We are recruiting graduate students to join the Quantitative Biogeography Lab at UNC Chapel Hill. Our research commonly uses big data and modeling techniques to explore biogeography and biodiversity patterns across large spatial scales 🌎. Please see more details here: lab.fengxiao.info/join/

Excited that our new paper with @henrylabsymbio.bsky.social and Kerry Oliver is out @pnas.org! We show that mobile genetic elements can spread adaptive host-benefiting traits across heritable insect symbionts on eco-evolutionary timescales.🧵 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Phenotypic divergence is driven by mobile genetic elements in a heritable insect symbiont | PNAS

Heritable microbes profoundly influence insect biology, yet the traits they confer often evolve rapidly and differ among closely related symbiont s...

pnas.org

Phew! With a lot of blood, sweat, and tears over the years, we introduce a new way of thinking about thermal performance curves in endotherms. We propose that thermal imbalance, quantified using net sensible heat flux, provides a helpful axis for predicting performance. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

New paper by David Adams from the lab! Shifting elevation AND aspect could buffer lizards from climate warming. However, cool mountain slopes are less well represented in North America than warmer, more southern facing slopes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Topographic variation shapes organismal responses across mountain landscapes - Nature Climate Change

The authors developed simulations to examine the role of topographic variation in mediating species response to climate change. They show that topographic variation can reduce energy expenditure by up...

nature.com

We are calling for Reviews, Commentaries or research papers for our upcoming Special Issue: The Integrative Biology of Reproduction, covering the entire reproductive process, from mate selection, mating and egg-laying or pregnancy through to parental care bit.ly/3ZT42hY

On the feather theme, this was paired with a paper describing convergent feather evolution (exploring camouflage and thermal regulation mechanisms) for species on the California Channel Islands. From the lab of @ecophysiology.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Adaptive and non-adaptive convergent evolution in feather reflectance of California Channel Islands songbirds

Abstract. Convergent evolution is widely regarded as a signature of adaptation. However, testing the adaptive consequences of convergent phenotypes is chal

royalsocietypublishing.org

Check our new paper in @evolletters.bsky.social "Live birth in lizards: A process-based model for the roles of temperature, behavior, and life-history" In this study, we develop and validate a model capable of accurately predicting gestation length in lizards! academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

Live birth in lizards: A process-based model for the roles of temperature, behavior, and life-history

To mediate trade-offs between survival and fecundity, multiple groups have independently evolved live birth (viviparity), including 70 transitions in lizar

academic.oup.com

🤝 NEW Meet the Editor: Eric Riddell ✍️Associate Editor Eric Riddell shares his experiences in #ecophysiology, insights into the #editor role and top tips for early career #researchers💡 @ecophysiology.bsky.social Read it here ➡️ buff.ly/jmnhuR5

More bad news for butterflies. Our new paper led by Wendy Leuenberger shows common species are declining even more rapidly than rare ones. @ZipkinLab Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501340122

Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS

Insects are declining worldwide. These declines have been documented across taxonomic groups and are worrisome given ecosystem services provided by...

pnas.org

In case this is helpful to someone out there: I'm moving to Ball State University this August, and I'll have a support for MS students over the next three years (RAs/TAs) If your lab has talented students graduating this spring, I welcome them to reach out and talk about the opportunities.

Do you think about the effects of wind on plants and animals? Check out a new paper in @sicbjournals.bsky.social that explores the effects of wind on plant and animal physiology: academic.oup.com/icb/advance-...

The Wind Niche: The Thermal and Hydric Effects of Wind Speed on Terrestrial Organisms

Synopsis. Wind can significantly influence heat and water exchange between organisms and their environment, yet microclimatic variation in wind is often ov

academic.oup.com

North Carolina Botanical Garden (Chapel Hill, NC) is recruiting for a Conservation Botanist! 🎓 Relevant post-Bacc degree req'd ⌛ full time, 2.5-year grant funded position contingent upon additional funding 📨 apps due 7/18 unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/303... #botanyjobs #plantconservationjobs

a close up of a carnivorous plant with a bee inside of it

Alt: a close up of a venus fly trap closing around an insect

media.tenor.com

I’m a new subject-matter editor at Ecology - send your animal physiology research my way!

Any early career PIs also not hear back about last year’s career proposal yet?

Now at @asn-amnat.bsky.social, "Genome composition predicts physiological responses to temperature in polyploid salamanders" A project that @ecophysiology.bsky.social and I talked about since we were both PhD students! Funded by #NSF www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1...

three lizards are dancing together in a row on a yellow background .

Alt: three salamanders are dancing together in a row on a yellow background

media.tenor.com

Pause for a minute to appreciate the valiant Program Officers still at NSF, who are doing their utmost to preserve what they can. They’re in the stinking rotting belly of the beast, laboring on our behalf. ❤️❤️❤️❤️ to them

Very happy to highlight a great paper by Owen Edwards et al in J Animal Ecology on changes in niche breadth and dispersal during a recent range shift of treefrogs 🐸! Paper: doi.org/10.1111/1365... Research Highlight: doi.org/10.1111/1365... @animalecology.bsky.social @ecophysiology.bsky.social

Hey folks- do you identify as being a member of a systemically minoritized group? Have you also worked, recreated, and/or conducted research in the outdoors? We're looking for more folks to contribute short narratives regarding their experiences. Ping me if interested! 🧪🌍

New manuscript from my grad student Colton Poore on lack of acclimation in bumblebee queens! Read more here: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Lack of thermal acclimation in multiple indices of climate vulnerability in bumblebees | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Indices of climate vulnerability are used to predict species’ vulnerability to climate change based on intrinsic physiological traits, such as thermal tolerance, thermal sensitivity and thermal acclim...

royalsocietypublishing.org

Climate change will result in global stilling of wind speeds. @ecophysiology.bsky.social shows potential for super interesting interactions between warming, wind speed, animal coloration, body size and water loss. #SICB2025

Do you need a salamander phylogeny? You're in luck! We put together the largest salamander phylogeny to date based on molecular markers and used more fossil calibrations than any other currently available trees. 765 salamander species! Check it out! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A time-calibrated salamander phylogeny including 765 species and 503 genes

Recent time-calibrated amphibian phylogenies agree on the family-level relationships among extant salamanders but had disparate sampling regimes and i…

sciencedirect.com

Waybright & Dillon combine new data on physiology with continental scale ground temperature data to develop landscapes of mortality risk for overwintering ectotherms, and apply the approach to predict mortality risk for overwintering bumble bee queens. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Soilscapes of Mortality Risk Suggest a Goldilocks Effect for Overwintering Ectotherms | The American Naturalist

Abstract Changing climates are driving population declines in diverse animals worldwide. Winter conditions may play an important role in these declines but are often overlooked. Animals must not only ...

journals.uchicago.edu

We are looking for Spring 2025 speakers for the New York Regional Species Distribution Modeling Discussion Group. If you are local to the NY area and interested in giving an in-person talk at the American Museum of Natural History, please DM me! www.amnh.org/research/cen...

NY-SDM | AMNH

The New York Regional Species Distribution Modeling Discussion Group (NY-SDM) convenes leading researchers from across the New York Tri-State area to discuss and present research related to species...

amnh.org

Led by undergrad Maya Moore in Eric Gangloff’s lab, resilience to lead contamination in urban wall lizards! #lizards #ecotoxicology www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Urban wall lizards are resilient to high levels of blood lead

Living in urban environments presents many challenges to wildlife, including exposure to potentially toxic pollutants. For example, the heavy metal le…

sciencedirect.com