Shocking.

Online now: Genomic metrics should inform formal conservation threat assessments

Just in time for #SMBE2026, our new preprint is out: using 130 genomes spanning ~200 years, fitness data and simulations, we show that conservation rescued the Mauritius kestrel from extinction, but not from genomic erosion. 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #popgen #consgen #conservation

Hi #SMBE2026! We have a new preprint out today - we wrote a decision tree based random coalescent model generator to work with fastsimcoal2, called CoalMiner! Do check out the preprint, and give CoalMiner a try!

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology@biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · last mo.

CoalMiner: a coalescent model generator for fastsimcoal2 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.25.734618v1

Our paper is out! 📣 we find that molecular measures of genetic variation do not predict heritable genetic variation across species - important implications for the application of genomic data for conservation! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Nucleotide diversity is a poor predictor of short-term adaptive potential | PNAS

The capacity to adapt is essential for a population to avoid extinction in a changing world and is recognized as a global conservation priority. Ad...

pnas.org

We are excited to share our pan-pangenome paper! This is a long time coming work of my postdoc with the incredible @psudmant.bsky.social, and a stellar group of people! I hope you enjoy reading it! And I am excited to talk more more about it this week at #PEQG26!! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A Pan-pangenome illuminates complex structural variation and selection in humans, chimpanzees, and bonobos

Complete, haplotype-resolved genome assemblies have provided unprecedented insight into the evolution of structurally complex, rapidly evolving regions of human genomes; however, population-scale pang...

biorxiv.org

The evolution of structural variation across 500 million years of vertebrate evolution https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.26.733778v1

A northern rough-winged swallow impatiently inhales its parent's face in its search for food. I'm pretty sure the adult had no food at the time. #birds

Murali, G., Karger, D.N. & Wiens, J.J. Temperate local extinctions from climate change are outpacing tropical extinctions. Nat. Clim. Chang. (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Temperate local extinctions from climate change are outpacing tropical extinctions - Nature Climate Change

The authors analyse global-scale resurvey data for 5,151 species to reveal the sensitivity of tropical versus temperate species to climate change. They show significantly higher frequencies of local e...

doi.org

protecting populations in conservations is important - we here present a framework which can help you to identify populations for conservation prioritisation #consgen 🦤#IUCN #SSC a long term project by @cgsg.bsky.social led by @jgeue.bsky.social and @debbiemleigh.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/bios...

A practical framework for identifying genetic subpopulations and ESUs: Insights for IUCN assessments and broader management

Abstract. Species conservation assessments evaluate extinction risk, and recovery potential, advancing species persistence through guiding resource priorit

doi.org

New publication with Peter Koene and Alexander Brinker (not on here), in which we show that non-native rainbow trout were introduce and have established multiple times from different sources in Southern Germany but show some repeated signals of naturalisation: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Multiple Genetic Origins of Non‐Native, Self‐Sustaining Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss in Streams in Baden‐Württemberg, Germany

Introduced in the late 19th Century, Oncorhynchus mykiss (rainbow trout) has been stocked historically in streams throughout Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and some populations have become self-sustaini...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Trump Diverts All Science Funding Into Locating The Smurfs https://theonion.com/trump-diverts-all-science-funding-into-locating-the-smurfs/

#Bugsky 🐙🌿 Shared with me by a fof in SoCal - this is a gynandromorph (both male & female) valley carpenter bee (Xylocopa sonorina). Females are black, males orange, so the extreme color dimorphism really stands out. Per Doug Yanega at UC Riverside, bee gynandromorphs he’s seen are mosaic instead—

Hong Kong’s introduced population of critically endangered yellow-crested cockatoos (~200 birds) shows very healthy genetics, avoiding inbreeding & low diversity. Maybe these city parrots serve as a genetic reservoir for the native range 🦜🧬 doi.org/10.1111/eva....

Jasmine Clark led a March for Science in 2017. She just won a Georgia primary for a safe Democratic House seat. @jasmineclarkforga.bsky.social spoke with Science about her background, the roots of her political activism, and what she hopes to accomplish in Washington, D.C. https://scim.ag/4uzbXyE

Meet the microbiologist and science advocate who’s headed to Congress

Jasmine Clark led a March for Science in 2017. She just won a Georgia primary for a safe Democratic House seat

science.org

Jon's new study in @natecoevo.nature.com shows that genetic rescue can increase long-term fitness despite elevating putative genetic load. Interested? Check out our paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short thread below 🧵 Coauthored by @jacek-radwan.bsky.social and @mkonczal.bsky.social

Genetic rescue increases long-term fitness despite elevating putative genetic load in a male-dimorphic mite - Nature Ecology & Evolution

An experiment with male-dimorphic mites shows long-lasting benefits of genetic rescue, regardless of type of male rescuer and despite introducing genetic load, in populations subjected to a thermal st...

nature.com

This International Day for Biological Diversity, we’re celebrating conservation happening right here in our own backyard 💚

Colors and patterns of California seaweeds #SciArt #PhycologyFriday

A decades-long effort to remove dangerous plastic debris from marine and terrestrial habitats succeeded in lowering endangered Hawaiian monk seal entanglement rates, a 2024 study found, confirming that such efforts are well worth the cost and effort. #EndangeredSpeciesDay https://scim.ag/4d8jw7X

We are excited to announce our 2026 winners of the Special Event Award! Full details here: blog.theaga.org/spec...

I got excited and posted but should clarify. While we figured out the oak was a clone and likely really old, the conservation win is thanks to years of effort by a whole bunch of other folks. Attending meetings, organizing, filing lawsuits, and plain old not giving up.

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra@jrossibarra.bsky.social · 3mo ago

PLoS One paper from my MS days leads to conservation win! people.com/worlds-oldes...

🚀 Protecting Earth's biodiversity for future generations, a Lunar Biorepository at the Moon’s south pole is proposed to store cryopreserved animal fibroblast samples. These could aid ecosystem revival, genetic rescue, and space exploration. Drawing: Johann August Ephraim Goeze (1773) 1/2

Indigenous researchers and communities are reshaping how Western science thinks about data ownership. Learn more during #AANHPIHeritageMonth. ⬇️ https://scim.ag/4txYYMC

‘Not a free-for-all’: Indigenous communities want limits on how their data are shared

Push for “data sovereignty” could reshape how scientists share information

scim.ag

Yesterday our article was featured on the cover of Nature. I'm incredibly proud of this team, led primarily by Latin Americans, & the result of the decade-long work by @hunemeier.bsky.social & lab. Kudos to the 1st authors too (incl @macscastro.bsky.social here on 🟦☁️) www.nature.com/nature/volum...

A Monday morning giggle. Psst...the countdown is on. 5 days until Dawn Chorus Day. Comic: Jimmy Craig

Trump removes a thorn in his side by firing all 24 members of the National Science Board, NSF's oversight body. www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump fires NSF's oversight board

Dismissal of the National Science Board is widely seen as latest move to erase NSF’s independence

science.org

Ver excited to share my just-published Darwin Review with @lh3lh3.bsky.social on population-scale long-read sequencing! royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Population-scale long-read DNA sequencing: peering under the hood of the new evolutionary genomics

Abstract. Population-scale long-read DNA sequencing (PLRS) is rapidly reshaping our understanding of genomic variation in humans and non-model species. In

royalsocietypublishing.org

When Einstein developed general relativity the closest thing to a practical application that could even be imagined at the time was a slightly more precise description of where to look for the planet Mercury in the sky, and yet now we’d all be literally lost without it. Anyway: fund basic research.

Mike Boylan-Kolchin@mbkplus.bsky.social · 3mo ago

GPS satellites move at 1/100000 the speed of light, causing their clocks to tick slower by 7 microseconds per day, and orbit at a height that makes their clocks tick faster by 45 microseconds per day. Two relativistic effects, both at the 1 part in 10 billion level, both essential for GPS accuracy 🧪

The acting head of the CDC has canceled the publication of a study that found that the Covid vaccine sharply cut the odds of hospitalizations and emergency visits last winter www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/u...

C.D.C. Cancels Publication of Study Showing Benefits of Covid Vaccines

nytimes.com