Simona Kralj Fišer

Well-exercised male mice appear to pass fitness to their male offspring Surprising epigenetic effect relies on snippets of RNA packaged within sperm

Male mice that exercise can pass their newly gained fitness on to male offspring.

If the same holds true in humans, researchers say, fathers could help improve the health of any future children by staying in shape themselves. https://scim.ag/47igpZm

This week members of the @isbe2026 Local Organizing Committee are sharing their own favourite impressions of the host city! Discover Turin through their eyes!

Start planning your stay in Turin! Accommodation can be easily booked directly on our website ➡️ isbe2026.com/accommodation/

Sperm microRNAs may enable transmission of exercise benefits from fathers to children In a recent study published in Cell Metabolism, a research paper provides the first evidence that sperm microRNAs act as carriers of epigenetic information, enabling the intergenerational transmission of paternal exercise capacity and metabolic health, thereby exerting profound effects on offspring development.

Sperm microRNAs have been shown to transmit the metabolic and endurance benefits of paternal exercise to offspring, highlighting a molecular pathway for intergenerational health adaptation.

a close up of a cricket walking on the ground . ALT: a close up of a cricket walking on the ground .

Divergent alternative mating tactics in convergent male reproductive morphs
#AlternativeReproductiveTactic #Insect #Bioacoustics

doi.org/10.1093/behe...

Contest point 7 – Postdoctoral Fellow Postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Molecular Biology, Laboratory for Evolutionary Genetics. Fixed-term contract: 2 years and 4 months Number of positions: 1

Postdoc position available at Ruder Boskovic Institute in Zagreb, in the field of genomics and NGS data processing. Check out the call: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/376320

Does sexual dimorphism reflect sexual antagonism? Covariation of female fitness with brothers’ sexual traits and their female homologues in neriid flies #ProcB #OpenAccess royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

PhD student Carolina Ortiz Movliav wins Best Oral Presentation at European Congress of Arachnology Carolina Ortiz Movliav, a PhD student at the University of Greifswald, has won the Best Oral Presentation Award at the 35th European Congress of Arachnology for her work “Winter warming inc...

Our journal congratulates @ortizmovliavc.bsky.social l for her award at @35theca2025.bsky.social !

Her work, “Winter warming increases metabolic stress and mortality in an overwintering spider,” got her a free publication in a @pensoft.net journal.

zookeys.pensoft.net/news/993

ecoevojobs.net 2025-26

UPDATE: The 2025-2026 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resources! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

📖Published📖

Check out this new research article 👉 Quantifying the correlation between variance components: An extension to the double-hierarchical generalised linear model 🧪 🌍

Read the full article here 👇

illustrated by @jmalumbresolarte.bsky.social 😍

thank you 🥰

Unravelling Evolutionary Dynamics of Female Sexual Cannibalism and Male Reproductive Strategies in Spiders Sexual cannibalism (SC), where one mating partner consumes the other in the context of mating, is especially prevalent among spiders. However, the evolution of SC in spiders is still not fully unders...

Why do female spiders eat their mates, and how do males fight back? 🕷️ Our new review unpacks the evolutionary dynamics of sexual cannibalism and the astonishing male strategies it has shaped — from nuptial gifts to remote copulation. Open access in Integrative Zoology 👉 doi.org/10.1111/1749...

Spiders have personalities—and in Pisaura mirabilis, opposites might attract: adventurous males and cautious females mate longer, revealing hidden personality-driven patterns in romance. Lead by @cristinatuni.bsky.social Read more here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

It's mating season!
Always fascinating to watch how the male tries to seduce the female and to wait how she will react...

We - EZ lab
@ezlab.bsky.social
(past/current) - presented our latest research at the European congress of arachnology
@35theca2025.bsky.social
.
@matjazgregoric.bsky.social

Good times! @ortizmovliavc.bsky.social

Excuse the grainy photo — this was the best I could manage!

Zadar, university building, view from the water.

A great conference is over. The 35th European Conference of Arachnology in Zadar, hosted by Martina Pavlek. Great talks, discussions and parties including jumping into the adriatic sea during breaks.

Beyond supergenes: the diverse roles of inversions in trait evolution Chromosomal inversions are ubiquitous across the Tree of Life, with genome-wide studies revealing a bias toward smaller inversions, yet research has disproportionately focused on large, supergene-like inversions linked to discrete phenotypes. This limits our understanding of inversions' roles in trait evolution, as their size affects their potential functional impact. Investigation of smaller inversions and multi-inversion genotypes is crucial to elucidate their role in shaping continuous traits and evolutionary adaptation. Addressing this requires a shift towards a systematic study of smaller inversions and the use of experimental assays and functional annotation to identify the evolutionary forces driving different genomic trait architectures.

Online now: Beyond supergenes: the diverse roles of inversions in trait evolution

🕷️ 🚨 Are you at the #DZG in Berlin next week? @dzg2025berlin.bsky.social my PhD @nadjageiger.bsky.social and I are very excited to tell you the latest about our spider sleep 💤 work! Come check out our talks on Friday and ask all your questions! :) 🚨 🕷️

Molecular evolution of dietary shifts in ladybird beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae): from fungivory to carnivory and herbivory - BMC Biology Background Dietary shifts are major evolutionary steps that shape ecological niches and biodiversity. The beetle family Coccinellidae, commonly known as ladybirds, first transitioned from a fungivorou...

Molecular evolution of dietary shifts in ladybirds 🐞 expansions of digestive & detoxifying #gene families in the herbivorous ladybirds, & absence of most plant cell wall-degrading enzymes in the ladybirds from the transition to carnivory link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Thank you organizers for the fantastic conference 🕷️❤️ @35theca2025.bsky.social

Congrats @ortizmovliavc.bsky.social for the 1. Prize for oral presentations at @35theca2025.bsky.social.

Condition‐Dependent Variation in Male Drumming Displays, Female Responses and Mating Success in the Jumping Spider Saitis barbipes Nutritional condition shapes courtship and mating success in the jumping spider Saitis barbipes.

🧪 ETHOLOGY: Male spider drumming displays are condition-dependent 🥁🕷️
Miriam Scriba shows that well-fed jumping spider males drum more & gain mating success—but reduce drumming when females are well-fed, and often lift abdomens. A nuanced male–female interaction! #OpenAccess: doi.org/10.1111/eth....

Today we’re going in deep 🕸️

Symposium on the science beneath the surface: cave arachnid ecology, diversity and evolution.

Thanks @mpavlek.bsky.social for the wonderful trip to Kornati! IT was awesome 😍. We saw🐬🐬🐬@35theca2025.bsky.social

Thanks @matjazgregoric.bsky.social 🕷️❤️

The Relationship Between Female Mate Choice and Male Calling Songs in the Chinese Cricket Is Modulated by the Intra‐Sexual Competition Among Females Design of an apparatus used in the experiments that provided a group of females (n = 2, 4, 6, and 8) with the opportunity of choosing between two males with different conditions.

🧪 ETHOLOGY: Female cricket mate choice depends on size and song, modulated by competition 🎶🦗♀️
Jia et al. show female Chinese crickets rely on male songs, but differently with shifting intra-sexual competition— a complex interplay between song, size & social context at work! doi.org/10.1111/eth....

Great Talk by Andy Fischer @35theca2025.bsky.social