Kaz Ohashi

Green butterfly sat on a flower.

I'm looking for PhD students to join the lab starting August 2026. We study the evolution of insect chemical signals so if you're interested in evolutionary biology, chemical ecology, molecular biology, behavior, or genetics, this could be a good fit for you! More info here: tinyurl.com/mrxchwfm

Known and proposed ecological functions of aboveground aromatic emissions (i.e. constitutive volatile emissions from vegetative plant tissues) in mediating biotic interactions with arthropods, other plants, and microorganisms.

#Viewpoint: Exploring the importance of aromatic #plants' extrafloral volatiles for #pollinator attraction

Kantsa et al. 👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#LatestIssue #PlantScience

Ants on flowers: Protective ants impose a low but variable cost to pollination, moderated by location of extrafloral nectaries and type of flower visitor Individuals who engage in multiple mutualisms often have to pay indirect costs because of the interference of one mutualism on another. We found that protective ants had a low but variable impact on ....

🐜 Ants on flowers

A meta-analysis shows protective ants reduce flower visits, especially by bees, but usually do not harm plant reproduction. Effects depend on nectary location and visitor type.

🔗 doi.org/10.1111/1365...

#SciComm 🧪 #Ecology #Pollination

"The fate of pollen in two morphologically contrasting buzz-pollinated Solanum flowers" by Vasquez-Castro et al. freshly published! doi.org/10.26786/192...

A new review gives us a deeper understanding of the evolution of plant-pollinator interactions If you’ve read my book Birds & Flowers: An Intimate 50 Million Year Relationship, you’ll know that I spend a few pages discussing the long-standing paradigm of how interactions betw…

A new review gives us a deeper understanding of the evolution of plant-pollinator interactions!

A brilliant critical review of the Grant–Stebbins model of how plants evolve by Kathleen Kay and Bruce Anderson just published.

Read more about it here: jeffollerton.co.uk/2025/09/12/a...

See last article on "The cognitive side of communication in social insects", just published in @TrendsCognSci . Free access under this link!
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Spent hours being spellbound by Convolvulus Hawk Moths last night as they nectared on Nicotiana plants in my highland garden!. Up to 3 feeding at a time, their entire abdomens glowing red hot in the thermal from flight muscle use!! #teammoth @migrantmothuk.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Assistant Professor Plant-Microbe Interactions We seek a creative, collaborative, and visionary plant biologist to establish an internationally recognized research program at the forefront of plant-microbe interactions aimed at understanding how t...

The Department of Biology at Colorado State University is hiring an Assistant Professor in the area of plant-microbe interactions! Please spread the word!

jobs.colostate.edu/postings/165...

The surprising power of your nature photos Scott Loarie has a challenge for you: go outside and take a picture of a living thing. He introduces the global community of people building a living atlas of the natural world by sharing their nature...

Scott Loarie talks about #iNaturalust at #TED | The surprising power of your nature photos

www.ted.com/talks/scott_...

#Wildlife #CitizenScience #Conservation #Biodiversity

Beyond the Grant–Stebbins model: floral adaptive landscapes and plant speciation AbstractBackground. Floral diversity, a striking feature of angiosperm evolution, provides the impetus and rationale for linking pollinator-driven selectio

Is the Most Effective Pollinator Principle a zombie idea? How do plants adapted to one pollinator shift to another without traversing an adaptive valley? How should we measure fitness in pollinator selection studies? We explore these questions and more in a new review doi.org/10.1093/aob/...

Assistant Professor of Biology The Biology Department at Oberlin College invites applications for a full-time tenure track faculty position in the College of Arts and Sciences in conservation ecology. Initial appointment to this po...

🚨🚨 New tenure track position in #ConservationBiology @oberlincollege.bsky.social in the #Biology department--come join us, and contribute to our brand new Environmental Science major too! #biologyjobs #ecologyjobs

jobs.oberlin.edu/postings/16671

Even more fascinating after reading ‘Birds and flowers’ book by @jeffollerton.bsky.social
#BirdPollination #Generalists #Ecology

Exclusion of bird pollinators impacts mating system and reduces offspring fitness in a pollination-generalist tree AbstractBackground and Aims. Compared to pollinating insects and non-flying mammals (NFM), nectarivorous birds may display behaviours leading to greater po

🐦🐝 In Banksia menziesii, excluding birds cut fruit set, seed viability, and genetic diversity, while inbreeding rose. Honeybees moved plenty of pollen but increased selfing. Birds proved the most effective pollinators, with genetic gains that may drive bird-pollinated flowers. bit.ly/4fuAz58

This is a photo of a brown and red bird to the left of a flowering cactus, it is set against a blue sky.

Are specializations evolutionary dead ends? Morrison et al. reveal that in bird carotenoid evolution, continuity and stability are two sides of the same coin.

Read now ahead of print!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Fig.3 Micropatterns on the petal surface are created by variation in epidermal cell pigment, shape and cuticle textures.

✨ Paper spotlight ✨

(🧵 1/3) Evolution of petal patterning: blooming floral diversity at the microscale
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Are you a PI in a biology field looking for postdocs? Here is a Starter Pack of early career biologists currently seeking postdoctoral positions! (Also if you are searching for a postdoc, let me know if you want to be added!) go.bsky.app/8zZNEGV

Dieunomia heteropoda? I got curious and asked the BeeMachine app, then looked for similar Dieunomia images. We don’t have this genus in Japan, but what an amazing look for a halictid! (if I’m correct)

We have a unique opportunity for a junior researcher, PhD student or postdoc, to use a revolutionary technique for mineral nutrient imaging and tracing in plants. Please re-post! Interested candidates should apply through the portal at the link below:

career5.successfactors.eu/career?compa...

I believe you’re talking about tsukibito.

Interested in a PhD connecting sensory ecology and evolutionary genetics? Applications are now open for a project on the Speciation Genomics of Eye Size Variation in Heliconius Butterflies in our lab at LMU Munich: www.evol.bio.lmu.de/research/mer... Please repost!

Convergent acquisition of disulfide-forming enzymes in malodorous flowers Identifying the metabolic and genetic changes that confer evolutionary novelty is essential for understanding the factors facilitating or constraining the occurrence of traits. We show that dimethyl d...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A clear-wing hawkmoth (Cephonodes hylas) oviposits on a young shoot of Gardenia jasminoides, its larval host plant. The moth’s body is sharply lit against the glossy green foliage, emphasizing its fuzzy yellow thorax and striped abdomen.

In mid-air, a clear-wing hawkmoth (Cephonodes hylas) hovers with wings outstretched.

Glad to see the clear-wing hawkmoth (Cephonodes hylas) is back in our garden! The way they quickly and accurately find their food plants (Gardenia jasminoides) and lay eggs is simply mind-blowing. #Hawkmoths

A close-up photograph of a Rosa multiflora blossom being visited by a hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus. The fly’s translucent wings and vivid orange-and-black striped abdomen contrast beautifully with the delicate white petals and bright yellow stamens of the flower.

A marmalade hoverfly on a multiflora-rose flower. I love photography as it constantly reminds me of the breathtaking beauty of the creatures that inhabit our world. #Hoverflies #NativeFliwers

In today's episode of the Night Science Podcast we talk with Martin Schwartz from Yale about the importance of stupidity in science: while learning science makes you feel smart, true scientific discovery often involves feeling stupid, because it means venturing into the unknown.

Super happy! Published teaching module: Understanding Natural Selection: Definitions, Historical Development, Mechanisms, and Usage in Contemporary Times qubeshub.org/publications... @juleyvc.bsky.social @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social @tyandresbray.bsky.social 🧪🧬👩‍🔬 #newPI #RIE2 #TeachingEvolution

Masters or PHD student – nectar evolutionary ecology Amy Parachnowitsch’s Floral Evolutionary Ecology Lab University of New Brunswick I am seeking a motivated student(s) to examine the role of anthropomorphic change in nectar evolutionary ecology. Potential projects include: 1) assessing how anthropogenic change affects nectar evolution, 2) quantifying phenotypic selection on nectar traits and assessing the ecological contexts where it is a target of selection, and 3) determining the ecological and genetic contributions to nectar variation to allow a predictive framework for evolutionary change. Project details will be determined with the student. Likely systems will be fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium) or white clover (Trifolium repens). More about the Biology program at UNB: https://www.unb.ca/fredericton/science/depts/biology/graduate/index.html Requirements: 4-year undergraduate degree in Biology or similar / research Masters degree for PhD position. Undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 or higher. English language proficiency. Research experience an asset (e.g. honours thesis). Deadline: recruitment will continue until filled, however applications before May 5, 2025 can apply for recruitment scholarships to top up salary. Sept 2025 or Jan 2026 start date Salary: UNB Biology base stipend $13500 plus tuition and fees (includes teaching assistant position for 2 semesters/year). Apply: send a cover letter of research interests, CV, and transcripts (can be unofficial) to aparachn@unb.ca (application to UNB will follow recruitment) Note: Qualified international applicants are welcome to apply but may face additional requirements (e.g. proof of language proficiency, etc).

I'm seeking graduate students interested in studying nectar evolutionary ecology. Masters or PhD. Sep 2025 or Jan 2026 start. Interested students encouraged to apply by May 5 to be eligible for additional scholarships. #gradschool #flower #evolution #nectar #pollination

A huge ground blue gentian with more than ten flowers.

A huge Gentiana zollingeri 😍 #NativePlants #Spring

A male carpenter bee hovers mid-air with its wings outstretched. Its body is robust, with a golden-brown thorax and a shiny, dark abdomen.

A male mason bee is perched on the edge of a blue gentian flower. The bee has a reddish-brown, fuzzy thorax and a dark metallic greenish head. Its wings are translucent and neatly folded over its back.

A male Eucera bee with very long antennae visits a cluster of blue gentian flowers. The bee is facing downward into one of the blossoms, its wings reflecting light.

A female Andrena bee resting on a leaf with large yellow pollen cakes on its hind legs. Her body is also covered with pollen grains.

Took a short walk around campus. Delighted to see a carpenter bee, a mason bee, a long-horned bee, and a mining bee! #Bees

Close-up of a tiny bird perched on a green stem. It has an iridescent green head with fine whisker-like feathers, a striking pink-red bill, and a distinctive spotted pattern on its white chest. The bird's neck features black stripes with cream accents, and its body shows metallic green and gold hues. The background is softly blurred in muted green tones, highlighting the bird's intricate details and colorful plumage.

Another understated bird, the male Black-crested Coquette hummingbird at @tapirvalley.bsky.social #CostaRica

#birds #nature #hummingbirds 🌿

Here is the very first publication of the SCAPE joint special issue of JPE with @nordicjbotany.bsky.social (scheduled late 2025/early 2026) - an extremely well-thought editorial by James Thomson on how we should think about the pollination crisis: doi.org/10.26786/192...