iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Alexandros Topaloudis

Genome Biology and Evolution @genomebiolevol.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

@topalwos.bsky.social @owlsforpeace.bsky.social et al. sequenced 33 barn owl trios, providing evidence of mutation rate dependence on age at reproduction in birds, highlighting how life history can drive the rate of molecular evolution 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag175 📷 Alex Labhardt #societyjournal

GBE | The Effect of Age and Sex on the Rate of Germline Mutations in Barn Owls

Photo: Alex Labhardt

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Reposted by Alexandros Topaloudis

Molecular Biology and Evolution @molbioevol.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

The May issue of MBE is here, featuring the work of @topalwos.bsky.social et al., who evaluated genotype imputation accuracy in a large barn owl low-coverage WGS dataset. 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/issue/43/5 📷 Alex Labhardt #evobio #molbio

Molecular Biology and Evolution | May 2026 cover

A male barn owl (Tyto alba) returns to the nest with prey for his hungry nestlings. Barn owls are tireless hunters and will catch mice and voles in abundance, delivering on average two prey items per chick each night https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag094 (photo credit: Alex Labhardt).

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Alexandros Topaloudis @topalwos.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Are you looking to sequence a bunch of samples from a wild population in low-coverage but don't have a reference panel? You might be surprised how well it can work. See for yourself in our new benchmark study: doi.org/10.1093/molb...

doi.org

Benchmarking imputation accuracy in the presence or absence of a reference panel

Abstract. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of a large number of samples is costly. Solutions include targeting a proportion of the genome (eg SNP arrays) or l

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Reposted by Alexandros Topaloudis

Katie Abson @katieabson.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

I'm excited to share that our preprint is now available on bioRxiv! Our study challenges the widespread use of molecular genetic diversity as a predictor adaptive potential, with important implications for how genetic data is used to inform conservation decisions. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

Nucleotide diversity is a poor predictor of short-term adaptive potential

A capacity to adapt is essential for a population to avoid extinction in a changing world and is recognised as a global conservation priority. Adaptation requires additive (heritable) genetic variatio...

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Reposted by Alexandros Topaloudis

Justin Merondun @merondun.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Our new @science.org paper is out! Cuckoos and hosts are locked in a coevolutionary arms race over egg mimicry. But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out! doi.org/10.1126/scie... 🧵1/6

doi.org

Genomic architecture of egg mimicry and its consequences for speciation in parasitic cuckoos

Host-parasite arms races facilitate rapid evolution and can fuel speciation. Cuculus cuckoos are deceptive egg mimics that exhibit a broad diversity of counterfeit egg phenotypes, representing host-ad...

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Reposted by Alexandros Topaloudis

Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

day 2 #InverteFest #invertebrate weird fact: there are some ants with only a single chromosome, while some butterflies shred their genome into multiple "microchromosomes" 🧬🐜🦋

#SciArt doodle of an ant and butterfly, the and is holding a very long chromosome with the text n=1 above, while the butterfly is standing on a giant pile of microscopic chromosomes with the text above saying n=224-226??

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Reposted by Alexandros Topaloudis

Anna Hewett @annamhew.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Pre-print now out on bioRxiv! If you saw my talk at #eseb and want more info, here it is:

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Germain Montazeaud @germtz.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

PhD fellowship available 📢! We are offering a 3-year fully funded PhD fellowship at the interface between functional ecology and quantitative genetics in Montpellier FR ! (Application deadline 31 July)

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Olivia Bates @okbates.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

🚨🐜!!! Check out our new paper where we investigate the impact of a soil level (SoilTemp) dataset on niche shifts of introduced ant species globally — using soil temperatures often lessens the extent of niche shifts between native and introduced ranges! 🐜 🐜 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Pierre de Villemereuil @pdevillemereuil.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

👋 Interested in working on the evolution of genetic architecture 🧬 of complex traits using linked-read sequencing of thousands of common lizards 🦎 from a wild population and common garden experiment? #evolution #genetics Well, I have a PhD offer for you 👇 devillemereuil.legtux.org/erc-funded-p...

devillemereuil.legtux.org

ERC-funded PhD position available – Pierre de Villemereuil

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Charles Mullon @charlesmullon.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

1/7 Cumulative culture/knowledge occurs when information builds up across generations through a combination of innovation and transmission. In our new paper, we investigate the role of teaching and its coevolution with learning in this process. 🔗 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

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Paolo Becciu @pbecciu.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

Excited to share our new preprint on barn owls revealing how parental roles are flexibly negotiated outside the nest! Using simultaneous GPS + accelerometer tracking, we captured 20,000+ hunting attempts from 68 breeding pairs: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v... @dee-unil.bsky.social @unil.bsky.social

ecoevorxiv.org

Dynamic parental roles revealed by fine-scale hunting behaviour with concurrent pair tracking in the wild

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Rob Waterhouse @rmwaterhouse.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

A truly phenomenal effort from PhD student, Giulia Campli, “The moulting arthropod: a complete genetic toolkit review” 🦂🦋🧬🪰🦀🪳 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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