Lucas Eckert

Tailspot Blenny Ecsenius stigmatura by LagunaticPhoto

July Editor's Choice article: "Parental care drives the evolution of male reproductive accessory glands across ray-finned fishes"

Lucas Eckert, Jessica S Miller, John L Fitzpatrick, Sigal Balshine, Benjamin M Bolker

academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...

@lucaseckert.bsky.social @bbolker.bsky.social

The cover of the journal, Evolution, which shows a closeup of a male fish caring for his young

So crazy to see my first ever publication on the cover of @journal-evo.bsky.social! Obviously it’s all thanks to Sigal, @bbolker.bsky.social, and our amazing coauthors

Please check it out! Parental care drives the evolution of reproductive accessory glands in fishes: doi.org/10.1093/evol...

The cover of the journal, Evolution, which shows a closeup of a male fish caring for his young

So crazy to see my first ever publication on the cover of @journal-evo.bsky.social! Obviously it’s all thanks to Sigal, @bbolker.bsky.social, and our amazing coauthors

Please check it out! Parental care drives the evolution of reproductive accessory glands in fishes: doi.org/10.1093/evol...

Our latest Editor's Choice led by Isaac Eckert @laura-pollock.bsky.social @mcgill.ca reminds us of the power of our natural history collections and #herbariums 🌱

Read it Free Access for the next month: buff.ly/d4BfrbB

#PlantSci #Botany #PlantNiche

Thanks Andrea!!

Thanks Dan! And glad to hear!

Thanks! This should include some adjunct, but they need to have an affiliation with a university at least

In case you missed my talk at #CSEE2025, you can explore your own collaborative networks and see a little summary on my website!

www.lucaseckert.ca/side-project...

Today! 430! Don’t miss it! #CSEE2025

A little teaser of some collaborative network graphs

I’ll be at #CSEE2025 talking about patterns of collaboration in the Canadian eco/evo research community 🇨🇦

If you’re a eco/evo prof in Canada, odds are you were one of my data points… so come check it out! Wednesday - 4:30 - Science in action

@csee-sceemtgs.bsky.social

Thanks! @aerinj.bsky.social

📸 #CSEE2025 Photo Contest

Submit your best shots on Bluesky, X, or Instagram using #CSEEinFocus and tag us or submit here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

📅 Open until July 1st!

That’s a closeup of a stickleback for Fieldwork, a stickleback filled lake for Landscapes, and a fellow stickleback researcher out on the water for Scientists in the Wild

A closeup of a stickleback fish

A serene lake lined with trees

A researcher in a boat out on a lake with mountains looming behind

Recently back from fieldwork - so I might as well submit some pics to #CSEEinFocus @csee-sceemtgs.bsky.social

This map ⬇️ is from a challenge I designed that encourages people to go out and observe the major group of taxa 🐟🍄🐍🪲🦫🪻 that is unusually under-represented in their county 🇨🇦

Blitz the Gap 2025

One week until Blitz the Gap (www.blitzthegap.org) starts - a Canada-wide event to fill biodiversity data gaps with iNaturalist! @laura-pollock.bsky.social

I’ve been helping plan this meeting so I can guarantee it’s gonna be a fun one 🐟🐟🐟

Collective behavior diverges independently of the benthic-limnetic axis in stickleback - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Comparing populations across replicate environments or habitat types can help us understand the role of ecology in evolutionary processes. If similar phenotypes are favored in similar environments, pa...

Collective behavior diverges independently of the benthic-limnetic axis in stickleback 🐟

Led by Kevin Neumann

Check it out!

doi.org/10.1007/s002...

Are you interested in the genomic basis of repeated adaptation? The RepAdapt group now has >70 members working to re-run their whole genome shotgun datasets through a common SNP calling pipeline, sharing VCFs, and working together to analyse data. Please contact me if you'd like to contribute!

And please check out the Blitz the Gap website for more info on this initiative and how to get involved!

I helped design some of the *challenges* targeted at specific places, habitats, or species where we need more data

blitzthegap.org

Rapid Neural DNA Methylation Responses to Predation Stress in Trinidadian Guppies DNA methylation (DNAm) is a well-studied epigenetic mechanism implicated in environmentally induced phenotypes and phenotypic plasticity. However, few studies investigate the timescale of DNAm shifts...

How fast can brains epigenetically respond to predation stress?

We found that brain DNA methylation in guppies can shift within 30 minutes of predator exposure — with different time courses between males and females.

New paper from my PhD now out! 🧠🐟
doi.org/10.1111/mec....

So happy to finally see my undergrad thesis published, and a big thanks to Sigal Balshine and @bbolker.bsky.social for making it happen :)

Parental care drives the evolution of male reproductive accessory glands across ray-finned fishes Abstract. Reproductive accessory glands are organs involved in reproduction that do not directly produce or release gametes but can play crucial roles in s

Ever wondered why (some) fish have prostates? Find out now in @journal-evo.bsky.social ⬇️

Surprisingly, it has more to do with parental care and less to do with sperm competition 🐟 🧪

doi.org/10.1093/evol...

Live near New Haven, CT, and looking for something interesting to do April 23?

I am giving the Bass Distinguished Lecture, titled “The World Without Evolution?” taking place Wednesday, April 23 at 5 pm in O.C. Marsh Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

peabody.yale.edu/news/hendry_...

Anna Hargreaves, evolutionary ecologist Anna Hargreaves conducts research on the ecology and evolution of plant-animal interactions and the limits to species' geographic distributions

My lab (Anna Hargreaves) is hiring ~3 undergrad field assistants for this summer! Work in 1 of 3 study systems : White trillium (ON & QC), Sundial lupine (ON, QC, USA) and Yellow rattle (AB).

Job ads available at annahargreaves.wixsite.com/home

@biomcgill.bsky.social @mcgillscience.bsky.social 1/2

A cool fish

More cool fish

Mud lake

Hi everyone! I’m a PhD candidate at McGill University, studying the ecology and genomics of rapid adaptation of stickleback in Alaska 🐟

Excited to meet some new people and hear about cool research!

Does Motility‐Restricting Fibrosis Influence Dispersal? An Experiment in Nature With Threespine Stickleback Factors that affect dispersal can have important eco-evolutionary implications. Here, we show that an inflammation and tissue repair response—peritoneal fibrosis—does not influence threespine stickle...

How does fibrosis (an inflammation and tissue repair response) affect dispersal? We investigated this question with stickleback in a mark-recapture experiment in Alaska: dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3... @danielbolnick.bsky.social @nataliesteinel.bsky.social @ecoevoevoeco.bsky.social