I think it was a deliberate attempt to drown it - a bit hard to tell the pigeon was still alive before they went in. But it failed, as couldn't get it out then afterwards. Do seem to be other cases online.

Life spot on the river today @magdalenoxford.bsky.social @biology.ox.ac.uk

Genomic Insights into Historical Adaptation of Three Key Fungal Plant Pathogens Abstract. Fungal culture collections hold a wealth of historical isolates that could be used to study fungal evolution over the past decades, an era that c

Alkemade, @timbarra.bsky.social et al. did temporal association analysis on three major fungal crop pathogens collected between 1956 and 2023, identifying genes linked to fungicide resistance and stress responses as frequent sites of adaptation.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf241

#genome #evolution

Celebrating PhD thesis defence

Congratulations @tymekpieszko.bsky.social successful PhD defence yesterday, and many thanks to Matthew Hartfield and Dmitry Filatov for examining.

Congratulations Juliet! Very well deserved for a brilliant body of research. Thank you to Shigeto Dobata and @timbarra.bsky.social for their time and being a great examiner team. 🥂 @biology.ox.ac.uk @newcollegeoxf.bsky.social

Two Senior Research Fellow jobs @biology.ox.ac.uk on fungal biology in plant and animal/human disease. my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Floodplain dispersal and genetic resilience of fish populations to multiple stressors at University of Oxford on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Floodplain dispersal and genetic resilience of fish populations to multiple stressors at University of Oxford, listed on FindAPhD.com

PhD available @biology.ox.ac.uk applying historical genomics to fish populations under pressure www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

The evolutionary costs and benefits of horizontal gene transfer in eukaryotes (TB01) at University of Oxford on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - The evolutionary costs and benefits of horizontal gene transfer in eukaryotes (TB01) at University of Oxford, listed on FindAPhD.com

I'm advertising a PhD project on the evolution of horizontal transfer. Interested in this or other topics in evolution and species diversity, please get in touch. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Photo showing the inside atrium of the new Life and Mind Building

Oxford Biology is growing 📢

We’re appointing 3 Associate Professors in:
🌱 Plant Sciences
🦉 Animal Behaviour
🔬 Molecular Cell Biology

3 fields. 3 opportunities. One new home for Oxford Biology.

Learn more 👉 bit.ly/41S2Tc7
Apply now 👉 bit.ly/488CNW3

bsky.app/profile/nich...

Co-organised by Joris Alkemade and @nicholahawkins.bsky.social, contributors include @melonamaranth.bsky.social, @dannagifford.bsky.social, @florianhartig.bsky.social, @gmpreston.bsky.social, @mfseidl.bsky.social, @pietrospanu.bsky.social and more

New paper from our workshop funded by the Calleva Centre ‪@magdalenoxford.bsky.social‬. We discuss how to minimise the risk of resistance evolution for new fungal control methods using RNA sprays - based on lessons from fungicide resistance studies and evolutionary genomics. doi.org/10.1016/j.fb...

Fungicide resistance is a big reason why we need alternative crop protection measures, but we must consider the risk of those other crop protection measures also selecting for resistance, especially for target-specific methods like RNAi.

Eco-evolutionary robustness of wild bacterial communities to experimental perturbation Abstract. Most knowledge about bacterial evolution and ecological interactions comes from laboratory studies. One difference between the wild and most labo

🚨Fresh out of press!
How do wild bacterial communities respond to environmental perturbations like liming?
We experimentally evolved them to find out!
academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...

Eco-evolutionary robustness of wild bacterial communities to experimental perturbation Abstract. Most knowledge about bacterial evolution and ecological interactions comes from laboratory studies. One difference between the wild and most labo

Our new paper on experimental evolution in wild tree-holes -Eco-evolutionary robustness of wild bacterial communities to experimental perturbation

#ISMEJournal
@duhitasant.bsky.social Tom Smith Edgar Wong Juli Cohen
@kayla-king.bsky.social
Tom Bell

academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

Shian-Li Kelly-Williams wins best initiative in MPLS EDI Awards 2025

Congratulations to Shian-Li Kelly-Williams, who has won Best Initiative in the @mplsoxford.bsky.social Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity (EDI) Awards!

Shian-Li has created a novel database for undergraduate students in Biology to share resources based on EDI-related content 👇
bit.ly/3IO46dx

Man in shirt and tie menaces cake in shape of a planarian in front of building that looks a bit like a prison.

Very proud of new DPhil, Simon Kershenbaum; here, messing with planarian (in cake-form). Co-supervised with Aziz Aboobakar. Big thanks to @timbarra.bsky.social and @jordisolana.bsky.social for all their hard work as examiners 🫶 Sorry to miss celebrations in person! 🥂 @biology.ox.ac.uk

Bloodied remains of feathers with a view of Oxford colleges behind

Bit of a crime scene @magdalenoxford.bsky.social tower today, but whodunnit? @biology.ox.ac.uk

Do the “big four” orders of insects comprise evolutionarily significant higher taxa with coherent patterns of selection on protein-coding genes? Higher taxa are normally considered to be arbitrary levels in the branching tree of life, with no level having greater or lesser significance for evolution

New paper out "Do the “big four” orders of insects comprise evolutionarily significant higher taxa with coherent patterns of selection on protein-coding genes?" ... well, do they?? @evolletters.bsky.social
@biology.ox.ac.uk academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

Outbreaks of coffee wilt disease linked to gene transfer from another fungus

Gene transfer from a different fungus has led to outbreaks of coffee wilt disease 🍄

For the past century, outbreaks have severely impacted coffee production across sub-Saharan Africa

New research with @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social & CABI 👇
bit.ly/4fVLuUV

A bdelloid rotifer, Rotaria macrura

PhD opportunity: Bdelloid rotifers are strange animals with no males and amazing stress tolerance. 10% of their genes came from bacteria, fungi via HGT, including antimicrobial genes that are unique in animals. Find out how/why and discover new antimicrobials too! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...