Sophia Anner

Society for the Study of Evolution Site description

📢 Now accepting proposals for the Graduate Research Excellence Grants! These provide evolutionary biology research funds for early and advanced Master’s and PhD students. Applicants must be members of SSE. Deadline: May 18, 2026
www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...

Replication studies: a win-win for early-career training and behavioral ecology Replicating previous research builds confidence that results are real and meaningful. But close replications are rare due to limitations in resources and d

How do we know our research results are REAL? We replicate them! Most folks agree but lament on how hard it is to publish these replications.

My dearest gentle reader, lament no more! Delighted to unveil: Replication Studies, a new section of Behavioral Ecology 1/

academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...

Screenshot of repository of science education and outreach resources

Looking to make your science accessible and meaningful? Need help developing science education & outreach materials or ideas?

Well then do we have the resource for you! The ABS Communications Committee developed this excellent repository of resources, so check it out!

tinyurl.com/4evx8wyx

Bold text reading 'CANCEL CHATGPT EDU.' with a red banner stating 'INVEST IN HUMANS' over a dark board background.

The CSU/OpenAI contract is set to expire June 30, 2026.

Sign this petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/cancel-chatgpt-edu-invest-in-humans/ for the CSU NOT to renew the contract and to use the savings to protect jobs at CSU campuses facing layoffs.

Congratulations!!!!

Crackdown Writing through history and heartbreak.

“Minnesotans’ relentlessness offers a blueprint for how to react when ICE inevitably arrives to stir up trouble where there was none; how to look violence dead in the eye and say not in my town; how to provide aid laterally when you know those at the top won’t be passing any down.”

My latest—

This bobtail squid burrowing into the sand is already adorable, but please watch till the very end!

It sticks out its little arms and earnestly sprinkles sand over itself 🦑𓂃◌𓈒𓐍

Book cover for Reproducible Code guide. The cover has a red background with a large yellow-bodied black-headed stag beetle.

Excited to launch the new improved Reproducible Code guide from @britishecologicalsociety.org @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social FREE online here! www.britishecologicalsociety.org//wp-content/... Amazing work by some very talented ECRs. We hope it’s useful!

New signals thrive when females aren't picky. Relaxed pickiness allowed novel purr and rattle songs to become established in Hawaiian crickets. New work by @robinmting.bsky.social @gwelsh.bsky.social in Evolution Letters. academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

Alright scientists! It's that time again!

Time to sign up for Skype a Scientist's spring semester.

Want to get matched with a classroom in 2026?

Sign up now 🥰

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

please note in the alt text for the cover I meant R. suavis not R. juglandis - I promise I know my study system

Thank you!!

Exciting update - we're featured on the cover! Always happy to show off flies at ALL life stages 🪰🪰

How relaxed preferences facilitate the evolution of novel animal signals Abstract. The evolution of novel animal signals is critical to the generation of biodiversity. Here, we explore how new sexual signals become established.

So excited to share our new work out in @evolletters.bsky.social today!
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Sexual signals and preferences for them often differ across groups, contributing to reproductive isolation. But how do new signals evolve if females already have preferences for existing ones? (1/4)

Early Career Scientist Awards 2026 Application to the UW-Madison Evolution Seminar Series - Early Career Scientist Awards.

Wisconsin Evolution is accepting applications for our Seminar Series' Early Career Scientist Award. Come share your evolution research and visit UW-Madison's evolution community. Open to grad students and postdocs (<5 yrs post PhD) from outside UW-Madison.

Apply by Dec 15th here: shorturl.at/4a4O6

Why did only one genus of insects, Halobates, take to the high seas? Oceans cover over 70% of the earth’s surface and house a dizzying array of organisms, including five species of the peppercorn-sized ocean-skater Halobates, which live exclusively at the ocean surface...

Why did I only just find out that that there are water striders that live IN (ON!!) THE OPEN OCEAN? 🧪

OCEAN STRIDERS!!

An unofficial lab logo depicted a spotted salamander wrapped around a walnut with the words "LACKEY LAB" on it and a small fly.

Many thanks, of course, to (not on bsky) Alycia Lackey, our fearless leader, and other members of the lab for feedback and support throughout (Shayna, Olivia, @jennalydiaburns.bsky.social)

alyciarlackey.weebly.com

A boxplot graph with the four substrate treatments on the x axis (control, walnut husk, walnut water, and walnut husk + water) and proportion surviving on the y axis. Above each boxplot is a letter indicating statistical significance, with bc over control, a over walnut husk, c over walnut water, and ab over walnut husk + water.

Survival was higher in the substrate containing ground walnut husk than the control conditions, indicating a beneficial relationship between flies and their host. We also found that this substrate treatment had lower pH and higher moisture retention, which likely also contributed to higher survival.

Walnut husk maggots, R. suavis, uses the walnut tree as its host despite its allelopathic qualities present in the active chemical, juglone. We ask. do they perform better because of this exposure to juglone or do they simply survive despite it?

A graphic abstract for the paper linked in the post which includes a drawing of a fly at three life stages, a broken walnut husk which is the fly's host, and four petri dishes representing the four substrate treatments tested in the experiment.

Thrilled to share this paper that started as a summer research project and ended as a co-first author pub with amazing undergrad mentee Naomi 🪰

#evosky 🧪

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...

Four flies as viewed from overhead arranged in a square.

TGI Flyday

Took 5 mins to call my rep and senators today while waiting for my machine learning model to run. Have you called today? #saveNSF #supportNSF

announcement for the SSE Sponsored Workshop "Avoiding Bias When Writing Tenure and Promotion Leters"

Hey folks going to #evol2025 in Athens. The SSE #DEI committee is sponsoring a workshop on how to avoid bias in writing T&P letters. Registration is required and the workshop is open to all career stages! Please share and help spread the word @sse-evolution.bsky.social @evolmtg.bsky.social

Perfect time to listen to virtual #Evol2025 @evolmtg.bsky.social

a gloved hand holding a tube containing a small fly floating in a solution

a gloved handing holding a tube with a ground up fly in a cloudy solution

this week in the lab: making lemmon-ade!!
(grinding up flies from Mt Lemmon in AZ for DNA extraction)
#EvoBio 🧪

Naomi faces the screen as the explains the walnut fly life cycle

Naomi gave a talk on a project she designed three years ago assessing survival in different developmental substrate conditions. Paper coming soon!

Brianna stands next to her poster and explains her findings

Brianna evaluated how egg load was condition-dependent but perhaps unrelated to mating decisions—she'll expand on this project working with me over the summer! 🧪

Isabella points to her poster as she discusses her results

Isabella presented on size variation within and between species of walnut husk flies and discussed the implications for sexual selection on body size

Five women scientists posing together in front of a background of lush green plants.

The Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference last weekend was a blast!! So happy to present my 1st ch results and, more importantly, invite 3 of my UG researchers to join too 🪰 many thanks to @meec2025.bsky.social for hosting!

So cool to see the results of Jenna’s work!!