Tammy Steeves

Whimsical photo of a karure | kakaruia | Chatham Island black robin courtesy of Kevin Parker. Features as a wee black bird with four leg bands: white over orange on the left leg and red over white on the right leg. Sneaky tufts of feathers peak out from otherwise borb-like body, encouraged by the unseen wind.

What are the ‘social dimensions’ of moving species for conservation and why does engaging with them matter?

This is the focus of our new paper doi.org/10.1016/j.tr... published in @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social olevo.bsky.social led by ever talented @aisrayne.bsky.social

📷 Kevin Parker

Equity in science is a beautiful lie — and I’m done pretending Science isn’t really moving towards equity; institutions are just perfecting the appearance of equity. We need to build an alternative system.

"But it exposed how the system works: extract specialist knowledge at low cost and mostly without giving credit, repackage it into global claims and call it collaboration. I declined." @darmenteras.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

New manuscript out today in @ecol-evol.bsky.social, led by my grad student Anais. We collated data from thousands of recent animal pop-gen studies to test 3 simple hypotheses: does genomic (1) diversity decrease (yes), (2) differentiation increase (yes), both with increased IUCN-endangerment?

YouTube video by University of Otago - Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka Inaugural Professorial Lecture – Professor Priscilla Wehi

In an inaugural lecture, newly-minted professors often talk about their journey. But our co-director @cillaw.bsky.social used hers to challenge us to reimagine who we are as New Zealanders, and how that relates to the work we do as researchers and scientists → www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPcK... 🧪 🧵

Fitness benefits of genetic rescue despite chromosomal differences in an endangered pocket mouse Two-thirds of Earth’s species have undergone population declines, leaving many vulnerable to genomic erosion and inbreeding depression. Genetic rescue can boost the fitness of small populations, but p...

Excited to share our new paper on genetic rescue in the Pacific pocket mouse! To conserve this endangered species, we sought to understand whether small populations at risk of outbreeding depression are better managed in isolation or with gene flow. @science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

SLiM 5: Eco-evolutionary simulations across multiple chromosomes and full genomes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.07.669155v1

The Māori values that make good sense in science The Indigenous beliefs underpinning soil chemist Amanda Black's approach could deliver a more inclusive research culture, she says. The Indigenous beliefs underpinning soil chemist Amanda Black's approach could deliver a more inclusive research culture, she says.

Recognised as a changemaker, our Director, Professor Amanda Black opens a brand-new series from the Nature podcast team — and how science, Indigenous knowledge, and leadership can shape the future of our ecosystems.

🎧 Listen now: zurl.co/aV3mu

Census change — can we make it work for us? | E-Tangata “The census is about so much more than counting people. It is fundamentally about making people count.” — Professor Tahu Kukutai.

“The census is about so much more than counting people. It is fundamentally about making people count.” — Professor Tahu Kukutai.

A new paper in The Lancet Microbe lays the groundwork for a global science-policy body to tackle pandemic threats — modeled after the IPCC for climate change 🧪🧵

Work with us! Kaimanaaki Pāpāho | Media Advisor – Science Media Centre The Science Media Centre is looking for a media advisor to join our dedicated team working to improve the reach, relevance and accuracy of news media reporting on science and related topics in…

We're looking for a new media advisor who's keen to help us provide essential plain-langauge context for reporters whenever science is in the headlines.

More info and apply here: www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2025/06/26/w...

upvote for wgs; re imputation for low coverage wgs, we and @annasanture.bsky.social have used it for genetically depauperate threatened birds that had existing high coverage wgs data from aligned projects (for the truth set) so will need to factor that in if you havent already got those data 🤓

Effort to revive New Zealand’s extinct moa stirs controversy Suggestions that nation’s Indigenous Māori wholeheartedly back project draws criticism

My latest for @science.org looks into Colossal's claim that the plan to "resurrect" moa is "completely a Māori initiative" with Ngāi Tahu research centre, Te Tira Whakamātaki @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social
www.science.org/content/arti...

Applications for the UC / Creative NZ Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence positions for 2026 have opened today. Ōtautahi based, $84500pa pro rata across 2 x 6 month positions, closes 3 August. Please share with your writerly friends.

jobs.canterbury.ac.nz/jobdetails/a...

‘Throw it in the Bin’ Legal experts and iwi leaders reject Regulatory Standards Bill Critics warn the bill could have far-reaching consequences for how governments govern amid many other issues.

Finally, someone reported it - thanks Māni Dunlop 🙌

“The final number of submissions for this iteration is yet to be confirmed, but Te Ao Māori News understands it could exceed 150,000.”

Submissions on the RSB are the second highest on a NZ bill - ever - making the minimising even more alarming.

World building: The story of kōura Crayfish are the great creators and cleanup crew of their freshwater homes. They burrow into banks, unstick gummy sediment, and deal with anything that ends up dead in the water. Plus, they’re delicio...

Also for @nzgeo.bsky.social Bill Morris wrote this story about kōura and their freshwater homes - images for this and Kate's story on red-billed gulls by @depth-nz.bsky.social www.nzgeo.com/stories/worl...

A male kākāpō standing on the ground in day time. Credit: Andrew Digby

We attempt artificial insemination in #kakapo mainly to maintain genetic diversity. A new study describes how in 2019, with a team of German experts from @jlugiessen.bsky.social, we were successful for the first time in a decade. #conservation #parrots dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

🚀 En route to #ICCB2025!
Excited to be part of Symposium 122: "Applying Genomics to Biodiversity Conservation"
📅 Wednesday, June 18 | 🕑 2:00 PM | 📍 Room M9
Joining forces with Carolyn Hogg, Christina Hwilson & Laura Bertola. See you there! #ConservationGenomics #ConsGen

💯 this and this from @peterkdearden.bsky.social: "If you don’t want to spend millions of dollars managing the last of a species- don’t destroy their habitat for a quick buck."

From Complexity to Possibility: Complex Systems Research at Te Pūnaha Matatini - ISI Foundation ABSTRACTTe Pūnaha Matatini is a national Centre of Research Excellence for complex systems based in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this talk, we will share the vision and evolving approach that guide our tr...

If you're in Torino on Monday come along to @isi.it to hear @mluczak.bsky.social and @cillaw.bsky.social speak about how we're using complex systems research as a pathway toward more inclusive, just and resilient futures → www.isi.it/seminars/202...

AOC Student Grants - Birds New Zealand The Australasian Ornithological Conference (AOC) is the primary conference for BirdLife Australia and Birds New Zealand, and the largest biennial gathering of enthusiastic amateur and professional orn...

We are offering 2 AOC Student Travel Grants of $700 each to #AoNZ postgrads presenting research at the AOC2025 aoc.org.au, Perth, 18-20 Nov.

Grant details available at www.birdsnz.org.nz/awards-and-p.... Applications close 20 June, so get in quick! #NZBirds #ornithology 🪶

Urban Rewilding Makes Cities More Biodiverse And Better For Our Health From parrots in Wellington to beavers in London, efforts to re-wild global cities are gaining traction. And the benefits of such programs go beyond improving biodiversity

My latest @forbes.com article is a slightly different topic for me, but one that I'm very invested in 🙂 I hope you enjoy it #nz 🧪👩‍🔬

Believe it or not, Littorina 🐚 not only have the SNPs and inversions we talk about all the time, but also indels! 🧬 For his PhD, Samuel Perini analysed them and asked whether they could be used as markers just like SNPs. The answer is... in the paper.
#Evolution
#Genomics
#Snails

How the Regulatory Standards Bill gives companies more rights than the public | E-Tangata “The bill may very well open the door for corporations to force Māori to pay for their own exploitation and the erasure of their Indigenous rights and lands.” — Ryan Ward.

“The bill may very well open the door for corporations to force Māori to pay for their own exploitation and the erasure of their Indigenous rights and lands.” — Ryan Ward.

New Zealand, betting on innovation and economic growth, cuts existing science funds Scientists warn that chronic underfunding and diverting support away from fundamental research may undermine efforts to boost the economy

My latest for @science.org on NZ's "shuffling of deck chairs" science and innovation budget, with @nzscientists.bsky.social et al and excellent editing by @mattbwarren.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...

Pan‐genome analysis highlights the role of structural variation in the evolution and environmental adaptation of Asian honeybees The Asian honeybee, Apis cerana, is an ecologically and economically important pollinator. Mapping its genetic variation is key to understanding population-level health, histories and potential capac...

Pangenomes are not just for humans 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧, livestock 🐮🐷, and crops 🌾🌱 --- highlight yours by adding it below! #biodiversity #genomics
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Screenshot of a post from weaselle from Jun 18, 2024: I've said it before and i'll say it again: what we want is for these things to be run like a HOUSEHOLD... a home. A household still has a budget and an income and resources to manage; all the moving parts are the same but the focus is different. A business will let every person in it die a terrible death if it makes the business profit. A household will spend it's last dollar to keep the people in it safe and healthy. A household will use money as a resource to add value to the lives of the people in the household. A business will use people as a resource to add monetary value to the business. We don't want a government run like a business, we want a country run like a household. Because we live here.

I've never seen "running government like a business is bad, actually" illustrated as plainly and clearly as this:

Indigidata is less than three weeks away! This week-long workshop founded by Krystal Tsosie and Matt Anderson is focusing on AI and Indigenous health with hands-on applications of machine learning this year. Keep up with us as we’ll be posting about what goes on there! indigidata.org

*drum roll* Introducing Data for Indigenous Implementations, Interventions, & Innovation (D4I) project! We're an Indigenous-led team building a Tribal Data Repository (TDR) & policies for Tribal Nations grounded in Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles. Meet some of our team & learn more d4itdr.org

Big thanks to @grrlscientist.bsky.social for featuring our work in Forbes magazine!
tinyurl.com/h8yj5cdf
The piece covers our recent study on time-lagged genetic diversity loss in the critically endangered regent honeyeater, published last week in @royalsocietypublishing.org
tinyurl.com/44m3b522

📢 HPRC Release 2 is here!

Now with phased genomes from 200+ individuals, a 5x increase from Release 1.

Explore sequencing data, assemblies, annotations & alignments in our interactive data explorer ⬇️:

humanpangenome.org/hprc-data-re...