What lessons can we learn from these species to inform conservation practice in a world where natural populations are increasingly reduced?
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07.03.2026 19:25
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What lessons can we learn from these species to inform conservation practice in a world where natural populations are increasingly reduced?
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The central thesis of this manuscript is quite simple: many species have persisted for millions of years on oceanic islands despite maintaining small population sizes and experiencing repeated bottlenecks and facing environmental catastrophes (such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions). 2/3
We have published a preprint entitled “Island species as models for small population biology and conservation.” 🏝️🩵🌍
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ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
And I'm grateful for the invite!
seminar announcement with photos of speakers and talk titles
The integration of speciation seminar series is restarting, with the first session coming up on *Tuesday March 3rd @ 5pm CET*, featuring two talks by @naturalselection.bsky.social and @andreaestandia.bsky.social + career Q&A with @markravinet.bsky.social as part of the ECR in Speciation theme.
Thanks Matt!
Thanks James! Hope all is well.
Happy to announce I'll be going up to the ERC StG interview. Four months to prepare, but looking forward for the major challenge (it'll be my 2nd time interviewing).
I did not know Switzerland did this!
Instead, we should allow young people with new ideas to do their science (there is research showing that spreading resources is benefitial for everyone). 🧨
I'm sorry to everyone who got their MSCA rejected. I'm on 0/5 on MSCAs (times I've applied + having people applying with me)!
My hot take here: The EU does not prioritize research enough, and all increases to the budget are too small. The choice of opening new calls for massive ERCs, with a strategy of 'winner-takes-it-all' is wrong.
Funding rates are consistently low since 2022, and for the first time below 10%. In my view, any proposal evaluated with >90-85% will be excellent and it will come down to details that the candidates do not control: If the reviewer had a good day, a good breakfast, etc. Pure and arbitrary luck.
Let's look at some numbers
2022: 7 044 applications submitted. 17.9 % success rate
2023: 8 039 applications submitted. 15.8 % success rate
2024: 10 360 applications submitted. 16.6 % success rate
2025: 17 058 applications submitted (record high). 9.7% success rate (preliminary numbers).
Look where we are, EU. 💀
We constantly talk about promoting science, increasing the investment in science, having a technology-driven economy, surpassing the US and China with modern tools. The image below is the evaluation report from a friend, who did not get a #MSCA grant despite scoring 94.4%.
"It's so crazy we have already sampled 4 D. gorgadensis populations and they not only differ between each other but also within them. You pick one plant with thin leaves and the other one right next to it has succulent leaves."
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🌱 Diplotaxis seems like a really good system to understand how plants will adapt to a changing climate. From Florian's correspondence with me:
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Florian Schimdt, PhD student in the group, is in Cabo Verde collecting Diplotaxis sp. .
🇨🇻 Cabo Verde is my favourite country on earth because of its people, culture and biodiversity.
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There is a sheet coming out every year, but it is announced :)
So weird we're still here. To me, this shows how arbitrary it is to get space in Nature (in this case in its blog).
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Plus ... Predatory publishing fees.
If you work with genomics, bioinformatics or evol biol, when was the last time you read a paper from Nature EcoEvo?
People in our field seem obsessed about publishing there but I barely read their papers. Very ecological, macroevolutionary - which are fine subjects, but out of sync with what we do.
Excited to share our new paper on Arabidopsis adaptation in the Cape Verde Islands!! 🌱🌋
We developed a new multiparent intercross population to uncover genetic variants that were previously difficult to map. Here’s a quick overview 👇🧵
@GeneticsGSA academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...
Hit me up if you'd like to apply to a Data-driven postdoc fellowship with me in Sweden. 2 year salary, excellent community. Deadline March 31. I have a project idea on reference bias vs pangenome, but keen on hearing ideas. Please share broadly.
www.scilifelab.se/data-driven/...
Awesome to see the first chapter of my PhD out in MBE!
We used a suite of methods to describe the venom system of the green lacewing. Take a look if you're interested in everything from venom system morphology to the molecular evolution of novel traits
doi.org/10.1093/molb...
A must read for conservation geneticists on the utility (or not??) of using molecular diversity to predict adaptive potential 👇🏻
Alpha Cell is a new strategic research program at SciLifeLab dedicated to uncovering the molecular structure and function of #SingleCells in time and space 🧪
We spoke with Caroline Gallant, Scientific Program Manager for Alpha Cell, and Isolde Palombo, Project Coordinator of the program. ↓
The first conference was held in 2014 at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I still remember the plenary talk given by Drs. Peter and Rosemary Grant.
#IB2026
Scalesia gordilloi, part of a large adaptive radiation of Asteraceae in the Galápagos.
Check out this new #AJB On the Nature of Things essay!
#Pangenomes as a framework for adaptive radiation, speciation & adaptation
By @nicolo-tellini.bsky.social , Ole Tørresen, David Edwards, Loren Rieseberg, Kjetill Jakobsen & José Cerca
doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... #botany #plantscience #evolution
💥 We highlight the problem (elephant in the room) of using a single reference genome.
➡️ We put forth a set of hypotheses on how variable genomes contribute to adaptation and diversification
📰 Starting this friday with some positive news:
Our publication "Pangenomes as a framework for adaptive radiation, speciation, and adaptation" came out today in the American Journal of Botany!
bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1537...