UBCBiodiversity

The ocean's 'sparkly glow': Here's where to witness bioluminescence in B.C. Bioluminescence is a natural phenomenon producing a radiant blue glow in the ocean, & here are the best places to witness it in B.C.

“Bioluminescence is light made by living things,” Dr. Chris Harley explains. “The sparkly glow we sometimes see in the #ocean is caused by tiny, single-celled creatures in the #plankton called Noctiluca, which means ‘night light.'” curiocity.com/bioluminesce... @zoology.ubc.ca

Table of Contents — August 19, 2025, 122 (33) | PNAS View the Table of Contents for Volume 122, Issue 33

Two covers for papers published on the same day www.pnas.org/toc/pnas/122... & www.nature.com/natecolevol/.... Proud of the team, especially #MelaniePrentice & @kevinzhong2006.bsky.social with @ubcbiodiversity.bsky.social, @eoas.ubc.ca, @ubcoceans.bsky.social, @hakai.org and @science.ubc.ca

#UBC Biodiversity Research Centre and @hakai.org research from @virosphere.bsky.social and others featured on the cover of @natecoevo.nature.com! @science.ubc.ca @eoas.ubc.ca @ubcbotany.bsky.social

Like woodpeckers? Or population genomics? Or three-species hybridization? Or selective sweeps?

Then this is for you!

The typeset version of "Evidence for ancient selective sweeps followed by differentiation among three species of Sphyrapicus sapsuckers" is published today:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

What drives photosynthesis temperature sensitivity? New #GCB paper from #MichaletzLab grad #JosefGaren uses #FAsTeR to show it's 1‑day weather, not traits, origin climate, or phylogeny!

www.researchgate.net/publication/...

@ubcbiodiversity.bsky.social @science.ubc.ca @globalchangebio.bsky.social

Editorial: Accountability, voice, and trust - responsible use of GenAI in scientific publishing Over the last few years, the development and rapid advancement of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatG

Many of us are using LLMs in coding and scientific writing. They are very helpful tools, but we need to be thoughtful as we integrate them into our work flows to preserve accountability, voice and trust. academic.oup.com/evlett/advan.... An editorial at @evolletters.bsky.social for discussion:

Just in time for her #eseb2025 poster on Thursday, @squarehare.bsky.social 's paper on the Poecilia bifurca sex chromosomes was published today academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...

A female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker peeking out of a nest cavity. (photo by Darren Irwin)

Now available online in Accepted Manuscript form:

"Evidence for ancient selective sweeps followed by differentiation among three species of Sphyrapicus sapsuckers"

In the Journal of Evolutionary Biology: doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

Congrats to lead author Libby Natola!

Why these hairy caterpillars swarm every decade – then vanish without a trace Western tent caterpillars might not be on your mind every year, but during their peak outbreaks, they’re impossible to ignore—hairy larvae wriggling across roads and swarms of caterpillars climbing ho...

#UBC zoologist Dr. Judith Myers has spent five decades studying a native moth species and their boom-and-bust population cycles. She discusses her journey, findings from a recent study, and the caterpillars’ surprising resistance to climate change. science.ubc.ca/news/2025-08...

Very proud of the work from lab members and collaborators that coincidentally came out today www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... and www.nature.com/articles/s41.... A bacterial and viral pathogen associated with mass mortality in seastars and oysters. @kevinzhong2006.bsky.social @rhizalyssa.bsky.social

Celebrate #Biodiversity in style!

Support the #UBC Biodiversity Research Centre with exclusive logo swag - where science meets style & conservation comes to life! Order t-shirts, mugs, & water bottles by 31 July! beatymuseum.ubc.ca/brc-merch @zoology.ubc.ca @science.ubc.ca @ubcbotany.bsky.social

The cover of the Summer 2025 Plant Science Bulletin.

🌼 Headed to #Botany2025? You'll definitely want to check out the brand-new Plant Science Bulletin before arriving! 🌼

It has a ton of conference info---along with some great articles & book reviews!

Flipbook version: issuu.com/botanicalsoc...
PDF version: botany.org/userdata/Iss...

#plantscience

Linking individual animal behavior to species range shifts under climate change Climate change has led animal species to shift their ranges to greater elevations, latitudes, and depths, tracking their preferred abiotic niche. Howe…

The first paper from my postdoc is finally out! In collaboration with @kaitlyngaynor.bsky.social and Amy Angert, we outline how behavioral plasticity influences animal species’ distributions and can improve our understanding of range shifts under climate change! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Shell company: Victoria venture aims to harness the power of oyster shells Their first product is a soil amendment made from the shells and coffee waste. But they say one critical way to recycle the shells is to return them to the ocean

Marine ecologist Dr. Chris Harley supports shell re-introduction on BC's coast despite the risk of invasive species: "We could absolutely test whether my intuition on that is correct by ... swabbing things and sequencing.”
@ubcoceans.bsky.social @zoology.ubc.ca

www.timescolonist.com/islander/she...

Milos Simovic

Huge congrats to @milossimovic.bsky.social for receiving a Best Presentation Award at #ISEPEP10 for his talk on mechanisms linking fine root traits to climate change-induced yellow-cedar decline! #MichaletzLab @science.ubc.ca @ubcbiodiversity.bsky.social @zoology.ubc.ca @isepep10.bsky.social

Canada Excellence Research Chairs: 2026 Competition The 2026 Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) competition has now launched.

Hey. @ubcoceans.bsky.social is hiring for a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ocean Ecological Modelling. Deadline 12 Sept. To join us, apply here: research.ubc.ca/federal-rese...

🚨 New R package! 🚨

balancR provides tools for data balancing + robust scaling analysis, based on our recent Global Ecology & Biogeography paper: doi.org/10.1111/geb....

Co-developed with my PhD advisor @seanmichaletz.bsky.social

Check it out 👉 michaletzlab.github.io/balancR/

Male Guppies With Orange Spots 2X More Sexually Active Than Dull Males, UBC Study Finds - Karmactive Orange male guppies perform sexual displays twice as long and attempt mating 200% more than dull males. UBC scientists link bright coloration to brain development in genetic breakthrough study.

“Previously, people thought perhaps males realized that if they were more orange, they were more sexy,” explains Dr. Judith Mank of @zoology.ubc.ca.

www.karmactive.com/male-guppies...

🧬 Launching a project using lipidomics & transcriptomics to see if zooplankton quality is changing with climate. These tools reveal shifts in energy storage & stress responses—key to managing marine ecosystems @genomebc.bsky.social @psfca.bsky.social @zoology.ubc.ca @ubcbiodiversity.bsky.social #DFO

Background is a rolling blue wave. The Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences logo sits in the top left of the graphic along with the SCAS logo. The copy reads 'CALL FOR NOMINATIONS' '2026 Stevenson Lectureship Award'. The CSP blaze emblem sits in the bottom right corner.

Nominate an outstanding early-career researcher! The Stevenson Lectureship Award honours creativity and impact in fisheries and aquatic sciences. The recipient will present a plenary lecture and receive travel support. Deadline: Sept 19, 2025. Details ➡️ buff.ly/uVBjCEr @scas-scsa.bsky.social

Predicting how plants will fare in the heat is not so easy Anticipating how plants will respond to rising temperatures is critical—not just for plants, but for whole ecosystems. How organisms respond to heat is often studied at small scales—such the behavior ...

Research on plant response to rising temperatures is often studied at small scales, then extrapolated across whole ecosystems. But that doesn't always translate into an accurate prediction at a larger scale.

@ubcbotany.bsky.social @ubcbiodiversity.bsky.social

science.ubc.ca/news/2025-06...

How the summer solstice may be the cue for plants to brace for fall The discovery that plants start closing up this early in the year could upend expectations about how they will respond to global warming

#UBCForestry's Elizabeth Wolkovich highlights the importance of the summer solstice in shaping plant growth strategies.

The research shows that although warmer temperatures result in longer growing seasons, many species remain constrained by the early seasonal cues they rely on🌲

shorturl.at/WKAO2

© CBC/Radio-Canada 2025. All rights reserved.

check out this @cbcnews-rss.bsky.social interview with #UBCO and @biodivpathways.bsky.social wildlife scientist
@claytontlamb.bsky.social

#RoadEcology
#WiRELab

www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Cover of special issue on plants and heat (image not from this paper)

Scaling challenges

Canopy microclimate variation

Plants are facing the #heat – from molecules to the biosphere –but predicting their responses isn’t easy. New @science.org paper w/ @mekevans.bsky.social & Jia Hu shows how plant responses to #warming can shift or reverse across #scales, and how new research can improve prediction. shorturl.at/mQB2c

Ecologists are obsessed with linking process and pattern, but quantifying the core processes of community assembly (and their interactions) in a natural setting is extremely hard. But we've done it! Using a fun new method.

Very proud of this paper and of Emilie and Megan's leadership 🥳

Tree plumbing is hard. Xylem “pipes” must move water & not collapse. New study in #PlantCell&Environment (shorturl.at/CPF9s) led by #MichaletzLab PhD candidate @milossimovic.bsky.social shows how #mechanics (not just #hydraulics) shape xylem traits from leaves to roots, across 5 spp & 600k conduits.

Opinion: Biodiversity is the foundation of a stronger B.C. — it's time we treated it that way Opinion: Unlike many other provinces, B.C. still has no stand-alone law that protects biodiversity but healthy ecosystems are the foundation of a resilient economy, healthy communities and long-term s...

B.C.’s economic strategy talks about reconciliation and climate adaptation as core tenets, and these must remain through turbulent times, says evolutionary biologist Dr. Sally Otto, @zoology.ubc.ca.

yhoo.it/3SFCB7Q

We would like to play around with ecosystem modelling, so we designed a Summer School for that!
With training on Madingley Models, high performance computing, git and code optimization, we'll be at @ubcbiodiversity.bsky.social on August 18-22.
Registrations open until June 15: bit.ly/2025-SS-BM
🧪 🌐

New paper out in PCE, coauthored with my PhD advisor @seanmichaletz.bsky.social - check it out!