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New preprint on the effect of ancient admixture / structure on genealogical trees. I introduce a new way of summarising reconstructed genealogies that captures a clear signal of ancient gene flow into the ancestors of modern humans. Feedback welcome!

Incredibly honoured (and nervous) to have been awarded the Young Investigator Award from @neuroethology.org at this year's ICN in Vancouver - thank you so much to Daniel Robert and @laurensr.bsky.social for supporting my application, the society for the award and grant, and the lovely audience! 🥳

New paper out in Phil. Trans. B! We set out to understand how seasonal migration evolves by combining a common garden experiment and scATAC-seq of the hypothalamus in ancestral migratory and derived resident populations of the Eurasian blackcap. 1/n

Differential epigenetic regulation underlies evolutionary transition of seasonal migrationAbstract. Seasonal migratory animals can evolve residency through adaptation. The threshold model of quantitative genetics predicts that residency evolvesdoi.org

Thanks for the kind words!

Great story on the origins of co-evolutionary adaptations.

None of this would’ve been accomplished if not for the fantastic folk on the paper (too many to name for BSky’s short word count). Many thanks to the funders (NERC) and to the many kind Hawaiians who helped us along the way during fieldwork. 7/n

Genes under selection in Hawaiian O. ochracea also show episodic positive selection across other parasitoid flies, suggesting that long-term host–parasitoid arms races have repeatedly shaped parasitoid genomes over evolutionary time. 6/n

Despite clear signatures of founder effects and population bottlenecks in Hawaiian O. ochracea, we detect robust recent selective sweeps likely driven by host adaptations. The genomic evidence suggests rapid counter-adaptation within only ~300 generations. 5/n

These mutations are heritable, vary in how they disrupt wing development, and are under strong selection driven by reduced detectability. Here, we asked whether the flies have begun to counter-adapt. We resequenced 358 O. ochracea across 27 Hawaiian sites, spanning four islands, plus outgroups. 4/n

Over the last ~20 years, adaptive mutations disrupting male sound production have risen to appreciable frequencies across Hawaiian T. oceanicus populations, making male crickets increasingly difficult for flies to detect. 3/n

O. ochracea locates T. oceanicus by detecting male calling songs, then deposits larvae onto hosts, which bury in and eat hosts alive for about ~10 days before emerging. Parasitism is usually fatal for infested hosts. 2/n

How do coevolutionary interactions begin in nature, and what are the first steps of reciprocal adaptation? Our preprint investigates these questions in a natural experiment: an introduced cricket (T. oceanicus) and its acoustically hunting parasitoid (O. ochracea) in Hawaii. shorturl.at/7llsA 1/n

Ecological genomics of a novel host-parasitoid arms-race in natureNovel antagonistic interactions between species are expected to drive especially rapid coevolution. However, little is known about the genomic basis of such coevolution in nature because novel inter-s...shorturl.at

And it's not only Francesca the sanctions are hitting, they are also hitting her husband and kid. They have un-personed a whole family so they cannot exist in society because she dared to say that there is a genocide and that Palestinians are human beings.

Very excited to finally have this out in the world! The first paper from my PhD (and my first first-author publication) makes the case for a new entrant to the world of long-lived animal models: Heliconius butterflies. Out now in @natcomms.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41... (1/10)

Evolution of increased longevity and slowed ageing in a genus of tropical butterfly - Nature CommunicationsStudying long-lived species across the animal kingdom could provide insights into healthy ageing in humans. This study reveals long lifespans and slowed ageing in Heliconius butterflies, identifying t...www.nature.com

Leaf-mimicking katydids don’t just use their funky camouflage to survive, they’re using it to find love too! 🥰🍃💘 New paper out now in #ProcB @royalsocietypublishing.org (Photo cred: Christian Ziegler): doi.org/10.1098/rspb... 1/n

📣🧬 Postdoc Alert🧬📣 We are hiring a 2+ year NERC-funded postdoc at Edinburgh Uni investigating causes and consequences of sex differences in recombination in house sparrows in Norway. Informal enquiries welcome at Susan.Johnston@ed.ac.uk 🙂 Details here: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Have you ever lifted the covers to find a bedbug and thought: COOL! I thought not, but hopefully I can change your mind. 🧵 (1/8)

Introducing the campest katydid of all time. 🦄💅🏽👸💞 Why would this animal (Arota festae) have evolved this way, other than to look utterly fabulous? We have unleashed some (slightly whacky) thoughts, now out in @esajournals.bsky.social. Photo credit: @zekerowe.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... 1/n

3-year Independent Post-doc in Animal Behavior based at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama! Three positions, each including salary & a research budget. Applications due April, 15th. DM if you are interesting in developing a project with us! stri.si.edu/academic-pro...

Booty bumping is officially a scientific term!!!! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Multispecies analysis of social effects on same-sex sexual behavior challenges mistaken identity hypotheses in insects | PNASSame-sex sexual behavior (SSB) in insects has historically been considered a byproduct of sex recognition failure, or “mistaken identity,” and cons...www.pnas.org