Heather Clendenin🐾🧬

Super interesting, but also— what a harrowing punch to the gut

New genome assembly for the golden jackal (Canis aureus)! The species is expanding across Europe due to various selective pressures including anthropogenic change and competition over resources. However, its spread into urban areas could contribute to zoonotic diseases.
Photo © Giles Laurent
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High resolution US groundwater map!
Ma et al. (2026)
www.nature.com/articles/s43...

On Michigan Cherry Farms, Small Falcons Are Improving Food Safety - Inside Climate News Kestrels are already abundant on local cherry farms, but a new study suggests their presence might lower the risk of food-borne illnesses caused by pathogens from other birds.

A new study by MSU found that providing habitat and nest boxes for kestrels near cherry orchards significantly reduced the risk of food borne illness in humans. Kestrels kept out rodents and small birds that could contaminate fruit with their feces. #goodnews #biodiversity

Cat lying in a tote with front legs dangling out

Paws pause

This is terrific. Writing is a way to think; waiting to write until you've worked everything out is counterproductive. On the discomfort of thinking through writing, from @patthomson.bsky.social

This past week's moth in #YearOfTheMoth is the VAMPIRE MOTH!

It has a sharp snout for drinking juice from fruits, but males evolved to suck mammal blood to collect salt which they then give to females through their sperm! #sciArt

Selective sweep probabilities in spatially expanding populations - Nature Communications In this study, the authors use mathematical modelling and analysis to understand how mutations spread through populations that are expanding in space. The results shed light on the evolution of biolog...

Our paper "Selective sweep probabilities in spatially expanding populations" is out in Nature Communications!

Our work extends the theory of population genetics and contributes to our understanding of cancer evolution.

doi.org/10.1038/s414...

I’m relieved in a way that it’s not just me. 😅 I recently put out my first paper as corresponding author and had similar frustrations (that chatbot was comically useless and the automatic reformatting of references was downright absurd), but I didn’t know if it was always this bad.

We have more #biodiversity data than ever — from 🛰️, field work, citizen obs., and Indigenous knowledge.

But, are we halting biodiversity loss? The answer is uncertain.
Why? Because the chain of evidence needs to be stronger

Our new #PNAS paper proposes a way forward
www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....

Finally published! We first uploaded this preprint in 2022 but dropped it after frustrating reviews.
It was well received and cited, motivating us to revisit it.
We added new content, including simulations and a proof-of-concept genomic green status assessment.
#consgen #popgen #PopulationGenomics

Can AI please fold my clothes, that’s what I really need

This article is related to this scientific paper published in Biological Conservation, where I focus on the legal vacuum in addressing the impact of pets on wildlife and suggest ways to bridging the gap between conservation and animal welfare laws in the EU. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Evaluating the analytical performance of direct-to-consumer gut microbiome testing services - Communications Biology Comparative analysis of DTC gut microbiome testing services reveals significant methodological variability, underscoring the need for standardized reference materials and guidelines to ensure reproducibility and reliability in commercial microbiome testing.

Results and health assessments from gut microbiome home-testing kits vary whether they are produced by the same or different manufacturers. The findings, published in Communications Biology, highlight the need for caution when interpreting or acting on test results, according to the authors. 🧪

Well, well, well… happy International Polar Bear Day!

2(Simine is not sure that she ever said this but agrees that it sounds like something she would have said; personal communication Dec 14, 2021)

I searched my zotero library for 'personal communication', because these tend to be interesting and can illustrate how science really works. I was not disappointed, the most recent one in my library was this from @syeducation.bsky.social. More of this! doi.org/10.36850/mr11

Interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans was strongly sex biased Sex biases in admixture and other demographic processes are recurrent features throughout human evolution. For admixture between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (AMHs), sex bias has been p...

Many living people carry fragments of Neanderthal DNA, remnants of ancient interbreeding events, with uneven distribution across chromosomes. New work by @sarahtishkoff.bsky.social lab suggests patterns are most consistent with Neanderthal contribution to human populations being highly male biased.🧪

Rewilding Environmental Change Webinar - British Ecological Society Does it matter what we think about environmental change? This webinar will discuss shifting baseline syndrome and rewilding.

On Tuesday, the @bes-rewildinggroup.bsky.social @britishecologicalsociety.org are hosting @sarahpapworth.bsky.social, talking about shifting baseline syndrome and rewilding

Register here: www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/rewi...

a plot of photos of various bat species. the x axis goes from “those feratu” to “hi doggy” and the y goes from “el wiwi” to “hear it hurgling”.

adding alt to this glorious chart. h/t @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com

Humans 40,000 y ago developed a system of conventional signs | PNAS As humans, we store and share information. This allows us to distribute knowledge necessary for survival and to coordinate large groups. Our homini...

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Germans started writing 40,000 years ago! You know what that means? Any day now they might be getting to the verb

Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom Nature Ecology & Evolution - Using phylogenetic comparative methods across 237 species from disparate phyla, the authors show that species with fast-paced ecologies have higher temporal...

Our new paper is now out showing how time perception in animals is linked to their ecology. Using data from 237 species we show temporal perception is faster in species that fly and pursuit predators www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🌐

Conservation and Genomics of Populations with Fred Allendorf - Organization for Tropical Studies This course will be 6 days long, and the instructors are Fred Allendorf, Sally Aitken, and Marty Kardos. This course will be based on Conservation and Genomics of Populations (Allendorf et al. 2022). ...

Join Fred Allendorf, Sally Aitken, and me this November for a 6-day course on conservation genomics at the legendary La Selva Research Station in Costa Rica. Register by April 1. Details here: tropicalstudies.org/course/conse...

🧪🐻🚨We're hiring techs for bear work this summer: jobs.rwfm.tamu.edu/view-job/?id...

Cheekiness aside (and no shade to overwhelmed editorial staff, who were super helpful with each challenge), I genuinely don’t know if this is typical and whether I should account for a similar workload in the future. IS this normal?? Did I maybe get off easy?? Insight appreciated! (4/4)

The online editing portal for the proofs made it literally impossible to make certain changes— including addressing the chunk of the methods section that was mysteriously moved to the end of the discussion. I had to annotate the pdf manually and also use the portal. (3/4)

For instance: automatic reformatting of references treated every gov’t and tribal entity like a person— e.g. USFWS became somebody named “Fish” for some (but not all) pubs and Tribe, N.P. replaced Nez Perce Tribe. (2/4)

Academic publishing, amirite? 😮‍💨

After my recent 1st experience as corresponding author, I’m wondering if I was unlucky or if there’s always this much work after acceptance. If the latter, my appreciation for my PIs (who’ve wrangled this part of this work in the past) has a new facet! 😵 (1/4)

Kudos and MUCH appreciation to my co-authors, Dave Ausband, Jennifer Adams, @phohenlohe.bsky.social, and Lisette Waits!!