Not all heroes wear capes, some are simply mollusks. 🦪

Dive below the surface of oyster restoration with Brianna and Kelsey from @nature.org on this month’s #TimeAndTide podcast episode!

🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts!

📷: Nate Gruen from PREP, highlighting a healthy NH oyster reefs.

Surprised to learn scientists can't agree on a definition of sex? Don't be! To be honest, we can't even agree on a definition of species. Many so-called natural categories are hard to define once we look at the evidence. Biology is too complex for simple definitions, which is a feature, not a bug.

Just a reminder - if you are looking to advertise opportunities in marine science in the New England area, or look for marine science opportunities in the marine science area, the New England Marine Science opportunities listserv is your place to be! groups.google.com/g/ne_marine_... 🧪🌊🌍

Legacy Effects of an Extreme Marine Heatwave on a Stress‐Tolerant Coral This work explored the effects of an unprecedented marine heatwave on the reef-building coral Siderastrea siderea across four sites (Cristobal Island, Hospital Point, Punta Donato, and STRI Point) on...

Excited to see this out after years of work from many folks in the field and lab. @ben-glass.bsky.social did such a lovely job of doing this work justice! 2023 heatwave was no joke in Bocas.....
Global Change Biology | onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Where We Go From Here: Harnessing Queer Perspectives to Advance Practice in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Science and society continuously shape one another; this relationship determines what science is funded, which inquiries are pursued, and whose voices are included in the production and dissemination...

What is the relationship between science and society? How does culture impact the production and dissemination of knowledge? In this new paper, Eppley et al interrogate how systems of oppression bias our research, and how Queer perspectives can address these. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Where We Go From Here: Harnessing Queer Perspectives to Advance Practice in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Science and society continuously shape one another; this relationship determines what science is funded, which inquiries are pursued, and whose voices are included in the production and dissemination...

📣 A perspective with @allydefduf.bsky.social @madeline-eppley.bsky.social and others out in @ecol-evol.bsky.social 📣

Drawing from queer lived experiences, we offer new perspectives to confront existing biases in #ecology and #evolution.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Screenshot of the title page of an article in Ecology Letters TITLE: There is No Consensus on Biological Sex Madeline G. Eppley. A, Andy Lee Robert Dellinger, Ally Swank First published: 05 March 2026 | https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70350 Editor: Greg F. Grether Madeline Eppley and Andy Lee contributed equally and are co-first authors. ABSTRACT There is ongoing scientific and societal discourse on the definition of biological sex. At this critical moment when misinformation about sex is being applied to policy globally, scientific clarification is valuable. Here, we evaluate the primary approaches to defining sex and synthesise the active discourse to conclude that there is no current consensus on a definition of sex that is free of assumptions and limitations. While there is no current consensus, we do not advocate for a single definition and contend that a lack of unanimity is not inherently problematic. No matter what definitional choices are used, we provide actionable recommendations to improve accuracy when describing sex. Most importantly, regardless of scientific debates, no biological definition of sex should be used to dictate human rights.

On this Trans Day of Visibility, please enjoy & learn something from this fascinating & clarifying read from @madeline-eppley.bsky.social, @andylee.bsky.social, Robert Dellinger & @allydefduf.bsky.social

Read👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

(🙏 for this excellent work & actionable recs!)

Seasonal job available in Burlington, VT in invasive pest ecologcal genomics! The successful candidate will work with myself and @jcbnunez.bsky.social on seasonal adaptation in Drosophila susukii. #popGen #evolution #genomics 🧪🧬🖥️ Apply by April 7: northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/careers/job/...

Microbial ecology for all: A vision of accessibility, unity, and responsibility Microorganisms are ubiquitous in nature, representing a significant portion of global biodiversity and playing vital roles in ecosystem functions, biogeochemical cycles, and organismal health. The gr...

Excited to share our new paper, “Microbial ecology for all: A vision of accessibility, unity, and responsibility.” Thankful to the people I worked with on this and to be growing as an early-career researcher in the field!! 🍄 esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

A line graph of the number of NSF awards in fiscal 2026 compared to fiscal years 2021-2025. The fiscal year 2026 is well below the other curves and increasing only very slowly.

NSF Update through March 13, 2026

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Thanks for reading Casey!! 🙂

Looks interesting after a short scan. I also note that a gamete based definition won’t work for the majority of extinct animals, beyond the extremely rare cases where a pregnant individual or gamete is preserved (as has happened with a handful of extinct fishes). Important to think about!

Fantastic paper!

I was coincidentally thinking earlier today about how we sex baby juncos (genetic) and juveniles (wing size) and what the error rates are. I thought "at least we can tell for reproductive adults", but this paper reminded me that it's possible we're getting some of those wrong too.

Tank-based bacterial profiling identifies basin-wide white band disease pathogen candidate and no bacterial associations with coral disease resistance Abstract. White band disease (WBD) has decimated the Caribbean staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, since its emergence in 1979, but its etiology remains

I’m really excited to have recently published my first chapter of my dissertation, which is also my first ever first author paper! 🌟 We identified a basin-wide pathogen candidate for white band disease in the Caribbean! 🪸🧪 doi.org/10.1093/isme...

ICYMI: in our new paper, we contend there is "no current consensus on a definition of sex that is free of assumptions and limitations... and most importantly,...no biological definition of sex should be used to dictate human rights" #evolsky #LGBTQSTEM #ecology #evolution #biologicalsex

I am still actively looking for postdoc positions — please lmk if you (or your friends and colleagues) need a hardworking postdoc with field, lab, and bioinformatic skills!

I am broadly interested in evolution in the ocean, conservation and population genetics, and rapid evolution.

Eppley et al (2026) "We believe that acknowledging limitations and assumptions of current definitions of sex will lead to more accurate science." 🧪

Basically what we've been saying about using gender in human research, too!

Very proud of this perspective that came out of some really interesting and difficult conversations with friends and colleagues!

TLDR: how do scientists define sex? why does it matter??
#EcoEvo #Ecology #Evolution 🧪

thanks for reading! the doi link isn’t live yet -- should work in ~48 hours.

here’s the journal link for now: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

V. important perspective piece by @madeline-eppley.bsky.social & @andylee.bsky.social on biological sex and why a lack of scientific consensus should not be used to dictate human rights doi.org/10.1111/ele.... 🧪

Further, we contend a lack of unanimity on how to define sex is not inherently problematic and a universal definition is not necessary to pursue. No matter what definitional choices are used, we provide actionable recommendations to improve accuracy when describing sex.

There is No Consensus on Biological Sex At this critical moment when misinformation about sex is being applied to policy globally, scientific clarification on the definition of biological sex is valuable. Here, we evaluate the primary appr...

New paper out in ecology letters! with @andylee.bsky.social @allydefduf.bsky.social

We synthesized the active debate on how scientists define sex, including limitations and assumptions. We believe this discussion will lead to more accurate science.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

omg another paper with @madeline-eppley.bsky.social and @allydefduf.bsky.social accepted!!!

Extra proud of this one (and also really nervous for it to come out). We thought a lot about how biologists define sex in our research. Out soon in Ecology Letters!

Paper accepted!!! Beyond honored to have worked with fellow queer ECRs (@madeline-eppley.bsky.social, @allydefduf.bsky.social and others not on bsky) to critically examine our field's relationship with the queer community, and how we can leverage Queer perspectives to conduct more accurate science!!

Can’t wait to share this one soon!!! This paper was a collective effort of nearly two years of work with queer ECRs from across the US. It was a dream co-leading this project with Andy & Ally - writing a paper with your best friends is the best. Excited for it to be out in the world!!

Flyer that says American Society of Naturalists Diversity Committee. The DC works to promote diversity, equity, and inclusiveness to enhance the study of evolution, ecology, and behavior and to foster the career of its developing scientists. We pursue initiatives that support marginalized groups, which include helping to create an inclusive, accessible environment at the Evolution conference, the stand-alone ASN meeting, and our field in general. Apply by November 1. Seeking two new members starting Jan 2026. 3 year term

Please apply to join the Diversity Committee of the American Society of Naturalists!
www.amnat.org/announcement...

This infographic describes the main results from a survey of members of 14 scientific societies. There is a pie chart showing that both academic (58%) and non-academic (42%) responded to the survey. It lists statistics: 85% of respondents reported uncertainty about the future; 71% reported federal training programs were "very" or "extremely important"; 83% reported negative impacts or irreparable harm on their field of science. There is a word cloud summarizing open-ended responses with the largest words "student research fund federal grant". Eight major themes in the responses are listed: disruption of research with societal important; concerns of closure of the USGS Bird Banding Lab; Early Career Bottleneck; Restricted Freedoms including travel and speech; Decline in Government Efficiency and Expertise; Concerns about Biased/Removed Data and Data Gaps; Concerns about the Ability to Meet Legal Mandates; and From Positive Impact to Irreparable Harm. There are icons for each participating society and a QR code for website and data availability.

Today 14 scientific societies in #ecology #evolution and #marineScience are publishing the results of a survey that finds negative impacts of federal policies on food security, flood mitigation, infectious disease preparedness, and wildlife conservation: 🧪👩‍🔬 www.firsthandaccounts.org/impacts/2025...

Researchers found that 10.5% of shark and swordfish products from species listed as Near Threatened, Vulnerable, or Endangered (IUCN) in New England seafood markets were mislabeled.

#DNABarcoding #Biodiversity #Conservation #Seafood

‘Highly‐Informative’ Genetic Markers Can Bias Conclusions: Examples and General Solutions High-grading bias is the overestimation power in a subset of loci caused by model overfitting. Using both empirical and simulated datasets, we show that high-grading bias can cause severe overestimat...

New paper with @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social out TODAY!!

We found that choosing "highly informative loci" (aka high fst loci) may bias results in common population genetic analyses

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Explainer thread to come! #PopGen #PopulationGenomics #Evolution