New paper out from @hoehna.bsky.social Lab, led by the brilliant @bjorntko.bsky.social! We applied the Pesto software (Kopperud & Höhna, 2025) to look at lineage-specific shifts in diversification rate on large, densely-sampled phylogenies across the Tree of Life doi.org/10.1093/evle...
An historic black and white illustration of a paper nautilus floating on the ocean. There are boats, a city and hills in the background.
🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more:
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...
#BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪
Daniel Pauly, coined the term “shifting baselines” to describe our tendency to calibrate our goals to the near-past, a flaw that has us under-achieving, striving for paucity while we think we are restoring Eden. wesleyanargus.com/2026/02/24/n... @seaaroundus.org
Our new paper is now out showing how time perception in animals is linked to their ecology. Using data from 237 species we show temporal perception is faster in species that fly and pursuit predators www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🌐
Rapid and repeated evolution of pigmentation patterns in reef fishes
#ichthyology
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@dengziqi1991.bsky.social et al. present TreeProfiler, a tool for automated annotation and interactive exploration of hundreds of features along large gene and species trees, with seamless summarization of mapped traits at internal nodes.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molb...
#evobio #molbio #compbio
Check out my recent #JFB Editor's Choice: "Put it in reverse! Captivating deep-sea footage reveals the mysterious movements of abyssal fish", featuring some amazing footage: doi.org/10.1111/jfb....
It highlights a paper by Priede and Jamieson doi.org/10.1111/jfb....
Monocots. 🌴
Geophytes. 🪻
Mediterranean biome. 🔥
Phylogenetic diversity. 🤓
Check. It. Out. 🥳
(This project took 5+ years for various reasons. Science takes time sometimes and that’s ok!)
dx.doi.org/10.1111/geb....
We haven't seen much in the fish department during the current expedition so here's a Sladenia with its dingle dangle sticking up from @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 389 when they were exploring Osprey Reef, Australia in 2020. #visioningcoralsea #ozoceans2020
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2026.01.033
[New Paper] @currentbiology.bsky.social presents our population genomics study of the iconic Scaly-foot Snail: 125 genomes from 8 Indian Ocean hot vents! Deep currents drive South→North gene flow, while transform faults act as dispersal barriers.
READ FOR FREE: authors.elsevier.com/c/1mbW73QW8S...
🚨 Hot off the press: Our look into of the palaeontological database landscape and its sustainability into the future.
Palaeo databases are invaluable and continue to transform our research field - but they are vulnerable... (1/6) 🧪 ⛏️
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Is a conodon a fish? Do conodonts have heads?
When I started my PhD ~10 years ago, only 2/5 echinoderm groups (the star-shaped sea stars and brittle stars) had genome-scale phylogenetic datasets. I am proud to say that the quest to complete the clade is now over
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
The Church Evolution Lab (CEL@NYU) is hiring a postdoc! We have several new projects to study the genomic basis of biodiversity in model clades – especially Hawaiian Drosophila. apply.interfolio.com/179354
Come join our new group, you can study bugs and live in NYC! Feel free to share widely!
Deep sea folks. Hope you like! doi.org/10.1098/rstb... @deepstewardship.bsky.social @dsbsoc.bsky.social
The Rite of Spring is such a spectacular sequence, easily the highpoint of Fantasia even if I put aside my biases. It's a comprehensive, spellbinding look into an imagining of the past that never was. Anyone interested in the history of palaeontology simply must watch it.
guess who's back, back again. NSF PRFB!
if you want to address interesting problems in global change biology and the ever thorny problem of what limits species' elevational ranges, and are interested in a postdoc, please do reach out.
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
Not emphasized in this story: OSU has seen more (and more competitive) undergraduate & graduate applicants, better retention and graduation rates, increased research output and federal funding, and higher ranking concomitant with this more diverse faculty.
New preprint from our big collaborative evolution experiment in 9 whole lakes in Alaska, written by McGill grad student @lucaseckert.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
What happens if you put a mixture of multiple source populations together to complete & evolve in multiple new lakes?
New paper with @peterjwagner3.bsky.social, @wrightam.bsky.social, Jen Bauer, and Maggie Limbeck!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
From 1,750–2,000 m deep, we collected one of the rarest deepsea fishes out there: a one-jaw eel (family Monognathidae). Only ~100 specimens of this group are known worldwide and we hold the largest collection (~46), most just a few inches long… The one we collected though, 6 inches or 154 mm!
If you are a student whose NSF GRFP application was returned without review for vague 'eligibility' reasons:
1) Let your department chair & Graduate School know. Encourage them to contact NSF & congress
2) Write to your congressional reps.
3) Write to grfp@nsf.gov to request re-consideration;
The deep-sea experts in MBARI’s Video Lab comb through our treasure trove of video footage to identify and label the animals and objects we film. Their hard work and dedication often reveal an extraordinary moment—like this rare encounter captured in Monterey Bay: youtu.be/9R_uimLA7ik?...
Second PhD paper is out! We find: 1) aquatic and terrestrial salamanders have different limb bone adaptations, 2) complex life cycles promote different traits, 3) decoupling of external and internal bone traits increase diversity.
Thread (1/8) and FREE link below! 🦎🧪
doi.org/10.1111/joa....
Could #deepsea fishing put tuna on the hook? 🎣
Our latest research led @whoi.edu (current: @mbarinews.bsky.social) suggests harvesting #twilightzone fish may weaken tuna stocks and existing fisheries. Check out the paper to explore ecological 🐟 and economic 💵 trade-offs
phys.org/news/2026-01...
Yes, undergrads can apply. It is a very intensive course and convincing us you can commit to a program that gives 9 graduate credits in five weeks is key. It is a solid 40 hour week. It is aimed at postbacs, grad students, and postdocs. But some of our best students have been undergrads.
🚨NEW PAPER OUT🚨
The anatomy of bird lower jaw bones has been understudied...until now! Here, we examine avian mandibular anatomy, answering some and raising more questions about the phylogenetic affinities of key early crown-group birds. Read on!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
IMAGE SHOWS GRAPHIC OF CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY PHYLOGENY EXPLORER TOOL.
MAJOR NEWS! We just launched an awesome new tool! The illustrated Birds of the World Phylogeny Explorer lets users trace any bird’s lineage, compare species relationships, and explore major evolutionary milestones with a click of a button. SHARE and EXPLORE! birdsoftheworld.org/bow/news/phy...
