TropBioLab

The project now continues with Nakau Programme and Live & Learn SI who have partnered with the Yato communities to develop a carbon program. I am deeply honored to be able to give back to the communities who have welcomed us as one of their own.

The Yato PA will protect over 25,000 acres of pristine cloud and rainforest from commercial logging and mining. The work was supported by @conservationorg.bsky.social's Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, National Science Foundation, @urochester.bsky.social and private donors.

Yatop Protected Area, the largest protected forest of the Solomon Islands

Introducing the Yato Protected Area -- the largest federally protected conservation area of the Solomon Islands! We are humbled to have been given the opportunity to partner with indigenous communities in Makira to save threatened ecosystems. #conservation #SolomonIslands #biodiversity

Want to hear more about how twisted-wing insects hack their hosts to their own benefit? Checkout this fun podcast with @avispatica.bsky.social talking about her work on these biohackers!!

Comparative genomics reveal positive selection underlying mating signal diversification across bowerbirds Lan-Nhi Phung, Gerald Borgia, J. Albert C. Uy University of Rochester, Rochester, NY University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Super last minute as I’m on my flight to #AOS25 — I will be talking about my work on bowerbirds on Wednesday morning in Genomics 2. Looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing this incredible dataset 🐦‍⬛

Oh and @emilianomarti.bsky.social is here on Bluesky! Sorry I neglected to tag

Haha. At least the “Al” is still there? Haha

Interested in how new sex chromosomes evolve in birds? Our NSF-funded collaborative work with the (Daven) Presgraves lab at @urochester.bsky.social is out this week in @pnas.org. Check it out!

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Honored to be a plenary speaker for #ABL2025! #wasplove

We’re excited to announce @avispatica.bsky.social (Univ. of Rochester) as a plenary speaker at #ABL2025! 🙌

Dr Floria Mora-Kepfer Uy’s talk will explore how parasites reprogram social wasps—revealing deep insights into plasticity, manipulation & coevolution. 🐝
#HostParasite #Parasitism #Coevolution

Team wasp PI holding a Polistes fuscatus

Team wasp in our wasp rearing room with experimental colonies

Team wasps in the field!

Team wasp collecting in the field

After >20 years of working with wasps, I like them even more now!

And a ⭐️ team that’s rocking this season and experimental infections with twisted wing parasites! #wasplove #strepsiptera #fieldseason #ProudPI #teamwasp

Envelope addressed to Mr. And Dr. Uy for the first time! We’re both academics

Well, this is a first! And much appreciated!

It’s usually Dr. and Mrs. Uy, even though we’re both academics 🥴

Polistes stigma from the Solomon Islands in their nest

Close-up of a Polistes stigma's yellow face, from the Solomon Islands.

I find myself missing fieldwork in the tropics! Here is some Polistes stigma from the Solomon Islands for much-needed #wasplove

The female with dark eyes has recently emerged, and her eyes will lighten in a few days. Some of the tiniest Polistes I've seen! Images by Al Uy @tropbiolab.bsky.social

#teamwasp celebrates graduating seniors

Graduation party @tropbiolab 2025

🌟 Graduation party for our three undergrad stars from #teamwasp @tropbiolab.bsky.social ! 🌟
Grateful for mentoring an amazing team of rising scholars.
The party included some 🦅🐝🐜 watching... & the most unesthetic piñata, decorated with early figures from our graduates!
#proudPI

Three Polistes dominula wasps in their newly built nest, showing their abdomen and some eggs inside the cells.

Tis’ the season that generous naturalists start to send me wasp pictures! This “booty” pic 🤣 shows the foundresses of Polistes dominula, native to Europe. It’s invasive here and in many other places in the world.

#teamwasp #teamxenome @tropbiolab.bsky.social is ready, experiment time! #wasplove

Student with a wasp shirt while holding a wasp

🌟Congrats to undergrad researcher Natasha Vacca @nvacca08.bsky.social for being awarded the NSF-GRFP! 🌟

We're also thrilled that Natasha is not tired of us and will continue as a doctoral student with #teamwasp @tropbiolab.bsky.social @urochester.bsky.social
#wasplove #addictedtostrepsiptera

Male variable seedeater of the Neotropics

Trop Bio lab alumnus, Dr. Diego Ocampo, published the final chapter of his amazing dissertation on hybridization in #birds of #Neotropics. Through field experiments, we find that plumage traits distinct between populations are not used in species recognition.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Office sign showing a whole name for an assistant professor, as support to her heritage. Sign also has a rainbow-themed wasp sticker that says diversity on it.

My heritage is critical to me, so I asked my department if we could change my office sign to my whole name. Today I walked in and voilà! I am excited for the same when my lab renovations are done.

Little actions can have strong cascading effects! 🌟

Team wasp from Trop Bio Lab in Biology at the University of Rochester posing with our mascot, Rocky the yellowjacket.

#teamwasp 2024, including our mascot Rocky the yellowjacket @urochester.bsky.social! #ProudPI

Wrapping up my first year as a TT professor! Mil gracias (a thousand thanks) to everyone who has supported me. Those of us from non-traditional trajectories and minoritized backgrounds belong in academia!

Harpegnathos lab ant colony

🐜-sitting for the Glastad lab. Always loyal to #wasplove, but these girls are amazing!

@ajasapara.bsky.social @alyciajohnson.bsky.social

@nvacca08.bsky.social

@lannhiphung.bsky.social

Trop Bio Lab Holiday gathering. Ugly sweater theme.

Trop Bio Lab’s team wasp takes a holiday picture

Trop Bio Lab’s team bird takes a holiday picture

Holiday and farewell party for Trop Bio Lab

Happy holidays from @tropbiolab.bsky.social! We enjoyed our ugly sweater-themed
farewell party for wonderful Elsie and Ferro.

Grateful for #teamwasp and #teambird!

The cardinal honey-eater Myzomela cardinalis. This species recently colonized Makira Islands (in the Solomon Islands), and now hybridizes with the Makira endemic Myzomela tristrami. Photo taken by (and copyright belongs to) Adam Fenster, University of Rochester.

🧪 Our new paper explores the #genomics of recent contact between two #SolomonIslands #birds. We find that sections of the genome behave differently, with the female sex chromosome moving only from the invading into the endemic species. Check out our work in PLoS Genetics! tinyurl.com/yc5x7nfk

Thanks!

Good morning, Andrew. Can I be added please? ORCID: 0000-0002-8437-5525. Lab website (in Biology at University of Rochester): tropbiolab.org/JACU/

Good morning. Can I be added please? ORCID: 0000-0002-8437-5525. Lab website (in Biology at University of Rochester): tropbiolab.org/JACU/

Hi. Can I be added please? ORCID: 0000-0002-8437-5525. Lab website (in Biology at the University of Rochester): tropbiolab.org/JACU/