iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 1h

And, a heron and white egret enjoying the foliage

Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 1h

Belted kingfisher used the same perch as the merlin, a few minutes later. These are remarkably shy of photographers, at least here at my pond.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 1h

Juvenile merlin falcon perched by the pond took a dragonfly out of the air, and I think nipped its head off (you can see it dropping in the last photo)

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 5h

Can I just hit “delete”? This spotted lantern fly crawled onto my laptop while I was sitting by my pond working just now

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 5h

Yesterday afternoon was cloudy. But just at sunset the clouds opened to shine a spotlight on this autumn-colored tree. A great white egret came up from the pond shore & flew circles around this tree (just left of the tree in the photo) before roosting in it. I swear it was just enjoying the sunset

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Got home from my day at Yale to this sunset color. Didn’t spot the heron till after I took the picture (see it?)

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

allowing us to ask whether the genes that distinguish different cell types, evolve at different paces. As you might surmise, immune cell clusters tend to be characterized by genes that tend to evolve faster, than the cell-type-diagnostic genes of other cell clusters (in multiple tissues)

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Using #stickleback (several different tissues) we use single cell RNAseq #scRNAseq to define genes that distinguish particular cell types. We merge this with population genetic data on among-lake variation, and phylogenetic data on among-species divergence...

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

We have long known that certain kinds of genes (e.g., immune genes) tend to evolve faster than others. Instead of using gene ontology for this, a new paper by @mariarodgers.bsky.social & team shows that single-cell RNAseq can be a useful way to define gene types for pop gen analyses of selection. /t

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

So I normally keep my personal life quiet on here, aside from the occasional photo of my backyard. But I got married today. So that’s a thing.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Oddly my garden has been producing September strawberries.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I bought “Fire Islands”, an Indonesian cookbook, two years ago. Finally made full 4-course meal and am feeling very very happy.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Pulled two full canoe loads of water chestnut out of the pond today in the continued battle against the invasion

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

In New England pie was traditionally a breakfast food. This is a tradition I can support. So I used the last of our locally self-picked blueberries to make this

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

A goof-ball of a great blue heron was posing nicely against some early fall colors reflected in Addison Pond, in Glastonbury CT.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I have killed 20 spotted lanternflies wall sitting in my backyard writing today. The numbers have exploded just in the last week.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

There are compensations for waking up early to get the kid off to school.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Our first halfway decent segmentation of a Schistocephalus solidus #tapeworm (the brown lump in the middle) in a #stickleback from microCT, thanks to @evodevodina.bsky.social for the microCT file and Vince Vacco for learning to use Slicer to visualize this

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Head of the Meadow Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

More photos from today’s Cape Cod retreat to detox from the stream of infuriating news.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Cape Cod sunset detox. Y’all, turn off bluesky for a bit and go find some nature and just sit or walk for a bit.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Correct b&w version. Plus a bonus one.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Google, meanwhile still makes fun of the whole thing if you specifically search for Lake Ontario it lists it as the smallest of the great lakes

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Not only that, but they specifically label the Canadian territorial waters of the lake as Lake America:

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Opening up the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire for logging? Hell no....

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

If you go to Google Maps and search for “Lake Ontario” it gives a result that subtly mocks Trump: “Lake America, the smallest of the 5 Great Lakes” Mockery is no substitute for having a spine, but it is a little satisfying

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Finally got Kid2 out to Ragged Mtn in Connecticut, and she flashed YMC crack and onsighted Netherlands (a hard old school 5.10a)

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

On the one hand, I’m pissed at Google for changing the name of Lake Ontario. On the other hand, I’m impressed by their decision to throw shade on it by specifically labeling it as the smallest of the Great Lakes (which was not attached to Lake Ontario’s label yesterday)

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Drone photos looking down on a carpet of invasive water chestnut from 3 heights.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

We had another water chestnut removal day with the Connecticut River Conservancy in Addison Pond by my house in @glastonburyct.bsky.social 25 volunteers, removed another 10,000 plants.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

A microCT scan of a threespine stickleback with a Schistocephalus solidus tapeworm (outlined in red, folded in half and partly tucked behind the armor plates)

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Cardinals are such beautiful birds...

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

A culinary first for me: sugar coated young pine cones.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Field crew in 2024, which did the crosses.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Instead of the classic big/small lake limnetic/benthic axis as a major driver of *common garden* morphology differences among populations, a random forest regression approach finds that climate variables are the biggest driver! /t

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

And, populations with heritable tendency towards longer & more gill rakers (a classic limnetic trait) are from lakes with higher prevalence of S.solidus parasites - obtained by eating limnetic prey, which makes sense. /t

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

And, reassuringly, population trait means (from lab raised stickleback) covary with lake ecological variables. Some of these make good sense: fish descended from populations in bigger lakes have more armor & bigger spines & narrowed caudal peduncles... /t

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Alex shows that substantial variation among 27 populations persists in common garden stickleback for every measured morphological trait. Not a shock, but this hasn't been done for so many populations before. /t

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

We reared ~5 families of stickleback from each of 27 lake populations on Vancouver Isl in aquaria at @bamfieldmsc.bsky.social from egg-adult. Alex measured morphology on these common garden fish, & tested for heritable among-population differences & population mean trait correl w/ lake envi. /t

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

But, often such studies use wild-caught individuals. Are among-population trait-environment correlations really heritable, or are they plastic? Answering this requires common garden rearing of *many* populations (the level of replication). But this is rarely done (especially for vertebrates) /t

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

An undergraduate in my lab, Alex Yeung, posted a preprint this week (& submitted for review): www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Summary thread: We often use trait-environment correlations to infer adaptive value. For instance, #stickleback gill raker # and length covary with lake size. But... /t

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

we may do another session (again ending in a BBQ and beers) next Saturday, so reach out if interested. The Conservancy can provide a boat, if you register as a volunteer through their website.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

A group from the Connecticut River Conservancy came to begin clearing invasive water chestnut from Addison Pond in Glastonbury CT. We removed about 10,000 plants today, and just started to scratch the surface.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

CT folk: an invitation: The Connecticut River Association is organizing a volunteer team to remove an invasive species, water chestnut, from Addison Pond in Glastonbury (adjoining my home). Join us 4-7 PM Friday.

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

The invasive water chestnut (aka water caltrop) infestation in Addison pond by my house is worse than I realized. Flew a drone up to survey… (photo series zooming out)

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

A good view makes the house. I approve.

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