Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
@eegcam.bsky.social
We are interested in how animals (including humans) respond(ed) and adapt(ed) to changing environments.
Department of Zoology, Cambridge, UK.
PI: Prof. Andrea Manica (he/him)
Website: https://evolecolgroup.github.io/website/
Department of Zoology, Cambridge, UK.
PI: Prof. Andrea Manica (he/him)
Website: https://evolecolgroup.github.io/website/
Pinned
Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal - Nature
Analysis of species distribution models in a pan-African database comprising chronometrically dated archaeological sites over the past 120,000 years shows major expansion in the human niche from 70 ka...
www.nature.com
#newpaper now out in @nature.com!
A huge expansion of the human niche in Africa ~70 kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with a unique ecological flexibility.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
led by Emily Hallett, @mikleonardi.bsky.social, Andrea Manica, @elliescerri.bsky.social 1/4
A huge expansion of the human niche in Africa ~70 kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with a unique ecological flexibility.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
led by Emily Hallett, @mikleonardi.bsky.social, Andrea Manica, @elliescerri.bsky.social 1/4
Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
Huge congratulations to Zhe and everyone involved! 😊
#newpreprint: "Climate Shaped the Global Population Structure of Leopards and their Extinction in Europe": www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...! Leopards are charming big cats but there are many mysteries around them. Thread 🧵
October 8, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Huge congratulations to Zhe and everyone involved! 😊
#newpreprint: "Climate Shaped the Global Population Structure of Leopards and their Extinction in Europe": www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...! Leopards are charming big cats but there are many mysteries around them. Thread 🧵
October 7, 2025 at 9:31 PM
#newpreprint: "Climate Shaped the Global Population Structure of Leopards and their Extinction in Europe": www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...! Leopards are charming big cats but there are many mysteries around them. Thread 🧵
#newpaper out in @natecoevo.nature.com on Learned use of an innate sound-meaning association in birds, co-led by @jameskennerley.bsky.social when he was a PhD student at @eegcam.bsky.social . Nice summary on the @uk.theconversation.com theconversation.com/birds-all-ov...
Birds all over the world use the same sound to warn of threats
The findings of a new study about communication between birds also offer key insights into the origins of language.
theconversation.com
October 5, 2025 at 5:03 PM
#newpaper out in @natecoevo.nature.com on Learned use of an innate sound-meaning association in birds, co-led by @jameskennerley.bsky.social when he was a PhD student at @eegcam.bsky.social . Nice summary on the @uk.theconversation.com theconversation.com/birds-all-ov...
Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
The phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the Denisovans | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the Denisovans
Diverse forms of Homo coexisted during the Middle Pleistocene. Whether these fossil humans represent different species or clades is debated. The ~1-million-year-old Yunxian 2 fossil from China is impo...
www.science.org
September 25, 2025 at 6:08 PM
The phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the Denisovans | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
I couldn’t be more excited about being given the chance to present some of the work we do at @eegcam.bsky.social this November & to listen to the talks by such an incredible line up of speakers! 🤩
August 28, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I couldn’t be more excited about being given the chance to present some of the work we do at @eegcam.bsky.social this November & to listen to the talks by such an incredible line up of speakers! 🤩
Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
The distribution of early human settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa might have been influenced by avoidance of mosquitoes that spread malaria
A new #prelight of Alejandra Leffer's group talks about the preprint by @margheritac17.bsky.social , and the team.
A new #prelight of Alejandra Leffer's group talks about the preprint by @margheritac17.bsky.social , and the team.
Malaria shaped human spatial organisation for the last 74 thousand years - preLights
The distribution of early human settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa might have been influenced by avoidance of mosquitoes that spread malaria
prelights.biologists.com
August 20, 2025 at 10:43 AM
The distribution of early human settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa might have been influenced by avoidance of mosquitoes that spread malaria
A new #prelight of Alejandra Leffer's group talks about the preprint by @margheritac17.bsky.social , and the team.
A new #prelight of Alejandra Leffer's group talks about the preprint by @margheritac17.bsky.social , and the team.
Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
Thank you @prelights.bsky.social & Alejandra Leffer's group for choosing our preprint on @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social and for this chance to talk about human- #malaria coevolution!🦟
@eegcam.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social @MPI_GEA
@eegcam.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social @MPI_GEA
The distribution of early human settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa might have been influenced by avoidance of mosquitoes that spread malaria
A new #prelight of Alejandra Leffer's group talks about the preprint by @margheritac17.bsky.social , and the team.
A new #prelight of Alejandra Leffer's group talks about the preprint by @margheritac17.bsky.social , and the team.
Malaria shaped human spatial organisation for the last 74 thousand years - preLights
The distribution of early human settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa might have been influenced by avoidance of mosquitoes that spread malaria
prelights.biologists.com
August 22, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Thank you @prelights.bsky.social & Alejandra Leffer's group for choosing our preprint on @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social and for this chance to talk about human- #malaria coevolution!🦟
@eegcam.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social @MPI_GEA
@eegcam.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social @MPI_GEA
3 exciting job opportunities at the new "HUMAN ORIGINS" Cluster of Excellence at Tübingen, for which I am an external PI. We are looking for early career researchers ready to launch their independent group and ask some exciting questions!
Job Alerts!🚨 We are looking to fill three Independent Junior Research Group Leader positions in the 'HUMAN ORIGINS' Cluster of Excellence at the University of Tübingen
Application deadline: Sept. 10, Starting Jan. 1, 2026
1. Genotype-Phenotype interactions:
uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...
Application deadline: Sept. 10, Starting Jan. 1, 2026
1. Genotype-Phenotype interactions:
uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...
Independent Junior Research Group Leader (m/f/d, 100%)
uni-tuebingen.de
August 18, 2025 at 7:44 PM
3 exciting job opportunities at the new "HUMAN ORIGINS" Cluster of Excellence at Tübingen, for which I am an external PI. We are looking for early career researchers ready to launch their independent group and ask some exciting questions!
🚨🧬New #preprint and R package from the lab out in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social🧬🚨: 'tidygenclust' combines the functionality of ADMIXTURE, fastmixture and Clumppling into R - allowing for reproducible clustering analyses and plotting all in one place!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
tidygenclust: Clustering for Population Genetics in R
Background Population structure analysis is crucial for evolutionary research and medical genomics. Clustering methods, broadly categorized as model-based (e.g. ADMIXTURE) or non-model-based (e.g. SCO...
www.biorxiv.org
August 7, 2025 at 9:49 AM
🚨🧬New #preprint and R package from the lab out in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social🧬🚨: 'tidygenclust' combines the functionality of ADMIXTURE, fastmixture and Clumppling into R - allowing for reproducible clustering analyses and plotting all in one place!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
Stone tools from Sulawesi at least a million years old may be even more ancient than those found on Flores, suggesting an even earlier presence of hominins on Wallacea www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Hominins on Sulawesi during the Early Pleistocene - Nature
Early Pleistocene artefacts at Calio suggest that Sulawesi was populated by hominins at around the same time as Flores, if not earlier.
www.nature.com
August 6, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Stone tools from Sulawesi at least a million years old may be even more ancient than those found on Flores, suggesting an even earlier presence of hominins on Wallacea www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
What a fantastic new paper out today in @pnas.org: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... - and what a great resource, summarising the climatic niche of primates and tackling the hypothesis on whether primates evolved in warm tropical forests 😍
The radiation and geographic expansion of primates through diverse climates | PNAS
One of the most influential hypotheses about primate evolution postulates that their
origin, radiation, and major dispersals were associated with e...
www.pnas.org
August 7, 2025 at 8:18 AM
What a fantastic new paper out today in @pnas.org: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... - and what a great resource, summarising the climatic niche of primates and tackling the hypothesis on whether primates evolved in warm tropical forests 😍
#newpaper showing how depth mediates the population dynamics of soft corals in Fiji, led by @nis38.bsky.social (with @huwiceandstuff.bsky.social, @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social, and @egmitchell.bsky.social)
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Depth affects the population dynamics on a soft coral-dominated reef on the Great White Wall, Fiji - Coral Reefs
Soft corals (order Alcyonacea) are an important component of tropical coral reefs, and often form locally abundance dense carpets. Some soft coral species are prone to bleaching and heat stress like s...
link.springer.com
July 30, 2025 at 8:50 AM
#newpaper showing how depth mediates the population dynamics of soft corals in Fiji, led by @nis38.bsky.social (with @huwiceandstuff.bsky.social, @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social, and @egmitchell.bsky.social)
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
#Newpaper: the African Humid period through the lenses of pollen-based and mechanistic-based #palaeoclimate reconstructions!
Thanks @ecologypast.bsky.social, @markuslfischer.bsky.social, @paleoclimategirl.bsky.social and all coauthors!
Thanks @ecologypast.bsky.social, @markuslfischer.bsky.social, @paleoclimategirl.bsky.social and all coauthors!
A multi-model approach to the spatial and temporal characterization of the African Humid Period
During the last c. 20,000 years, African climates experienced temperature shifts related to the last period of global deglaciation and moisture availa…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 28, 2025 at 6:45 AM
#Newpaper: the African Humid period through the lenses of pollen-based and mechanistic-based #palaeoclimate reconstructions!
Thanks @ecologypast.bsky.social, @markuslfischer.bsky.social, @paleoclimategirl.bsky.social and all coauthors!
Thanks @ecologypast.bsky.social, @markuslfischer.bsky.social, @paleoclimategirl.bsky.social and all coauthors!
Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
New paper with a pollen and mechanistic model perspective on the African Humid Period – www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A multi-model approach to the spatial and temporal characterization of the African Humid Period
During the last c. 20,000 years, African climates experienced temperature shifts related to the last period of global deglaciation and moisture availa…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 28, 2025 at 6:14 AM
New paper with a pollen and mechanistic model perspective on the African Humid Period – www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Pollen-based reconstructions and a mechanistic climate model tell a similar story on the Africa Humid Period; @mikleonardi.bsky.social and Andrea contributed to a proxy-model comparison paper led by @ecologypast.bsky.social in Quatern. Int.: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.
authors.elsevier.com
July 25, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Pollen-based reconstructions and a mechanistic climate model tell a similar story on the Africa Humid Period; @mikleonardi.bsky.social and Andrea contributed to a proxy-model comparison paper led by @ecologypast.bsky.social in Quatern. Int.: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
TODAY!!
📢Tomorrow!
If you're knocking around Newcastle tomorrow and have an hour to spare (or you just want to escape the thunderstorms), then how about coming along to listen to me chat about queer natural history? 🪲🌈🐧
Newcastle City Library, 12pm, FREE tickets! 👇🏻
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-little-g...
If you're knocking around Newcastle tomorrow and have an hour to spare (or you just want to escape the thunderstorms), then how about coming along to listen to me chat about queer natural history? 🪲🌈🐧
Newcastle City Library, 12pm, FREE tickets! 👇🏻
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-little-g...
A Little Gay Natural History
Join us this Pride season for a fascinating, feel-good celebration of queer nature with author and science writer Josh L. Davis.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
July 19, 2025 at 6:39 AM
TODAY!!
Reposted by Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge
Molecules from 20-million-year-old rhino's teeth are among the oldest ever sequenced. New @nature.com paper by Professor Andrea Manica and @mikleonardi.bsky.social @eegcam.bsky.social out now: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Ancient proteins rewrite the rhino family tree — are dinosaurs next?
Molecules from 20-million-year-old teeth are among the oldest ever sequenced.
www.nature.com
July 11, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Molecules from 20-million-year-old rhino's teeth are among the oldest ever sequenced. New @nature.com paper by Professor Andrea Manica and @mikleonardi.bsky.social @eegcam.bsky.social out now: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Andrea and @mikleonardi.bsky.social contributed to a @nature.com paper recovering phylogenetically informative proteins from a ~21M year rhino: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Phylogenetically informative proteins from an Early Miocene rhinocerotid - Nature
Protein sequences from fossil tooth enamel of a rhinocerotid from Canada’s High Arctic are used to develop phylogenetic frameworks from a specimen too old to preserve ancient DNA.
www.nature.com
July 10, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Andrea and @mikleonardi.bsky.social contributed to a @nature.com paper recovering phylogenetically informative proteins from a ~21M year rhino: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New paper in collaboration with @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social and @jblinkhorn.bsky.social, with several of us involved (@mikleonardi.bsky.social @margheritac17.bsky.social @andreavpozzi.bsky.social) shows that downscaling palaeoclimate models doesn't necessarily improve coherence with proxy data.
Very pleased to see our paper published online at Climate of the Past: cp.copernicus.org/articles/21/...
We present model-data comparisons of Late Quaternary climate across the Northern Hemisphere, showing that increasing model resolution has little net effect on coherence with pollen proxies 😊
We present model-data comparisons of Late Quaternary climate across the Northern Hemisphere, showing that increasing model resolution has little net effect on coherence with pollen proxies 😊
More is not always better: delta-downscaling climate model outputs from 30 to 5 min resolution has minimal impact on coherence with Late Quaternary proxies
Abstract. Both proxies and models provide key resources to explore how palaeoenvironmental changes may have impacted diverse biotic communities and cultural processes. While proxies are thought to pro...
cp.copernicus.org
July 10, 2025 at 9:22 AM
New paper in collaboration with @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social and @jblinkhorn.bsky.social, with several of us involved (@mikleonardi.bsky.social @margheritac17.bsky.social @andreavpozzi.bsky.social) shows that downscaling palaeoclimate models doesn't necessarily improve coherence with proxy data.
New paper out, in collaboration with @jblinkhorn.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social and @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social
New paper alert! Led by @jblinkhorn.bsky.social, we look at refugia for baboons in the Pleistocene and Holocene, offering a potential analogue for early hominins where climatic tolerances are shared.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Identifying late Pleistocene and Holocene refugia for baboons - Communications Biology
Hindcasted species distribution modelling of baboons illuminates potential refugia across Africa and Arabia, with predicted maxima and minima of habitable ranges pulsed by orbital precession and obliq...
www.nature.com
July 5, 2025 at 7:50 PM
New paper out, in collaboration with @jblinkhorn.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social and @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social
After a week of intense population genomics, lots of tired but still smiley faces. Thank you @embo.org for funding another edition of our Population Genomics course in Naples. And thank you to the trainers and participants for making this eight edition another success! #EMBOpopgen
June 29, 2025 at 9:10 AM
After a week of intense population genomics, lots of tired but still smiley faces. Thank you @embo.org for funding another edition of our Population Genomics course in Naples. And thank you to the trainers and participants for making this eight edition another success! #EMBOpopgen
Excited to kick off the 2025 EMBO Population Genomics course in Naples, Italy. #EMBOpopgen
June 23, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Excited to kick off the 2025 EMBO Population Genomics course in Naples, Italy. #EMBOpopgen
Last week, Andrea sat down with Dr Chris Smith of Naked Scientists to talk about our paper on the expansion of the human niche 70k year ago: www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/int...
Humanity's road to dominance began earlier than expected
Getting sapient about sapiens...
www.thenakedscientists.com
June 23, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Last week, Andrea sat down with Dr Chris Smith of Naked Scientists to talk about our paper on the expansion of the human niche 70k year ago: www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/int...
We are excited to announce that tidypopgen – a new package for rapid population genetic workflows in R – is now available at evolecolgroup.github.io/tidypopgen/ 🧬💻 Read more in the preprint describing its features here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #popgen #Rpackage #genetics 1/2
Tidy Population Genetics
We provide a tidy grammar of population genetics, facilitating the manipulation and analysis of data on biallelic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). `tidypopgen` scales to very large genetic data...
evolecolgroup.github.io
June 20, 2025 at 12:19 PM
We are excited to announce that tidypopgen – a new package for rapid population genetic workflows in R – is now available at evolecolgroup.github.io/tidypopgen/ 🧬💻 Read more in the preprint describing its features here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #popgen #Rpackage #genetics 1/2