Graham Coop

The core-pivotal index: a geometry-first approach to academic impact The defining goal of the academic endeavor is to establish a single perfect value that completely summarizes entire careers’ achievements. Such an index wo

@russcd.bsky.social ushers in a new era of academic metrics with the core-pivotal author index, which assigns all credit to authors that occupy the exact center of the author list, while non-central peripheral authors receive no credit whatsoever.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag026

#evobio #molbio

Ouch. I'm always super paranoid about train tracks and cattle grids. Here I was talking to someone and so didnt spot the drain.

A bit bruised but hopefully nothing serious. It happened this morning on my way to teach so you saw me after it happened..

I've had some comic bike accidents (and some less comic ones) over the years, but my front wheel dropping through the bars of drain is a new one. Luckily I was going very slowly so I had time to brace as I fell over the handbars.

Major endorsement of @standupforscience.bsky.social's National Day of Action from @aaup.org... Stand Up For Science on March 7th in a community near you.

Just a few days left to submit the ASN student research award (due March 13th)!!!! This is an AWESOME opportunity for students to get some grant writing experience!!! We LOVE reading your grants and giving feedback!!!!!!!!!!! Apply, Apply, Apply!!!!!!

www.amnat.org/announcement...

A sedge. It may look unassuming but its genome has several unusual features.

Why do the chromosomes of cyperids (sedges & rushes) split and fuse so regularly on evolutionary timescales?

Is it because they have so many centromeres?

Our new preprint, the first major paper of my PhD, addresses this question. 🧵⬇️ 1/12

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

What would you think if a hypothetical biology professor at a hypothetical public university in a state starting with an N, who was involved in helping organize a Stand Up for Science Rally this week, and got a visit from their hypothetical Department chair and... 1/2

Society for the Study of Evolution Site description

Are you a grad student attending #Evol2026? Submit your talk for the SSE Hamilton Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Presentation! Finalists will present their talks during the virtual portion of the meeting. Apply during registration. Deadline April 15! shorturl.at/qDIP4 @evolmtg.bsky.social

Excited to share our new preprint! 🍇🧬

We analyzed 639 genomes across 48 grape species to understand how hybridization drives adaptation.

• ~14% of average Vitis genome is introgressed

• Most parallel adaptations are shared via gene flow

• Two "hybrid species" are actually hybrid swarms

Fragrant Fritillary ( Fritillaria liliacea)

Padre's Shooting Star (Primula clevelandii). Adorable, couple of inch tall plant with white petals thrown back.

Caliifornia violets

Meadowform (Limnanthes douglasii?)

California #BloomScrolling at Central valley (Nor Cal) vernal pools

Exciting announcement! My new department is launching a postdoc fellowship in quantitative biology. Fellows will be co-advised by two Bio faculty, one that is quant focused (not me) and one that is not (me???). I would love to co-sponsor a postdoc and build a collaboration so please reach out!

*Cue scary lightning and thunder!* tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwik...

A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.

NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)

Directorates to follow

1/10

A reminder that we are actively recruiting a geneticist to the Department of Genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine

careers-einstein.icims.com/jobs/17847/a...

Flatlining of US Science. Massive self inflicted wound.

Here is California the winter was alarmingly notably warm

Black Mtn Lookout Riverside 2, Riverside County, CA
🗺33.8244, -116.7576 🧭180° ⛰7717 ft
https://ops.alertcalifornia.org/cam-console/15906

(although the silver and cross fox morphs are much prettier in real life than this painting makes them look)

There are three colour morphs of red foxes: silver, cross, and red (see Figure 10.8), with this difference primarily controlled by a sin- gle polymorphism with genotypes RR, Rr, and rr respectively. The fur pelts of the silver morph fetched three times the price for hunters compared to cross (a smoky red) and red pelts, the latter two being seen as roughly equivalent in worth. Thus the desirability of the pelts acts as a recessive trait, with much stronger selection against the sil- ver homozygotes. As a result of this price difference, silver foxes were hunted more intensely and declined as a proportion of the population in Eastern Canada, see Figure 10.7, as documented by Elton, from 16% to 5% from 1834 to 1937. Haldane (1942) reanalyzed these data and showed that they were consistent with recessive selection act- ing against the silver morph alone. Note how the heterozygotes (cross) decline somewhat as a result of selection on the silver homozygotes, but overall the R allele is slow to respond to selection as it is ‘hidden’ from selection in the heterozygote state.

explanation of the recessive fox morph selection as explained in popgen notes. It's fun to see these @biodivlibrary.bsky.social pictures popping up on bluesky.

I use the silver morph fox coat as a teaching example of selection against a recessive allele as these silver morphs are homozygotes for a pigmentation allele. They were prized by hunters and so they were selected against over time
See Figure 2 of Allendorf and Hard
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Historical illustration showing three North American fox color phases—Cross Fox with mixed brown and black fur, Red Fox with reddish-orange fur, and Silver Fox with solid black fur—standing together in snow. Below them, an Alaska Red Fox is depicted in a snowy landscape, holding a white rabbit in its mouth, highlighting its hunting behavior. The artwork is detailed, capturing fur texture and natural poses in a winter setting.

🦊 The larger North American mammals..
Washington, National Geographic Society, 1916..

[Source]

How Kansas Republicans weaponized the law to target 300 trans driver's license holders SB 244 was put into effect virtually overnight, causing chaos, panic and fear in the trans community.

New — I spoke to eight trans people in Kansas about the new state law that invalidated their driver’s licenses overnight, what’s it’s like to live there right now, plus details of two DMV emails exclusively obtained by The Handbasket that shed light on the law’s chaotic and cruel rollout:

Amazing peppered moth story from Saccheri lab - same locus, but different structural variants, underly parallel evolution of industrial melanism in the UK and across continental Europe.

Society for the Study of Evolution Site description

📢 Now accepting proposals for the Graduate Research Excellence Grants! These provide evolutionary biology research funds for early and advanced Master’s and PhD students. Applicants must be members of SSE. Deadline: May 18, 2026
www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...

Illustration of two green Pteroglossus sulcatus toucans perched on tree branches with pale leaves. Both birds have long, curved, dark red and black bills, vivid blue markings near their beaks, and detailed green feathers with darker wing tips. The upper bird is pecking at a curled yellow caterpillar, while the lower bird looks forward. The background is plain, highlighting the birds' vibrant colors and intricate feather patterns. Text below names the species as "Pteroglossus sulcatus (Swains)" or "Grooved-bill Araçari."

🦜 A monograph of the Ramphastidae, or family of toucans /.
London: Published by the author, 20, Broad Street, Golden Square, 1834 [that is, 1833-1835]..

[Source]

Thanks to the Nature team for digging into this. Apportionment is one of those inside-baseball issues that I hoped never to need to learn about... But here was are.

I told them that after 18 years of teaching the class I still get nervous sometimes talking to 300 people and that's ok because it keeps me on my toes. But I'm totally repositioning the mic next lecture.

New teaching neurosis drops.
Student: It's funny. When I listen to the lecture recording the microphone picks up you heart beating, and so I can hear when you get nervous.
<sees look on my face>
Oh don't worry, it's not very noticeable.
2nd Student: Oh yeah, I've totally noticed that too!