Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Martin Turcotte @exp-evoeco.bsky.social · 16h

I think Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic is pretty close to what you imagine. I never played but heard is it very realistic.

Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 12d

The GRFP announcement from NSF cuts out an entire cohort of 2nd year students from consideration, without warning. This is so deeply unfair that it warrants a formal protest from the scientific community. If someone wants to work with me to craft an open letter and solicit signatures, LMK.

Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 12d

New: After a long wait, the GRFP solicitation is live! Deadlines have been extended to early November, so applicants have a bit over a month to submit. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Emily Josephs @emjo.bsky.social · 12d

Application review begins in one week for the MSU herbarium director position!!!! More info here: plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Stephen I Wright @stepheniwright.bsky.social · Aug 27

Please share broadly: I am looking for a postdoctoral fellow to work on a collaborative project on the temporal population genomics of invasive Capeweed (using contemporary and herbarium genomics), with ‪‪@shaky-dingo.bsky.social‬ and colleagues

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · Aug 21

Our Pitt Microbiology and Molecular Genetics department in the School of Medicine is recruiting..

Microbiologists! 🧫🦠🔬🧪

Please apply to join our faculty and enjoy these views 👀 while doing great science

cfopitt.taleo.net/careersectio...

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

José Cerca @naturalselection.bsky.social · Aug 19

The 2025-26 Eco-Evo job list is out. Good luck to those applying!

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

ecoevojobs.net 2025-26

docs.google.com

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Martin Turcotte @exp-evoeco.bsky.social · Aug 19

Depends on the journal

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Martin Turcotte @exp-evoeco.bsky.social · Aug 19

Often I can submit without login in by using the same initial link sent to download the MS.

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Rachel Germain @gerlame.bsky.social · Aug 17

We use annual plants, flour beetles, and duckweed in the lab, greenhouse, and field to test how processes of community assembly interact and how they feedback with evolution

Check out our website & lab instagram page

(email and website deliberately not posted here to prevent spam)

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Christian Kost @kostchristian.bsky.social · Aug 8

I am excited to announce that the position of a senior postdoc (3 +3 years) in the field of theoretical biology is available in my group.

The position provides the opportunity to closely interact with experimentalists and develop own research projects.

Please RT.

Details 👇:
shorturl.at/iiiOv

116 FB 5 Research Assistant (m/f/d) field of Theoretical Ecology and Evolution or Computational Biology: Uni Osnabrück

shorturl.at

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Dr. Carly Kenkel @drcarl.bsky.social · May 15

Its that time again - the list of Ecology/Evolution/Marine Bio Labs recruiting grad students for Fall 2026 is live!
PIs enter your position info here: forms.gle/2XTHBP6CZGEn...
Prospective students (and PIs not recruiting) share the composite list: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Please share! 🧪

Ecology/Evolution/Marine Biology labs recruiting for Fall 2026

Please complete this form if you are a PI recruiting graduate students for a Fall 2026 start. If you are NOT recruiting, feel free to share the response sheet with prospective students looking for lab...

forms.gle

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Christopher Dick @chrisdick.bsky.social · Jul 9

Herbarium director position opening at Oregon State University ‪@osu-herbarium.bsky.social‬ Great opportunity for herbarium- and field-trained botanists at any rank. bpp.oregonstate.edu/bpp/about/op...

Open Positions

bpp.oregonstate.edu

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Florian Altermatt @florianaltermatt.bsky.social · Jul 4

Apply now: #PhD #position “Advancing environmental DNA (#eDNA) approaches to future-proof #environmental #monitoring of #aquatic #ecosystems” 🧬 🔎 🦐 🧪 🐟 (4 years position)

➡️ apply.refline.ch/673277/1268/...

Thanks for sharing to suitable candidates! @eawag.bsky.social

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · Jun 11

New preprint dropped:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
by PhD student Swapna Subramanian. Wild yeasts on apple orchards in CT exhibit local adaptation (and sometimes maladaptation) to their particular orchard & apple variety. The dominant yeast's adaptation affects community composition

Local adaptation shapes community composition without affecting performance

Eco-evolutionary theory predicts that local adaptation should influence community assembly and performance, yet empirical tests of these predictions remain limited, particularly at microgeographic sca...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · Jun 10

New from The Strain Team:
🎊 Springer Nature Discovers MDPI 🎊

Springer Nature has spawned a copycat journal series called "Discover" mimicking #MDPI journal titles and citation behaviours. We even made a browser game to prove it (see 🔗).

Gross! 😀 1/n

#ResearchIntegrity #SciPub #AcademicSky

Spinger Nature Discovers MDPI – The Strain on Scientific Publishing

Home page for the paper ‘The Strain on Scientific Publishing’ by Mark A Hanson, Dan Brockington, Paolo Crosetto and Pablo Gomez Barreiro

the-strain-on-scientific-publishing.github.io

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · Jun 8

Sharing the most significant work from my group, led by the @evolvingstem.bsky.social team.

Come for the discoveries of how Pseudomonas adapts in biofilms, stay for the story of how they were discovered by thousands of young scientists in grades 9-12. 🧪🧫🧬🧵

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

Student-led experimental evolution reveals novel biofilm regulatory networks underlying adaptations to multiple niches

We established a research-education partnership known as EvolvingSTEM that provides secondary school students the opportunity to conduct authentic research experiments centered on microbial evolution....

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · Jun 2

Get the word out far and wide. New opportunity from the Simons Foundation in the Eco-Evo space.

2026 Simons Graduate Fellowship in Ecology and Evolution Awards, due July 31, 2025, only for incoming PhD students who plan to start their PhDs in Fall 2026.

www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution

The purpose of these awards is to provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in ecology and evolution. While we will consider all projects in ecolo...

www.simonsfoundation.org

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Martin Turcotte @exp-evoeco.bsky.social · May 22

#Postdoc Position: Interested in the evolutionary and ecological impacts of whole genome duplication?

Join Dr. Tia-Lynn Ashman @drtialynn.bsky.social and I at the U. of Pittsburgh, to test what drives the competitive outcomes between diploids and #polyploids

Details: shorturl.at/EHOeJ

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Martin Turcotte @exp-evoeco.bsky.social · May 14

I think it will be complex due to time lags (ecological conditions --> evolutionary response) and complexity of the genetic basis (recessiveness, structure of genetic variation...) so a general pattern is unlikely.
As for variation itself, it can destabilize coexistence see 10.1111/ele.12618

Martin Turcotte @exp-evoeco.bsky.social · May 13

Check out our new paper on how plasticity impacts species coexistence. This was an experiment I ran with Jonathan when I had less grey hair. Thanks @theogibbs.bsky.social for taking it over with a fresh analysis and excellent writing. Full text available below.

Theo Gibbs @theogibbs.bsky.social · May 12

New paper w/ Jonathan Levine and @exp-evoeco.bsky.social! We induced plastic responses in annual plants through early-life competition. These responses tended to make subsequent species interactions stronger and coexistence less likely.
Link: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

(A) Conceptual diagram of how early-season competition induces plastic responses in focal plants. (B) Species interactions are measured across a density gradient of resident competitors with no induction, with induction from individuals of the focal species or from the resident species.

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Bram van Dijk 🏳️‍🌈 @bramvandijk.bsky.social · May 9

🧩 PhD Position – Origins of Darwinian Inheritance 🧩

This joint PhD project between the @rug.nl (Rampal Etienne & Martijn Egas) and @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social (Bram van Dijk) explores how simple prebiotic systems could evolve reliable information transfer.

Apply here: shorturl.at/WgYMF

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Nature @nature.com · May 1

Staff members at the US National Science Foundation (NSF) were told on 30 April to “stop awarding all funding actions until further notice,” according to an email seen by Nature.

https://go.nature.com/44Ugf9V

Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones

US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.

go.nature.com

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Jannice Friedman @jannicefriedman.bsky.social · Apr 25

🌿🌸🌾🪴 🌿🌸🌾🪴 🌿🌸🌾🪴 🌿🌸🌾🪴

For American students planning to start grad school who are reconsidering their USA offers (or had offer rescinded), my Canadian university #QueensU announced a special funding call. Want to join my lab to study #plant #evolution? Get in touch!

🌿🌸🌾🪴 🌿🌸🌾🪴 🌿🌸🌾🪴 🌿🌸🌾🪴

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Joel Sharbrough @jsharbro.bsky.social · Apr 8

Small consolation - the number of Honorable Mentions nearly doubled this year (2024 = 1719; 2025 = 3018), which allows folks that received Honorable Mentions to get fellowships via the eGRFP, a cool program to help increase the graduate student pool of EPSCoR states

www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

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Reposted by Martin Turcotte

Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · Apr 8

🚨 Not a drill: NSF GRFP results are NOW OUT!!!!!

But...good news and bad news.

👍 I'm *thrilled* for the grad students for whom getting this award will be life-changing, esp now.

👎 # of fellowships went down by 51%

(1000 this year vs. 2036 last year)

See here: www.research.gov/grfp/Awardee...

Research.gov :: GRFP

www.research.gov

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