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Kara Layton

@molluscular.bsky.social
591 followers 487 following 43 posts

Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto interested in molluscan systematics, evolution & genomics laytonlab.com

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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
We’re welcoming two new graduate students to our group this fall! Rebecca Choi will lead our Cyphoma speciation and adaptation work & Mandy Gibson will lead our freshwater mussel conservation genomics work. Welcome both! 🐚 🌊 🎨 🧬
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Congratulations to our very own Giada Spagliardi! 🧬 🐚
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Happy Pride, Toronto!
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Now for some local fieldwork - summer undergrads in the Layton Lab are characterizing Cepaea 🐌 morphs in our own backyard @utmbiology.bsky.social
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Another fantastic field expedition with @mollusksatamnh.bsky.social, this time collecting slugs, snails and micros in Guadeloupe. Thanks very much to Seaslugs Guadeloupe for their support, we look forward to visiting again next year! 🐚 🧬
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
The Layton Lab is *almost* ready for #CSEE2026 but first these freshwater mussel swab kits need to go out to collaborators! Then, you can find us in the Gastropod session on Tuesday @ 1:30pm and the Marine Science session on Wednesday @ 8:30am! 🧬 🐌 🐚 🦪
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
CONGRATS 🎉 to Dr. @vicgillman.bsky.social on passing her viva with no corrections! I’m so proud of you and so lucky to have been part of your journey! Special thank you to co-supervisors @lancasterlt.bsky.social & Vicky Pritchard and examiners @gretabocedi.bsky.social & @fishyomics.bsky.social!
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Loved seeing one of my favourite invert groups pop up in this morning’s #BES2025 lecture from Joe Roman. Lots of incredible whale ecology with some Osedax thrown in there 🪱
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Kicking off #BES2025 with the Georgina Mace Lecture from Sandra Diaz about 🌱 functional traits & their interaction with people & climate
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Congrats to Dr. @ethan-ross.bsky.social on the successful completion of his viva! I’m so lucky to have been part of your journey - the future is so bright for you. Very special thanks to co-supervisors @sigwartae.bsky.social & Stu Piertney and examiners @marianilab.bsky.social & Beth Scott!
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
I’m so thrilled to share @vicgillman.bsky.social first first-author paper just published in Conservation Genetics 🎉🧬🦪 (not a FW mussel). This is just the tip of the iceberg of what’s to come from Victoria - stay tuned! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Genomic evidence of local adaptation in Scottish freshwater pearl mussels - Conservation Genetics
Conservation Genetics - Climate change is a global threat that is already impacting populations and species across diverse ecosystems. Local adaptation of populations, identified through...
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Incredible PhD opportunity working with an even more incredible team!
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
We’re so excited to welcome you all to CSEE 2026 in Toronto!
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Very excited to share this paper from PhD student Ethan Ross demonstrating the utility of ONT for generating barcode reference libraries in seagrass invertebrates. A second congratulations to Ethan for submitting his PhD thesis today! 🎉🧬🐚
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
A Comprehensive DNA Barcode Reference Library for the Macroinvertebrates of Scottish Seagrass Beds Using Oxford Nanopore Flongle Flowcells
In this study we use ONT Flongle Flowcells to produced DNA barcodes for 146 seagrass associated marine invertebrate OTUs collected from four seagrass beds in Scotland, targeting COI and 18S V4 region....
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Evolutionary Applications @evolappjournal.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Victoria Gillman's talk on "Local adaptation and forecasting response in the endangered Scottish freshwater pearl mussel" was really insightful! 🤩 #ESEB2025
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Tilly S Scott @tillysscott.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
I've had a wonderful 1st day at @eseb2025.bsky.social Here are the sketches from some of the talks I attended today. My highlights include Tristan on the adaptive genomics of colour spots on owls, Vicky on pearl mussel's response to climate change & Rebekah on firefly TEs & TE-induced mutations
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
I am beyond sad to be missing #ESEB2025 but please check out this talk by my brilliant PhD student @vicgillman.bsky.social this afternoon!
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Visiting the collections at the Museu de Zoologia was a highlight of the trip, topped off with a visit to a street named after a nudibranch legend
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
The #WCM2025 meeting was a huge success! Thanks to the LOC in São Paulo and all of our fantastic presenters in the heterobranch symposium 🙌
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Excellent start to day 2 of #WCM2025 with a killer plenary by @sigwartae.bsky.social - 📣taxonomy is key for conservation!
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Arrived in São Paulo for the World Congress of Malacology - all things mollusc for the next four days. What a dream! 🐌 🐚 🦪 🧬
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Nick Haddad @nickhaddad.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
More bad news for butterflies. Our new paper led by Wendy Leuenberger shows common species are declining even more rapidly than rare ones. @ZipkinLab Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501340122
pnas.org
Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS
Insects are declining worldwide. These declines have been documented across taxonomic groups and are worrisome given ecosystem services provided by...
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
Come join us!
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Back to my roots on the Thames River yesterday! We participated in some FW mussel sampling with DFO in a beautiful spot in Ontario 🌿
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
It’s been such a pleasure to meet and work with this wonderful group of people. I’ve learned so much from them and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be involved! Led by the amazing @cristinaruedau.bsky.social
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
A huge win for Northern Arizona University! @chamberea.bsky.social is one of the most talented and lovely academics I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. Congrats Anne 🎉🥂
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Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
I've been waiting for this, an update on the beautiful slug #caterpillars (Limacodidae) academic.oup.com/isd/article-...
academic.oup.com
Phylogeny and reclassification of Limacodidae worldwide, with emphasis on the ontogeny of larval defenses (Lepidoptera: Zygaenoidea)
Abstract. Limacodidae (Zygaenoidea), a mostly pantropical family of 1,800+ species, is known for sluglike caterpillars with suckers below rather than typic
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Silvia Prieto @silviaprietob.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Check out our recent paper “Tracing the evolution of key traits in dorid nudibranchs”! 🧬🐌 dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour... Nudibranchs are a fascinating and diverse group of molluscs, unique and interesting systems in ecology and evolutionary biology. @molluscular.bsky.social
dx.plos.org
Tracing the evolution of key traits in dorid nudibranchs
Reconstructing trait evolution is critically important for elucidating the processes generating biodiversity. However, this work is in its infancy in non-model clades for which we lack a basic underst...
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
It’s been one hell of an awful week but I’m sailing into the long weekend with this guy 💙
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
Summer fieldwork mode has begun 💪 Just returned from a super productive trip w/ @mollusksatamnh.bsky.social & our stellar PhD students Anahy Garza & Lina Raubold. Lots of colour pattern analysis & sequencing to come on these Felimida nudibranchs & flamingo tongues (Cyphoma) 🎨🧬
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Dr. Jessica L Ware @jessicalwarelab.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
And always will
media.tenor.com
a black background with the words trans people have always existed
ALT: a black background with the words trans people have always existed
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Home 💙
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
A fantastic few days at the museum collections in Bergen 🐚 (with a trail or two snuck in there)
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
A great few days in Bodø with some beautiful views (thanks again to @joostraeymaekers.bsky.social for the trip to Saltstraumen!) Now off to Bergen ✈️
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
What a difference a week makes: Southern Florida -> Northern Norway
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
I’m very sad to miss the #MolluscanForum this year, but excited that @brack1sh.bsky.social will talk about her wonderful mussel work!
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Michael Middlebrooks @secretsluglab.bsky.social · 06/08/2024
I'm at the American Malacological Society meeting in LA this week. So far it's been an amazing conference! We started with a workshop on kleptoplasty and it's just kept going from there. #Invertebrate
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Society for the Study of Evolution @sse-evolution.bsky.social · 11/04/2024
Join us Monday at noon Eastern for the next talk in our GREG Seminar Series! SSE student grant recipient Fabian Salgado Roa will present “What is causing the presence of multiple color variants in spiders?” Zoom link and full schedule here: www.evolutionsociety.org/meetings/gre...
Text: Society for the Study of Evolution GREG Seminar Series, Mondays at noon Eastern via Zoom, April 15, Fabian Salgado Roa, What is causing the presence of multiple color variants in spiders? Headshot of Fabian Salgado Roa.
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 27/03/2024
Thrilled to see this piece published this week, representing several years of fruitful discussion in our #ICES working group. Thanks to all members of #WGAGFA for their helpful insights! t.co/OKcgN1Nnfc
t.co
Predicting the future of our oceans—Evaluating genomic forecasting approaches in marine species
Global Change Biology is an environmental change journal tackling issues such as sustainability, climate change and environmental protection.
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 18/02/2024
Thrilled to see this work published in Ecol Evol with Nerida Wilson. We derive divergence rates for chromodorids and we describe Chromolaichma hemera sp. nov. from the western Atlantic & Caribbean. This is just the tip of the iceberg- watch this space! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Validating a molecular clock for nudibranchs—No fossils to the rescue
Ecology & Evolution is a broad open access journal welcoming research in ecology, evolution, and conservation science, and providing a forum for evidence-based views.
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 12/02/2024
For this #molluscmonday I give you what appears to be a rather simple snail. But what if I told you that these tiny eulimids parasitize sea cucumbers- cool, right? I fell in love with these during my PhD and Chris Mah's blog will make you love them too: echinoblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/p-is...
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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 31/01/2024
The Natural History Museum of Denmark is looking for new professors! Come and join our amazing team, and contribute to our world-class science! Our professors are also curators, responsible for amazing collections in one of Europe's oldest natural history museums. employment.ku.dk/faculty/?sho...
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
I’m absolutely thrilled to have started my new position at @UTMBiology @eebtoronto this week! Stay tuned for exciting work from our group in molluscan systematics & genomics 🧬🐚 Do get in touch if you’re interested in collaborating! See our updated lab website here: laytonlab.com
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Blue Beehive Studio @bluebeehivestudio.bsky.social · 04/01/2024
Hope everyone is enjoying #SICB2024! One nudibranch zippered pouch left (nudibranch tea towels, urban and regular totes all sold out today!) Missed out? They will back on the Etsy shop later this January BlueBeehiveStudio.etsy.com
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Kara Layton @molluscular.bsky.social · 13/11/2023
📢 Check out our molluscan genomics workshop running next May! We’ve got a stellar line-up of talks in a stunning location. Registration is limited so don’t miss the December 15th deadline! 🐚🧬 meetings.embo.org/event/24-mol...
meetings.embo.org
Establishing state-of-the-art mollusc genomics
Molluscs, the second largest animal phylum after arthropods, are a fascinatingly diverse group. With an evolutionary history spanning more than 500 million years, their >90,000 extant species incl…
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E. Anne Chambers @chamberea.bsky.social · 27/10/2023
Want to use landscape genomics for conservation? Curious about how to apply these methods to individual-based sampling? Not to worry– use algatr! Our new paper w/ co-first author @anushabishop.bsky.social and coauthor Ian Wang is out in MER! More below ⬇️ #OA onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Individual‐based landscape genomics for conservation: An analysis pipeline
Molecular Ecology Resources is a broad journal publishing computer programs, statistical & molecular advances & more for studies in evolution, ecology & conservation.
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