PhD student Camille Kynoch (cosupervised in our lab) was awarded a Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment for her project "Breeding on Borrowed Time: Managing Flatback Sea Turtles Amid Climate Driven Male Scarcity". @monashbiol.bsky.social www.ecolsoc.org.au/grants-award...
PhD student Tucksaorn (Orn) Bhummakasikara was awarded a Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment for her project "Genomics to inform recovery and management of the threatened Australian Pookila"! @monashbiol.bsky.social #ozmammals #ozrodents
Our team at @monashbiol.bsky.social have had some exciting grant wins over Dec/Jan!
First up, Honours student Emily Blackburn was awarded the Daniel Gilmore Scholarship in support of her research on the critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possum: www.biosis.com.au/emily-blackb... #ozmammals
In fact, they appear to be eerily similar. The per generation mutation rate seems to lay between 10-9 and 10-8 per bp in all animal taxa surveyed to date–despite vast differences in environments, life histories, and three orders of magnitude variation in the generation time: 4/n
Australia recorded ZERO cases of cervical cancer in women under 25 for the first time since they started tracking the cancer in the 80s.
This is the power of vaccines.
The HPV vaccine is extremely effective at preventing cancer.
Viruses can be oncogenic. Get your vaccines and protect yourself!
A photo of a mountain dragon (Rankinia diamensis) by R. Richter
It was a real pleasure to work together on this study with @tillramm.bsky.social, @jaimiagray.bsky.social, Jane Melville and co., on this lovely threatened Australian lizard. 📷 R. Richter, iNaturalist
Taken from Figure 4 of the paper, maps of south-eastern Australia showing the projected suitable habitat for the mountain dragon by 2100 under a RCP8.5 future climate model, with 53% of the species current range predicted to be suitable.
Hindcast SDMs showed a larger and more continuous range at the LGM, while future models under climate change predict as much as 50% of the mountain dragon's current habitat will be unsuitable by 2100. This highlights the urgent need for updated conservation strategies for the species.
Taken from Fig 3 of the paper, this image shows a morphological PCA identifying unknown jaw fossils as Rankinia, and also shows the morphospace relates to other related agamid species
And @tillramm.bsky.social also did some very impressive quantitative analysis to identify fossils of Rankinia from extinct localities!
Taken from Fig 5 of the paper, this image shows two scatter plots with a significant positive relationship between heterozygosity and habitat suitability, and heterozygosity and altitude.
Observed heterozygosity was highest in regions with high habitat suitability and high altitude, consistent with low-altitude populations having reduced genetic connectivity.
Figure 2 from the publication, with five panels. Panel A shows a PCA plot with high differentiation between geographic populations of the mountain dragon. Panel B shows a heat-map matrix of Fst values that show that NSW and Tasmanian populations are more differentiated from Victorian populations. Panel C shows a barplot of observed and expected heterozygosity at a population level, with northern NSW, Flinders Island, and Tasmania having the lowest values, and Alpine National Park the highest. Panel D shows boxplots of observed heterozygosity with samples grouped into eastern and western groups, with east higher than west. Panel E shows heterozygosity as boxplots on an individual basis, grouped by populations, with patterns the same as those seen in panel C.
We found that past temperature and precipitation change has caused both range contractions and shifts to higher elevations in Rankinia. Low-altitude populations are now either extinct or show low genetic diversity.
Out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social and led by @tillramm.bsky.social! We integrated population genomics, fossils, SDMs, and micro-CT scanning to understand how climate change has influenced extinctions and extant genetic diversity in the threatened Australian mountain dragon #ozherps #genomics
Loss of macroevolutionary species fitness explains the rise and fall of clades 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
How many chromosomes can an animal have?
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
This red squirrel’s hands display tiny nail-bearing thumbs, alongside large claw-bearing digits.
New findings in Science suggest that rodents owe much of their evolutionary success to their thumb-nail (the first digit, D1), an adaptation that gave them dexterous hands for cracking seeds and nuts.
Learn more in this week's issue: https://scim.ag/46caVho
Please repost. For those who might have missed it, our School has three ongoing positions advertised. The work environment here at Monash is top notch: supportive, collegiate and inclusive. And Melbourne is an awesome city to live in. Deadline fast approaching. Get cracking on those applications!
📣 📣 Calling genomics-y and ecology friends, three permanent faculty positions at @monashbiol.bsky.social in Melbourne, Australia! See job listings here.
We have just opened searches for 3 new continuing Teaching & Research Academics. All positions are open at Level B (Lecturer) or Level C (Senior Lecturer), and we have one position in Genomics and two in Ecology.
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
Archaeologists once assumed that men were responsible for seafaring trade in Papua New Guinea. New research shows how women played a fundamental role.
After a series of flight delays, rerouted via Tokyo on my way home from #Evol2025 and not complaining 🥰
📣 📣 Calling genomics-y and ecology friends, three permanent faculty positions at @monashbiol.bsky.social in Melbourne, Australia! See job listings here.
Hey #Evol2025, come and be our new colleague at Monash!
In about a week we (Biological Sciences @ Monash Uni in Melbourne, Australia) will be opening a search for 3 (!!!) permanent academic positions (40% research, 40% teaching, 20% service) at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. 1 Genomics, 2 Ecology. Please share, email me, DM, follow, send carrier pigeons…
Australian mammals have the best names #Evol2025
Thanks Joel! 😊
A monumental taxonomy unification effort has just been published - thanks to all those who've collaborated for years to make this happen!
birdsoftheworld.org/bow/news/avi...
Thanks Anne!!
Happy Friday - our paper on the role of range size, population fluctuation & introgression in determining genetic diversity in Gehyra geckos is online in early view @journal-evo.bsky.social, led by my fabulous student Ching Ching Lau - her first first-author paper! academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
First Bluesky post - had to document the big drive this week, with some cool ❄️ cargo on board. All precious samples and reagents made it from A to B, now safely in our new home at @monashbiol.bsky.social
