birds~rain, prairies, wet tropical forests, conservation, migration & dispersal; equity & social justice; @WesternU (prev Kansas State); also fiddle player, contra dance musician
www.aliceboyle.net
www.dancetosteam.com
Alice Boyle
Loading...
There is a LOT in this ms. Broad taxononomic scope, new genomes, functional genomics, physiology, & more. I have never been prouder to play such a minor role in a paper. On that note: the long author list reflects the huge diversity of skills & perspectives req to tackle this question! Yay collabs!
Ecology has lots one of its greats:
Robert Ricklefs - in memoriam dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2026/06/11/r...
Before Maude, previous 4 authors (with Chris B.) led the #ManakinRCN ... an amazing group of humans and scientists that greatly broadened and advanced my science path & that of former PhD student Elsie Shogren (also author). This paper = outcome of our core RCN goals & the answer is so exciting!
3/n
Today’s office… I am a very lucky person!
Classic S Manitoba scene and a tiny piece of what all the farmland destroyed… the wet side of the prairies are so much scarcer than the dry side
Whoa!!!
Before I get too far, here is the link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The first author is @evolutionpirate.bsky.social and the senior author is Maude Baldwin, but if you look carefully, there are actually 8 co-first authors! (incl @rdriver215.bsky.social).
2/n
In simplistic terms, we wanted to understand why #manakins are so cool! Why did sexual selection act on this lineage so intensely but not in other lineages? 75 yr ago, David Snow proposed that frugivory was precursor to strong, sexually-selected traits & behaviours. This MS proves him right!
4/n
A goal in selecting prairie study sites is to span as many ecological contexts in which Grasshopper and Baird’s sparrows are found. That led me to these little patches of grassland surrounded by conifers in the Cypress Hills.
#PrairieRoadtrip
#NewPaperAlert! This one has a massive author list and has been a LONG time in coming, but is SO COOL! First, check out the first figure to get you interested! Manakins! Fruit! Sexual-selection in action (displays and Z:A chromosomal diversity)! Read on for the back story & link
1/n
