Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Gernot Segelbacher 🪶 🧬 @gsegelbacher.bsky.social · 5d

what is biobanking about? find our more in these guidelines just published today 🌏🦤🧪
They are freely available and can be downloaded here:
portals.iucn.org/library/site...
#consgen

Picture of cover page of the biobanking guidelines for conservation with title author list and four images of a fern, frog, cryotubes and a seastar

5 6

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 1d

Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today.

Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology

31 290 500

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

EcoEvoRxiv @ecoevorxiv.bsky.social · 4d

"Ciclos irregulares de financiamento no Brasil são uma barreira à conservação da biodiversidade e à liderança global do país" doi.org/10.32942/X21...

1

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Anja Westram @anjamwestram.bsky.social · 4d

🧬 Interested in monitoring & reporting on genetic diversity?

🏞️ Our project GINAMO (Genetic Indicators for NAture MOnitoring) now has a blog & newsletter!

🐝 Please share! ginamo.org/2025/09/29/welcome-2

#Conservation #Genetics #Biodiversity #Nature #consgen #KMGBF #SciComm

Welcome!

Get to know GINAMO in 10 questions Welcome to the GINAMO (Genetic Indicators for NAture MOnitoring) blog! Whether you’ve already attended one of our workshops or are just discovering us, we&#…

ginamo.org

1 10 12

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

IPBES @ipbes.net · 10d

RIP #JaneGoodall - one of the modern pioneers of profound interconnections between people, animals and ecosystems. Her life was lived through science, compassion and tireless advocacy for the multiple values of nature - leaving a legacy that will endure for people and planet.

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 10d

BREAKING: Jane Goodall, the conservationist renowned for chimpanzee research and environmental advocacy, has died.

Jane Goodall, conservationist renowned for chimpanzee research and environmental advocacy, has died

Jane Goodall, the conservationist renowned for her groundbreaking chimpanzee field research and globe-spanning environmental advocacy, has died. She was 91.

bit.ly

1 83 230

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Jason Moore @moorejh.bsky.social · 16d

Reference genome choice compromises population genetic analyses - Cell www.cell.com/cell/abstrac... #genetics #genomics #popgen

Reference genome choice compromises population genetic analyses

Using a species-specific reference genome significantly improves the accuracy of population genetic analyses, as exemplified by mapping gray fox sequence data to genomes of several canid species. Mapp...

www.cell.com

1 9 13

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 16d

De-extinction technology and its application to conservation academic.oup.com/jhered/advan... #consgen

De-extinction technology and its application to conservation

Abstract. De-extinction, once the realm of science fiction, has evolved into a tangible scientific endeavor thanks to breakthroughs in genome sequencing, e

academic.oup.com

1 1

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Gernot Segelbacher 🪶 🧬 @gsegelbacher.bsky.social · 17d

why we need genetic diversity
new paper out #consgen 🧪🦤🌏
doi.org/10.1002/pan3...

Genetic diversity is key to a nature‐positive future

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

doi.org

8 23

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Debbie Leigh @debbiemleigh.bsky.social · 19d

The TERRA cluster is looking for a CORE NGS specialist until 31.12.2032!

🧪 🧬 👩‍🔬👨‍🔬

#Science #Bioinformatics #postdoc #Genomics

1 3

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Camille Roux @crouxevo.bsky.social · 29d

Hybridization and introgression are major evolutionary processes. Since the 1940s, the prevailing view has been that they shape plants far more than animals. In our new study (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants

3 110 190

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Nature @nature.com · Sep 7

A common type of ant in Europe breaks a fundamental rule in biology: its queens can produce male offspring that are a whole different species

go.nature.com/467N16m

‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother

Nature - Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.

go.nature.com

3 24 87

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Michael Baym @baym.lol · Jan 4

I have read few papers as immediately useful and important as this one on Cacio e Pepe phase behavior.

Tl;dr: the starchy pasta water is absolutely critical to avoiding “mozzarella phase”

arxiv.org/abs/2501.00536

4 40 160

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · Sep 3

woah this is genuinely, utterly WILD

Ant queens of one species produce males of another species, so she can then mate with them and produce hybrid workers!

This is so gloriously weird I can't quite compute it 🤯🧪🐜
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother

Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.

www.nature.com

20 340 900

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Chase W. Nelson 倪誠志 @chasewnelson.bsky.social · Sep 3

Announcing SimHumanity, a baseline SLiM 5.0 model of the full human genome, replete with demographic history, autosomes, X/Y, and mtDNA. A shared starting point for reproducible evolutionary simulations. We’d love your feedback! #SLiM #evolution #genomics www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

SimHumanity: Using SLiM 5.0 to run whole-genome simulations of human evolution

The reconstruction of human evolutionary history has undergone repeated advances, each made possible by methodological innovations. In recent decades, genetic and genomic data played a central role in...

www.biorxiv.org

22 30

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · Aug 31

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Columbian mammoth mitogenomes from Mexico uncover the species’ complex evolutionary history

Paleogenomic studies suggest that Mammuthus columbi derives from an ancient hybridization between Mammuthus primigenius and Mammuthus trogontherii. While its habitat spanned from North to Central Amer...

www.science.org

1 7 21

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Patrik Michaelsen @michaelsen.bsky.social · Sep 1

New: Strong global support for the 30x30 conservation target

*Data from 5 continents (N=12k) show 82% in support of 30x30

*2 experiments find highly consistent expansion policy preferences, incl. prioritization of nature and rich countries bearing higher costs

Out now OA in @pnas.org. Viz. below.

Mass support for conserving 30% of the Earth by 2030: Experimental evidence from five continents | PNAS

Rapid global expansion of protected areas is critical for safeguarding biodiversity but depends on political action for successful implementation. ...

www.pnas.org

4 23 46

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Laura Bertola @lauradbertola.bsky.social · Sep 1

Sparse genetic data limit biodiversity assessments in protected areas globally
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Sparse genetic data limit biodiversity assessments in protected areas globally

Global conservation targets include protecting genetic diversity within species. Yet few studies have assessed whether protected areas (PAs) include genetically diverse populations across species glo....

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

3 5

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Craig Primmer @fishcongen.bsky.social · Apr 21

About 15-20 yrs ago, a bunch of reviews (inc. 1 by me) made predictions about the future of genomics in conservation. 1 yr ago at ICISB, Robin Waples assessed which of those predictions had been fulfilled. Sam May & Sam Rosenbaum now led the effort to turn this into a review:
doi.org/10.1111/mec....

2 30 52

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Samuel Church @shchurch.bsky.social · Jun 19

Excited to share our study on sailing siphonophores, AKA bluebottles or man-o'-war! 🌊 we received hundreds of samples from scientists around the world, part of a huge effort to sequence genomes and test for multiple species 🧬 out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... 🦑🧪📌

Physalia megalista, a cnidiran with a gas filled float, raised sail, and long blue tentacles hanging below. Image credit: Dalila Destanović

2 50 170

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Laura Bertola @lauradbertola.bsky.social · Aug 27

Future Projections of Biodiversity Under Global Change Need to Include Genetic Diversity
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Future Projections of Biodiversity Under Global Change Need to Include Genetic Diversity

This perspective argues that current methods for predicting biodiversity loss from future land use and climate change models are incomplete without incorporating projections of genetic diversity. Wit...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

1 2

Reposted by Sibelle Vilaça

Mike Schatz @mikeschatz.bsky.social · Aug 26

Scholarships available for Genome Informatics - just include a brief summary on your open science work plus your conference abstract. If you have already paid to register, we will work with CSHL to refund you the $$$. Apply today! jxtxfoundation.org/news/2025-6-... @jxtxfoundation.bsky.social