Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Enric Frago

Pau Carazo @paucarazo.bsky.social · Sep 1

We’re offering a fully funded 4 yr PhD position to work on Sexual selection in complex environments at the @uv.es. Co-supervised by @dbergerbiol.bsky.social. Find details below 👇

57 31

Enric Frago @enricfrago.bsky.social · Sep 5

First paper from our #cnrs neighbours at the #ecotron #Montpellier

Montpellier European Ecotron @ecotron-cnrs.bsky.social · Jun 24

Excited to share the first article from the #Ecotron 's #Mesocosms platform! 🎉 Based on a 4+ year experiment manipulating soil macrofauna diversity in large #lysimeters under #drought. #Macrofauna matters!

Huge thanks to @UFZ_de & @CEFE_CNRS. More coming soon!

🔗 www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic...

1

Reposted by Enric Frago

Nature @nature.com · Sep 3

How is this possible?

This ant can lay eggs of two different species, birthed by the same mother

4 62 150

Reposted by Enric Frago

El Salto @elsaltodiario.com · Aug 31

Miles de activistas han despedido en Barcelona a la flotilla que acaba de zarpar hacia Gaza. Está previsto que otros barcos se unan en el camino a las casi treinta embarcaciones que han salido hoy. Mientras, en Gaza Israel ha matado a más de 100 palestinos desde ayer sábado.
📸 @aminguito.bsky.social

120 220

Reposted by Enric Frago

Jordi Sola @jsola.bsky.social · Sep 1

📢 New in Ecology Letters: heterogeneity ≠ stability.
🌊🪨 3-yr rocky-shore experiment: 4 cascades canceled the classic heterogeneity–stability link.
📄 doi.org/10.1111/ele.70158

With @thefairchild.bsky.social , @MatthewPerkins, @JamesBull & @jngriffy.bsky.social — thanks to @NERC & @SwanseaUniversity.

1 5 13

Reposted by Enric Frago

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Sep 1

Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world’s top scholars on the crime say

Almost 90% of leading academics on subject back resolution stating that Israel’s actions meet legal definition An overwhelming majority of members of the world’s leading genocide scholars’ association has backed a resolution stating that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of the crime. Eighty-six percent of those who voted in the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) supported the motion. The resolution states that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948).” Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

72 470 820

Reposted by Enric Frago

Functional Ecology @funecology.bsky.social · Aug 27

📰Published📰Hungry females deceptively attract males to exploit them as prey🪲

buff.ly/hUpfbP9

🧪🌍

Hungry females deceptively attract males to exploit them as prey

Laura Knapwerth, Nathan W. Burke This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Animals produce sexual signals like mating calls, courtship dance…

buff.ly

4 13 46

Reposted by Enric Frago

Frank Burdon @fburdon.bsky.social · Aug 25

Indirect ecological interactions are everywhere in nature, with species influencing another through a third species or the environment. Such interactions are rarely connected to rapid evolutionary change. Here, aphid-driven herbivory of duckweed drove adaptive evolutionary change in Daphnia.

Aphid herbivory on macrophytes drives adaptive evolution in an aquatic community via indirect effects | PNAS

Indirect ecological effects occur when the impact of one species on another is mediated by a third species or the shared environment. Although indi...

www.pnas.org

13 40

Enric Frago @enricfrago.bsky.social · Aug 25

Beautiful paper with aphids, but not terrestrial ones!

Frank Burdon @fburdon.bsky.social · Aug 25

Indirect ecological interactions are everywhere in nature, with species influencing another through a third species or the environment. Such interactions are rarely connected to rapid evolutionary change. Here, aphid-driven herbivory of duckweed drove adaptive evolutionary change in Daphnia.

Aphid herbivory on macrophytes drives adaptive evolution in an aquatic community via indirect effects | PNAS

Indirect ecological effects occur when the impact of one species on another is mediated by a third species or the shared environment. Although indi...

www.pnas.org

1

Reposted by Enric Frago

Journal of Evolutionary Biology @jevbio.bsky.social · Jul 25

An evolutionary arms race between protective symbionts and parasitoid wasps is taking place inside aphids. But what determines the aphids’ fate? We explore how the origins of symbionts and wasps shape parasitism success:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

@youn-henry.drosophila.social.ap.brid.gy et al.

A test of specific adaptation to symbiont-conferred host resistance in natural populations of a parasitoid wasp

Abstract. Parasitoids are important natural enemies of insects, imposing strong selection for the evolution of resistance. In aphids, the heritable endosym

doi.org

5 9

Reposted by Enric Frago

Charlotte Clymer @charlotteclymer.bsky.social · Jul 26

"A third of Palestinians in Gaza are going without food for days at a time, the U.N. World Food Programme's director of emergencies said. About 100,000 women and children were suffering severe acute malnutrition in the territory."

www.npr.org/2025/07/25/n...

4 things to know about Gaza right now amid warnings of 'mass starvation' risk

Hunger and disease continue to stalk Palestinians in Gaza, and aid organizations are warning that children are at greatest risk of starvation. A U.N. worker has described people as "walking corpses."

www.npr.org

11 120 230

Reposted by Enric Frago

Seth Bordenstein @symbionticism.bsky.social · Jul 27

In an urgent effort to save Hawaii’s critically endangered native birds from avian malaria, drones are now being used to drop #Wolbachia and thousands of lab-bred mosquitoes into the island forests. What a future come true.

www.newsbreak.com/fort-worth-l...

Thousands of mosquitoes are being dropped by drone over islands in Hawaii. - NewsBreak

In an urgent effort to save Hawaii’s critically endangered native birds, drones are now being used to drop thousands of lab-bred mosquitoes into the island

www.newsbreak.com

1 7 11

Reposted by Enric Frago

Oriol Lapiedra @oriollapiedra.bsky.social · Jul 16

Urbanization enhances biodiversity loss. Yet sometimes cities may *paradoxically* shelter species threatened by other components of global change

We studied if urban areas are sheltering an endangered iconic lizard 🦎 from a rapidly spreading predator 🐍 in Ibiza👇

📸G. Casbas

doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...

2 16 36

Reposted by Enric Frago

Nonia Pariente @npariente.bsky.social · Jun 27

Too poor to science: how wealth determines who succeeds in STEM

Thought-provoking read, especially in these times of questioning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives
🧪

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Jun 25

From student to researcher, a #career in #science can come with a high price tag. @drcraigmc.bsky.social ‬explores how wealth shapes opportunity in #STEM and proposes structural changes to support #equity and inclusion. 🧪
plos.io/4edGlY4

Too poor to science: How wealth determines who succeeds in STEM

From student to researcher, a career in science can come with a high price tag. This Perspective explores how persistent financial barriers limit who can succeed in science, revealing how wealth shape...

plos.io

2 25 39

Reposted by Enric Frago

Peer Community In @peercommunityin.bsky.social · Jun 13

Reminder: It is next week!

Peer Community In @peercommunityin.bsky.social · May 20

📣 Save the date for the 11th PCI webinar on June 18, 2025, at 4 PM CET!! Brandon Stell (CNRS, Paris) will present "Elevating Scientific Standards: Community-Driven Assessment on PubPeer ". For more details and registration, visit: buff.ly/XuownT0

4 2

Reposted by Enric Frago

STCmicrobeblog @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social · Jun 2

#MicroSky #RNASky

Morten Kam Dahl Dueholm @mkddueholm.bsky.social · Jun 2

The overlooked evolutionary dynamics of 16S rRNA revises its role as the “gold standard” for bacterial species identification
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The overlooked evolutionary dynamics of 16S rRNA revises its role as the “gold standard” for bacterial species identification - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - The overlooked evolutionary dynamics of 16S rRNA revises its role as the “gold standard” for bacterial species identification

www.nature.com

2 8

Reposted by Enric Frago

Nancy Moran @nancy-moran.bsky.social · Jun 2

Howard's: evolution of microbial genes, genomes and communities. Can be experimental or computational. If interested, contact Howard Ochman, [email protected]
Homepage: web.biosci.utexas.edu/ochman/index...

Ochman Lab: HOME

web.biosci.utexas.edu

14 12

Reposted by Enric Frago

Anthony Ricciardi @ecoinvasions.bsky.social · May 23

"Thinking time —the time needed to concentrate without interruptions has always been central to scholarly work. It is essential to designing experiments, compiling data, assessing results, reviewing literature and, of course, writing. Yet, [it] is often undervalued."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

4 130 340

Reposted by Enric Frago

Matthew B. Jané @matthewbjane.bsky.social · May 23

Happy Friday everyone! I just posted what I think is an important blog post on my website. It is a critique of meta-meta-analyses: meta-analyses of meta-analyses.

Link: matthewbjane.github.io/blog-posts/b...

#stats #metascience

6 26 85

Reposted by Enric Frago

Evan Fricke @efricke.bsky.social · May 19

Pollinator decline has captured global attention, but another plant-animal mutualism is quietly unraveling.

Our new Nature Reviews Biodiversity article synthesizes global evidence on seed disperser decline and what it means for plant biodiversity, ecosystem recovery, and climate adaptation. 🧵

Drivers and impacts of global seed disperser decline

Nature Reviews Biodiversity - Many plants rely on animals to disperse their seeds, but some groups of these seed-dispersing animals are facing severe declines. This Review summarizes evidence of...

rdcu.be

4 100 190

Reposted by Enric Frago

INRAE UMR BF2I @inrae-umr-bf2i.bsky.social · May 14

Today sees the close of the REID - IMMUNINV conference (reid2025.sciencesconf.org) at @insa-lyon.fr Many members of @inrae-umr-bf2i.bsky.social were involved in organizing the congress, and some of our PhD and post-doctoral students were able to present their research work brilliantly 👏

4 3

Reposted by Enric Frago

Ilkka Leinonen @ilkkaleinonen.bsky.social · Mar 19

Why did Finland's forests change from a carbon sink to a permanent source of emissions in a few years? The reason is simple: emissions from the soil increased exponentially.

But what caused this explosion? There are at least three reasons for this, which I will explain in the thread below.
1/9

5 77 150

Reposted by Enric Frago

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · Apr 24

🦋📉 Insect populations down 75% in <30 years

A new study maps 3,385 connections between stressors behind insect decline. Agricultural intensification tops the list – but many impacts remain overlooked.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/bios...

#SciComm #Biodiversity #Insects 🧪

Meta-synthesis reveals interconnections among apparent drivers of insect biodiversity loss

Abstract. Scientific and public interest in the global status of insects has surged recently; however, understanding the relative importance of different s

doi.org

4 69 95

Reposted by Enric Frago

Matthias C. Rillig @mrillig.bsky.social · Apr 16

Second video in the series: how to spot toxic labs, for example during an interview

youtu.be/TVXk2hUo5qA

Toxic labs: how to spot them during the interview or afterwards. #phdlife #academia #toxicworkplace

YouTube video by Life in academia

youtu.be

1 5 6

Reposted by Enric Frago

Maria Elena Martino @memartino.bsky.social · Apr 11

🌊 Calling all MSc & PhD students!
Apply now for our #Summerschool on #Host-Microbe Symbioses in Aquatic Environments
Dive into 5 days of field, lab & computational activities in the stunning Venetian Lagoon + amazing invited speakers!
www.unipd.it/en/animals-c...

🗓️ Deadline: May 20

2 6 6