Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Megan S. Reich

Asher Wolf @asherwolf.bsky.social · Sep 4

The NSW environment watchdog sat on a report for four years linking elevated levels of lead in children’s blood to current mining, and promised mining companies they would not do any “finger-pointing”, new documents tabled in state parliament show www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Environment watchdog buried report on lead in children’s blood to placate mining companies, emails show

Documents tabled in parliament show NSW agency took four years to publish report and told miners it would be put online ‘quietly’ but EPA says it was released to community earlier

www.theguardian.com

19 42

Reposted by Megan S. Reich

BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · Sep 3

The #MountainPygmyPossum was first known only through the fossil record: some skull & jaw bones were found in 1895. Scientists believed the species must be extinct until 1966 when a living mountain pygmy possum was found. That’s a pretty secretive life!

1 3 7

Reposted by Megan S. Reich

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @donnag.bsky.social · Aug 21

Ctr for Biodiv Genomics (Guelph) is hiring 10 entomologists (mostly post-docs) to help improve identifications on barcoded material: 2-yr appts, salary range CAD $62,500-$70,000. graduatestudies.uoguelph.ca/postdoctoral...
See posting for specific taxonomic gps preferred.

Arthropod Taxonomic Specialists (10 positions) | Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies

graduatestudies.uoguelph.ca

1 11 9

Reposted by Megan S. Reich

Mongabay @mongabay.com · Jul 2

In Australia, millions of newly hatched Bogong moths embark on an impressive journey twice a year.

A new study has found that the moths, with no parents to guide them, rely on bright stars and the Milky Way visible in the night sky to aid their migrations.

Bogong moths use stars and the Milky Way to make epic migration

In Australia, millions of newly hatched Bogong moths embark on an impressive journey twice a year. Each spring, they hatch from eggs in their breeding grounds in Australia’s southeast and fly up to…

news.mongabay.com

11 25

Reposted by Megan S. Reich

Armando Rosario-Lebrón @rosariolebronentomology.com · Jun 30

University of Nebraska-Lincoln is hiring an Assistant Professor specializing in insect systematics. Opportunities like this are rare and valuable! (Not many jobs like this out there!) Spread the word to anyone who might be interested or benefit.
#entomology #science #sciencejobs #bugsky 🧪

2 31 34

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Jun 21

Check out this very exciting research! Bogong moths use a stellar compass to navigate

rdcu.be/esl5o

Bogong moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night

Nature - Every spring, Bogong moths use the starry night sky as a compass to navigate up to 1,000 km towards their alpine migratory goal.

rdcu.be

2 6

Reposted by Megan S. Reich

Andy Fraass @fraass.bsky.social · May 22

🚨 New Paper 🚨
Coauthors and I just published our work in PLOS One on Canadian graduate funding. We found that Canadian graduate funding falls _well_ below cost of living.
On average, $10kCAD below cost of living.

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

2 31 47

Reposted by Megan S. Reich

Aleix Palahí i Torres @aleixpalahi.bsky.social · May 12

1/6) New paper out in Molecular Ecology! We uncover the intriguing biogeographic history behind the Holarctic disjunct distributions in Vanessa butterflies. @phylomigrationlab.bsky.social
#biogeography #insectmigration #butterflymigration #butterflies #evolution
shorturl.at/UFrrU

1 17 33

Reposted by Megan S. Reich

Jente Ottenburghs | Avian Hybrids @jenteo.bsky.social · May 1

Your daily Avian Hybrids story!

East or West? Different populations of Red-necked Phalaropes use distinct migration routes
avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2019/05/15/e...

#ornithology

East or West? Different populations of Red-necked Phalaropes use distinct migration routes

A study using geolocators uncovered a migratory divide in this wader species.

avianhybrids.wordpress.com

1 7 12

Reposted by Megan S. Reich

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · Apr 29

🌱🌎 Join us to learn about the newly published paper ‘The winner takes it all: a single genotype of Kalanchoe ×houghtonii is a global invader’ in @annbot.bsky.social by @joanperepd.bsky.social and co-authors. 🧵(1/7)

👉 doi.org/pjvs

@sphaeromeria.bsky.social @ibb-botanic.bsky.social
#AoBpapers

1 5 7

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Apr 25

www.cbc.ca/radio/asitha...

Chasing butterflies around the globe changed this photographer's worldview | CBC Radio

Lucas Foglia spent nearly four years traversing 17 countries, capturing images of painted lady butterflies, and the people and places that intersect with their epic migrations.

www.cbc.ca

1 5

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Apr 16

Check out this lovely article featuring some of our research! 👩‍🔬🦋🗺️

www.scientificamerican.com/article/this...

This Butterfly’s Epic Migration Is Written into Its Chemistry

Painted ladies travel the globe every year on massive journeys—including across the Sahara

www.scientificamerican.com

5

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Mar 19

please add me =)

1 1

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Mar 11

Wonderful opportunity to get some expert training! 👩‍🔬

alexfrank.bsky.social @alexfrank.bsky.social · Mar 10

🚨 Deadline Alert! 🚨

The BaySISS Stable Isotope Summer School application deadline is March 16, 2025!

✅ Learn from global experts
✅ Get hands-on lab training
✅ Free participation & travel grants available!

Don’t wait—apply now!

🔗https://www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/baysiss
#StableIsotopes #Science

Students of the BaySISS 2024 preparing standards for isotopic analysis. Creative Commons Copyright (CC BY): Wanqiong Mao

Reposted by Megan S. Reich

Clayton T. Lamb @claytontlamb.bsky.social · Mar 5

NEW PAPER: looking into the erosion of southern mountain caribou migrations. Over 35 years, migration distances shrank 15-25%, and elevational migrations are collapsing. Habitat loss, not weather, likely the main culprit. A major conservation challenge ahead.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

1 19 38

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Feb 16

Check out our most recent publication in PNAS Nexus! 🦋👩‍🔬

PNAS Nexus @pnasnexus.org · Feb 12

Painted lady butterflies that migrate from Europe to the Mediterranean are not genetically distinct from those that migrate from Europe to West Africa. Instead, environmental cues likely determine migration distance. In PNAS Nexus: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

2 6

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Feb 13

Who loves isoscapes?? We do! 🎉🗺️
www.facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/...

An ensemble machine learning bioavailable strontium isoscape for Eastern Canada

Bioavailable strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) distribution across the landscape mainly follow the underlying lithology, making 87Sr/86Sr baseline maps (isoscapes) powerful tools for provenance stu...

www.facetsjournal.com

1

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Feb 7

On a more personal note, this paper is the final chapter of my thesis to be published. I’m super happy to have all four chapters out within a year of defending! #PhDone

a group of minions are standing in a room with their mouths open and one of them is saying hooray !

ALT: a group of minions are standing in a room with their mouths open and one of them is saying hooray !

media.tenor.com

6

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Feb 7

Thank you again to my wonderful coauthors without whom this project would have been impossible: Daria Shipilina, Venkat Talla, Farid Bahleman, Khadim Kébé, Johanna Berger, Niclas Backström, Gerard Talavera, and Clément Bataille

1 3

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Feb 7

So why do some painted ladies migrate across the Sahara while others don’t? Only future studies will be able to tell us for sure, but for now, we hypothesize that migration distance in painted ladies is a plastic response to environmental conditions, such as photoperiod

a butterfly is sitting on a flower in a field .

ALT: a butterfly is sitting on a flower in a field .

media.tenor.com

1 4

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Feb 7

Geometric morphometric analysis, accomplished by Johanna Berger and I, ultimately showing that the differences in migration distance could not be explained by wing size, wing shape, sex, or wing wear score

1 2

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Feb 7

We performed whole-genome resequencing on our painted ladies. My co-lead author, Daria Shipilina, led the genomic analysis, with input from Venkat Talla, Niclas Backström, Gerard Talavera, and me. We found no genetic differentiation or population structure associated with migration distance

1 2

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Feb 7

6. Read more about the trans-Saharan migratory patterns of the painted lady in our related study published in iScience last month www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Trans-Saharan migratory patterns in Vanessa cardui and evidence for a southward leapfrog migration

Chemistry; Nature conservation; Ecology; Entomology

www.cell.com

1 2

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Feb 7

By applying hydrogen and strontium isotope geolocation, Clement Bataille and I confirmed distinct differences in migration distance – butterflies flew either long distances to sub-Saharan Africa – one over 4,000 km! - or short distances to the Mediterranean

1 2

Megan S. Reich @megansreich.bsky.social · Feb 7

First, Farid Bahleman and Khadim Kébé collected painted ladies south of the Sahara in the autumn. At the same time, Gerard Talavera and I collected painted ladies from the circum-Mediterranean region

1 4