Kristin Winchell

New paper by my lab! PhD student @fallonmeng.bsky.social set out to use whole genome sequencing of Spotted Lanternfly from China & the US to better understand the invasion... and discovered that adapting to the city may be the key to their invasive success!
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

The Church Evolution Lab (CEL@NYU) is hiring a postdoc! We have several new projects to study the genomic basis of biodiversity in model clades – especially Hawaiian Drosophila. apply.interfolio.com/179354

Come join our new group, you can study bugs and live in NYC! Feel free to share widely!

check out our new findings about the why spotted lanternfly are doing so well in invasion?! doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Bumping this up one last time. I'm looking to hire graduate student(s) to work on an NSF-funded project to study elevational range shifts among dragonflies here in Colorado. @cudenverclas.bsky.social 🧪🌍🐙

Applications will be considered until Nov 1. See post below for more details

I love when my lab insists I go to the field with them. A perfect day catching urban species at a beautiful natural site. Hard to believe we never left NYC

Short hair Kristin is back! 18” donated to Wigs for Kids!

www.wigsforkids.org

The NYU lizard colony (@kmwinchell.bsky.social) is now one step closer to being up and running! Today we finished these 56 lizard "condos" which can individually house 224 lizards! This has been a massive effort, and we are so excited to have reached this milestone🦎 We are so close to anoles at NYU!

I’m at #ESA2025! But just for today. I’m giving an inspire talk this afternoon on urban evolutionary ecology. Come find out what I think about when people ask me “if wildlife are adapting to cities, will evolution solve all our problems?”

7 New Grads on the Research Projects That Launched Their Careers For these Class of 2025 alumni, working with a dedicated mentor and teammates made all the difference

super proud of lab alum Shira Linsk—featured in this story about NYU undergrads conducting "research that launched their careers". Shira completed TWO publication-worthy projects as an undergrad on #urbanecology & is headed to U Chicago for a PhD in ecology & evolution!
www.nyu.edu/about/news-p...

Drosophila picticornis, a Hawaiian fly with patterned wings

Wish I could be at #Evol2025 this year! I’ll be starting a new lab at NYU this fall, and will be recruiting at all levels. Please spread the word if you know anyone who wants to work on evo. genomics, phylogenies, and comparative development of inverts (like Hawaiian Drosophila!) shchurch.github.io

I am thrilled to announce that in January 2026 I will be starting my own lab at NYU Biology! Soon enough I will be recruiting postdocs and students! Please reach out if you are interested with a CV and description of your research interests, or if you know of people who could be interested! 🧬🗽 🦊

More Italian wall lizards (Podarcis siculus) - this time, in the Bronx!

Fun new things starting in the lab this summer as we dive deeper into the intersection of urbanization and invasion!
This is an invasive wall lizard from NYC, a project being led by postdocs @annainthefield.bsky.social & @anthonysnead.bsky.social along with our summer REU students and NYU undergrads

Artificial light at night may make African mouse species vulnerable - Life in the City When thinking about a city at night, chances are that you include some twinkling streetlights in your mental image. Billboards, streetlamps, and neon signs are no novel presence to city dwellers. Thes...

The single-striped grass mouse can be found near cities, but our nighttime lights have negative impacts on this understudied grassland mammal from Africa. Floor Didden tells us about a recent study urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/05/18/a...
#urbanecology #urbanmammals

Urban acts of defiance: Tiny flowers thriving in concrete jungles - Life in the City The harsh, brutal urban environment is increasing. In Europe, the Netherlands ranks as one of the countries with the lowest forest cover (10%), with wooden forests being replaced by concrete jungles. ...

The tiny plant Draba verna grows out of cracks in sidewalks & roads. Nils tells us more about this resilient #urbanplant & invites us to appreciate the beauty growing between the pavement cracks more often
urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/05/16/u...
#urbanecology #urbanobservation

They Know Who You Are: How City Animals Recognize People - Life in the City Urban wildlife knows more about us than we think. Birds and mammals are able to read our behaviour and recognize individual humans.

Does it ever seem like your neighborhood birds & squirrels recognize you? They probably do! Jitte van Leeuwen explains how & why animals learn to recognize humans in order to thrive in the fast-paced city
urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/05/15/t...
#urbanecology #urbanevolution

Relaxing Chipmunks in Urban Areas - Life in the City The eastern chipmunk is well adapted to the urban environment. They spend less time foraging and their reproductive succes is better.

Lisa de Haas tells us about a charismatic #urbanwildlife from North America: the chipmunk. Learn more about how the chipmunk is adapting to city life by taking it easy! urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/04/17/r... #UrbanEcology #UrbanEvolution #urbanmammals

So proud of graduating seniors Emerald Lin & Shira Linsk for both winning undergraduate research awards! @annainthefield.bsky.social did an amazing job mentoring Shira on TWO manuscripts on urban moth biodiversity! Emerald is off to work w/Audubon this summer & Shira to a PhD program this fall! 🔥🔥🔥

These pictures are from a few years ago, but I am SO excited to be starting up a whole project on the Italian wall lizards in Queens, Brooklyn, and on Long Island this May with @anthonysnead.bsky.social and @kmwinchell.bsky.social and some awesome undergrads 🦎☺️

How the Rose-Ringed Parakeet Conquered the Western World - Life in the City “Dad, what are those birds? I’ve never seen them before” I remember asking my dad when I was younger. We were outside having a barbecue and for the first time, I noticed several green birds flying ove...

Rose-ringed parakeets have become common in urban areas throughout Europe in the past 15 years. Thomas Griep explains why these beautiful birds are so successful in #urban ecosystems

urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/04/04/h...

#urbanecology #urbanevolution

According to this post, I will be teaching at this thing. Apply today!

How Does Urban Development Affect Soil Microbial Community? - Life in the City Microorganisms are essential members of soil ecosystems, and they form complex, interactive networks [4] including communications and interactions with each other that are similar to human communities...

How are soil microbes affected by urbanization? Ao Mo tells us about how key urban impacts affect the diversity of these important components of ecosystems

urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/04/04/h...

#urbanecology #urbanevolution

Urban cutie 🦎💚

One of my favorite anoles, Anolis pulchellus, looking at its beautiful reflection in a car window.

The Winchell Lab at #SICB2025 ❤️

@kmwinchell.bsky.social @vale-alaasam.bsky.social @anthonysnead.bsky.social @ambystomal.bsky.social
@papayaguacamaya.bsky.social

Come check out Winchell Lab posters at #SICB2025 right now! Lanternflies and birds and biodiversity and microbiomes!

Very cool talk at #SICB2035 by @hcamarillo.bsky.social on plethodon “nonadaptive radiation” showing species clusters in skull morphology consistent with repeated adaptive diversification!

NYU MS student Rafael Baez is doing super cool work with urban frogs in NYC! Trypanosomes, chytrid, immune function, and natural history. Some truly integrative research! #SICB2025

Anoles at SICB 2025! The annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) is almost here! This year’s meeting will take place in Atlanta, Georgia from January 3-7, 2025. Excitingly (al…

Sad to have missed some great talks yesterday, but today there is another great lineup of #Anolis talks at #SICB2025! Check out the list curated by @anoleannals.bsky.social : www.anoleannals.org/2024/12/22/a...

Didn’t get enough #urbanevolution at #SICB2025 yesterday? I have good news - there’s more! Join us for a complementary talk session this morning in International Salon 5 8:25-9:45 & at the poster session today!