Erik Postma

#ExE2026 is organised by @erikpostma.bsky.social @btschirren.bsky.social @blongdon.bsky.social @ali--wilson.bsky.social @hansonmark.bsky.social, all based at @uniexecec.bsky.social @exeter.ac.uk

Welcome ExE 2026 is a 3-day conference aimed at evolutionary ecologists from around the world, hosted by the University of Exeter in beautiful Cornwall. It provides a friendly and inclusive platform for all c...

If our official URL doesn't work, use sites.exeter.ac.uk/exe/ instead.

A lot has happened since our first announcement of #ExE2026, an evolutionary ecology conference hosted by @uniexecec.bsky.social in #Cornwall from June 29 to July 3 2026.

Have a look at our new website to see our confirmed plenary speakers, the mid-conference excursions, and more.

👉 evoxeco.uk 👈

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in Gamebirds: A One Health Approach to Understanding and Mitigating the Risk of AMR Evolution and Spread through Ecosystems at University of Exeter on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in Gamebirds: A One Health Approach to Understanding and Mitigating the Risk of AMR Evolution and Spread through Ecosystems at University of Exeter, list...

*PhD opportunity @uniexecec.bsky.social* How does antimicrobial resistance spread through ecosystems?

Combine fieldwork (rodent trapping 🐭, habitat surveys 🌳, pheasant sampling 🦤), molecular techniques, GIS, and spatial modelling to understand AMR evolution and spread. 🔬🦠🧪
Please repost!

Investigating the Role of Host Microbiome Dynamics as Drivers of Wildlife Disease Using a One Health Framework at University of Exeter on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Investigating the Role of Host Microbiome Dynamics as Drivers of Wildlife Disease Using a One Health Framework at University of Exeter, listed on FindAPhD.com

**PhD opportunity at @uniexecec.bsky.social** How does host microbiome dynamics affect wildlife disease?

Combine molecular techniques, statistical modelling, and field sampling to understand how microbiome dynamics in 🦡 affects their susceptibility to bTB. 🔬🦠🧪 Please repost! shorturl.at/q3OxV

**PhD opportunity @uniexecec.bsky.social** How is immunogenetic variation maintained in the wild?

Why are alleles that increase disease susceptibility maintained in populations, when natural selection should eliminate them?

Congratulations to Dr @euantheyoung.bsky.social who defended his PhD yesterday on 'Family matters: The role of trade-offs in shaping human life-histories and health' research.rug.nl/en/publicati... @rug.nl supervised with @erikpostma.bsky.social @lummaalab.bsky.social 🎉

First up - understanding how the host microbiome can shape prevalence and severity of infection with Mycobacterium bovis in wild European Badgers, funded by @swbiodtp.bsky.social

bpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristo...

Co-supervised by @btschirren.bsky.social
#mycobacterium #badger #melesmeles

We have just launched our projects for #phd studentships starting in Sept 26 🙌

⏰Application deadline: Midday, Wed 3 Dec 25

Come and see the (wide!) range of #bioscience projects 👉 tinyurl.com/3m9um286

De risico’s en voordelen van oudere broers en zussen Jong Geleerd: Hoe meer kinderen een moeder krijgt, hoe minder lang ze zelf leeft. Tenminste, dat gold voor Finse moeders ten tijde van de Grote Finse Hongersnood. Deze en andere opmerkelijke feiten de...

... and in Dutch national newspaper @NRC www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

Having children plays a complicated role in the rate we age The effort of reproducing may divert energy away from repairing DNA or fighting illness, which could drive ageing, but a new study suggests that is only the case when environmental conditions are toug...

And his amazing work hasn't gone unnoticed, as evidenced by coverage in @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2503...

A week before his defence @rug.nl, the publication of @euantheyoung.bsky.social's chapter on the lifespan cost of reproduction in @science.org Advances - with @hannahdugdale.bsky.social, @lummaalab.bsky.social and myself - couldn't have been better timed! 👍 🥳 🥂https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adz6422

A teal flyer for a PhD opportunity to investigate how warming may change antimicrobial resistance. The project will use experiments on Klebsiella bacteria to answer questions about how temperature affects their response to antibiotics, plasmid transfer, and fitness costs. The research involves microbiology lab work, bioinformatics, and mathematical modeling. The flyer includes contact details for Dr. Daniel Padfield and the logos of the sponsoring institutions.

I have an MRC-funded PhD project available (www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...) on how warming will change the problem of AMR. Join a small and friendly group (padpadpadpad.netlify.app/about) in (sometimes) sunny Cornwall. 🧪🦠 #microsky

Please share the ad below with anyone who may be interested.

2 job adverts on a NERC project w myself + @darrenobbard.bsky.social on “What determines the virome: ecology and the environment, evolution, or species history?” early 2026 in
@uniexecec.bsky.social
- Postdoc: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
- RA: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
Pls share!

Fully funded PhD working on insectivorous bird declines with a broad range of stakeholders. Starting ASAP #ornithology #zoology #biodiversity #science #ecology
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...

Well that’s the “highlight” of my week for sure!
Thrilled to see our recent paper covered in Nature’s Research Highlight: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Also see @markspa.bsky.social’s neat explainer below.

Age- and sex-dependent associations between the number of older siblings and early-life survival in pre-industrial humans | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Siblings are an important part of an individual’s early-life environment and may therefore play an important role in shaping an individual’s survival. The quantification of sibling effects on survival is challenging, however, especially in long-lived ...

1. My first ever paper is out! With
@euantheyoung.bsky.social
@lummaalab.bsky.social
@erikpostma.bsky.social
@hannahdugdale.bsky.social
How do older siblings, and their sex and age, affect the survival of younger siblings? Find out by checking below.

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....

𝗩𝗔𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗬
As FAIRification steward you'll scout the nature data landscape and help researchers making their data FAIR. Do you bring quantitative/technical as well as interpersonal skills? Then this vacancy of the LTER-Life digital twin project is for you!

nioo.knaw.nl/en/vacancies...

👌

#ExE is organised by @btschirren.bsky.social @ali--wilson.bsky.social @blongdon.bsky.social @hansonmark.bsky.social @erikpostma.bsky.social and others. Get in touch if you want to known more!

With #eseb2025 coming to a close, it is time to start making plans for 2026. Interested in the interface of evolution 🧬 and ecology 🌳? Come to our #ExE conference hosted by @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful #Cornwall. Leave your email address at tinyurl.com/EvolxEcol to join our mailing list!

A big round of 👏 to the speakers in @sevans.bsky.social and my #eseb2025 symposium on forecasting evolution 🧬📈📉, and sorry if you didn’t find a 🪑. The mismatch between the no. of submissions and the overwhelming interest in the topic serves as an inspiration to get better at predicting the future 🔮

Unfortunately, our invited speaker @colingarroway.bsky.social is stuck in Canada, but on the upside you will get to hear more about the work by Timothée Bonnet, who is taking over his slot, and from Lizy Mittell about her super relevant work on the invisible fraction! You won’t want to miss this!

If you are at #ESEB2025 and you are interested in predicting evolution 🧬📈 - retrospectively and into to the future - then you are in luck! Symposium 42 organised by @joelpick.bsky.social and Lizy Mittell is on today, and S24 by myself and @sevans.bsky.social tomorrow!

👋

Interested in working on the evolution of genetic architecture 🧬 of complex traits using linked-read sequencing of thousands of common lizards 🦎 from a wild population and common garden experiment?

#evolution #genetics

Well, I have a PhD offer for you 👇
devillemereuil.legtux.org/erc-funded-p...

**Postdoc opportunities**👇👇 Find me at poster 302 today between 17:30-18:00 for a chat. 🦡🦠🔬🧬 #eseb2025

Interested in a PhD connecting sensory ecology and evolutionary genetics? Applications are now open for a project on the Speciation Genomics of Eye Size Variation in Heliconius Butterflies in our lab at LMU Munich: www.evol.bio.lmu.de/research/mer... Please repost!

First chicks today on Penryn Campus @uniexecec.bsky.social
#springhassprung #phenology #nestboxpopulation

Plots illustrating the results of an interrupted time series analysis of submission and acceptance rates, showing a decline in submission rates but little to no change in acceptance rates post-COVID-19 pandemic.

How did the #COVID-19 pandemic shape scientific productivity? Stephanie Meirmans, @maurineneiman.bsky.social, Shalene Singh-Shepherd @royalsocietypublishing.org and I crunched the submission and acceptance data for 25 journals in #Ecology&Evolution: doi.org/10.1098/rspb... @uniexecec.bsky.social

What do you think, can we forecast evolution❓

@sevans.bsky.social and I would love to hear your thoughts, so if you are going to #ESEB2025, submit a talk to our symposium (S24: Forecasting evolution in natural populations) and join @colingarroway.bsky.social and Patrik Nosil!

Deadline April 25.