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Marina Vollin

@mfvollin.bsky.social
368 followers 356 following 24 posts

Ph.D. candidate @ UC Riverside studying gecko tail autotomy. Herp enthusiast, baby birder, Trekkie. In search of postdoc opportunities! sites.google.com/view/marinavollin

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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I recently had the chance to visit the Sternberg and thought it was a really special and unique place. Hope this doesn’t come to pass :(
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Tony Gamble @tonygamble.eurosky.social · 27/08/2026
We generated chromosome-level genomes from 19 gecko species, including representatives from all 7 gecko families. These species have diverse sex-determining systems, including both XY and ZW sex chromosomes and temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD).
Gecko genome assemblies, phylogeny, and sex-linked sequence dataset. Genomic phylogeny of gecko with divergence times as branch lengths. Species name color: red, generated in this study, black, published. The sex determination systems (SDS) are also shown at the leaf node: blue, XY; orange, ZW; grey, TSD. Bubble plots illustrate key assembly and sex chromosome parameters.
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Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
youtu.be/q2YT-WyCrBw
youtu.be
The Secret Sound of Nightjars: High-Speed Video Reveals the Truth
YouTube video by UC Riverside
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Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Woohoo! New paper!! Nightjars bang their wings together to make sound! nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
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Lee Henry @henrylabsymbio.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
New paper out in @molbioevol.bsky.social 🧬🦠 We show phage toxin diversity in protective symbionts isn’t random—toxin families are linked to defense against different parasitoid species. This suggests toxin diversification is a major force shaping the functional evolution of these microbes.
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
High school science dream achieved, I'm in a zefrank True Facts video!! My research is featured at around 11:50, but the whole video is packed with cool info and great science. 🦎 www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Jb...
youtube.com
True Facts: Geckos
YouTube video by Ze Frank
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Burnt the candle on both ends to sneak some herping into my 2025 Ecuador- Mindo birding tour. Totally worth it!
The Pinocchio anole (Anolis proboscus) sitting on a hand.Brown spotbelly snake (Coniophanes fissidens) stretched out on brown leaf litter. It is holding a Cachibi robber frog’s (Pristimantis achatinus) leg in its mouth.Close up photo of a Pristimantis calcaratus sitting in a hole in the bamboo. Its eyes are an unusual blue.A small yellow-green frog sitting on a hand. Frog may be a recently metamorphosed Executioner Clown Frog (Dendropsophus carnifex).
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Anyone out there know what happens when you try to use (12 years) expired formalin to fix tissues? Asking for a me. Visually it looks fine, no discoloration or gunk.
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Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
I am so heartened to this seriously AWESOME #SaveNSF website go up today!!!! Has a take action toolkit with: 1. Press outreach templates 2. Social media toolkit 3. Elected official outreach 4. Talking points Check it out and share widely!!!! Likely more to come. www.savensf.com
Welcome to Save The U.S. National Science Foundation
A Girl Looking at a Physics Model
TAKE ACTION
Save NSF is a coalition of concerned scientists and allies who are working to save funding for scientific grants through the U.S. National Science Foundation.

 

Our mission is to support and advocate for the continuation of vital research and innovation in various scientific fields. NSF funding is critical to this work.

 

 Join us in our endeavor to ensure a sustainable future for scientific exploration and discovery.
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Ben Goldfarb @bengoldfarb.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Appreciated @jackiefmogensen.bsky.social's ode to the majestic hellbender — bellwether of aquatic ecosystems, victim of extreme weather and political bullshit. www.motherjones.com/environment/...
motherjones.com
Legend has it this salamander came from hell. We’re about to send it back.
Climate disasters, human sprawl, and now Trump: This is how extinctions happen.
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Sometime in the last few years I saw a short form video (prob tiktok) going around the internet showing a large adult iguana dropping most or all of its tail (like a BIG slab of meat). Can't find it now, anybody seen it? I'd like it for a lecture! 🦎
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Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @birgitszabo.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
I am very proud to share our new gecko research! We wanted to know if experimenter identity influences gecko behaviour during experiments that increases error of behavioural measurements. The answer is yes, identity matters but only in a familiar context! OA paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
There’s a snake loose in the (Lego) museum! 🐍
Mango the Rosy boa, a small grey and orange snake, sticks his head through the doors of the natural history museum lego set.Mango the rosy boa wrapped around the Lego brontosaurus. Photo focus is on Mango’s faceA Lego window. Mango the Rosy boa is visible inside.A top-down shot of the first floor of the Lego natural history museum set. Mango the Rosy boa is stretched throughout the museum.
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Tim Higham @highamlab.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Very excited for our new review paper (with Tony Russell) on gecko adhesion, locomotion, and ecomechanics. This stemmed from the JEB symposium last year. @jexpbiol.bsky.social @ucriverside.bsky.social #gecko #ecomechanics #adhesion journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
journals.biologists.com
Geckos running with dynamic adhesion: towards integration of ecology, energetics and biomechanics
Summary: We propose a set of lab and field experiments to further investigate adhesively assisted gecko locomotion, which is controlled by a hierarchical system including muscles, vascular tissue, tendons and hair-like adhesive structures.
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Some Ensatinas I found in San Diego co. over the weekend. Last of the SoCal salamander genuses for my life list! And man it was sooo nice to disappear into nature for a day. Grateful for CA’s beautiful state parks! 🦎
An orange and black salamander (Ensatina escholscholzii klauberi) in leaf litter. A smaller black and orange salamander sitting on streaky tan and grey wood
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Brian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Our opinion piece in our local newspaper - Cutting funding for science in Arizona hurts our economy and our future 🌐🧪🧮🌾 tucson.com/opinion/colu...
tucson.com
Local opinion: Cutting funding for science in Arizona hurts our economy and our future
The cuts are leading us down a path that will cede the United States' world leadership in science, medicine and health.
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Eric Gangloff @eric-gangloff.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Though widespread and popular in the pet trade, we know very little about their natural history. In this study, lead by undergraduate student Ethan Livingston, we characterized their thermal biology. This Includes one of the highest temperature tolerances *ever recorded* for a vertebrate!
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Joe Spring @joespring.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
How did L.A.'s wildfires affect its animals? @antonsrkn.bsky.social has answers in this stellar piece, which features his stunning photos. www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...
smithsonianmag.com
Here’s How the Los Angeles Wildfires Are Affecting Animals, From Fish to Snakes to Birds
While scientists were able to save and move some creatures in the aftermath, researchers are worried about the prospects for other species
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Sarah Z @sarahz.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
The Transgender Law Centre works on supporting trans rights in areas like healthcare, employment, and immigration. They're trans-led and provide legal assistance, policy advocacy, public education. I've just donated and, if you can, I would recommend you do too <3 transgenderlawcenter.org/donate/
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Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Love this story of rattlesnakes collecting raindrops on their bodies to drink. Congrats to @snakeymama.bsky.social and the authors of this wonderful paper Paper here: academic.oup.com/cz/advance-a... @nytimes.com coverage here www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/s...
academic.oup.com
Rain-harvesting behavior in free-ranging prairie rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis)
Abstract. Organisms inhabiting arid environments face challenges to obtain dietary water. To prevent desiccation, some organisms possess unique adaptations
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Chris Martine | Plant People FTW @martinebotany.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
Do you teach field-based courses? Or hope to? Wrote a brief commentary for the new Plant Science Bulletin on why these course need to be offered/supported. TL;DR the kids need to get outside... where integrative biology lives. #SICB2025 #STEMeducation digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/fac_journ/21...
digitalcommons.bucknell.edu
Field-Based Courses Still Matter, but not Like They Used To
Increasingly, field-based courses are providing the first real opportunities for students to experience nature in meaningful ways. As a baseline, even before the content delivery and the graded assess...
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Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
Hey! I'll be presenting at SICB tomorrow in the "Sound production and acoustic cues" session, room A704. The talk is actually biomechanics: it's about how Bearded Tachuri (a flycatcher from Argentina) makes sounds with fluttering feathers #SICB2025
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
Okay, best SICB ever. #sicb2025
A salamander sitting in a container with wet paper towel underneath it. The salamander is greyish-brown and has a tail longer than its body.
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
Today! #SICB2025
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
Oh, I’ll also have stickers to hand out throughout SICB! Please stop me and ask for one if you see me 😁🦎
A hand fanning out three square stickers. Each sticker is different and features bright green day geckos perched on plants
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
OMG, #SICB2025 is in less than a week! Looking forward to seeing everyone soon in Atlanta. I will be presenting on my work examining gecko locomotion and prey capture following autotomy on Saturday (1/4) at 1:30 PM. Stop by International Salon 10 and say hi! 🦎
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
A precarious perch (Great blue heron, Bolsa Chica CA)
Camera shot through a binocular eyepiece of a great blue heron perched on top of a large yucca stalk
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
A pretty little princess I met yesterday (Yellow-rumped warbler)
A yellow-rumped warbler, a small brown bird with yellow on the throat and edge of wing stands on the stem of a white flower, staring at the camera
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Me with my big find of today’s field trip - an itty bitty baby newt (Taricha torosa)! It’s the last field trip of the quarter and what a great critter to go out on! #herps
Original poster, a white woman with short hair, holding a very small newtA very small baby Taricha torosa newt standing on a hand
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Wow, really wild story and a great write up! I thought the discussion around getting the public engaged with wild animals vs the preservation of the native natural ecosystem to be especially interesting.
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James T. Stroud @jameststroud.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
This paper was a long time coming! Exploring the interaction between two convergent lizards who evolved separately on different Caribbean islands and were introduced to south Florida. Read all about how character displacement could play out in real time in the wild! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Observing character displacement from process to pattern in a novel vertebrate community - Nature Communications
When similar species coexist, they often evolve differences to reduce competition, a process called character displacement. This study provides rare evidence of character displacement in action, showi...
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The Birdist @thebirdist.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 11/11/2024
🐍 Coluber lateralis from the vertebrate natural history class field trip this weekend. I love their enormous eyes O.O
Small striped racer (Coluber lateralis) sitting on top of field notes
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 07/11/2024
Despite…everything… I actually managed to hit submit on my NSF post doc proposal. Good luck to all my PRFBuddies out there! I hope we all get it!
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Kinsey Brock @doc-brock.bsky.social · 03/11/2024
Super cool work on urban wall lizards by my friend Eric Gangloff, new MS student Alyssa Head, and others! 🌆🦎 ☠️ 🩸
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 21/10/2024
Xantusia vigilis from a chilly San Bernardino Co. herping trip this weekend
Xantusia vigilis, a small black lizard, sitting at the bottom of a blue enamel mug
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Marina Vollin @mfvollin.bsky.social · 18/10/2024
Hi Bluesky! Finally trying to make the move over from science twt. I'm a graduate student at UCR finishing up my thesis on the biomechanical consequences of gecko tail autotomy and currently looking for postdoc opportunities! Interested in anything reptile and amphibian -related, but esp genetics.
Gold dust day gecko with no tail sitting on a banana leaf
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