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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge

@eegcam.bsky.social

1.4K followers 420 following 79 posts

We are interested in how animals (including humans) respond(ed) and adapt(ed) to changing environments. Department of Zoology, Cambridge, UK. PI: Prof. Andrea Manica (he/him) Website: https://evolecolgroup.github.io/website/

evolecolgroup.github.io

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · Jun 18

#newpaper now out in @nature.com!
A huge expansion of the human niche in Africa ~70 kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with a unique ecological flexibility.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
led by Emily Hallett, @mikleonardi.bsky.social, Andrea Manica, @elliescerri.bsky.social 1/4

Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal - Nature

Analysis of species distribution models in a pan-African database comprising chronometrically dated archaeological sites over the past 120,000 years shows major expansion in the human niche from 70 ka...

www.nature.com

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · 18h

This has been a wonderful effort by many lab members, and the credits for the fantastic leopard picture go to Ondra Pelanek 📷

Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · 18h

Lastly, we saw that Europe also followed this pattern: during warm interglacial periods it was occupied by leopards but population sizes dropped during glacial periods, suggesting that the effect of climate could have been strong enough to catalyse their extinction.

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · 18h

We also found that climate stability over glacial cycles can explain the different levels of differentiation on continents. Africa remained stable over time, whilst Asian demography fluctuated more through glacial cycles, hence creating the isolation for needed for differentiation.

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · 18h

This simulated demography provided explanations to many patterns we observe. For example, African leopards show strong isolation from almost all Asian ones, and we found it is due to the shallow corridor between North Africa, the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula after the initial expansion.

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · 18h

We found that a simple Out of Africa model can capture the genetic diversity of leopards in Asia and Africa. Among all the demographic parameters, the ones associated with climate showed strongest signal, indicating climate was largely responsible for contemporary leopard demography.

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · 18h

Why is there only one subspecies in Africa whilst in Asia there are 8? And why did leopards disappear in Europe? In our study, we combine genetics, climate and archaeological data to build a Climate Informed Spatial Genetic Model and try to answer these questions.

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · 18h

#newpreprint: "Climate Shaped the Global Population Structure of Leopards and their Extinction in Europe": www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...! Leopards are charming big cats but there are many mysteries around them. Thread 🧵

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · 2d

#newpaper out in @natecoevo.nature.com on Learned use of an innate sound-meaning association in birds, co-led by @jameskennerley.bsky.social when he was a PhD student at @eegcam.bsky.social . Nice summary on the @uk.theconversation.com theconversation.com/birds-all-ov...

Birds all over the world use the same sound to warn of threats

The findings of a new study about communication between birds also offer key insights into the origins of language.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge

Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · 11d

youtube.com/watch?v=MA1c...

Our common Neanderthal ancestor could be a million years old, says Chris Stringer

YouTube video by New Scientist

youtube.com

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Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge

Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · 12d

The phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the Denisovans | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the Denisovans

Diverse forms of Homo coexisted during the Middle Pleistocene. Whether these fossil humans represent different species or clades is debated. The ~1-million-year-old Yunxian 2 fossil from China is impo...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge

Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias @ceciliapad.bsky.social · Aug 28

I couldn’t be more excited about being given the chance to present some of the work we do at @eegcam.bsky.social this November & to listen to the talks by such an incredible line up of speakers! 🤩

Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · Aug 27

London November 14th 2025

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Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge

preLights @prelights.bsky.social · Aug 20

The distribution of early human settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa might have been influenced by avoidance of mosquitoes that spread malaria

A new #prelight of Alejandra Leffer's group talks about the preprint by @margheritac17.bsky.social , and the team.

Malaria shaped human spatial organisation for the last 74 thousand years - preLights

The distribution of early human settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa might have been influenced by avoidance of mosquitoes that spread malaria

prelights.biologists.com

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Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge

Margherita Colucci @margheritac17.bsky.social · Aug 22

Thank you @prelights.bsky.social & Alejandra Leffer's group for choosing our preprint on @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social and for this chance to talk about human- #malaria coevolution!🦟
@eegcam.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social @MPI_GEA

preLights @prelights.bsky.social · Aug 20

Malaria shaped human spatial organisation for the last 74 thousand years - preLights

The distribution of early human settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa might have been influenced by avoidance of mosquitoes that spread malaria

prelights.biologists.com

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · Aug 18

3 exciting job opportunities at the new "HUMAN ORIGINS" Cluster of Excellence at Tübingen, for which I am an external PI. We are looking for early career researchers ready to launch their independent group and ask some exciting questions!

Katerina Harvati @katharv.bsky.social · Aug 7

Job Alerts!🚨 We are looking to fill three Independent Junior Research Group Leader positions in the 'HUMAN ORIGINS' Cluster of Excellence at the University of Tübingen
Application deadline: Sept. 10, Starting Jan. 1, 2026

1. Genotype-Phenotype interactions:
uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

Independent Junior Research Group Leader (m/f/d, 100%)

uni-tuebingen.de

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · Aug 7

Check the package website for more information, example workflows, benchmarking and ideas on how to use tidygenclust: github.com/EvolEcolGrou...

GitHub - EvolEcolGroup/tidygenclust: R package providing a tidy interface to clustering in population genetics, building on top of `tidypopgen`

R package providing a tidy interface to clustering in population genetics, building on top of `tidypopgen` - EvolEcolGroup/tidygenclust

github.com

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · Aug 7

🚨🧬New #preprint and R package from the lab out in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social🧬🚨: 'tidygenclust' combines the functionality of ADMIXTURE, fastmixture and Clumppling into R - allowing for reproducible clustering analyses and plotting all in one place!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

tidygenclust: Clustering for Population Genetics in R

Background Population structure analysis is crucial for evolutionary research and medical genomics. Clustering methods, broadly categorized as model-based (e.g. ADMIXTURE) or non-model-based (e.g. SCO...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge

Henry Gee @endofthepier.bsky.social · Aug 6

Stone tools from Sulawesi at least a million years old may be even more ancient than those found on Flores, suggesting an even earlier presence of hominins on Wallacea www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Hominins on Sulawesi during the Early Pleistocene - Nature

Early Pleistocene artefacts at Calio suggest that Sulawesi was populated by hominins at around the same time as Flores, if not earlier.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge

Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias @ceciliapad.bsky.social · Aug 7

What a fantastic new paper out today in @pnas.org: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... - and what a great resource, summarising the climatic niche of primates and tackling the hypothesis on whether primates evolved in warm tropical forests 😍

The radiation and geographic expansion of primates through diverse climates | PNAS

One of the most influential hypotheses about primate evolution postulates that their origin, radiation, and major dispersals were associated with e...

www.pnas.org

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · Jul 30

#newpaper showing how depth mediates the population dynamics of soft corals in Fiji, led by @nis38.bsky.social (with @huwiceandstuff.bsky.social‬, @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social‬, and @egmitchell.bsky.social‬)
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Depth affects the population dynamics on a soft coral-dominated reef on the Great White Wall, Fiji - Coral Reefs

Soft corals (order Alcyonacea) are an important component of tropical coral reefs, and often form locally abundance dense carpets. Some soft coral species are prone to bleaching and heat stress like s...

link.springer.com

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Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge

Michela Leonardi @mikleonardi.bsky.social · Jul 28

#Newpaper: the African Humid period through the lenses of pollen-based and mechanistic-based #palaeoclimate reconstructions!

Thanks @ecologypast.bsky.social, @markuslfischer.bsky.social, @paleoclimategirl.bsky.social and all coauthors!

A multi-model approach to the spatial and temporal characterization of the African Humid Period

During the last c. 20,000 years, African climates experienced temperature shifts related to the last period of global deglaciation and moisture availa…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge

Markus L Fischer @markuslfischer.bsky.social · Jul 28

New paper with a pollen and mechanistic model perspective on the African Humid Period – www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A multi-model approach to the spatial and temporal characterization of the African Humid Period

During the last c. 20,000 years, African climates experienced temperature shifts related to the last period of global deglaciation and moisture availa…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · Jul 25

Pollen-based reconstructions and a mechanistic climate model tell a similar story on the Africa Humid Period; @mikleonardi.bsky.social‬ and Andrea contributed to a proxy-model comparison paper led by @ecologypast.bsky.social‬ in Quatern. Int.: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.

authors.elsevier.com

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Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge

Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · Jul 19

TODAY!!

Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · Jul 18

📢Tomorrow!

If you're knocking around Newcastle tomorrow and have an hour to spare (or you just want to escape the thunderstorms), then how about coming along to listen to me chat about queer natural history? 🪲🌈🐧

Newcastle City Library, 12pm, FREE tickets! 👇🏻
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-little-g...

A Little Gay Natural History

Join us this Pride season for a fascinating, feel-good celebration of queer nature with author and science writer Josh L. Davis.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · Jul 19

We always try to be scientifically accurate, clear and inclusive in the way we present our research, but mistakes happen. This is why we are particularly grateful for constructive feedback such as yours! 2/2

Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · Jul 19

We fully agree with this, and our group members are quite involved in discussing these topics with a wider public (see for example @ceciliapad.bsky.social and her work with @sapiens.org or @mikleonardi.bsky.social who created a free board game about evolution and climate change). 1/2

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