Paradyse Blackwood, Ph.D.

Very proud of this perspective that came out of some really interesting and difficult conversations with friends and colleagues!

TLDR: how do scientists define sex? why does it matter??
#EcoEvo #Ecology #Evolution 🧪

Check out our new review in Molecular Ecology! Led by the amazing @jingdi.bsky.social!

Paper accepted!!! Beyond honored to have worked with fellow queer ECRs (@madeline-eppley.bsky.social, @allydefduf.bsky.social and others not on bsky) to critically examine our field's relationship with the queer community, and how we can leverage Queer perspectives to conduct more accurate science!!

Happy Black History Month from #BlackInNeuro! 🧠🖤
This month (and every month), we celebrate Black brilliance in neuroscience. Take time to reflect, rest, and honor your wins — you deserve it. ✨

We're running out of time to stop a serious threat to the Endangered Species Act: proposed changes that would remove protections, make it harder to list new species, & let industry get away with damaging habitat.
Strong public backlash CAN make a difference; join us today➡️ xerces.org/protect-the-esa

Successfully added a few letters to my name last month!!! Truly could not have done this with our villages upon villages 🫶🏼

I am still actively looking for postdoc positions — please lmk if you (or your friends and colleagues) need a hardworking postdoc with field, lab, and bioinformatic skills!

I am broadly interested in evolution in the ocean, conservation and population genetics, and rapid evolution.

Slop graphics in academic journals Use this form to share graphics (e.g., figures, covers, graphical abstracts) made using generative A.I. that have appeared in academic journals. The plan is to compile these slop graphics in an ope...

If you run across a gen A.I. slop 🤖💩 diagram in an academic journal, I’d love to know about it! Please fill out this form:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Slop in journals is illuminating about journals’ quality control. And journals would like you to forget their mistakes.

#AcademicChatter

Don’t forget about the #FindThatLizard Scholarship!! Please share

#science #scholarship #funding #herps #HERpers #lizards #snakes #frogs #salamanders #game #challenge #education

We’re excited to be collaborating with @skypeascientist.bsky.social for their free livestream on December 4th at 1 PM EST featuring researcher Andy Lee! Register here for your chance to talk with Andy about his research on sea snails & climate change: sciencejournalforkids.org/articles/les....

so proud of you 🤩🤩🤩

i’m defending my phd in a couple weeks!!!!

lmk if you’d like an invite/link

I wrote my NSF GRF on this project. I am very grateful I was funded by NSF and was able to complete this experiment with my PhD advisor Cat Searle and a talented undergrad researcher Emily Martin (now a PhD student at UC Irvine!). 3/3

Our results show that early exposure to elevated road salt pollution and fluctuating water temperatures can decrease subsequent Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) infection loads and increase trematode parasite infection in tadpoles. 2/3

Temperature Variability and Salt Pollution Interact to Alter Subsequent Multi‐Parasite Susceptibility in Larval Amphibians Wild populations face unprecedented pressure from an assortment of anthropogenic environmental changes and parasites. We sought to understand how host–parasite interactions are affected by the int...

For my 1st post here, I’m excited to announce that the final chapter of my PhD is now published online with Freshwater Biology and it’s open access! Here, we examined how multiple environmental stressors interacted to impact disease dynamics in tadpoles. 🐸 1/3
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

how it started vs how it’s going…

logging in to share a quick life update:
It’s, DR. Yesenia now 💅🧠🎓✨🏳️‍⚧️

ecoevojobs.net 2025-26

The 2025-26 Eco-Evo job list is out. Good luck to those applying!

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

🚨 NEW PAPER 🚨

Variation in sexual signals and defensive strategies elicits receiver-dependent shifts in attractiveness

*Open Access!* in @jexpbiol.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....

w/ Dineilys Aparicio, Hoover Pantoja-Sánchez, Rachel Page, & @xebernal.bsky.social

🧵
Photo by Christian Ziegler

Once abundant in California waters, the sunflower sea star was nearly wiped out by sea star wasting disease. The cause wasn't clear at first, but one culprit has been identified—a bacterium named Vibrio pectenicida. This finding may help scientists understand and control this disease.

my first first-author paper is (kinda*) on the cover of molecular ecology!!!

*zoom in on the first picture in the second row
**together with a bunch of cool gene expression studies

really excited to dive into the special issue!! #Evolution #PopGen

go.bsky.app/8zZNEGV

Great resource to connect early career folks with more senior scientists looking to hire postdocs! 🧪

‘Highly‐Informative’ Genetic Markers Can Bias Conclusions: Examples and General Solutions High-grading bias is the overestimation power in a subset of loci caused by model overfitting. Using both empirical and simulated datasets, we show that high-grading bias can cause severe overestimat...

New paper with @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social out TODAY!!

We found that choosing "highly informative loci" (aka high fst loci) may bias results in common population genetic analyses

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Explainer thread to come! #PopGen #PopulationGenomics #Evolution

I'm recruiting a 2-yr postdoc to start in October or November of 2025! I'm looking for applicants interested in exploring amphibian disease ecology as it relates to climate change. Strong quantitative skills preferred, interviews start late July. More info: erinsauer.com

I am also recruiting a grad student to start Fall 2026. Grad school applications for Fall 2026 are due by Dec 2025. I am looking for applicants who are interested in projects exploring the disease ecology of amphibians and/or wild birds. I will be at ESA in August and am happy to meet!