📢New paper in @journal-evo.bsky.social! This work expands our understanding of seasonal camouflage polymorphism, dissecting the genetic basis of winter colour variation (white and brown morphs) in the long-tailed weasel (Neogale frenata). Paper here ⬇️ doi.org/10.1093/evol... 1/5

Museum genomics links MC1R alleles to adaptive winter coat color polymorphism in the long-tailed weasel

Abstract. Understanding the architecture of biological adaptations is a major endeavor of evolutionary biology. Using Natural History collections, we study

doi.org

A transposon origin of large tandem repeats in the butterfly Papilio bianor https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.30.741882v1

Butterflies around the world are changing habitats - and experts say it’s ‘signalling a warning’

Butterflies around the world are changing habitats - and experts say it’s ‘signalling a warning’

New research shows early-warning species is on the move, expanding or contracting geographic range and changing altitude

theguardian.com

🐛 Caterpillars of Lonomia #moths envenomate people in Latin America every year. In the July issue of #G3journal, @diler.bsky.social, @nkwhiteman.bsky.social present a genome assembly of Lonomia casanarensis that will help improve antivenoms and develop novel bioactive compounds. 🔗 buff.ly/Mqa35Tv

Excited to share a preprint of my 3rd dissertation chapter! We evaluated how a potential genomic measure of sexual selection strength, the ratio of genetic diversity on the Z chromosome vs the autosomes, varies across selective and biogeographic contexts in #manakins. Check it out! bit.ly/4fY43de

Can the Z:A ratio serve as a genomic index of sexual selection? An assessment across space and time in a genus of lekking birds

Understanding the role of sexual selection in shaping evolutionary trajectories is a key goal of biology, and thus developing a genomic measure of sexual selection strength is desirable. In systems wi...

biorxiv.org

New preprint led by former PhD student Wayne Wang, who found that neither male temperature during spermatogenesis nor post-ejaculate sperm heat exposure change sperm cell heat tolerance in an Anolis lizard www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

No adaptive plasticity in the heat tolerance of lizard sperm

1. Adaptive phenotypic plasticity can help organisms cope with global warming by increasing their heat tolerance, yet most research has focused on whole-organism traits. Much less is known about therm...

biorxiv.org

New paper out! Limited evidence that butterflies are capable of changing their thermoregulatory performance or thermal tolerance in response to local climatic conditions. Instead, poorer thermoregulators have shown stronger upwards elevational range shifts in response to climate change rdcu.be/fuSJE

Butterflies with low thermoregulatory capacity show greatest upwards range shifts along an elevational gradient

Communications Biology - Lack of variation in thermoregulatory capacity or thermal tolerance in butterflies across an elevational gradient suggests limited adaptive capacity. Poorer...

rdcu.be

From diet to defense: serpin duplication and gene-expression evolution as putative contributors to poison-frog alkaloid sequestration https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.13.737953v1

Why do different butterfly species evolve the same shimmering blue wings? Morpho butterflies repeatedly converge on iridescence in sympatry, suggesting predators can drive the evolution of shared warning signals. doi.org/10.1093/evle... Image credit: Wikimedia

We received almost 300 applications to our Graduate Research Excellence Grants this year. We expect to fund around 50 proposals. Help us fund an additional 10 by making a tax-deductible donation to our GREG GoFundMe campaign! www.gofundme.com/f/support-st...

Donate to Support Students on their Scientific Research Journey!, organized by SSE Communications

The Graduate Research Excellence Grants are awarded by the So… SSE Communications needs your support for Support Students on their Scientific Research Journey!

gofundme.com

Ecological genomics of a novel host-parasitoid arms-race in nature https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.30.735478v1

Large phenological advances and delays over 124 years of climate change alter co-flowering among North American Viola https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.27.734973v1

Germany vs Paraguay omg

After reading @blekhernia.bsky.social's great blog post on lab AI usage policy (blekhman.substack.com/p/you-need-t...), we made one in lab meeting. Feedback welcome! rilab.ucdavis.edu/ai_expectati...

So excited to announce our search for 4 postdocs (funded by the Simons Foundation) who will use genomics to "test how ecological interactions, natural selection, natural enemies, hybridization & environmental gradients shape...tropical tree communities" in Panama: stri.si.edu/story/bci-ev... ...1

🎉 PUBLISHED!!!! Out now in @newphyt.bsky.social 🎉 We found positive selection on leaf shape plasticity in a Monkeyflower species. This experiment used two big field transplants, greenhouse, AND growth chamber work. It was hard, but awesome. With @ferrisifolius.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/nph....

Phenotypic plasticity is broadly adaptive across an elevation gradient in the Cutleaf Monkeyflower

Leaf shape plasticity expression is variable in Mimulus laciniatus.

doi.org

New paper out today! @sternarchella.bsky.social and I review how modularity and integration influence adaptive radiations and diversification. Read it here: rdcu.be/fpcSX

A Whole genome study of the British Swallowtail (Papilio machaon britannicus) has been completed for the first time. @norfolknats.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @norfolkbutterflies.bsky.social @patrickbarkham.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/icad...

Endemic but not eroded: Genomic distinctiveness and conservation genomics of the British swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon britannicus)

Through whole-genome sequencing of P. machaon populations across Europe, we demonstrate that P. m. britannicus forms a genetically distinct and isolated lineage. Demographic modelling revealed weak ...

doi.org

Independent major-effect loci and limited trait associations characterise warning colour variation across sexes and life stages in the wood tiger moth (Arctia plantaginis) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.03.729769v1

When caterpillars attack, the common bean plant relies on a receptor in its leaves to sound a chemical rallying cry that recruits predatory wasps, a new #ScienceAdvances study finds. https://scim.ag/434rXN5

A plant immune receptor mediates tritrophic interactions by linking caterpillar detection to predator recruitment

A plant receptor detects caterpillar attack and triggers emission of chemical cues to attract predatory wasps.

scim.ag

Why are leaves the shape that they are? What controls intraspecific, genetic variation in leaf shape? New from my lab, in collaboration with many others, led by PhD student Amanda Peake: mapping the leaf shape polymorphism in Ipomoea hederacea.

bioRxiv Plant Bio@biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Newly arisen indel governs a leaf shape polymorphism in the Ivy Leaf Morning Glory (Ipomoea hederacea) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.04.730136v1

I am recruiting a #postdoc to work on assembling and analyzing #genomes of the amazing Furnariidae. Let’s unlock the secret behind their #evolution. The official application portal will be available soon at www.uno.edu/careers. Feel free to contact me for details at sclaramu@uno.edu

Four decades of satellite observations reveal that mangrove forests globally have recently shifted from net loss to net gain, with reduced degradation and continued regrowth and expansion, suggesting early signs of conservation success. Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/4vMGzx9

There are two types of people in the world: those who discovered Persepolis and were richer for the experience, and those that still have to. RIP Marjane Satrapi. www.lemonde.fr/en/obituarie...

Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis,' dies at 56

The French-Iranian artist and film director 'died of sadness a little over a year after the death of Mattias Ripa, her husband and the love of her life,' people close to her said.

lemonde.fr

1/6) What if aging begins, in part, as a bargain made in youth? In turquoise killifish, editing vgll3—a gene linked to puberty-timing in humans and salmon—revealed one of the first causal single-gene examples of antagonistic pleiotropy in vertebrate aging 🧵

Meet our newest #BSASpotlight, Jill M. Love, a graduate student at Tulane University studying how the cutleaf monkeyflower (Mimulus laciniatus) adapts to extreme environments through the lens of phenotypic plasticity! Read more at botany.org/home/careers... #IamaBotanist

Wrote a short piece on Transposable Elements as catalysts of evolutionary innovation for a forthcoming special issue of @naturerevgenet.bsky.social on, duh, Evolutionary Innovation! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Transposable elements as catalysts of evolutionary innovation - Nature Reviews Genetics

In this Comment, Cedric Feschotte highlights evidence from diverse lineages showing that transposable elements are key drivers of evolutionary innovation, repeatedly introducing regulatory and coding ...

nature.com

Ecotypes sits on the boundary that defines species. "An analysis of genomic ecotypes by Johannesson, Stankowski, and other researchers explains how some species can maintain the DNA sequences for multiple adaptations" #Genetics #Evolution #Ecotypes #Species #Adaptations

How Ecotypes Harbor the Genetic Memory of a Species’ Past | Quanta Magazine

Evolutionary biologists are uncovering genomic mechanisms that allow populations to adapt quickly to different, hyperlocal habitats without splitting into new species.

quantamagazine.org

New preprint led by Kenen from Zach Gompert’s lab is now online. Here we focus on estimating genomic offsets in Lycaedies butterflies to assess adaptation/maladaptation to climatic changes over time.

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology@biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Genomic forecasts of maladptation in Lycaeides butterflies https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.16.725655v1

I’m starting at Oregon State University this September as Herbarium Director and Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology. An absolute dream job and I am so grateful! Looking to grow the lab soon and will update here. In the meantime please don’t hesitate to reach out!