Came across a northward migration of monarch butterflies in Iowa last week 🦋 Hit 18 with my car 😱 Saw twice as many dead on the side of the road (I'm sure there were many more but they're hard to see while driving 100km/h down the highway)
Megan S. Reich
@megansreich.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Fellow currently at Purdue University studying insect migration using isotope geolocation
🚨Job claxon🚨 4-year #Postdoc available in our lab in @camzoology.bsky.social developing molecular and anatomical approaches to mapping evolutionary changes in the brain, using #Heliconiini butterflies. Come join us, we are nice. 🧪 www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
Out in MEC! New study led by @dariashipilina.bsky.social links resource limitation as a driver of migration in the painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui). The authors show how resource cues reshape gene expression across development. Read more: buff.ly/dogof9L 📷: Daria Shipilina 1/2
Our friends at the University of Florence have been looking into the aesthetic appeal of European butterflies and does this bias the species we choose to protect. You can help their research by completing a simple online survey. Many thanks in advance www.unveiling.eu?fbclid=IwZXh...
Unveiling - Home
unveiling.eu
Discover the incredible full story of Project Monarch, a collaborative project by @celltracktech.bsky.social, Cape May Point Arts & Science Center, and 20+ partners including Xerces! 🦋 xerces.org/press/revolu... 📡 Hear from the CTT team in coverage by @nytimes.com ➡️ www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/s...
The NSW environment watchdog sat on a report for four years linking elevated levels of lead in children’s blood to current mining, and promised mining companies they would not do any “finger-pointing”, new documents tabled in state parliament show www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Environment watchdog buried report on lead in children’s blood to placate mining companies, emails show
Documents tabled in parliament show NSW agency took four years to publish report and told miners it would be put online ‘quietly’ but EPA says it was released to community earlier
theguardian.com
The #MountainPygmyPossum was first known only through the fossil record: some skull & jaw bones were found in 1895. Scientists believed the species must be extinct until 1966 when a living mountain pygmy possum was found. That’s a pretty secretive life!
Ctr for Biodiv Genomics (Guelph) is hiring 10 entomologists (mostly post-docs) to help improve identifications on barcoded material: 2-yr appts, salary range CAD $62,500-$70,000. graduatestudies.uoguelph.ca/postdoctoral... See posting for specific taxonomic gps preferred.
Arthropod Taxonomic Specialists (10 positions) | Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies
graduatestudies.uoguelph.ca
In Australia, millions of newly hatched Bogong moths embark on an impressive journey twice a year. A new study has found that the moths, with no parents to guide them, rely on bright stars and the Milky Way visible in the night sky to aid their migrations.
Bogong moths use stars and the Milky Way to make epic migration
In Australia, millions of newly hatched Bogong moths embark on an impressive journey twice a year. Each spring, they hatch from eggs in their breeding grounds in Australia’s southeast and fly up to…
news.mongabay.com
University of Nebraska-Lincoln is hiring an Assistant Professor specializing in insect systematics. Opportunities like this are rare and valuable! (Not many jobs like this out there!) Spread the word to anyone who might be interested or benefit. #entomology #science #sciencejobs #bugsky 🧪
Check out this very exciting research! Bogong moths use a stellar compass to navigate rdcu.be/esl5o
Bogong moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night
Nature - Every spring, Bogong moths use the starry night sky as a compass to navigate up to 1,000 km towards their alpine migratory goal.
rdcu.be
🚨 New Paper 🚨 Coauthors and I just published our work in PLOS One on Canadian graduate funding. We found that Canadian graduate funding falls _well_ below cost of living. On average, $10kCAD below cost of living. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
1/6) New paper out in Molecular Ecology! We uncover the intriguing biogeographic history behind the Holarctic disjunct distributions in Vanessa butterflies. @phylomigrationlab.bsky.social #biogeography #insectmigration #butterflymigration #butterflies #evolution shorturl.at/UFrrU
Your daily Avian Hybrids story! East or West? Different populations of Red-necked Phalaropes use distinct migration routes avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2019/05/15/e... #ornithology
East or West? Different populations of Red-necked Phalaropes use distinct migration routes
A study using geolocators uncovered a migratory divide in this wader species.
avianhybrids.wordpress.com
🌱🌎 Join us to learn about the newly published paper ‘The winner takes it all: a single genotype of Kalanchoe ×houghtonii is a global invader’ in @annbot.bsky.social by @joanperepd.bsky.social and co-authors. 🧵(1/7) 👉 doi.org/pjvs @sphaeromeria.bsky.social @ibb-botanic.bsky.social #AoBpapers
Check out this lovely article featuring some of our research! 👩🔬🦋🗺️ www.scientificamerican.com/article/this...
This Butterfly’s Epic Migration Is Written into Its Chemistry
Painted ladies travel the globe every year on massive journeys—including across the Sahara
scientificamerican.com
Wonderful opportunity to get some expert training! 👩🔬
@alexfrank.bsky.social · last yr.🚨 Deadline Alert! 🚨 The BaySISS Stable Isotope Summer School application deadline is March 16, 2025! ✅ Learn from global experts ✅ Get hands-on lab training ✅ Free participation & travel grants available! Don’t wait—apply now! 🔗https://www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/baysiss #StableIsotopes #Science
NEW PAPER: looking into the erosion of southern mountain caribou migrations. Over 35 years, migration distances shrank 15-25%, and elevational migrations are collapsing. Habitat loss, not weather, likely the main culprit. A major conservation challenge ahead. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Check out our most recent publication in PNAS Nexus! 🦋👩🔬
PNAS Nexus@pnasnexus.org · 2y agoPainted lady butterflies that migrate from Europe to the Mediterranean are not genetically distinct from those that migrate from Europe to West Africa. Instead, environmental cues likely determine migration distance. In PNAS Nexus: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Who loves isoscapes?? We do! 🎉🗺️ www.facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/...
An ensemble machine learning bioavailable strontium isoscape for Eastern Canada
Bioavailable strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) distribution across the landscape mainly follow the underlying lithology, making 87Sr/86Sr baseline maps (isoscapes) powerful tools for provenance stu...
facetsjournal.com
Check out our new paper, "Isotope geolocation and population genomics in Vanessa cardui: Short- and long-distance migrants are genetically undifferentiated," out in PNAS Nexus! doi.org/10.1093/pnas...
Isotope geolocation and population genomics in Vanessa cardui: Short- and long-distance migrants are genetically undifferentiated
Abstract. The painted lady butterfly Vanessa cardui is renowned for its virtually cosmopolitan distribution and the remarkable long-distance migrations as
doi.org
😢Individuals can help the monarch butterfly by planting milkweed and flowers, and avoiding pesticide use
Alex Wild@alexwild.bsky.social · 2y agoThe western monarch butterfly population is near record lows; fewer than 10k individual butterflies counted this year. xerces.org/press/wester...
The importance of observing any species you’re studying in its natural environment cannot be overstated. So grateful to have spent some time with the Bogong moth (and awesome new friends and colleagues) this month!
A cool opportunity for some citizen science. Monarchs are in decline in Oz and NZ as well as in the US/Mexico and getting involved in tagging programs can provide critical data
Monarch butterflies are in decline in NZ and Australia – they need your help to track where they gather
Citizen scientists are called on to help with tagging monarch butterflies and find out why their numbers are dropping.
theconversation.com
New paper out @science.org shows that bats surf warm storm fronts to power continental migrations 🌀⛈️🦇🤙 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... By Edward Hurme; Ivan Lenzi; Martin Wikelski; Timm Wild; and Dina Dechmann
Bats surf storm fronts during spring migration
Long-distance migration, common in passerine birds, is rare and poorly studied in bats. Piloting a 1.2-gram IoT (Internet of Things) tag with onboard processing, we tracked the daily location, tempera...
science.org
Super stoked to share our latest research on the migratory patterns of painted lady butterflies across the Sahara! 🦋🏜️ www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
Trans-Saharan migratory patterns in Vanessa cardui and evidence for a southward leapfrog migration
Chemistry; Nature conservation; Ecology; Entomology
cell.com