Exciting new pre-print from the group! Why and how are our owls getting redder over time? 🦉

Check it out on BioRxiv 👇👇

A couple of really cool conferences happening next summer on my birthday 🥲

I know many people have a conference birthday but I just can't bring myself to do it ... me and my partner usually go on holiday and yes I'm turning 30 next year 😬

Our latest #SORTEE-led paper is out now in #ProcB!

We reviewed data/code-sharing policy clarity, strictness & timing across 275 EcoEvo journals

We also worked with #ProcB & #EcologyLetters to assess initial compliance with sharing mandates. Huge team effort! 👉 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Genomic imputation can boost dataset quality and benefit research on wild populations. In hihi, we found high #imputation accuracies despite a small reference panel of high-fecundity individuals. Imputation improves downstream #ConservationGenomics analyses. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Growth effects and the underlying genetic architecture of inbreeding depression in a wild raptor https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.17.670740v1

Pre-print now out on bioRxiv! If you saw my talk at #eseb and want more info, here it is:

With #eseb2025 coming to a close, it is time to start making plans for 2026. Interested in the interface of evolution 🧬 and ecology 🌳? Come to our #ExE conference hosted by @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful #Cornwall. Leave your email address at tinyurl.com/EvolxEcol to join our mailing list!

I'll be presenting at #ESEB25 tomorrow! Pop along to room 114 @3:30 if you want to hear about inbreeding depression, hierarchical models and barn owls of course 🦉
S42.02 - looks like it's going to be a great session! 😊

George RR Martin is an author on the dire wolf paper. Presumably to make sure there’s plenty of incest, cos these wolves will have no one else to fuck except each other.

Wow. This is sooo good. Echoing @urbanevol.bsky.social this user’s manual for Ne should be required reading for popgen and conservation genetics folks. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

1/7 Very happy to share our latest paper on the joint evolution of separate sexes and sexual dimorphism in @jevbio.bsky.social, led by @thomaslesaffre.bsky.social and in collaboration with John Pannell at @dee-unil.bsky.social

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voae136

1/7 Sexual antagonism arises when males and females face different selection pressures for a trait influenced by shared genes. This is thought to drive balancing selection and maintain genetic polymorphism. We challenge this view in our recent paper :

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/evlett/qrae059

Inbreeding depression is more severe in harsher environmental conditions, as shown in a wild population
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by @annamhew.bsky.social et al.

📷: Anna Hewett

Thanks to my amazing supervisors: Josephine Pemberton and @susanjohnston.bsky.social , and my lovely co-authors too Greg Albery and @seanofrum.bsky.social and Ali Morris at @rumdeerresearch.bsky.social

Slightly surreal that the PhD is now 'officially' finished ... but who knows 😉

💪 BUT ... there's always lessons to be learnt about power, and turns out you need a lot of variation in environmental conditions as well as inbreeding (hence why it's rarely been found in the wild), which we discuss too

📈 We show that inbreeding depression is worse in the harsh northern regions of the study area where survival is lower, indicating that the severity of inbreeding depression changes across fine-scale environments (i.e. ID × E)

Only a few studies have shown evidence for this interaction in the wild!

📣 The final chapter of my PhD is now out in @evolletters.bsky.social !! 📣

🦌 Using genomic and fitness data from a long-term study of red deer we investigated the interaction between inbreeding depression and the environment (ID × E)

doi.org/10.1093/evle...