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Simon Baeckens

@simonbaeckens.bsky.social

367 followers 381 following 18 posts

Asst. Prof. at UCLouvain 🇧🇪 // Head of the Animal Evolutionary Ecology lab // macro- to micro-evolution and lizard adaptations🦎

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Biomimetics is steadily bringing more biologists into its research teams — and this seems to pay off. Our new study finds that Bio–Tech collaborations have greater reach and draw inspiration from a broader diversity of species. New work led by Jindong Zhang: doi.org/10.1098/rsif...

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Excited to welcome Alice Funk as the first full-time PhD student in the Animal Evolutionary Ecology Lab at UCLouvain! Alice will study how common wall lizards 🦎 respond and adapt to heavy metal pollution in contaminated post-industrial sites in southern Belgium. Welcome Alice!

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

I’ll be joining the editorial board of FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY as an Associate Editor, my number one ecology journal! Looking forward to contributing to such a HQ society journal that has published some of my most favorite organismal ecology studies. Thanks for the opportunity @funecology.bsky.social!

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

After years chasing lizards in pristine places abroad, now turning to our own backyard—seeing (whether and) how native herps cope with polluted, post-industrial sites 🇧🇪🦎 (Together with wonderful ULiège collaborators!)

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

🦎 Funded 4-year PhD position on Lizard Evolutionary Ecology in our lab at UCLouvain (Belgium)! Apply before 9 March! jobs.uclouvain.be/Personnelsci...

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Humans are transforming the natural world at an unprecedented scale and rate. We, at #UCLouvain 🇧🇪, are organizing a symposium on how organisms, populations, and communities respond to these human-induced environmental changes. April 29–30, 2026! Join us: www.uclouvain.be/en/research-...

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Crossed the 100-paper mark as an editor for #BiologyLetters (@royalsocietypublishing.org). Still impressed by the quality and range of science the journal publishes. 🦎

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

First PhD paper out for Eleesha Annear—and what a start! Her work uncovers surprising variation in osteoderm size and shape across populations, sexes, and body regions in a cordylid lizard 🦎 academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

We studied lizards from 12 Croatian islands and found substantial variation in their chemical signal profiles. Ecological factors didn’t explain it. Instead, divergence was best explained by non-adaptive processes 🦎🏝️ @oikosjournal.bsky.social nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Currently, the most compelling evolutionary insights have come from long-term selection studies that were serendipitously interrupted by an extreme event. To advance our understanding of how extreme events drive evolution, proactive strategies are now essential.

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Day one at UCLouvain, day one of the Animal Evolutionary Ecology Lab! Eager to get started!

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

The talented Jindong Zhang analyzed 74,000+ papers, revealing how #biomimetic research relies on a narrow slice of biodiversity—missing out on nature’s untapped genius. In our paper, we call for broader, species-level, and comparative approaches! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Simon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Excited to announce that I’ll be joining the Earth & Life Institute at UCLouvain (🇧🇪) as an Assistant Professor of Animal Evolutionary Ecology this September. Watch this space for upcoming opportunities for PhDs and postdocs!

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