PhD-position ALERT! 🧪🪲 🧬
Interested in studying the genomics of local adaptation and niche breadth using long-term experimental evolution?
Come join me and @gmkov.bsky.social at @animecol-uu.bsky.social, Uppsala Univ. Read more and apply here: uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
Deadline 22nd of May!
The second chapter of my PhD is now available as a preprint 🦚. A lot of it came together during long days in front of my blue screen, and weekends spent watching puffins in the UK. With an amazing team @robknell.bsky.social @jacek-radwan.bsky.social Jonathan Parrett and @ecologycoder.bsky.social
We’ve been talking in our lab meetings about sexual conflict and sexual dimorphism, and have some thoughts. What if animal genomes are far more sex-specific and less cosntrained than we assume? @linley-sherin.bsky.social pulled it all together here www.zoology.ubc.ca/mank-lab/pdf... 1/n
1) New manuscript preprint up: we model adaptation to changing environments under mating systems ranging from random mating via mutual choice monogamy through to female choice polygyny. 🧪www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03...
Top left: Differential gene expression and pH in response to copulation. The authors analyzed 30 RNA-seq samples and 47 pH measurements taken when there was no evidence of recent copulation, and 25 RNA-seq samples and 15 pH measurements taken 4 hours following copulation. Bottom left: Post-copulatory vaginal gene expression in relation to male diversity and complementarity in five mating dyads. Quantile–quantile plots comparing observed to expected p-values for gene expression association with measures of male diversity (upper panel) and complementarity (lower panel). Low p-values are highly enriched in our observed data compared to the null expectation (black line on x = y) when assessing the effect of male MHC diversity (but not genome-wide diversity) and MHC I and II allelic complementarity. Right: A female olive baboon holding an infant; image credit Unsplash user Ed Wingate.
Female discrimination between sperm has been seen in animals, affecting reproductive outcomes, but what about large mammals? This study shows that the baboon #vagina can alter #sperm survival via vaginal immune responses & pH, depending on male genetic relatedness @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4sL2Zxl
Mating Systems and Evolutionary Rescue www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03...
Some first-rate science writing: For this story, @jdrakephd.bsky.social carefully read our recent paper and then we spent a very fun 90 minutes or so talking on zoom. His article that gets right to the heart of our model, explains it clearly, and then explores why it will matter in the future.
Nice to see our work featured in The Guardian — showing that sperm quality can decline the longer it is stored. @krishsanghvi11.bsky.social @itchyshin.bsky.social
Sperm can “age” independently of the male, when stored in male or female reproductive tracts. Our meta-analysis finds widespread evidence across animals (including abstinence in men). Important consequences for fertility, sexual selection, haploid selection!
doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
Are you looking for a PhD position, hoping to learn sexual selection theory from one of the true experts in the field? Lehtonen's work is awesome - Look at this and apply!
ats.talentadore.com/apply/doctor...
Massive thanks to @danielwanoble.bsky.social and @gwendeconninck.bsky.social for some awesome quality of life additions to metRscreen (a shiny app for paper screening in R).
Now updated:
github.com/EIvimeyCook/...
Do you work with breeding shorebirds? Do you collect FID data? Do you have data already or collecting data this year?
We are seeking data contributors for a new project investigating the diversity of nest defence strategies across breeding shorebirds.
Get in touch if interested!
#wader #shorebird
Happy to be able to share our review of the consequences of rising temperatures on animal fertility, led by @rhondasnook.bsky.social with @liamdougherty.bsky.social and Claudia Fricke. Research is getting active in this area but there's still a lot of unknowns...
rdcu.be/e7uGm
Do males strategically associate with mating partners, and how does social context influence their choices?
Excited to share my first publication!🎉
It’s been an amazing journey and thanks to @lennartwinkler.bsky.social, John Fitzpatrick & all co-authors for your hard work!
doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
New study out with @steigerlab.bsky.social! We investigated male care in a biparentally caring 🪲. Why does male contribution vary so much? Turns out there are repeatable individual differences, and how much the female does only affects some male care behaviors.
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
The final part of the story: "The arduous path to obligate asexuality in Daphnia" is out in #ProcB 🥳 royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article.... 1. Instead of comparing long-established asexuals to sexuals, we generated new asexual lineages to observe the transition in action.
@russcd.bsky.social ushers in a new era of academic metrics with the core-pivotal author index, which assigns all credit to authors that occupy the exact center of the author list, while non-central peripheral authors receive no credit whatsoever.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag026
#evobio #molbio
Are current methods inaccurate in quantifying ageing & selective disappearance? We compare methods using simulations, analytical solutions, and empirical data, across life histories & methodologies (eg incomplete data). Surprising results & several recommendations. ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
“Birdwatching may reshape the brain and build its buffer against ageing.
“Expert birdwatchers have changes in their brain structure compared with novices, which probably help them better identify birds and may even protect against age-related cognitive decline.” 🪶
💥⚡⚡NEW PAPER ALERT ⚡⚡💥
Temperature rises and impacts on sexual selection; mate choice mechanisms, phenotypes, fitness in current opinions in insect science with
@evol-lab-ex.bsky.social
#TomTregenza
Paper is here:
doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
Thrilled to share our new paper with the brilliant @srishtipatil.bsky.social & @sabinenoebel.bsky.social ! 🎉
Can mate copying maintain phenotypic diversity with multiple male options to choose from? find out @
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
@dkfz.bsky.social @unihalle.bsky.social @cctb-wue.bsky.social
Male fruit flies use specific visual cues, particularly the female's eyes, to guide precise courtship behaviors, highlighting a more complex role for vision in Drosophila mating rituals. doi.org/hbqcw8
Compelling meta-analytic evidence for female fitness benefits of polyandry in arthropods by Yan et al.
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Led by my talented PhD student @justine-armg.bsky.social we’re running a #meta-analysis of #cross-sex-genetic-correlations in fitness components.
If you have unpublished data or know of studies that might not appear in a systematic search, please reach out, we’d love to include them!
Please share!
Excited to spend 28 Feb at Istanbul University discussing sexual selection with students. From Darwin to modern days, we'll talk about history, biology and philosophy of sexual selection theory.
Territoriality, sociality and male weaponry shape horn investment in female bovids
#Competition #Mammal
doi.org/10.1093/behe...
Our new paper on Bateman gradients in black coucals and white-browed coucals is out. Females of both species outperform males in mating and reproductive success - confirming the generality of Bateman's principle when sex roles differ.
Check it out: royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
New paper out in @funecology.bsky.social y.social: Warm waters undermine cryptic female choice! We find ovarian fluid only has a positive effect on sperm function at colder temperatures and that sneaker males have faster sperm than dominant nesting males at warmer temperatures. (1/3)
🚨Postdoc opportunity🚨: The impact of global change on parental care systems
Interested in Shorebirds? Global change? Parental care? Fieldwork? 🐣☀️ Come join us in Budapest!
Interested candidates - get in touch! Deadline Feb 28 2026
