Tim Janicke, Göran Arnqvist and colleagues have a new paper out discussing how biological sex is rooted in anisogamy (different gamete sizes) and how this relates to broader evolutionary patterns of sex-specific selection. You can read more about it here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Biological Sex Is Binary and Rooted in Anisogamy

Drawing on empirical evidence and evolutionary theory, we argue that biological sex is most coherently defined as a binary classification of reproductive strategies rooted in anisogamy (the productio...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Representing all the amazing research at the Evolutionary Biology Centrum from Uppsala University #SMBE2026 @animecol-uu.bsky.social @evobiouppsala.bsky.social

I did an interview on the MVIF podcast with @pamferretti.bsky.social about wild animal microbiomes, for anyone interested! 🦠🧬

Microbiome Virtual International Forum@microbiomevif.bsky.social · last mo.

#MVIFconversations podcast episode 6 with @elinvidevall.bsky.social is OUT! ▶️ Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/39MK... ▶️ Amazon music: music.amazon.com/podcasts/81c... ▶️ Apple Music: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e... ▶️ YouTube podcast: youtu.be/_wQ4AxWoPTc 1/2

Congratulations to Raissa Rausch for smashing her master thesis defence last week 💪🏽🙌 she has worked on simulating bottlenecks during biocontrol releases in islands. Super #proudPI @animecol-uu.bsky.social

Huge congrats to Dr. Maddi Garate Olaizola (@garate-olaizola.bsky.social) for defending her thesis titled "Early life performance in Eastern Baltic cod: responses to environmental challenges" on Friday June 6th with Dr. Marta Moyano from NIVA as her opponent. We are all very proud of her :)

Thanks to Kasun Bodawatta @kbodawatta.bsky.social for visiting us at @animecol-uu.bsky.social Uppsala University! Kasun gave a very interesting talk about eDNA methods, such as using mosses, to survey the local flora and fauna. 🧬

Last week we had our Animal Ecology day organized by Gabi'a (@gmkov.bsky.social) group and Uppsala Botanical Garden www.uu.se/en/botanical... (who kindly allowed us to run and around with nets), where we were tasked to classify the invertebrate diversity around the Botanical garden and Hågadalen🦋🪲🪰

Congratulations Qianrui Yang, who successfully defended her MSc thesis today! Well done! Her thesis investigated both gut microbiomes and mitochondrial metabolic rate in hybrid Ficedula flycatchers. 🐦🦠🧬🩸 @animecol-uu.bsky.social

After a couple of failed applications, I am very excited that one panned out. I will be starting my first independently funded fellowship in September! My project will be hosted at the @animecol-uu.bsky.social Uppsala University #DiseaseEcology #Microbiome #SpatialEpidemiology #Hantavirus

Today @joshuahufton.bsky.social held his half-time seminar in Sand lizard methylation and ”gene regulation, transposable elements and environmental responses”

Huge congrats to @garate-olaizola.bsky.social for nailing her thesis on early life-stages in Baltic cod. Her defense will be held on june 5th. Find her thesis here: uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record...

Today our program was represented by two great talks by @gmkov.bsky.social and @vonschmalensee.bsky.social on AI usage during our department day. Loke spoke on agentic AI and Gabriela spoke on APIs!

We have a new exiting PhD position in our program on the skin microbiome of amphibians, supervised by @cortazar-chinarro.bsky.social! Follow the link to read more and apply: www.uu.se/en/about-uu/.... Deadline the 8th of May.

We have a new exiting opportunity to join our program with a new PhD position supervised by @dbergerbiol.bsky.social co-supervised by @gmkov.bsky.social on the repeatability of evolution in seed beetles! Click the link to read more and apply! www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

New review paper on bird #microbiome methods out! Bridging the gap: improving methodologies for future avian microbiome research 🐦🦠🧬 #OA @avianbiology.bsky.social @charlisdavies.bsky.social @kbodawatta.bsky.social nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Bridging the gap: improving methodologies for future avian microbiome research

Recent advances in the field of wild avian microbiome research have significantly deepened our understanding of the eco-evolutionary dynamics of bird–microbe interactions. Consequently, the field is ...

nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Huge congratulations to our newest Dr. Theodore Squires for defending his thesis on the ”Evolutionary ecogenomics of North Atlantic ptarmigan” at the University of Akureyri, Iceland. You can read his thesis here uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record...

This week we had a visit from Dr. Nathalie Feiner from the Max Planck institute in Plönn, where she spoke about her work on common wall lizards and the origin and developmental background of the ‘nigriventris syndrome’.

Check our Open Access paper on the Tokara Leaf Warbler – a previously undescribed, threatened Japanese bird: doi.org/10.1093/pnas... Thx to all coauthors: Takema Saitoh, @dariashipilina.bsky.social. Shin-Ichi Seki, Canwei Xia, Lijun Zhang & Urban Olsson. @animecol-uu.bsky.social #birds #biodiversity

I am pleased to announce this account is now run by me, @cenkvist.bsky.social. I am a PhD student working on microbiome and diet in wolverines 🦠. I am exited to share all about the amazing research happening at our program! Thank you to Yishu Zhu for her great work running the account before me! 😊

Lingyu Zeng, Göran Arnqvist et al. show that the extreme cold tolerance of the khapra beetle has a quite complex genetic architecture, involving several genes involved in stress signalling but also those than mediate general metabolic processes 🧬 Check it out at link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Functional genomics reveals key gene families and molecular pathways for extreme cold survival in the khapra beetle - BMC Biology

Background The khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium Everts) is among the world’s most destructive invasive pests, threatening food security and international trade. Its larvae exhibit exceptional resil...

link.springer.com

and Emerging Technologies in Bird Monitoring and Research: Artificial Intelligence, eDNA, Remote Sensing, and Other Approaches: www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/...

The international ornithological journal Avian Research, which publishes Open Access for FREE, has calls for two special issues: Avian Conservation in the Anthropocene: Challenges, Innovations, and Future Directions: lnkd.in/dcWNqPxu (deadline 31 December 2026) and

Congratulations to my former student Zongzhuang Liu for publishing a paper on Weak nuclear divergence despite pronounced mitochondrial divergence within a widespread desert-inhabiting Palearctic lark (Aves: Alaudidae). See doi.org/10.1111/zsc.... (Open Access)

Congratulations to my former student Lei Wu who recently published "Parallel divergence with shared barriers and niche separation between two sympatric avian species groups" (dx.doi.org/10.1111/jse....) (Open Access). Willow Tit Poecile montanus and Marsh Tit P. palustris species groups in China

Huge congrats to Neele Schmidt for successfully defending her PhD thesis “Ecosystem restoration through restocking hatchling cod in the Baltic Sea” 🎉🐟 Neele addressed several ecological challenges in the endeaver of restocking cod hatchlings. Read the thesis at: uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record...

Last week the annual @animecol-uu.bsky.social symposium, 'Revolution', counted with several presentations from the students and researchers in our lab! Yishu Zhu, Ana Gomes, Sophia Stratton, Michaëla Berdougo, and Anna Qvarnström presented the most recent updates on the flycatchers work!

Great Revolution at @animecol-uu.bsky.social : thank you for inviting me, fun to be on the other side of the barricades this time 😀

Animal Ecology Uppsala@animecol-uu.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Another inspiring plenary talk today by @alexeimaklakov.bsky.social — Why Live Longer on Less (and Why the Sexes Age Differently)? Dietary restriction leads to longer life span, but is it through trade-offs as commonly believed? 🧐 (Preprint at www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...)

Today I had the chance to show some preliminary data from my wolverine #microbiome project at our program symposia Revolution @animecol-uu.bsky.social 🦠

#Revolution2026 has officially started! 😃 Looking forward to two fun science-filled days. Invited speakers are Anna Runemark and Alexei Maklakov. @animecol-uu.bsky.social

Our annual programme symposium, 'Revolution', is here again! The two days ahead will be full of great science 🧬