Tom Ratz

ExE 2026

Interested in the interface of evolution 🧬 and ecology 🌳? Then you cannot miss #ExE2026! Hosted by @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful #Cornwall, this #conference has a stellar line-up of speakers and lots of pre-and post-conference workshops. Space is limited, so register now at evoxeco.uk!

New #PhD on #bees (BeeHd?)! Despite the ad saying "UK Students only", a limited number of scholarships are available for international candidates. So please apply!

Our new preprint is out in @ecoevorxiv.bsky.social: size-dependent aggression and behavioural plasticity in field crickets, with @cdegroot.bsky.social, @roriwijnhorst.bsky.social, @dingemanselab.bsky.social, and (not on Bluesky?) Emily Herter and Melissa Bahtije Maliqi.

Job alert! The University of Zurich is hiring a professor for Evolutionary Anthropology and Primatology. Learn more here: www.appointments.mnf.uzh.ch/auth/Apply/0...

The submission deadline (Jan 31st) for the 2026 Mathematical and Computational Evolutionary Biology Meeting in Crete mceb2026.sciencesconf.org is getting closer!

Playing dice with behavior: drivers of stochastic individuality Animal behavior is often viewed as stemming from predictable genetic and environmental factors. However, despite our best attempts to control genetic and environmental influences on behavior, variatio...

The contribution of stochastic mechanisms to behavioural individuality: Trends in Ecology & Evolution
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

The submission deadline (Jan 31st) for the 2026 Mathematical and Computational Evolutionary Biology Meeting in Crete mceb2026.sciencesconf.org is getting closer!

The Canada Government will offer 400 postdoctoral fellowships to international researchers in early 2026. If you have a background in wildlife microbiome or quantitative genetics and are interested to apply to work on microbiome variation in Sable Island horses or caribou, feel free to get in touch

Abstract submission is now open for the ASAB Spring Conference in Bristol.

Excited to be back in Edinburgh for the @britishecologicalsociety.org conference 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Schematic of how ER-EPG plasticity enables the bump of activity in EPGs to accurately track visual cues. As a fly makes a counter-clockwise turn (top to bottom) it will view visual cues (e.g. the sun) from a new angle and the EPG activity bump (red) will swing clockwise around the network by integrating self motion signals with these visual inputs. When the fly faces a different angle, distinct visual ER neurons are active. Plasticity forms a trough of weak synapses (large circles - strong synapses, small circles - weak synapses) that allow ER neurons with distinct visual tuning to move the EPG bump via disinhibition.

*First preprint from our lab* !!!!!
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️

Join us in Crete in May 2026 for the Mathematical and Computational Evolutionary Biology Meeting mceb2026.sciencesconf.org on the island's northern coastline near Heraklion. Abstract Deadline: January 31st

POSTDOC ALERT🚨

Two exciting social evolution postdoc positions live today!

We're looking for two excellent field biologists. Join us to explore the evolution of sociality in wasps across Africa. Apply by 11th January.

Collaboration with
@dustinrubenstein.com

@bristolbiosci.bsky.social

British Ecological Society Annual Meeting 2025 Say Hello to the Royal Entomological Society Team at the British Ecological Society (BES) Annual Meeting 2025 in Edinburgh 15-18 December.

Are you heading to Edinburgh for #BES2025?

Do come and find us at stand LT7 in the Lennox Suite! We’d love to connect, chat about all things entomology, and share what’s new at RES.

See you there! 🪲

buff.ly/cF3NKTN

@britishecologicalsociety.org

The Totem in Leuven’s central square is a hyper-realistic sculpture of a pinned jewel beetle by artist Jan Fabre. It’s now sitting right in the middle of the Christmas market.

#Leuven #Art #Beetles

A cartoon Macrostomum flatworm

POSTDOC recruitment! We’re looking for a post-doc to join us to work on the (epi)genetic basis of inbreeding depression as part of the ANR-funded project FRIDA
macrostomum.wordpress.com/the-genetic-...
Please share!

Thrilled to announce a Postdoc opportunity in our group on the evolutionary genetics and ecology of colour. Wonderful system, great collaborators, and room to shape your own ideas.
Apply by 7 Jan: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/13477181...

Social plasticity and individuality shape variation in contest behaviour Abstract. Physical contests are critical in most animals in determining access to limited resources such as territories, food and sexual partners. Individu

New paper out in @royalsocietypublishing.org Biology Letters. We show that variability in contest behaviour can emerge from plastic responses to modest size differences between focal males and their rivals.

#Drosophila
#Diptera

royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article...

Fully funded #PhD studentships, start Sept 2026:
1. Weaponry and aggression in wild fiddler crabs, with me, Safi Darden, Martin How tinyurl.com/weaponsPhD
2. The emotional basis of behaviour, with me, Danny Williamson, Andy Higginson tinyurl.com/emotionsPhD
#AnimalBehaviour @crab-exeter.bsky.social

Volume 21 Issue 12 | Biology Letters | The Royal Society A Royal Society journal focused on the rapid publication of short high quality research articles reviews and opinion pieces across the biological sciences.

Thrilled to see our "fighting" flies featured on the cover of Biology Letters! 🎉

🪰 Drosophila prolongata

#Drosophila #Diptera

royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/issue

Less than one week left to submit an abstract for ECE 2026 in Tours!

One-day meeting on insect behaviour research in Birmingham (and online).

One week left to submit an abstract for ISBE2026 in Turin 👇

Make sure you don’t miss our key dates for abstract submission and registration!

Registration and abstract submission are now open for next year’s ISBE Congress in Turin.

@asab.org Spring, aimed at ECRs, is coming to Bristol!

Conference grant DEADLINE for Developing Country Applicants (<£2500) or anyone needing an early decision for visas (<£750) is in ONE WEEK, 1st December.
www.asab.org/conference-g...

Referee statement also needed by then! 🐝🐜🦟🦂🐠🐟🐬🦎🐸🦆🐿️🦓

Interested in how life history may shape the gut microbiome of a wild mammal? Keen on getting to work with an iconic long-term study system in Scotland?

Check out this PhD opportunity with me, Josephine Pemberton and @gfalbery.bsky.social

Reach out to chat more!

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Jumping spiders can recognise one another. This ability to learn, remember and represent images is quite surprising for such a tiny-brained animal!
buff.ly/dCkwPr0

Next European Congress of Entomology in the lovely city of Tours, France 👇

🚨 Uh-oh!!! A suuuper hot #PhD opportunity just dropped! My friend and collaborator Massimo De Agrò is looking for someone to explore jumping spider vision and neurophysiology! #psychophysics #jumpingspiders #greatPI - apply!!!! (Deadline December 17th) 🚨