Dávalos Lab

Flatlining of US Science. Massive self inflicted wound.

Spatiotemporal Fire Patterns and Post‐fire Forest Change in Peru (2000–2021) Fire is increasingly more frequent and severe in many tropical regions, leading to significant forest loss, diminished biodiversity, and reduced Nature's contributions to people (NCPs). In this study...

4/13 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 During this transition into FIRE‑DEGRADES, we have already published two related articles (about Peru, doi.org/10.1002/ldr.... and one in Colombia, iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...) and one in Chile, just accepted, soon out.

The cuts to existing programs and graduate research fellowships have a pattern: the Trump Administration is dismantling our ability to study ecology, biodiversity science, and climate research:

They’re putting Silicon Valley billionaires above studying Earth’s life support system.

Evolution 2026 meeting logo. Clilp art of a globe and laptop showing a virtual presentation. Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Global Meeting Participation.

SSE is pleased to offer free virtual #Evol2026 registration to all SSE members residing in 152 countries and territories around the world including India, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. Request your free registration code today! www.evolutionsociety.org/index.php?mo...

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🌎 Science across languages! @mongabay.com write up is now in English 🗞️thrilled to share our work iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... with a broader audience. Read here 👉🏽 news.mongabay.com/short-articl...

Friday, Friday, Friday!

SSB Early Career Travel Awards are due Friday! These awards are to support early career folks attending this summer’s Evolution meetings #evol2026

OMG OMG ALSO

Did you know Shrews shrink and grow their brains ?!

Wtf you clever little snooters. 🐀

@cecibaldoni.bsky.social thank you for sharing this unexpected gem of knowledge today.

Image of a shrew in summer (left) and winter (right), with brain cells containing more (L) and less (R) water.

Young common shrews, photo WWalas from Wikimedia Commons

❄️ Common shrews shrink their brains in winter.

🧠 The process is reversible and occurs because brain cells shrink, rather than die off. As a result, neuronal numbers stay constant and preserve brain function.

I can defo relate to seasonal brain shrinkage.

🧪🦊🌍
Paper: www.cell.com/current-biol...

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How seabird poop helped fuel ancient civilizations in Peru The Chincha Islands off the coast of Peru are home to many seabird species that cover their island homes with thick layers of poop, or guano. New research now suggests that ancient Peruvians in the…

Ancient Peruvians in the Chincha Valley used seabird guano from the Chincha Islands to fertilize maize, helping pre-Inca societies expand.

Nitrogen in 2,200-year-old maize matches local seabirds — evidence of an early, tightly managed fertilizer system later controlled by the Inca.

The Amazon’s most valuable export isn’t timber — it’s rain Rainfall is often treated as a gift of geography — a function of latitude, oceans, and atmospheric circulation. A growing body of research suggests that in the tropics, it is also a product of…

Tropical forests generate vast rainfall through “flying rivers,” meaning farms & cities may depend on ecosystems far away.

Even small-scale clearing can reduce precipitation, threatening agriculture, river flows & hydropower. In the Amazon, this rainmaking service is worth tens of billions yearly.

Evolution 2026 meeting logo. A heart with hands reaching toward each other across it. Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Caregiver Grants to facilitate virtual or in-person attendance. Apply by March 15.

Apply now for the SSE Caregiver Award for up to $500 USD to help cover caregiving costs while attending virtual or in-person #Evol2026. Deadline March 15!
www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
@evolmtg.bsky.social

🚨Estudiantes de Latinoamérica

Trabajas o te gustaría trabajar con las biomoléculas de materiales históricos/arqueológicos? Estás interesadx en la biología evolutiva?

Reserva el 4-6 de noviembre y visita Lima para la 1era reunión de Biomoléculas Antiguas en LATAM.

Habrá becas para estudiantes✨

Congratulations Liliana and colleagues, thank you for publishing your research with MBE!

Genomic comparisons and the adaptive basis of brain size plasticity and chromosomal instability in the Eurasian common shrew Abstract. Sorex araneus, the Eurasian common shrew, has seasonal brain size plasticity (Dehnel's phenomenon) and many intraspecific chromosomal rearrangeme

🎉New paper out in @molbioevol.bsky.social 🧬genomics of the Eurasian common shrew shows genes under selection and 🧠brain differential expression are enriched near evolutionary breakpoints ⛓️‍💥, linking genome architecture to brain plasticity academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

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🇨🇴's decades old innovation could come to NYC 🍎!

In 1998, only 0.6% of trips in Bogotá were taken by bike. Then, the city built 180 miles of protected bike lanes in just three years. By 2019, the network had been expanded to more than 330 miles, and 9% of trips were made by bike.

Bogotá now has 900,000 daily bike trips.

Macroevolutionaries: Reflections on Natural History, Paleontology, and Stephen Jay Gould. By Bruce S. Lieberman and Niles Eldredge. New York: Columbia University Press. $27.95. ix + 214 p.; ill.; inde...

Really appreciate this thoughtful review of #Macroevolution -aries, my and @nilese.bsky.social 's @columbiaup.bsky.social 📕 by @adrian-currie.bsky.social in @qrb.bsky.social doi.org/10.1086/738777 #paleobiology #palaeobiology #paleontology #palaeontology

Five versions of the old-timey cover of the Quarterly Review of Biology, the first one from left is the commemorative 100-year edition.

📖 For its 100-year volume @qrb.bsky.social is making a bunch of citation classics free to read, have a look! www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/qrb...

Also, too, tulips are actually pretty to look at…

Genomic comparisons and the adaptive basis of brain size plasticity and chromosomal instability in the Eurasian common shrew Abstract. Sorex araneus, the Eurasian common shrew, has seasonal brain size plasticity (Dehnel's phenomenon) and many intraspecific chromosomal rearrangeme

academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Shot Christian Ziegler! 📸 🙌

Nice science too by @cecibaldoni.bsky.social et al...

Loving the B.S. algorithmic images, B.S. tech for a B.S. visual for a B.S. purpose…

Evolution 2025 Registration Evolution 2025 - the joint conference of the SSE, ASN, and SSB

Registration is now open! Early-bird closes April 15. www.evolutionmeetings.org/registration...

Graduate Student Research Awards The Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB) Graduate Student Research Awards assist graduate students conducting research in systematics. These grants are for collection of preliminary data or to...

🚨Awards Alert 🚨

Its award season here at SSB!

First up: Graduate Student Research Awards. Due March 20, these awards are for collecting data or otherwise enhancing your dissertation. Open to graduate student society members

Apply here:
www.systbio.org/graduate-stu...

Fishers denounce plummeting fish stocks following Amazon hydroelectric dam A hydroelectric dam impacting Brazil’s Amazonas and Rondônia states have slashed fished populations by as much as 90% in some locations, according to a new a study based on on-the-ground research in…

Brazil’s Santo Antônio dam on the Madeira River has cut fish populations by up to 90% in parts of Amazonas and Rondônia, a new community-led study finds.

Species like pirarucu and tambaqui have largely vanished. “The Madeira River stopped flowing,” one fisher said.

It's a trap!

At the Max Planck institute for Animal Behavior we just started a new round of #shrew catching!

If your want to know more and are looking for a fun read, check out my new post on Substack!
open.substack.com/pub/chickpea...