Description:
Global microbial atlas initiatives are enabling resolution of the distribution, function, and ecological roles of microorganisms. However, significant geographic and environmental blind spots remain, particularly in Southern Hemisphere ecosystems, remote coastal and marine environments, and extreme terrestrial habitats.
The Australian Microbiome (AM) initiative is addressing this gap by providing a uniquely comprehensive, national-scale dataset that substantially strengthens global atlas efforts. With ~14,000 samples spanning Australia’s large climatic and ecological gradients, AM offers standardised workflows and rich environmental metadata.
Join Dr Andrew Bissett, CSIRO, as he steps us through how AM enhances global capacity to detect macroecological trends, characterise novel microbial diversity, and track environment‑critical microbial responses to climate and land‑use change.
Speaker:
Dr Andrew Bissett, Group Leader, Marine Ecosystem Observations & Assessments, CSIRO
Date/Time: 15 April 2026, 12 - 1 pm AEST / 12:30 - 1:30 pm ACST / 10 - 11 am AWST (check in your timezone)
Who the webinar is for:
This webinar is for life science researchers, ecologists, and bioinformaticians who want to leverage large-scale, standardised environmental microbiome datasets and online exploration tools for their own research.
How to join:
This webinar is free to join but you must register for a place in advance.
This event is part of a series of bioinformatics training events. If you’d like to hear when registrations open for other events, please subscribe to the Australian BioCommons newsletter.