Category Archives: natural history

Molecular natural history: The Channel Island foxes

Molecular Natural History is a series of posts highlighting what population genetic data has revealed about some of my favorite organisms. There’s no rhyme or reason to what species I’ll feature for this, beyond the fact that they’ve made me … Continue reading

Posted in conservation, mammals, Molecular Natural History, natural history | Tagged | Leave a comment

Four science books for 2022

The Molecular Ecologist receives a small commission for purchases made on Bookshop.org via links from this post. Books occupy a curious place in my reading life. I read a lot as an academic biologist, from research papers to grant proposals … Continue reading

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The forest, the trees, and the fungal ties that bind

The following is a guest post by Erin Zess, a Postdoctoral Researcher with the MOI Lab in the Department of Plant Biology at the Carnegie Institution for Science. Erin is on Twitter at @ZessingAround. The Molecular Ecologist receives a small commission for … Continue reading

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Shedding light on symbiotic relationships

Lots of critters glow in the dark, but most of them aren’t found in just any back yard…unless that back yard happens to be the beach. The ocean is full of bioluminescent critters that use light to attract prey (possibly … Continue reading

Posted in community ecology, ecology, microbiology, natural history, Symbiosis | Tagged | Leave a comment

Fieldwork in the time of COVID

Life as we knew it came to a screeching halt back in March. Almost a year ago, how is that possible??? Yet, at the same time it feels like several lifetimes have passed … At a recent editorial meeting, we … Continue reading

Posted in blogging, career, chat, ecology, evolution, fieldwork, haploid-diploid, just for fun, mating system, natural history, population genetics, postdoc, Science Communication | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Genes rolling down the river

Sarah Shainker wrote this post as a part of Dr. Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Conservation Genetics course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Sarah completed a B.S. in Marine Biology at the College of Charleston before serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines, … Continue reading

Posted in bioinformatics, blogging, citizen science, Coevolution, community ecology, comparative phylogeography, DNA barcoding, ecology, evolution, fieldwork, haploid-diploid, natural history, Science Communication | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The spirit of Antarctic invasions future?

Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol during a change in how Victorian England viewed the Christmas holiday. It’s clearly not Christmas … and certainly isn’t a jolly time. But, taking some artistic liberty from how Dickens outlined the five chapters of … Continue reading

Posted in blogging, community ecology, comparative phylogeography, conservation, DNA barcoding, ecology, evolution, mini-review, natural history, phylogeography, Science Communication | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Virosphere’s Own Trojan Horse

Melissa Walker wrote this post as a part of Dr. Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Science Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Melissa’s research focuses on the interactions between freshwater biofilms and the viruses that infect them. She is currently … Continue reading

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Introducing The Molecular Ecologist Podcast

The Molecular Ecologist is trying out a new medium for the first time since we launched: audio! That’s right, TME contributors, talking about the science we’ve been reading and writing about, recorded for easy listening on any internet-capable device. As … Continue reading

Posted in community, housekeeping, microbiology, modest proposals, natural history, Science Communication, Science History, TME Podcast | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

FISHing for molecules, a link between form and function in animal–bacteria symbioses

I am posting a blog post that was written by Benedikt Geier, a Ph.D. candidate who just handed in his Ph.D. thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany. In my eyes, these last couple of … Continue reading

Posted in Coevolution, community ecology, ecology, evolution, genomics, methods, microbiology, natural history, Symbiosis, transcriptomics | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment