Stuart Wigby

2 job adverts on a NERC project w myself + @darrenobbard.bsky.social on “What determines the virome: ecology and the environment, evolution, or species history?” early 2026 in
@uniexecec.bsky.social
- Postdoc: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
- RA: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
Pls share!

New out in Molecular Ecology! In which we show that small males try harder when it comes to seminal fluid proteins. w/ @ju-morimoto.bsky.social @iremsepil.bsky.social @becks-seascience.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Update – @leicamicrosystems.bsky.social got back to me with a download link to the obsolete software. Good service! (though I'm not quite sure why they don't just keep the old software on their website to save some admin).

I did message Leica but haven't heard back as yet. I saw elsewhere people complaining that they couldn't get the old software... so thought I spread bet!

Software for Mac that is (not PC)

EZ4 D Educational Stereo Microscope with Integrated LED llumination and Digital 3 MP Camera Educational Stereo Microscope with Integrated LED llumination and Digital 3 MP Camera

Anyone out there have a copy of the old @leicamicrosystems.bsky.social‬ "Firecam" software?

From the mid/late 2000s. I'm trying to resurrect a EZ4D with integrated camera, but the software for it seems to have disappeared from the internet...

www.leica-microsystems.com/products/lig...

Last week to apply! nioo.knaw.nl/en/vacancies...

Short-term increases in rival number improves single mating productivity in male Drosophila Abstract. In variable environments, animals can change their reproductive behaviours and physiology to maximise reproductive returns. Natural environments

New paper led by Lily Amos, with @stuartwigby.bsky.social and myself- very rapid changes in male Drosophila mating behaviour in response to multiple stressors (academic.oup.com/beheco/advan...).

Could Scousers have the best gut health? - BBC Sounds A new science hub in Liverpool could be the reason why.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

A 5 minute listen: @jojofoth.bsky.social describes exciting work at the Microbiome innovation Centre at the University of Liverpool

£9 million investment fuels groundbreaking bioscience research From unlocking the secrets of animal movement to tackling antimicrobial resistance, UK’s brightest bioscience minds are pushing the boundaries of innovation.

Delighted to have been awarded a BBSRC Fellowship to look at the genetics of how insects have adapted to living in freshwater habitats 🧬🦋🪰🪲🌊

Extremely grateful to all who have supported me over the years and excited to be at Liverpool with some great colleagues!

www.ukri.org/news/9-milli...

Meet the twerking pollinator with a bum-bag: the dark-edged bee-fly Bombylius major, the thieving, deceiving, fluffy flying narwhal-like insect, that is a harbinger of spring

Morning folks - it’s that time PLEASE vote for the bee-fly. They are majestic marvels.

@dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social @amentsoc.bsky.social @entcollnet.bsky.social @entsocamerica.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

PAPER ALERT: Inbreeding can be detrimental causing inbreeding depression resulting in lower fitness. Here, we track its consequences on sperm, testes, body, lifespan in a 🪲 doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
#mattgage @jevbio.bsky.social @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social @uniofexeteresi.bsky.social

UCL – University College London UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

We're recruiting a postdoc urban climate & environmental modelling at UCL Institute of Environmental Design and Engineering. You will be part of an established urban climate and health group working on active projects. Looking for someone with regional climate (pref WRF) modelling. Please share!

Masud has nailed it here. "Each of the administrative burdens that we are confronted with on a daily basis might seem small on their own but cumulatively they amount to a ‘mountain of small things’ that is killing academia"

Men with higher-quality sperm live longer, study finds Research suggests difference in life expectancy between men with highest and lowest quality is nearly three years

My comments in @theguardian.com about a new study which suggests that men with higher quality sperm live longer www.theguardian.com/science/2025... courtesy of @iansample.bsky.social

An image of a fruit fly created by collage.

Rethinking the relationship between the sex ratio and sexual selection
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by @gcmcdon.bsky.social, @daniedmunds.bsky.social, @stuartwigby.bsky.social, and @jennyperry.bsky.social

📷: Dani Edmunds

Collage of a fruit fly credit @daniedmunds.bsky.social

Huge credit to @daniedmunds.bsky.social and everyone else for this work, and Dani's Drosophila Collage!

Manuscript image

Image of a fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) credit: Sanjay Acharya

Does the ratio of males to females predictably influence the ability to monopolise mating partners? Is male sexual selection more intense when femaleIs are rare? 🪰

We investigated by manipulating sex ratios in polyandrous fruit flies in our new #OA manuscript published in @evolletters.bsky.social

No evidence for Peto’s paradox in terrestrial vertebrates | PNAS Larger, longer-lived species are expected to have a higher cancer prevalence compared to smaller, shorter-lived species owing to the greater number...

Peto's Paradox—that cancer does not increase with body size of mammals—was wrong.
A new, comprehensive study of 263 species documents higher cancer prevalence with increasing body mass. Some large animals (e.g. elephants) have some built-in genetic adaptations
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @pnas.org

Current reading. I rather like it! 🤓

Oh, this is us! With Tracey Chapman, Emily Fowler and Lucy Friend at UEA we have been trying to work out fine scale egg laying decisions by Drosophila females. Turns out it’s more complex than we thought (again)…🪰🧪

It’s never been more important to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science 👩‍🔬

Here’s a collection of posts from last year about some of the remarkable historical #WomenInSTEM in the animal field:

Aye. But still... more chonky bug pics can't hurt!

Counting chicks before they hatch: extending the observed lifetime to better characterize evolutionary processes in the wild Abstract. Evolutionary theorists have emphasized for over half a century that population sampling must be conducted at the intergenerational boundary if th

Lifetime reproductive success (LRS) is a key metric in evolutionary biology and ecology. But what counts as a success? And whose successes do we count? @sevans.bsky.social doesn't shy away from the big questions in this new paper just out in @journal-evo.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...

Me too –– they're the best!

I'll give you my em dash when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

... and if you're interested in using the Buxton Climate Change Impacts Lab—the world's longest running climate manipulation experiment—in your fellowship work, then it would be great to hear from you! #grassland #climatechange #biodiversity #ecology #evolution

... and if you're interested in using the Buxton Climate Change Impacts Lab—the world's longest running climate manipulation experiment—in your fellowship work, then it would be great to hear from you! #pasture #climatechange #agriculture #ecology #evolution #biodiversity

2025 BBSRC Fellowships scheme Apply for funding to carry out independent research within a host laboratory and gain leadership skills.

BBSRC fellowships are open: 3yrs of funding, ECRs worldwide are eligible (including the US 👀). Deadline 7th May. If you've a some postdoc experience (but no prior independent fellowships) and fancy coming to my Dept/ Institute in @liverpooluni.bsky.social, drop me a message.

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