#AES2025 Day2, Jackson Randell discusses the importance of understanding genetic purging and its implications for trapdoor spider conservation 🕷️ @austevolsoc.bsky.social @brunobuzatto.bsky.social @rowanlym.bsky.social @reneecatullo.bsky.social

Renée Claire Firman@pebblemouse.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Great flash talk by Jackson Randell at #AES2025! @ceb-uwa.bsky.social

How vulnerable are #amphibians to extreme heat? 🐸🌡️ Our paper in @nature.com shows that many amphibians are already overheating, and many more species will be impacted by climate warming globally. See the thread below for a digest 🧵 Link to the paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415... #Nature

"Focusing on bringing back extinct species distracts from a more urgent reality: species are going extinct right now, and we are not doing enough to save them." @emilyroycroft.bsky.social in @aunz.theconversation.com 🌏 theconversation.com/woolly-mice-...

Woolly mice are cute and impressive – but they won’t bring back mammoths or save endangered species

“De-extinction” research is a poor alternative to helping ‘pre-extinction’ animals still alive today.

theconversation.com

@nature.com has just published online our new paper!🎉🐸🌡️Lead by @patricepottier.bsky.social and supervised by myself and @itchyshin.bsky.social: in this massive research effort we overcome several common convictions related to the topics we studied. www.nature.com/articles/s41... Here are take-homes.

Vulnerability of amphibians to global warming - Nature

A 4 °C global temperature increase would push 7.5% of amphibian species beyond their physiological limits.

nature.com

Everyone's friend the humble mollusc is here to save us. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It seems the end of everything is upon us. Is no one coming to our rescue. How about … the molluscs?! | First Dog on the Moon

Did you know molluscs protect the citizens of Poland from water pollution? It’s true!

theguardian.com

Today at the UWA School of Biological Sciences Postgraduate Conference, we heard from our brilliant PhD researchers on everything from arachnids to marsupials to magpies! 🕷️🦅🐀 Below is a thread of their presentations 🧵

Reducing light pollution wherever and whenever we can will greatly help our night active insects, including the #moths, #beetles, #lacewings and other #inverts that share our environment #ausinverts #wildoz #bugsky #teammoth theconversation.com/while-you-sl...

While you sleep, these insects are working hard on the night shift to keep our environment healthy

Artificial lights at night are causing serious disruption to these insect night shift workers. That’s a problem for everyone.

theconversation.com

I'm late to the party in sharing this...our paper looking at global genetic diversity change is now out! What did we find? Check out the thread below

Catherine Grueber@cegrueber.bsky.social · 2y ago

Out now in @nature.com! Our comprehensive meta-analysis of global terrestrial and marine genetic diversity demonstrates rapid loss of genetic diversity and identifies conservation interventions that could mitigate this process www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪🌍🦤🧬 #consgen #PopGen

Out now in @nature.com! Our comprehensive meta-analysis of global terrestrial and marine genetic diversity demonstrates rapid loss of genetic diversity and identifies conservation interventions that could mitigate this process www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪🌍🦤🧬 #consgen #PopGen

Global meta-analysis shows action is needed to halt genetic diversity loss - Nature

A comprehensive meta-analysis of global terrestrial and marine genetic diversity covering more than three decades of research demonstrates rapid loss of genetic diversity and identifies conservation i...

nature.com

We’ve also created a 2-page policy brief for anyone wanting to learn more about conserving #GeneticDiversity- available in 14 languages (and more to come)! Follow the link below ⬇️ url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/uWHeC71Zo8...

Robyn Shaw@robynshaw.bsky.social · 2y ago

Thrilled to see our paper out in @nature.com! Huge thanks to @cegrueber.bsky.social @katefarquharson.bsky.social & the core team for a mammoth effort over 6yrs! Privileged to work with 57 scientists who spent many hours screening papers & more. Missing the late Mike Bruford-who helped inspire it all

Checkout our @aunz.theconversation.com article for 5 strategies that can help safeguard #GeneticDiversity for resilient populations 🧬🐸🌲🦅🦒🍄🐝🐠

Catherine Grueber@cegrueber.bsky.social · 2y ago

It’s not all doom and gloom! We show in @nature.com that genetic diversity is in decline, but in @theconversation.com we dive into five strategies to help maintain or restore biodiversity @robynshaw.bsky.social @katefarquharson.bsky.social theconversation.com/gene-pools-a... 🧪🌍🦤🧬 #consgen #popgen

My legendary students independently made a bunch of stickers for the lab with this logo (which they also created; art by Diego Solano-Brenes). I'm so lucky to have this crew — check their projects out here: www.buzatto.info/people Special thanks to Tricia Slattery and Diego!

Hot off the press. global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Please circulate: Postdoc position on responses of Australian mammal pests to climate change. Part of my ARC Laureate Fellowship research. Lots of hands-on fieldwork. Learn about biophysical models. Remote locations. Collaboration with #EcologicalHorizons and #AWC jobs.unimelb.edu.au/en/job/91880...

Details : Research Fellow in Mammalian Movement Ecology and Energetics : The University of Melbourne

Careers at The University of Melbourne

jobs.unimelb.edu.au

First paper of 2025 — the Sydney funnel-web spider is actually at least three different species: bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... @flindersuniversity.bsky.social @uni-hamburg.de

The world’s most venomous spider is a species complex: systematics of the Sydney funnel-web spider (Atracidae: Atrax robustus) - BMC Ecology and Evolution

The Sydney funnel-web spider Atrax robustus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877 is an iconic Australian species and considered among the most dangerously venomous spiders for humans. Originally described in 18...

bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com

NEW: 2024 has just been confirmed as the warmest year on record, and the first to breach the 1.5C threshold. We used a ridgeline (Joy Division inspired) chart to visualise daily temperature anomalies since 1940. 2024 clearly stands out with 100% of its days above 1.3C and 75% above 1.5C.

3 year #Entomology museum job at the Western Australian Museum. Apply if you ❤️ insects, collections and identifying! 🦟🪰🦗🐜🐝🪲 search.jobs.wa.gov.au/page.php?pag...

One-quarter of freshwater fauna threatened with #extinction doi.org/10.1038/s415...

One-quarter of freshwater fauna threatened with extinction - Nature

A global multi-taxon extinction risk assessment of freshwater fauna for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species finds one-quarter of species to be at high risk of extinction.

doi.org

📣 Heredity best student paper prize talk We look forward to Kate's talk tomorrow at Popgroup Thur 9th @10am (LT1 ) Population genomic diversity and structure in the golden bandicoot: a history of isolation, extirpation, and conservation www.nature.com/articles/s41... @gensocuk.bsky.social #pgg58

Population genomic diversity and structure in the golden bandicoot: a history of isolation, extirpation, and conservation - Heredity

Heredity - Population genomic diversity and structure in the golden bandicoot: a history of isolation, extirpation, and conservation

nature.com

New review paper! @1jonevans.bsky.social @pacogarciagonzalez.bsky.social and I ask whether mature sperm cells might actively express genes. Really proud to see this one out - has been a long, difficult journey through much skepticism to publication. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Silent cells? Potential for context-dependent gene expression in mature sperm | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Sperm are traditionally viewed as transcriptionally and translationally silent cells. However, observations that components of the cellular machinery of gene expression are maintained in ejaculated sp...

royalsocietypublishing.org

Postdoc in Hosken lab (UoExeter, UK) closing soon (evolution of body shape) get in touch if you are interested. Please repost. jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

Just accepted #EcologyLetters! Exciting work by recent grad Rebecca Schalkowski with @katjakasimatis.bsky.social and Megan Greischar linking 2 species community coexistence to sperm cell mediated reproductive interference! Preprint here www.authorea.com/users/804447...

Reproductive interference alters species coexistence in nematodes due to asymmetric sperm-induced harm

Species coexistence is shaped by a range of biotic and abiotic factors. Beyond predation, parasitism, and competition, one species may interfere with another's reproduction to induce sexual exclusion ...

authorea.com

I've recently been trialling some thermal binoculars to help with creature tracking. Pretty impressed so far, picking up lots of things that are often tough to get eye shine out of, like this chuditch (western quoll) #WildOz

Fruit flies have contributed to some of the most important scientific discoveries over the last century. They should be celebrated – not sprayed.

‘One of the most important species for science’: how the humble fruit fly transformed 4 fields of research

Fruit flies have contributed to some of the most important scientific discoveries over the last century. They should be celebrated – not sprayed.

theconversation.com

A Perspective explores the consequences of bypassing natural selection in assisted reproduction—including the filtering of sperm for quality inside the female reproductive tract—and options to mimic such selection to reduce risks to offspring. In PNAS Nexus: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Happy new year all. Last couple of weeks for this PhD opp so giving it a bump. Please pass on to anyone who may be interested. I'm back to work 6th and happy to chat to anyone with questions from then on.

Alastair J Wilson@ali--wilson.bsky.social · 2y ago

How does pollution impact behavioural evolution? We're looking for an awesome PhD student to find out. Project spans behaviour, genetics + ecotox, working with cherry shrimp @exetercec.bsky.social. Cosupervised with @lauraakelley.bsky.social and Dave Spurgeon at CEH. App + info tinyurl.com/yvthn7xn

3: A great paper by student Ash Potter showing that sperm respiration is density dependent: sperm remain quiescent at high densities to conserve energy. This idea was first proposed ~100 years ago but Ash’s work was the first to comprehensively confirm it. journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

Per capita sperm metabolism is density dependent

Summary: Patterns of density-dependent metabolism extend beyond diploid phases into haploid phases – sperm exhibit metabolic plasticity in response to changes in density, which is likely an adaptive r...

journals.biologists.com

📣New paper📣 We estimate the number of extinctions of Australian #invertebrates, plus the ongoing #extinction rate … Both figures are far higher than those currently recognised, pointing to alarming gaps in #conservation of an important area of #biodiversity 🪳🕷️🐌🪰🪲🪱 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

This is the way the world ends; not with a bang but a whimper: Estimating the number and ongoing rate of extinctions of Australian non-marine invertebrates | Cambridge Prisms: Extinction | Cambridge C...

This is the way the world ends; not with a bang but a whimper: Estimating the number and ongoing rate of extinctions of Australian non-marine invertebrates - Volume 2

cambridge.org

The life of each of us began when a sperm and an egg came together. But what happens at a molecular level? Our latest work in Cell led by @vdeneke.bsky.social & Andreas Blaha reveals a conserved fertilization complex that bridges sperm and egg in vertebrates! (1/11) www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

"We describe a #mtDNA variant that confers protection against variety of pathogens in #Drosophila. This protection was at least partially caused by enhanced cell-mediated innate #immunity, including higher numbers of immune cells prior to and during infection." journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

A naturally occurring mitochondrial genome variant confers broad protection from infection in Drosophila

Author summary The strength of immune response and the disease symptoms vary among individuals even when exposed to the same pathogen. Much of this variation is due to the genes directly involved in a...

journals.plos.org