MEPGT

Escaping bottlenecks: The demographic path to genetic recovery in koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) Population bottlenecks can lead to evolutionary dead ends by eroding genetic diversity and intensifying inbreeding. Although theory predicts possible escape routes, direct observations of this process...

Escaping bottlenecks: The demographic path to genetic recovery in koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) | Science www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Big effort, exciting results - our paper on the constraints of thermal limits in tropical insects is now out in @nature.com! 🦋🐝🪰🪲🦗
@ecoresearchzoo3.bsky.social
@biologie-uniwue.bsky.social
@uni-wuerzburg.de

Introgression and parental conflict shape repeated occurrences of postzygotic isolation in Mimulus Postzygotic reproductive isolation is often thought to accumulate as a byproduct of neutral divergence. Yet it frequently evolves rapidly, in line wit…

I am SO THRILLED to share our first fully-lab lab paper!!!!!! Led by @hybridzones.bsky.social & @hagarsoliman.bsky.social, w/ a major assist from @pfschwarz.bsky.social!!!!!!!!!!!!! Read more below, if you're curious (you should be- it's AWESOME!!!!!!!)

link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Is loss of distyly always associated with high selfing rates? And what are the genomic consequences? Read more about this in our new preprint on repeated loss of distyly in Linum, led by @zopos.bsky.social and @panazerv.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New paper out from @hoehna.bsky.social Lab, led by the brilliant @bjorntko.bsky.social! We applied the Pesto software (Kopperud & Höhna, 2025) to look at lineage-specific shifts in diversification rate on large, densely-sampled phylogenies across the Tree of Life doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Acceleration hotspots of North American birds’ decline are associated with agriculture Human activities might have accelerated declines of population abundance, but this acceleration remains underexplored. Using 1033 North American Breeding Bird Survey routes, we analyze abundance chang...

Thrilled to share our new paper out in @science.org, led by François Leroy and Petr Keil! Using the Breeding Bird Survey, we document not only a continent-wide decline in bird abundance since the 1980s — but, crucially, the acceleration of these declines over time. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Evolution, genomics and conservation of butterflies and moths - Nature Reviews Biodiversity Butterflies and moths are key indicators of functioning and healthy ecosystems around the world. This Review describes the evolutionary history of the order Lepidoptera and tracks shifts in researcher...

Now online! In this review, we cover four major topics on butterflies and moths: their evolutionary history and diversification dynamics, genomics, global diversity patterns, and conservation 🦋🌏 (1/8) @natrevbiodiv.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Up to what degree of interspecific genetic distance is it possible to form viable and fertile hybrids? A strange species of paramecium breaks the record:

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Selection-driven color variation in the aposematic strawberry poison frog, Oophaga pumilio Aguilar-Gómez et al. use exome sequencing of 347 strawberry poison frogs to uncover the genetic basis of color variation. They identify that kit, ttc39b, and bco1 underlie blue-red, yellow-red, and gr...

The last chapter of my PhD is finally out !!!! In the same species, on neighboring islands, we see radically different warning colors emerge. Evolution in action:
Selection-driven color variation in the aposematic strawberry poison frog, Oophaga pumilio: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

A reference-free pipeline for detecting shared transposable elements from pan-genomes to retrace their dynamics in a species - Genome Biology Background The role of transposable elements (TEs) in host adaptation has gained interest in recent years. Individuals of the same species undergo independent TE insertions, providing genetic variabil...

🚨📢📄 Article in press in Genome Biology doi.org/10.1186/s130...
We introduce panREPET, a reference-free pipeline to detect shared transposable element (TE) insertions across pangenomes and retrace their evolutionary dynamics #TEsky 🧵👇

Hello Bluesky!

Does Nₑ really explain mutation rate (μ) or genome size (GS) in vertebrates?

We find the apparent Nₑ–μ link in Bergeron et al. (2023) is a “back-door” path via generation time, and GS is decoupled from both Nₑ and life-history traits.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

#evobio #PNAS

Embracing the power of genomics to inform evolutionary significant units Abstract. Appropriate identification of evolutionary significant units (ESUs) is essential for effective conservation planning. Genomic data has emerged as

doi.org/10.1093/jher...

Another Interesting paper about neutral theory of molecular evolution made by Eyre-Walker! 👍
Key findings: 1) nucleotide diversity serves as a useful proxy for Ne; 2) small Ne is generally associated with a reduction in the efficacy of natural selection.
doi.org/10.1111/mec....

Estimation of effective size of large continuously distributed populations https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.09.704747v1

Multiple protein structure alignment at scale with FoldMason Protein structure is conserved beyond sequence, making multiple structural alignment (MSTA) essential for analyzing distantly related proteins. Computational prediction methods have vastly extended ou...

FoldMason is out now in @science.org. It generates accurate multiple structure alignments for thousands of protein structures in seconds. Great work by Cameron L. M. Gilchrist and @milot.bsky.social.
📄 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🌐 search.foldseek.com/foldmason
💾 github.com/steineggerla...

Structural genomics sheds light on protein functions and remote homologs across the insect tree of life - Cell Research Cell Research - Structural genomics sheds light on protein functions and remote homologs across the insect tree of life

A phylogeny of 4'854 #insects --- with structural #genomics shedding light on protein functions & remote homologs www.nature.com/articles/s41... #biodiversity

Eco-evolutionary assembly processes within oceanic island systems Abstract. Oceanic islands provide classic model systems for the study of biotic assembly and for the role of evolutionary radiations within this process. H

Discover eco-evolutionary assembly processes within Oceanic island systems in this perspective, published as part of our #SpecialIssue "Evolution on Islands"! 👇🧪🌍

📢 Three new #bioRxiv preprints from our team on holocentric chromosomes.

Together, they connect centromere repeat evolution, karyotype dynamics, and meiotic recombination outcomes, revealing how holocentric genomes evolve and function. 🧬👇

The Importance of Effective Population Size in Conservation and Biodiversity Monitoring Effective population size (Ne) is a key concept in biology and conservation. Stripped to its bare essentials, it reflects how much genetic drift a population experiences, expressed as a number of ind...

We have compiled a special issue for @evolappjournal.bsky.social on Effective population size in Conservation and Biodiversity Monitoring, dedicated to the late Michael W. Bruford.
This SI is a must read for everyone who struggles with what "effective population size" means.
#consgen

The species problem evolving in the Anthropocene Nature Reviews Biodiversity, Published online: 16 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s44358-025-00125-xThe question of how to define a species has a long history and continued relevance for ongoing biological and conservation research. This Review describes the history of the species problem, and explores how novel evolutionary pressures and constraints of the Anthropocene might be complicating species definitions even further.

New online! The species problem evolving in the Anthropocene

Interested in genetic diversity-area relationships as a potential proxy for genetic diversity? Check out Chloé Schmidt's latest 😀
@chloology.bsky.social 🧪🌎🧬🌐
#consgen #popgen #evobio
with Sean Hoban, @debbiemleigh.bsky.social, & Walter Jetz
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

PhD on Begonia speciation at RBGE/Glasgow! Looking at the genomics of reproductive isolation and how fast it evolves - is it the reason this is one of the largest genera of flowering plants?
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Not Just Ne Ne-More: New Applications for SMC from Ecology to Phylogenies Abstract. Genomes contain the mutational footprint of an organism’s evolutionary history, shaped by diverse forces including ecological factors, selective

In a new GBE Review, @david-peede.bsky.social et al. overview the SMC model and extensions, discuss examples of discoveries made with the help of SMC-based inference, and comment on the assumptions, benefits, and drawbacks of various methods.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...

#genome #evolution #compbio

Interestingly @pnas.org charge an open access publication fee for commentaries they themselves have invited. This becomes apparent after the article is written & accepted. Those choosing not to pay are published later and behind a paywall. Writing a p*ssed-off email resolved the issue in this case.

Nucleotide diversity is a poor predictor of short-term adaptive potential A capacity to adapt is essential for a population to avoid extinction in a changing world and is recognised as a global conservation priority. Adaptation requires additive (heritable) genetic variatio...

I'm excited to share that our preprint is now available on bioRxiv! Our study challenges the widespread use of molecular genetic diversity as a predictor adaptive potential, with important implications for how genetic data is used to inform conservation decisions.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A must read for conservation geneticists on the utility (or not??) of using molecular diversity to predict adaptive potential 👇🏻

Tree evolution is surprisingly quirky! 🌳 Trees are likely ancestral in many plant groups, often re-evolve on islands, and Arabidopsis can be made tree-like by tweaking a few genes. We revisited what genes really make a tree a tree using comparative genomics. @trhvidsten.bsky.social #trees #evolution

i am offering a post-doc position in my brand-new project TreeGD that will investigate genomic diversity of trees species in switzerland, with a special focus on gene conservation units, rare species (but not only), and seeds stands.

apply.refline.ch/273855/1782/...

🌳 PhD Position in Forest Genetics @uni-freiburg.de
Join the BeGenDiv project to study genetic diversity of ~30 tree & shrub species across Germany’s Biodiversity Exploratories.
🧬 Fieldwork, lab work, bioinformatics & interdisciplinary collaboration
More info & apply: uni-freiburg.de/stellenangeb...

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...

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