New preprint from the last portion of my PhD! Despite low masked load, we found evidence for strong inbreeding depression in Devils Hole pupfish. The reason? A recessive lethal haplotype that causes a heart defect among developing embryos. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
As anthropogenic habitat fragmentation and population decline accelerate globally, growing numbers of species face compounding demographic and genetic threats to long-term survival. Many populations a...
Interested in #macroevolution, #macroecology, and mountain biodiversity?
I'm recruiting a #postdoc for an NSF-funded project at Yale, in collaboration with Martha Muñoz (Yale) and Maya Stokes (Florida State University).
I'll be at #Evol2026 and happy to chat!
Link below
Nobody: what is a tree, anyway?
Us:
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
(Review out today, in which we ask whether xylem disconnection arising early in wood anatomy is convergent with disconnection seen across tall plants and whether tree evolution requires disconnection given periodic drought.)
my image is featured on the cover of New Phytologist!
Interested in receptor proximity labeling and how receptors coordinate meristem regulation? Find out more here:
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Genes for genetic painting in flowers now available on Addgene!: addgene.org/browse/artic...
Yesterday, I posted about eastern N. America’s Lilium grayi, a hummingbird-pollinated species. Western N.A. (where there are more spp. of hummingbirds) also has bird-pollinated species, such as L. bolanderi (📷: Annie Zell CCBYNC4). #Lilium #pollination #Liliaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Early-career scientists surveyed early 2025:
“Barely half of respondents now say they are likely to remain in academia, down 22pp from how they felt 6 months earlier. The fraction likely to stay in the United States fell by 21pp. Even satisfaction w having pursued a PhD in science declined by 16pp”
#PEQG26 folks! I will be presenting my postdoc project with @jkpritch.bsky.social and @jeffspence.github.io about inferring population structure dynamics over time with tensor decomposition on ARG. The talk will be at the James Crow Talk session on Wednesday. Look forward to seeing everyone there!
Why are leaves the shape that they are? What controls intraspecific, genetic variation in leaf shape?
New from my lab, in collaboration with many others, led by PhD student Amanda Peake: mapping the leaf shape polymorphism in Ipomoea hederacea.
Our team at @arcadiascience.com is hiring!
We're looking to hire a computational evolutionary biologist interested in asking how and why protein sequences/structures/functions differ across the tree of life 🧬
jobs.lever.co/arcadiascien...
Please share widely!
Laura Alencar 🇧🇷🐍🦎
www.nber.org
A Bit About Us: We're Arcadia Science, an evolutionary biology company founded and led by scientists. Our mission is to turn natural innovations into real-world solutions by developing systematic and ...
