@keesvanoers
Senior Scientist Evolutionary Behavioural Ecology | @NIOO-KNAW | Forum Editor Behavioral Ecology | Executive Vice-President ESEB Professor Animal Personality @WUR | Behavioural Ecology Group Ecological Epigenetics | Animal Cognition | Animal Personality
Out in @natcomms.nature.com, a collaborative paper showing that, across 73 species (including common terns), warmer years are associated with earlier phenology, and that populations in which such an association was observed have often been stable or increasing: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A Curlew, a wading bird with a long downcurved bill, stands on an estuary shoreline with water in the background. Wording below reads: PhD opportunity with BTO and Liverpool John Moores University. BTO logo is top right of the image.
π’ We're looking for a PhD student to focus on habitat use of wintering Curlew in and around coastal SPAs. Apply now β‘οΈ bit.ly/CurlewPhD
The student will be based at @ljmuofficial.bsky.social and BTO, starting in October 2026 for four years.
π Deadline to apply: Wednesday 18 February #Ornithology
From the @ergabiodiv.bsky.social Sampling & Sample Processing Committee: recommendations to support both small-scale #biogenome projects & large initiatives onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #European Reference #Genome Atlas (ERGA)
Just a few more days to submit abstracts to #SMBE2026 in beautiful Copenhagen.
ποΈDeadline 3nd February
We are organizing
S01: Evolutionary-informed management of vulnerable populations in a rapidly changing world.
Hope to see many of you there!
SMBE2026 Symposium 5 | Molecular evolution in the era of genetic diversity decline smbe2026.org/programme Organisers - Madlen Stange β Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Germany - Deborah M Leigh β Senckenberg Nature Research and Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany Loss of genetic diversity is now recognised as a critical component of the global biodiversity crisis, with direct implications for speciesβ adaptive potential, population persistence, and long-term evolutionary trajectories. For molecular evolutionists, this represents both an urgent challenge and a unique opportunity: unprecedented genomic resources and analytical methods allow us to quantify genetic erosion, reconstruct historical baselines, and model future outcomes at scales unimaginable a decade ago. We are now able to directly study evolutionary processes in declining, newly formed, or eroded populations, which offer unique insights into the evolutionary past and future. This symposium aims to highlight research at the interface of molecular evolution, population genomics, and biodiversity monitoring. We will showcase cutting-edge genomic methodsβranging from ancient and historical genomics, whole genome-based analyses, and multispecies genomic syntheses, to entirely novel AI and synthetic biology frameworksβthat track population-level molecular change over time and space. How these methods have been used to identify evolutionary patterns or changes in the face of loss or restorative action. As well as, how these methods can be used to support transformative change. By bringing together researchers working on evolutionary theory, genomic inference of diversity loss, temporal monitoring of populations, and large-scale data integration, this symposium will provide a forum to identify common conceptual ground, share methodological innovations, and explore the methods needed for future advances.
Are you working on biodiversity monitoring using genomics? Are you developing (AI)tools to track molecular change in declining populations? Are you employing novel methods to track molecular change during or after genetic decline? We would be happy to receive your submissions for #SMBE2026!
Dark-eyed junco. Photo: Wikimedia commons, Cephas.
Fig. 1 from the article: Liver expression of the vitellogenin gene (VTG2) was greater in birds sampled during the early-breeding period compared with the pre-breeding period.
Fig. 3 from the article: Percent DNA methylation in liver tissue of each of three CpG sites located 900β990 bp upstream from the start codon of VTG2 from individuals sampled during the pre-breeding or during the early-breeding period.
NEW PAPER: vitellogenin expression and DNA methylation in the VTG2 promoter changed between pre- and early breeding in dark-eyed juncos, indicating that liver epigenetic regulation may contribute to seasonal timing of reproduction.
β‘οΈ vist.ly/4nzre
#ornithology #birds #epigenetics πͺΆ
Come join us in beautiful Stockholm! A fun project using a cool system in a great place with an amazing supervisor - so many reasons to apply π πΈπͺ
π£ Interested in a 4-year postdoc in the movement ecology group? @univie.ac.at is recruiting outstanding female researchers through the E-STEEM programme. @pesumas.bsky.social is a registered host and welcomes applications from potential candidates.
careers.univie.ac.at/en/postdoc/e...
Figure 1 in IbÑñez-Herranz et al. (2025): "Timeline of the experiments"
New publication: Local dominance predicts foraging decisions in a changing environment, by @keesvanoers.bsky.social and others. #climatechange #foodavailability #behavioralplasticity #parusmajor
doi.org/10.1093/behe...
Graphical abstract Chen et al. (2025).
New publication: Early-life viability selection targets deleterious mutations in #exons, by @keesvanoers.bsky.social and others. #geneticmutation #evolution
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
I think we are doing a great job in science. I am always wondering whether we should be just as worried about children always drawing a woman when asked to draw a primary school teacher.
Examples of some recent papers from graduate students in my group - a full list of recent papers and preprints can be found here (https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=pTdxVdIAAAAJ) and profile of the group here: https://egioxford.web.ox.ac.uk/members
The annual Wytham Field Team Photo!
Celebrating a successful field season with great food & good company - May 2025
Front view of the Life & Mind Building, which opened in Oct 2025: The new home of Biology at Oxford
Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
This paper shows the importance of collaborations! Who knew a bunch of "leftover" fecal samples could turn out into such a cool paper.
We found that lack of sleep and increased stress decrease diversity in the gut microbiotas of common mynas.
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
I am looking for a postdoc to work in our long-term system of food-caching mountain chickadees in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The expected start is April 2026. Please see details here: chickadeecognition.com/positions
If interested and qualified, please contact me directly (email on the website).
We tested great tits, blue tits and marsh tits at @niooknaw.bsky.social and thereby contributed to this amazing collaboration!
This was an amazing project led by the @themanybirds.bsky.social
A similar Behavioural test was done across over 130 bird species! Species with a more specialist diet and migratory species were more afraid of novelty near there familiar food source.
1/2
Come & work with us - fully funded 4 year PhD on Social Ageing: Social environment effects on senescence, using an epigenetic clock www.rug.nl/about-ug/wor... @rug.nl @david-s-richardson.bsky.social @keesvanoers.bsky.social @seychelleswarbler.bsky.social photo: @charlisdavies.bsky.social
Not badβ¦. Amazing there. I will put it high on my bucket list
Thanks @tonigabaldon.bsky.social and all others that contributed, for a wonderful #eseb2025
It was amazing!
β¨Thank you all for an unforgettable #ESEB2025! The farewell dinner was the perfect ending: full of joy, good company, and some impressive dance moves. ππ«
So cool to see how my picture was used in all kinds of giveaways at the #ESEB stand at #ESEB2025
Check out our cover article in @evolletters.bsky.social, Size in the city: morphological differences between city and forest great tits have a genetic basis. By @babimt.bsky.social @keesvanoers.bsky.social @mevisser.bsky.social. academic.oup.com/evlett/artic...
Figure 1 in Caro et al. (2025): "Experimental design. (A) On hatching day, nests were randomly assigned to be in a good environment (supplemented, green, Nest A), or a poor environment (unsupplemented, orange, Nest B). Supplemented nests received a daily mix of meal worms and wax worms (approximating 20% of the broodβs nutritional needs) for the week after hatching. Unsupplemented nests were visited daily to control for human disturbance. (B) After 1 week, we removed supplemented food and ranked chicks by size (weight) within natal nests. We created foster broods with chicks 1, 3, 5 and 7 from natal nest A, and chicks 2, 4, 6 from natal nest B. This accounted for potential differences in chick behavior based on their previous size rank; standardized size differences within broods; and standardized foster brood size to 7 or 6 chicks. We re-ranked chicks by size within foster nests (Nest C and Nest D). We handfed half of each foster brood to satiation in an alternating pattern by size rank; a mix of unsupplemented and supplemented chicks were fed in order to disentangle short-term and long-term need. This standardized brood-level begging intensity at the beginning of filming; ensured begging is variable enough across chicks to be a useable signal; and ensured begging intensity varied across size ranks. (C) We filmed adults feeding their fostered broods for 4.5 h, excluding first 0.5 h to ensure behavior had normalized (see Supplementary Movie 2 for an example). Fostered broods contained only unrelated chicks to ensure adult behavior was not influenced by familiarity to their own chicks. Photos by S. Caro."
New publication: Parental control: ecology drives #plasticity in parental response to #offspring signals, by @tjommem.bsky.social @keesvanoers.bsky.social and others. #feedingbehaviour #foodavailability
doi.org/10.1093/behe...
Figure 4 in Chen et al. (2025): "On the left are shown the posterior distributions of the standardized Ξ² estimates of the total GERP load on three sexually selected behavioural traits (top) and three sexually selected ornamental traits (bottom). On the right are shown the posterior distributions of the Ξ² estimates of the six sexual traits on AMS. The white circles represent the median posterior estimates, the thick black lines the 80% CIs and the thin black lines the 95% CIs. The significant indirect pathway of the total GERP load on AMS mediated by lek attendance is highlighted in yellow."
New publication: Predicted deleterious mutations reveal the genetic architecture of male reproductive success in a #lekking bird, by @keesvanoers.bsky.social and others. #evolution #genetics #biodiversity
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Stijn Kouwenberg doing great presenting his first PhD poster at #EOU2025 collaboration @cyanistesnord.bsky.social @keesvanoers.bsky.social Cool work on #microbiome #heritability #physiology coming up
@aykehaller.bsky.social
I'll be at #Evol2025, and would love to talk if you have submission ideas for the journal!!
I can only be proud of one of the best students I ever had! Ayke Haller did his 4-month internship with us, without knowledge on bioinformatics. Nog only did we write the first draft for this paper within the four months, Ayke also knew every paper and method out there. Working with ERCs is the best
Apart from the great joy on working together with @babimt.bsky.social and @mevisser.bsky.social, I am honored to be able to provide the cover image for this marvelous society journal!
PhD opportunity in genomics and behaviour at University of Cyprus! Join our team investigating the genomics of bird song and feather colour in Africa! More details at: www.tinkerbirds.com/join-us
Application deadline Friday(!!) 16th May 2025. Apply here:
applications.ucy.ac.cy/post.../MNG_...