Katrina Phillips

Exciting to see new technology help us better understand monarch butterfly migration 🦋🗺️📱

I hope we continue to see smaller (and cheaper 🙏) tags opening up new research opportunities.

#AnimalMigration #MovementEcology #SpatialEcology #biologging

Figure 2 from Arantes et al. 2025 shows a gene synteny plot for 6 sea turtle species, along with the Chinese pond turtle, Goode's thornscrub tortoise, European pond turtle, red-eared slider, and Mississippi diamondback terrapin. There is extremely high synteny among the sea turtle species. Below is a phylogeny with estimated divergence times for each species above (plus a few more). Leatherbacks diverged from the hard-shelled sea turtles in the ~late cretaceous.

Having a full suite of reference genomes allows for all kinds of cool analyses.

Look at how much synteny there is among the sea turtles (first 6 shown, I don't know where Kemp's ran off to). That's despite the fact that leatherbacks (in blue) diverged from the other species >50 million years ago!

Image of a swimming green turtle with the text: "Data release | Complete reference genomes of all sea turtles!" Below is a list of logos from the contributing groups, including the Vertebrate Genomes Project, Revive & Restore, Leibniz Institute for Zoo & Wildlife Research, UMass Amherst, CSIRO, and NOAA.

Now that the publication is officially out, boosting the announcement that we now have high-quality reference genomes for all 7 sea turtle species. Congrats to the team that made this a reality!

New haplotype-resolved assemblies for 5 of the 7 available from
doi.org/10.1093/giga...

The #FindThatLizard scholarship provides $1000 to support conference participation, tuition, or research expenses across career stages.

For more information and to apply:
earynmcgee.com/findthatliza...

Parts of a whole: isotopic difference between single keratin-based tissues and whole-body tissues of birds and mammals - Stacks Journal Peer-reviewed research - Parts of a whole: isotopic difference between single keratin-based tissues and whole-body tissues of birds and mammals

New OA pub in @stacksjournal.bsky.social : @zoologistkate.bsky.social social compared the isotopic composition of hair and feathers to the whole body of mammals and birds. It turns out these tissues can sometimes (but not always) represent the whole body.

stacksjournal.org/article/davi...

An aerial view of downtown Mobile along the Mobile River overlaid with informational text about the upcoming conference: Gulf Conference 2026 | May 4-7 ~ Mobile, Alabama | Now Open! Registration

Did you miss the #GulfCon abstract submission deadline?

No you didn't! The abstract submission portal is open and accepting abstracts through Nov. 21.

app.sessionboard.com/submit/2026-...

Two of the field crew from the Marine Resources Division haul a gillnet back on board the vessel to see what fish and at what sizes are in the area

Smooth seas extend to the horizon

The water was clear enough to see the ripples in the the sand below

A small pinfish is brought on board for measuring before being released back in the bay

It was a beautiful day to be on the water with the ADCNR gillnet sampling program in Grand Bay and by the west end of Dauphin Island.

The Marine Resources Division collects fisheries-independent data throughout the year to monitor fish populations & guide #FisheriesManagement decisions.🌊🐟

Genomics for Biodiversity Conference - from genomes to impact 29–31 October 2025Summary🗓️ Dates:  29 - 31 October 2025 (click to add to your agenda!)🔗 Online venue: ERGA YouTube ChannelWe are excited to announce the Genomics for Biodiversity Conference organised...

It’s almost time for the Genomics for Biodiversity Conference — happening next week!
🗓️ 29–31 October
💻 Fully online & free of charge
Find all the details, including the full programme 👇
www.erga-biodiversity.eu/post/genomic...

@biogeneurope.bsky.social @ebpgenome.bsky.social #genomics #biodiversity

Illustration of the ecosystems and marine life found in the Gulf. Pelicans fly above mangroves and marsh. Coastal fish and inverts inhabit shallow reefs, while tuna, sea turtles, and a whale shark swim offshore below and among Sargassum. Image by National Geographic.

#GulfCon sessions include: Living Resources; Resilience of Natural & Human Systems; Data Collection & Synthesis; Science, Practice, & Policy

Workshops include: Examining Gulf Species Declines; Gulf Literacy Principles; Collaborative Modeling for Stakeholder-Driven Science

Image from NatGeo

Satellite image of the Gulf of Mexico

The 2026 Gulf Conference will be here in Mobile, AL from May 4-7

Open to coastal scientists & stakeholders in government, academia, non-profit, and private sectors to discuss current Gulf research and help plan for the future of the Gulf.

Abstracts due Nov 7

gulfofamericaalliance.org/gulfcon2026

Good news and bad news here. The GRFP solicitation is now live. Yay!
However, those who have completed more than a year of graduate school already are no longer eligible. This absolutely sucks...

ecoevojobs.net 2025-26

UPDATE: The 2025-2026 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resources! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Obligatory selfie in front of an official sign reading "Dauphin Island Sea Lab", complete with a knobbly old oak tree and a couple palmettos in the background.

✨Life Update✨: I'm excited to announce that I've started a new position as Senior Marine Scientist at Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Stay tuned for new scientific adventures from the Gulf coast of Alabama 🌊🐢👩‍🔬

@disealab.bsky.social

Sunlight filters through a leafy green canopy onto a narrow trail through the forest, bordered by mosses and ferns

Moment of zen brought to you by Great Smoky Mountains National Park ⛰️

Global Decline in the Size of Sea Turtles Changes in mean adult body size may be a universal response to global warming and sometimes lead to conservation concerns. Using a 30-year data set for green turtles from Malaysia, we show a decrease...

Declining mean size of green turtles nesting in Malaysia from 2005 to 2022.
Summary of nesting female size changes across 13 green turtle rookeries, 9 hawksbill, 6 loggerhead, 2 olive ridley, and 1 leatherback rookery (Hays et al. 2025).
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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Low growth rates at high population densities in sea turtles - Marine Biology Over 29 years (1996–2024) in a lagoon environment in the Chagos Archipelago (Indian Ocean) we conducted a mark-recapture growth rate study during which 135 juvenile hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imb...

Decreased growth rates and size distributions among immature hawksbills measured 1996-2024 in the Chagos Archipelago (Mortimer et al. 2025).
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
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Chromosome-level genome assembly and methylome profile yield insights for the conservation of endangered loggerhead sea turtles AbstractBackground. Characterizing genetic and epigenetic diversity is crucial for assessing the adaptive potential of threatened populations and species i

Great to see this published in @gigascience.bsky.social! Using @nanoporetech.com, we generated genome and methylome resources simultaneously to drive molecular insights for conservation of loggerhead sea turtles in Cape Verde 🐢🧬🇨🇻
doi.org/10.1093/giga...

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...

Does anyone have intel on the new Simons Foundation fellowships to support incoming PhD students in ecology and evolution? 👀

Types of projects most likely to be funded? Strings attached? 🤷

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

Join us live for our next #EcoEvo author seminar to hear Katrina Phillips @katrinaphillips.bsky.social talk about her #ProcB paper 'New insights on sea turtle behaviour during the ‘lost years’. Wed 4 June, 3:00 PM (GMT+1). Reserve your place: cassyni.com/events/U1GH1... #ecology

More coverage of our 'lost years' research on CBC Radio's science show Quirks and Quarks.

Internesting Period and Clutch Frequency of the Endangered Loggerhead Turtle Population of Cabo Verde Knowledge about the reproductive success of sea turtles is essential for their conservation. These nest preferentially on the beaches where they were born and may nest more than once during each nest...

Declining trends in curved carapace length among both neophyte and remigrant loggerheads measured 2013-2020 nesting in Cabo Verde (Raposo et al. 2025).

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

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UCF Researchers Advance Knowledge About Juvenile Sea Turtle’s Early Life Stage, Informing Conservation Efforts These findings challenge existing hypotheses and provide important data for assessing risks from human activity and informing conservation efforts.

www.ucf.edu/news/ucf-res...

Learned magnetic map cues and two mechanisms of magnetoreception in turtles - Nature Loggerhead sea turtles, which undergo long-distance migrations, can learn magnetic signatures associated with different geographic areas and have two different magnetic senses, each based on a differe...

Fascinating work from Dr. Kayla Goforth et al.! 🌊🐢🧭🗺️

Their publication in @nature.com linked below.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Awesome new paper showing that sea turtles can learn the magnetic field associated with a food source. 💭🍽️🗺️

#AnimalNavigation #MagneticMap #MagneticCompass #AnimalMigration #MovementEcology #SeaTurtles

Come for the cutting-edge science, stay for the 'turtle dance' videos...

I'm happy to share that the spatial component of my dissertation work on 'lost years' sea turtles is out now!

If you're attending #SERSTM2025 this week, I'll be presenting the highlights in the #MovementEcology session this afternoon. 🌊🐢🗺️

#seaturtle #telemetry #OpenAccess

To learn how researchers collect DNA samples from eagle rays - and why this work is important - read John @mobulasana.bsky.social's blog, detailing fieldwork & how the research contributes to our understanding of population connectivity. Read the full blog below.

saveourseas.com/update/ray-s...

So happy to be able to contribute to this paper and for the US Animal Telemetry Network to be part of such a collaborative group! I'm excited to see our community continue to grow! #biologging #telemetry #opendata 🌐🌊📈

Though not a direct measure of nesting turtles, there was a decline in average clutch size (a proxy for nesting female size) among loggerhead nests on the west coast of Florida 1990-2022 (McNally et al. 2024).

www.herpconbio.org/Volume_19/Is...

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🚨 New Paper Alert 🚨

Interested in fish #migration 🐟, acoustic #telemetry 🔊, #genomics 🧬, and #morphometrics 📐?

Check out how we combined them all in this study!

Read it here #OpenAccess

👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Excellent new #OpenAccess paper by Holly Stokes and others demonstratng lack of negative impacts of satellite tracking of juvenile hawksbill turtles. Important insights from long term work. More studies appraising impacts needed 🐢🌍🧪🦑 🌐🦤
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...