Tessera
Folgen

David López-Idiáquez

@davididiaquez.bsky.social

Behavioural and Evolutionary Ecologist at the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology. Expect science, wildlife pictures and bike stuff (but not in that particular order). -Propagating uncertainty- davididiaquez.wixsite.com/zurrimicle

187 Posts382 Follower313 Folgt
BES Evolutionary Ecology Group@bes-evolecol.bsky.social · 4d ago

Using a North American wildflower, Boechera stricta, Jill asks whether existing genetic variation and plasticity can buffer populations in the short term and support adaptation over longer timescales. Definitely not one to miss!

BES Evolutionary Ecology Group@bes-evolecol.bsky.social · 4d ago

We're excited to welcome Jill Anderson as our speaker for the November webinar on 25 November at 3:30 pm (GMT)! Jill’s work focuses on exploring constraints to adaptation in response to anthropogenic climate change. 🌿 Register (for free) here: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Jørgen Søraker@jorgensoraker.bsky.social · last wk.

How can females control which males fertilize their eggs? Here, Biliana Todorova tells me about cryptic female choice through her studies of fruit flies. Her research involves manipulating how flies perceive mating rituals and making sperm light up in the dark!🪰💡 m.youtube.com/watch?v=3XWQ...

Biliana Todorova- Cryptic female choice, sperm competition, fly reproductive systems, senescence

YouTube video by Natural Selections

m.youtube.com

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 2w ago

Looking forward to this week's @egioxford.bsky.social seminar, being given by @pablosalmon.bsky.social on migration physiology. All welcome - live streamed, details ⬇️ and abstract in the alt-text

Edward Grey Institute@egioxford.bsky.social · 2w ago

With migration very much to the fore at the moment (>10 000 Woodpigeons over Oxford this morning!) it's great to welcome @pablosalmon.bsky.social giving this week's EGI seminar about the physiology of bird migration. Seminar in LT2 in LaMB in @biology.ox.ac.uk. All welcome; live-streamed details ⬇️

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 2w ago

This week's @egioxford.bsky.social seminar from Pim Edelaar - a genuinely original thinker. Has a new book out - touches on many questions we need to answer about the role of behaviour in driving evolution. Full text available for free here: academic.oup.com/book/63165

Bild
Edward Grey Institute@egioxford.bsky.social · 2w ago

This week's EGI seminar will be given by Dr Pim Edelaar from Pablo de Olavide University, Spain at 15:30 on 30 Oct in Seminar Room 8 in LaMB @biology.ox.ac.uk - abstract in Alt Text. All welcome - seminar also live streamed details ⬇️

Seminar abstract: I will start my talk with the results of an experiment performed in the wild with Tree sparrows. I think these results are easy to understand, and perhaps even obvious. We replicated it indoors with Zebra finches. And outdoors with grasshoppers. And again, indoors with fruit flies. But then I will argue that these results are actually hard to understand. I will argue that to understand what is happening, we could benefit from going back to the basics – Lewontin’s three requirements for adaptive evolution. I will show why and how we should expand our understanding of each of these requirements. And thereby actually also how we can expand our theoretical framework of the dynamics of the evolutionary process, as recently published in my book (The Selective Organism, OUP, also available under Open Access). Finally, I will argue that that expanded framework can also help us to understand a range of seemingly unrelated biological phenomena, such as cultural evolution and epigenetic inheritance.
University of Exeter CEC@uniexecec.bsky.social · 4w ago

Today Dr Erik Postma is giving a seminar at Oxford’s Edward Grey Institute on the evolutionary forces shaping reproductive effort. It’s streamed too! Details below.

David López-Idiáquez@davididiaquez.bsky.social · 4w ago

Today we welcome Dr Erik Postma (@uniexecec.bsky.social) in the first @egioxford.bsky.social seminar of the term at @biology.ox.ac.uk. For an abstract see alt text. The seminar starts at 15:30 UK time and will be streamed (see poster for information on how to get the link).

Abstract: Although central to life-history theory and a potentially powerful evolutionary constraint, the predicted trade-off between reproduction and survival remains remarkably elusive. Here I will build upon the so-called Y-model that emphasises the roles of variation in resource acquisition vs. allocation in shaping life-history correlations. In particular, I will distinguish between genetic and environmental sources of variation in resource allocation and acquisition, and between phenotypic and genetic patterns of covariance on the one hand, and the trade-off function that describes the relationship between resource allocation to, for example, reproduction versus survival, on the other. I will illustrate this using empirical studies of three species—humans, quails and great tits—in which we quantified the lifespan-cost of reproduction. Using complementary approaches, I will show how women reproducing when resources are scarce, great tits genetically predisposed to lay large clutches, and quails artificially bred to invest more in reproduction all live shorter lives. Thereby I will provide empirical evidence for a lifespan-cost of reproduction across a range of life-history strategies, and highlight its role in shaping the evolutionary dynamics of reproductive effort.
David López-Idiáquez@davididiaquez.bsky.social · last mo.

I wrote a short piece for @animalecology.bsky.social in Focus about our recent paper on temporal trends in great tit body mass and early-life effects. You can find it here: animalecologyinfocus.com/2026/10/08/n...

Not-so-great tit: early-life conditions are making Wytham’s great tits a bit less great

This blog post is provided by David López-Idiáquez and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the article “Early-life environment drives long-term decrease in adult body mass in a wild bird popul…

animalecologyinfocus.com

Erik Postma@erikpostma.bsky.social · last mo.

I am really proud of this paper, led by @sevans.bsky.social and funded by #NERC @ukri.org, which allowed me to go back to where it all began 20 😮 years ago!

Bild
NL Institute of Ecology NIOO-KNAW@niooknaw.bsky.social · last mo.

New publication: #Geneflow drives periods of both evolutionary stasis and change in a wild #bird population, by @henribouwmeester.bsky.social @arievannoordwijk.bsky.social @mevisser.bsky.social @erikpostma.bsky.social and others. #evolutionarygenetics #parusmajor doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Figure 1 in Evans et al. (2026): "Map showing the five distinct woodlands on the Dutch island of Vlieland and their attribution to either West or East, and the location of Vlieland within the Netherlands (inset)."
Daniel Bolnick@danielbolnick.bsky.social · last mo.

A reminder about a great conference coming up in the US Northeast: The American Society of Naturalists @asn-amnat.bsky.social bridging ecology, evolution, behavior; theory and data. It is an outstanding small conference, welcoming & friendly with high-level science www.amnat.org/announcement...

ASN Long Island meeting: registration open!

<p>Registration is open for the ASN&#39;s Long Island meeting at the Mansion at Glen Cove, NY, January 8&ndash;12, 2027!</p><br/>

amnat.org

David López-Idiáquez@davididiaquez.bsky.social · last mo.

I wrote a short piece for @animalecology.bsky.social in Focus about our recent paper on temporal trends in great tit body mass and early-life effects. You can find it here: animalecologyinfocus.com/2026/10/08/n...

Not-so-great tit: early-life conditions are making Wytham’s great tits a bit less great

This blog post is provided by David López-Idiáquez and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the article “Early-life environment drives long-term decrease in adult body mass in a wild bird popul…

animalecologyinfocus.com

Pierre de Villemereuil@pdevillemereuil.bsky.social · last mo.

Last episode of the common lizard🦎 quantitative genetics trilogy: doi.org/10.1111/1365... A study on the selection and heritability of breeding phenology in our wild population, led by Théo Bodineau during his PhD, published in @animalecology.bsky.social. @isyeb.mnhn.fr @ephe-psl.bsky.social

High thermal plasticity, low heritability and constant directional selection on breeding phenology in a viviparous ectotherm

Our findings reveal that breeding phenology of the common lizard is shaped by strong thermal plasticity, body size effects, constant selection for earlier parturition, but low heritability. This sugg...

doi.org

Carlos M Herrera@cmhmaliani.bsky.social · last mo.

Leed esto de Eneko Arrondo @bioeaf.bsky.social que está muy bien. ¡ No insultéis a los buitres ! Yo añado, "¡Qué mas quisieran que parecerse a cualquier buitre!" ecomandanga.wordpress.com/2026/10/07/n...

No insultéis a los buitres

Por Eneko Arrondo. En el mundo existen 23 especies de buitres divididas en dos grupos alejados evolutivamente. Por un lado, tenemos a los cóndores, jotes y zopilotes americanos, que son comúnmente …

ecomandanga.wordpress.com

Simon Evans@sevans.bsky.social · last mo.

This study was conceived by @erikpostma.bsky.social, who secured funding for a 4 year postdoc. It took me most of that period to unpick what was supposed to be a confirmatory account of adaptive trait evolution in response to selection.

Simon Evans@sevans.bsky.social · last mo.

Evolution and adaptation are frequently used interchangeably when describing trait change. Does it really matter? Our new paper in PLOS Biology shows that yes, it really does. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... Buckle up, we're going for a ride...

Pierre de Villemereuil@pdevillemereuil.bsky.social · 2mo ago

With fieldwork, I didn't get to advertise our (not so now) new paper on the quantitative genetics of growth in the 🦎 in @journal-evo.bsky.social: dx.doi.org/10.1093/evol... It's an exciting paper paper in which we disentangle what it means to treat the whole growth curve as a function-valued trait!

Quantitative genetics of lifetime growth curves in a lizard

Abstract. Body size is an iconic trait in quantitative genetics. For species with indeterminate growth however, growth curve, a function-valued trait, is t

dx.doi.org

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Latest work from @devisatarkar.bsky.social DPhil thesis exploring the ecological effects that modulate the link between offspring and adult body mass in great tits. The correlation is really quite plastic! Fun collaboration with @lbliard.bsky.social @iremsepil.bsky.social @davididiaquez.bsky.social

Devi Satarkar@devisatarkar.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Heavier great tit nestlings 🐥 usually end up as heavier adults 🐦. Is this always a strong correlation? Our new preprint shows that the strength of this 'silver-spoon' association shifts continuously with environmental context, and is stronger in harsh conditions! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

14-day old great tit (Parus major) nestling in hand. Bird handled under appropriate BTO licence.