Stephen I Wright

Color, size, shape: The drivers of floral variation in Hesperis matronalis (Dame’s Rocket) Evolutionary biologists have long been intrigued by the factors that sustain genetic and phenotypic variation within and among natural populations. Polymorphisms underlying components of floral displa...

A final new paper out from the lab, work from Steve Johnson, @joannarifkin.bsky.social & @stepheniwright.bsky.social

We asked what maintains the striking variation in floral color, size, and shape within and among populations of Dame's Rocket, Hesperis matronalis

New work now out led by Mark Hibbins and Cassandre Pyne : new statistical methods for quantifying rearrangements suggest highly elevated rates of chromosomal change associated with the evolution of separate sexes in Rumex!

Photo of Dr. Meng Yuan (center), and Aneil Agrawal, Megan Bontrager, John Stinchcombe, Judith Mank, Stephen Wright, and Asher Cutter.

Congrats to Dr. Meng Yuan, who defended her PhD on the genome-wide potential for ploidy & sexual conflict in plants! Many thanks to @judithmank.bsky.social for serving as her external examiner. A fun collaboration w/ @stepheniwright.bsky.social and also @stuartmcdaniel.bsky.social for a paper!

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

Testing for the Genomic Footprint of Conflict Between Life Stages in an Angiosperm and Moss Species Abstract. The maintenance of genetic variation by balancing selection is of considerable interest to evolutionary biologists. An important but understudied

Yuan, @stepheniwright.bsky.social‬, @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social‬, et al. examined signatures of selection across life stages in the angiosperm Rumex hastatulus and the moss Ceratodon purpureus.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf138

#genome #evolution #PlantSky

Presenting Dr. @bmsacchi.bsky.social !! Bianca successfully defended her thesis on Rumex sex chromosome degeneration and regulatory evolution today. Bravo!!

Male waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) displaying the compact, dense inflorescence structure characteristic of staminate plants. The reddish-purple flower spikes contain numerous small flowers, each bearing the yellow anthers that produce pollen in this dioecious species. Image credit: Julia Kreiner.

Waterhemp has recently evolved separate M & F sexes from a monoecious ancestor. @jmkreiner.bsky.social @stepheniwright.bsky.social &co reveal surprising #chromosomal complexity associated with this transition, challenging assumptions of how separate #sexes evolve @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/46sTg6u

The SMBE Lifetime Contribution Award winner is Chung-I Wu.

⭐ 2025 Winners: members.smbe.org/news/Details...

📄 Information on the Faculty Awards: www.smbe.org/faculty-awards

SMBE is delighted to announce our 2025 Faculty Award Winners!

Today, we focus on our SMBE Early-Career Excellence Award winner, Alison Feder (@alisonfeder.bsky.social)

⭐ 2025 Winners: members.smbe.org/news/Details...

📄 Information on the Faculty Awards: www.smbe.org/faculty-awards

The winner of the SMBE Mid-Career Excellence Award is Amanda Larracuente (University of Rochester).

⭐ 2025 Winners: members.smbe.org/news/Details...

📄 Information on the Faculty Awards: www.smbe.org/faculty-awards

Employment - Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Employment - Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

The University of Toronto's Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department invites postdoc applications. Salary: $70K; start: July–Dec 2025. Deadline: April 25, 2025. More: https://eeb.utoronto.ca/employment-2/ #postdoc

🔹 SMBE 2025 IDEA Symposium 🔹
@official-smbe.bsky.social

We invite abstract submissions for the #SMBE IDEA Symposium to share initiatives that foster a more inclusive and equitable community.

🚨 𝗔𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝘂𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗯 𝟭𝟱

🔗 Submit your abstract here! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

smbe2025.scimeeting.cn/en/web/index...

Message from SMBE Leadership

Final version of this out now in that beautiful Amnat typesetting! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Now out, new work led by @rejectresubmit.bsky.social - multiple origins of dioecy and sex chromosomes and genome-wide rearrangements shape the phylogenomics of Rumex

🚨Exciting Update!🚨

We’re thrilled to announce @gillesfischer.bsky.social as our confirmed keynote speaker!

Join us for the @official-smbe.bsky.social Satellite Meeting: Molecular Mechanisms of Adaptation and Experimental Evolution 🧬

Puerto Varas, Chile
🗓️ October 6-8, 2025

Phylogenomics resolves key relationships in Rumex and uncovers a dynamic history of independently evolving sex chromosomes Abstract. Sex chromosomes have evolved independently many times across eukaryotes. Despite a considerable body of literature on sex chromosome evolution, t

My postdoc work on phylogenomics of Rumex is out ahead of print in Evolution Letters!

academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

Doubly great news: SMBE is now here, and Maud Tenaillon is our new EIC for GBE!!!

Very exciting news!

Herbicidal interference: glyphosate drives both the ecology and evolution of plant–herbivore interactions The coevolution of plants and their insect herbivores reflects eco-evolutionary dynamics at work – ecological interactions influence adaptive traits, which feed back to shape the broader ecological ...

Congrats to lab member Grace Zhang on the publication of her first dissertation chapter in @newphyt.bsky.social !

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I'm recruiting a PhD student to join my lab at the University of New Orleans starting in Fall 2025. Research topics will focus on building and using phylogenies to study the diversification of birds, with an emphasis on Neotropical bird radiations. Contact me if interested.

Hot off the press! Check out the latest version of our deep dive into Y chromosome degeneration and TE invasion in Rumex hastatulus!
@stepheniwright.bsky.social @zoehumphries.bsky.social

Swirly e. e. b. logo for Ecology, Evolution & Behavior at Michigan State University

MSU's EEB program is looking for one or more asst profs in quantitative ecology or evolutionary biology. Review begins Nov 8, so hurry up and get those applications in! Please repost.
careers.msu.edu/en-us/job/51...

SMBE2024 Puerto Vallarta has now opened the call for symposium proposals! Proposals are due Nov 10th.Results will be announced Dec 6th! #SMBE24
www.smbe2024.org

Know any up and coming computational/statistical ecologists?Please encourage to join us in Toronto EEB! New Asst Prof faculty position jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...

Phased assembly of neo-sex chromosomes reveals extensive Y degeneration and rapid genome evolution i... bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution

New preprint led by Zoë Humphries & I! We characterized rapid genome evolution and extensive degeneration in young Y chromosomes that arose in a repetitive region of low recombination. Taking a deep-dive into this phased assembly with Zoë and Stephen (not on this site yet) was super fun!