dr. Gintarė Sauliutė and Dr. Milda Stankevičiūtė): Toma Černauskaitė “Quantum dots toxic effects on brown trout (Salmo trutta fario)”,
Gabrielė Oželytė „Evaluation of the salmonid sensitivity to the pathogenic oomycetes at the early development stage“, Eglė Gadeikytė „Effects of pathogenic oomycetes on Atlantic salmon embryos“, and Eva Kutyš „Identification of cytogenetic potential of the fish pathogen Saprolegnia parasitica using erythrocytic nuclear abnormalities test“.

Scientific investigations were conducted within RCL funded projects: “Effects of parasite-pollution interactions on aquatic organisms” (MULTIS, No S-MIP-21-10) and  Risk Assessment of tire fires and micro/nano-particles in the aquatic environment”  (ARFA, No S-MIP-22-51).

On 28 April, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eduardas Budrys delivered a lecture “Our (Homo sapiens) ecological niche”. The scientist presented the multidimensional ecological niche concept based on the Hutchinson theory. The lecture described human origin, migration ways, and the tools they used, with the main focus on humans as food web participants (predators, competitors) who caused the extinction of certain animal species.

The Nature Research Centre joined the INSIGNIA-EU project aimed at monitoring environmental pollution by using honey bee colonies. The project involves all 27 EU countries. It is participated by 10 Lithuanian beekeepers who, acting as representatives of citizen scientists, will use in their apiaries different matrices for the collection of pesticides, heavy metals, volatile organic compounds and microplastics. Also, pollen samples will be collected for the assessment of plants visited by bees. On 18 April, the Nature Research Centre arranged a meeting of beekeepers participating in the INSIGNIA-EU project and familiarised them with the activities of the project.

On 22 March, the Laboratory of Ecotoxicology and the Laboratory of Fish Ecology hosted the school children from the Gargždai “Krantas” pro-gymnasium within the framework of Global School Festival organised by the UNESCO club and coordinators of global nature protection schools programmes. Researchers of the laboratories Dr. Živilė Jurgelėnė, Dr. Brigita Gylytė, Dr. Tomas Makaras, Dr. Justas Dainys, Dr. Roberta Valskienė, Dr. Gintarė Sauliutė and Dr. Milda Stankevičiūtė familiarised children with water ecosystem pollution types, research objects and the diversity of indices to be investigated to determine biological effects. The school children were presented the newest Danio rerio rearing and breeding system and the behavioural regulation equipment acquired according to the RCL support (No S-IRA-22-11) and familiarised with environmental pollution research projects run by the laboratories and funded by the RCL, such as:  Effects of Parasite–Pollution Interactions on Aquatic Organisms (MULTIS, No S-MIP-21-10), Risk Assessment of Tire Fires and Micro/Nano-Particles in the Aquatic Environment (ARFA, No S-MIP-22-51), Dissemination and Ecotoxicity of Veterinary Antibiotics (TOXVET, No S-MIP-22-70) and New Approaches in Determining the Impacts of Chemical Pollution to Protect the Biodiversity of the Baltic Sea (Detect2Protect, No S-BIODIVERSA-23-1).

Congratulation to Nature Research Centre’s Chief Researcher Prof. Dr. Albertas Bitinas on having been elected Full Member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences

On 29–31 March, Mariehamn, Aland, Finland, hosted the Nordic-Baltic Bee Council (NBBC) and Nordic-Baltic Apicultural Research Symposium (NBARS)). The event was participated by apiculture researchers from Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Dr. Laima Blažytė-Čereškienė, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Chemical and Behavioural Ecology, made a presentation “Dark European honeybee Apis mellifera mellifera in Lithuania”.

Dr. Ellen Welti presented an interesting and pertinent talk entitled “How and why invertebrate communities are changing” to colleagues at the Nature Research Centre and Vilnius University. Her research uses lab and field experiments, in addition to large scale monitoring to identify drivers of variation in invertebrate abundance, function, and community. If you are interested in collaborating or would like to reach out, contact Dr Welti via weltie@si.edu

On 15 December, the third science dissemination event took place. Dr. Ramūnas Stepanauskas (Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, USA) made a presentation “Single Cell Genomics Investigations”. The most advanced molecular methods used in the investigation of uncultivated microorganisms were discussed,  and the efficiency and limitations of different methods were compared. Dr. Stepanauskas answered the questions important to the academic society and shared his personal scientific experience in metagenomic investigations.