Jon Waters
LightNews LightNews
banner
jonwatersnz.bsky.social
Jon Waters
@jonwatersnz.bsky.social
120 followers 99 following 7 posts
Professor of biology @Otago NZ. Genetics, ecology, evolution. Dad, lover of nature & music.

https://www.otago.ac.nz/zoology/staff/professor-jon-waters

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_0w6ZS0AAAAJ&hl=en
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
jonwatersnz.bsky.social
Jon Waters @jonwatersnz.bsky.social · Dec 7
Excited to see our team’s work on insect colour evolution published in Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Human-driven evolution of color in a stonefly mimic
Rapid adaptation is thought to be critical for the survival of species under global change, but our understanding of human-induced evolution in the wild remains limited. We show that widespread defore...
www.science.org
Reposted by Jon Waters
geneticsaus.bsky.social
Catherine Collins walking with us through the tāhuhu kōrero in DNA.

#GSA2025 #AotearoaGSA2025
July 7, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by Jon Waters
geneticsaus.bsky.social
Amazing talks in the Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics, and the Human Genetics concurrent sessions today.

Emma Carroll, Isabelly de Lima, Graham McCulloh, Amara Shaukat, Kathleen McLay, & some excellent lightning talks!

#GSA2025 #AotearoaGSA2025
July 7, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Reposted by Jon Waters
envdna.bsky.social
Do freshwater insect assemblages in exotic plantations resemble those from native forest? Evidence from environmental DNA

#eDNA #environmenalDNA

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Do freshwater insect assemblages in exotic plantations resemble those from native forest? Evidence from environmental DNA
Widespread deforestation has impacted biodiversity patterns globally, but the potential for forest plantations to restore biodiversity remains unclear. Here we used environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
May 25, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Jon Waters
felixvaux.bsky.social
Iguanas rafted more than 8,000 km from North America to Fiji: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

#biogeography #phylogenetics #genomics #ecology #evolution
March 19, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Jon Waters
jonathanslater.bsky.social
April 6, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by Jon Waters
felixvaux.bsky.social
Great example of targeted eDNA for population genetics and biodiversity management! Targeted eDNA Metabarcoding Reveals New Populations of a Range-Limited Stonefly: doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

@grahammccullochnz.bsky.social @jonwatersnz.bsky.social
#eDNA #popgen #ecology #genetics #biodiversity
On the left: a map of stream eDNA detections for stoneflies, on the right: a phylogenetic tree of COI haplotypes, which reveals several distinct clades distributed along the streams from north to south.
April 6, 2025 at 8:52 PM
jonwatersnz.bsky.social
There’s still time to vote for our amazing #stonefly in NZ Bug of the Year 2025

bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-2025/
January 31, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Reposted by Jon Waters
gcbias.bsky.social
Congrats to @jeffgroh.bsky.social et al on publication of "Ancient structural variants control sex-specific flowering time morphs in walnuts and hickories"

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Science magazine front cover. Picture of a walnut in its opened shell. The text reads "All about timing. Mating type evolution in walnuts and pecans" graphical abstract: "In Juglans (top left) and Carya, two morphs show complementary temporal separation between male and female flowering (heterodichogamy). Mating types are controlled by two nonhomologous single-locus mechanisms that arose in the common ancestor of each genus, respectively. (Bottom left) Simplified schematic of a putative functional regulatory element at the Juglans locus. (Bottom right) Strong genotypic correlations across the Carya locus indicate a lack of recombination between two colinear haplotypes with similar gene content."
January 2, 2025 at 9:49 PM
jonwatersnz.bsky.social
rdcu.be/d5ojj
High-resolution genomic history of early medieval Europe
Nature - Twigstats, a method for ancestry reconstruction, provides high-resolution genetic histories and movement patterns of people living in Europe during the first millennium ce.
rdcu.be
January 2, 2025 at 6:03 AM
Reposted by Jon Waters
jencross.bsky.social
Good morning! This is your periodic reminder that earwigs have wings.

(Carcinophora sp.)
Tatama National Park, Colombia
An insect with a reddish-brown abdomen that ends in pinchers, large translucent wings with gold elytra, and a reddish brown head. It is standing at the end of a leaf.
December 19, 2024 at 11:26 AM
jonwatersnz.bsky.social
Congrats to Anran Fan on her first publication: doi.org/10.1111/ecog...
December 18, 2024 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Jon Waters
danielheringude.bsky.social
A starter pack on aquatic insects: Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera. go.bsky.app/3irKfNa
November 19, 2024 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Jon Waters
knhannah.bsky.social
This is the statement regarding Marsden Fund from the sector peak body, Universities NZ: www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/latest-news-...
Statement on cuts to Marsden Funds for Humanities and Social Sciences | Universities New Zealand - Te Pōkai Tara
Today's announcement from Government disbanding the humanities and social sciences panels from the Marsden Fund is very concerning. Whilst investment in STEM disciplines is important for shorter-term ...
www.universitiesnz.ac.nz
December 4, 2024 at 10:14 AM
Reposted by Jon Waters
jopabinia.bsky.social
Wow! The complex genomic and epigenetic variation that builds the tasty diversity of Brassica oleracea (the single species that forms broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts)

🧪🥦🥬
Large-scale gene expression alterations introduced by structural variation drive morphotype diversification in Brassica oleracea - Nature Genetics
De novo genome assemblies of 22 Brassica oleracea accessions and pan-genome analyses highlight the effects of structural variations on gene expression and their contributions to morphotype diversifica...
www.nature.com
February 19, 2024 at 1:07 AM
Reposted by Jon Waters
chris-byrne.bsky.social
Sea life on the Oregon Coast. Starfish, sea anemones and kelp photographed at low tide.
December 6, 2024 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Jon Waters
thewasplady.bsky.social
I had the opportunity to contribute to a study on mimicry! Shout out to Jon Waters & Graham McCulloch for inviting me to join the team!

@zoologyotago.bsky.social

theconversation.com/stoneflies-c...
Stoneflies change colour in response to deforestation, suggesting humans can alter evolution – new research
A new study shows that rapid loss of forests has prompted a colour change in stoneflies, caused by a genetic mutation. This means human change to the environment can drive evolution.
theconversation.com
October 25, 2024 at 8:02 AM
jonwatersnz.bsky.social
Sunset in Berkeley as our fantastic months at UCB come to a close
December 7, 2024 at 2:01 AM
jonwatersnz.bsky.social
Excited to see our team’s work on insect colour evolution published in Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Human-driven evolution of color in a stonefly mimic
Rapid adaptation is thought to be critical for the survival of species under global change, but our understanding of human-induced evolution in the wild remains limited. We show that widespread defore...
www.science.org
December 7, 2024 at 1:48 AM