[1/3] 3rd session: Evolutionary ecology and Genetics

With started with an amazing talk by keynote Arnar Palsson about the interplay of environment, genetics and history: the case of ecological divergence in Arctic charr

Thanks @thefsbi.bsky.social for being the official sponsor of this session

🐟 Here are our keynote speakers for NoWPaS 2026 announced!! Looking forward to talk salmonids ecology and evolution with @profchrisharrod.bsky.social, @jessrodger.bsky.social, Prof. Eva Enders and Prof. Arnar Palson!

Definitly!

Obituary: Professor Peter Maitland FRSE (1937–2025) — Freshwater Biological Association The freshwater science community has lost one of its most respected and influential members with the passing of Professor Peter Maitland FRSE on 24 November 2025. He was aged 87. Here Professor Colin ...

we lost one of our greats Prof Peter Maitland in late November 2025. @profcolinbean.bsky.social has written a fine obituary to Peter here on the @freshwaterbio.bsky.social website.

www.fba.org.uk/fba-voice/ob...

and how lucky I was to have such nice field mate

With @sceneuog.bsky.social we were on the field, producing F1 offrsprings of Arctic charr in order to investigate the genetic basis of their ecological speciation. Reflecting on how lucky we have been to visit such an fantastic healthy population. Work funded by @thefsbi.bsky.social.

Call for Abstract is now open - NoWPaS 2026 in Holar University, Iceland.

Following the Titanic theme, with #FSBI2025 being held in Belfast, #FSBI2026 will be taking place in 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗼𝗻! Be sure to get 𝟮𝟳𝘁𝗵-𝟯𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 in your diary, with the exciting theme of "Breaking Siloes in Fish Biology"! fsbi.org.uk/symposium-2026/

NoWPaS 2026 (International Workshop of PhDs and Post-doctoral Fellows on Anadromous Salmonids) will be organised in Iceland at the Holar University - Call for Abstracts opens Monday, hope to see some familiar faces!
nowpas.wordpress.com

Catherine Peichel Interview with Katie Peichel, who studies the evolutionary genetics of sticklebacks at the University of Bern, Switzerland.

Nice interview to Katie Peichel @currentbiology.bsky.social

I completely agree with her claims for more funding for curiosity-driven research, basic Science... Science.

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Figure 1. Illustration of different genetic and evolutionary mechanisms that can contribute to the evolution of hybrid incompatibilities.

"The molecular evolutionary basis of species formation revisited"
by Molly Schumer (@mollyschumer.bsky.social) & colleagues

"The origin of species has long fascinated biologists, but determining the genes [involved] has only recently become possible in non-model organisms."

shorturl.at/wG0B5

Estimating the additive genetic variance for relative fitness from changes in allele frequency The rate of adaptation is equal to the additive genetic variance for relative fitness VA in the population. Estimating VA typically involves measuring fitness proxies on a large number of individuals ...

How to estimate the additive genetic variance for fitness, without measuring fitness. Work from Manas Geeta Arun and Jarrod Hadfield: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Talking about multivariate phnotypic plasticity of resource polymorphims in salmonids at the Belfast FSBI Symposium.
#FSBI2025

FSBI PhDs at #FSBI2025 Belfast

NoWPaS 2025 connection
#FSBI2025

The FSBI Medal Winners session starts with a talk from Colin Adams. Colin, previous President of the FSBI, has been awarded this year's Beverton Medal. Given the FSBI's focus on supporting ECRs, Colin draws on his wealth of experience, with a talk titled "Surviving a career in research" #FSBI2025

One of the best choice of my early career so far was to go for the FSBI studentship.

great work by Nic Strowbridge in the PhD homestretch, bringing together a wide literature and range of species. How does methylation relate to colouration and what do we need to test next? @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk @iapetusdtp.bsky.social

What are the effects of gene flow and introgression on gene co-expression networks? In a new #GENETICS paper, Runghen and @danielbolnick.bsky.social run simulations to show that hybridization and gene flow between populations can greatly modify co-expression networks.

Read more: buff.ly/CE5rCxu

It has been amazing to meet all the salmonids researcher mates at #NowPaS2025 representing @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk @sceneuog.bsky.social and @thefsbi.bsky.social with @phoebekaiser-wilks.bsky.social. Best socio-scientific experience so far!!

Workshop evening at #NoWPaS2025 — great energy as everyone dives into identifying major threats and challenges facing salmonids, and brainstorming innovative solutions!

Great day in the field with the Nova Scotia Salmon Association learning about the ongoing West River Acid Rain Mitigation Project to restore Atlantic salmon habitats. Thank you!

Heritability and genomic basis of age-at-maturity in Chinook Salmon Abstract. Intra-population variation in the age at return and reproduction of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), or age-at-maturity, acts as a buff

Heritability and genomic basis of age-at-maturity in Chinook Salmon, Journal of Heredity, 2025;, esaf021, doi.org/10.1093/jher...

#NowPaS2025 Where salmonids fanatics migrate

Defining conservation units in a highly diverse species: A case on Arctic charr Defining appropriate conservation units is crucial to the protection and management of biodiversity. These delineations deliver further benefit when they encompass assessments of population vulnerabil...

Excited that the latest work from my PhD is available as a pre-print! (doi.org/10.1101/2025...)
We explore the challenges in delineating conservation units within highly diverse species using the salmonid species Arctic charr as a study system!

Thanks a lot @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk for sharing the research spotlight interview! Have a look to learn about my project and how fascinating is the evolution of the Arctic charr. I will be giving a PGR Seminar talk the 16/05/2025 at 4pm in the Graham Kerr Lecture theatre 1 to go a bit more in details.

Lake District Charr Recovery & Management (CHARM) – Big Give We want to save one of England's rarest fish species, Arctic charr, from extinction. We will engage communities in the …

We’re raising funds through the #GreenMatchFund for our #LakeDistrict #ArcticCharr Recovery and Management project, aka LD-CHARM 🐟

bit.ly/42BgnII

If you can, please donate. Each donation is matched pound-for-pound up to £10K, meaning we could unlock £20K of funding for £10K of donations!

I like that tie!!