Wolf Lab

Genomic architecture of egg mimicry and its consequences for speciation in parasitic cuckoos Host-parasite arms races facilitate rapid evolution and can fuel speciation. Cuculus cuckoos are deceptive egg mimics that exhibit a broad diversity of counterfeit egg phenotypes, representing host-ad...

Matrilines attack,

for the hosts there is no hope.

Egg kaleidoscope.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

No Consistent Effect of Migration on Speciation Rates in Two Avian Superfamilies: A Check on the Robustness of Trait-Dependent Diversification Methods Abstract. Seasonal migration is performed by taxonomically diverse groups across the planet’s oceans and continents. Migration has been hypothesized to pro

Does bird migration 

increase bird speciation? 

The methods decides. 

                                                   Calabrese et al. (2025) Syst Biol
academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...

No Consistent Effect of Migration on Speciation Rates in Two Avian Superfamilies: A Check on the Robustness of Trait-Dependent Diversification Methods Abstract. Seasonal migration is performed by taxonomically diverse groups across the planet’s oceans and continents. Migration has been hypothesized to pro

Fantastic comparative study by Gina Calabrese in coop with Safran & Rabosky lab explores whether seasonal migration can promote speciation in birds. A large-scale comparative analysis packed with methodological insights!

academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...

Determinants of mutation load in birds Mutations contribute substantially to mortality and disease. The mutation load in a population depends on the efficacy of purifying selection in removing deleterious genetic variation. Here, we estima...

Mutation load sits on the large chromosomes in birds. Fidel's comparative work on 19 bird species shows an interesting interaction between recombination, selection and gene conversion affecting the genomic distribution of genetic load.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Context‐dependent relationships between genomic traits and plant performance in temperate grasslands Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Chongyi's paper from the biodiversity exploratories (@bexplo.bsky.social‬) is finally out ! How do genomic traits interact with community ecology?

Antropogenic

havoc. Communities shake.

Genomes grow and break.

doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Sexual selection promotes reproductive isolation in barn swallows Despite the well-known effects of sexual selection on phenotypes, links between this evolutionary process and reproductive isolation, genomic divergence, and speciation have been difficult to establis...

Swallows, match your love!

tails and feathers, red or buff.

And genes will couple.

Shield et al. (2024) Science
doi.org/10.1126/scie...

A region of suppressed recombination misleads neoavian phylogenomics | PNAS Genomes are typically mosaics of regions with different evolutionary histories. When speciation events are closely spaced in time, recombination ma...

Years of fury on

ancient chromosomal dust.

Peace regained. Helas!

Mirarab et al. (2024) PNAS
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Toward the integration of speciation research Abstract. Speciation research—the scientific field focused on understanding the origin and diversity of species—has a long and complex history. While relev

Sauna, vodka, tea.

Inhale the North, speciate.

Even ants must pee.

Stankowski (2024) Evol J Linnean Soc

doi.org/10.1093/evol...

DNA Methylation Reflects Cis‐Genetic Differentiation Across the European Crow Hybrid Zone Chromatin modifications provide a substrate for epigenetic variation with evolutionary potential. To quantify the contribution of this layer of variation during speciation in crows, we leveraged geno...

Two million bases

defy conformity. Meth

rebels follow lead.

Merondun (2025) Mol Ecol

doi.org/10.1111/mec....

Is there an independent role of epigenetic variation in speciation? We looked for answers in the crow hybrid zone.
In brief: DNA seems to be in the driving seat.

Congrats Justin! This was a long journey.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Full-length transcriptomes of 25 grassland plant species - Scientific Data Scientific Data - Full-length transcriptomes of 25 grassland plant species

A flower once wild,

cast into digital chains.

A meadow once free.

Jiang et al. (2025) Sci Data

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

Conservation genetics project: beautiful sunrise after a good night sleep high up in the mountains.