Category Archives: ecology

Does it pay to be parasitized?

Posted on 1 May, 2020 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Raven Edwards wrote this post as a project for Dr. Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Evolution course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is a Master’s student in Dr. James McClintock’s lab where she is studying the growth of variegated sea urchins. Raven completed … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, birds, blogging, conservation, ecology, evolution, Science Communication | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Asteroids and Pandemics

Posted on 27 April, 2020 by Katharine Coykendall

For whatever reason, viral disease and pandemics have been on my mind, so it’s no surprise that a recent paper in Molecular Ecology caught my attention. It blends the existential dread of global pandemics with the increasing panic concerning the … Continue reading →

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Everything About Ant Reproductive Biology is Bizarre

Posted on 24 April, 2020 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Sam Gregory wrote this post as a project for Dr. Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Scientific Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Sam earned a BS in biology and BFA in studio art from Birmingham-Southern College, and is currently pursuing an … Continue reading →

Posted in bioinformatics, blogging, Coevolution, ecology, evolution, insects, Science Communication | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The spirit of Antarctic invasions future?

Posted on 21 April, 2020 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

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

Bobbing for Bobcats

Posted on 17 April, 2020 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Catherine Sirgo wrote this post as a part Dr. Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Science Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Catherine is a Master’s Candidate within Dr. Thane Wibbels’ lab researching conservation for the Mississippi Diamondback Terrapin in Alabama. Catherine earned … Continue reading →

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A bloom by any other name

Posted on 7 April, 2020 by Kelle Freel

Once a year during the spring, when conditions are juuuuust right, phytoplankton are terrible at social distancing. This annual bloom that takes place in the spring from 35º North in the North Atlantic and reaches all the way to the … Continue reading →

Posted in community ecology, ecology, microbiology | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Digging for Knowledge … and Nematodes

Posted on 3 April, 2020 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Hannah Oswalt wrote this post as a part Dr. Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Science Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Hannah is working towards her PhD in Dr. Chuck Amsler’s lab where she is investigating the effects of ocean acidification on macroalgae … Continue reading →

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

Posted on 15 March, 2020 by Laetitia Wilkins

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

#StudentSciComm

Posted on 13 March, 2020 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

I just submitted my four year review and in so doing listed out the students that had published blogs on The Molecular Ecologist. Seventeen students have not only received course credit, but also have a non-peer reviewed publication on their … Continue reading →

Posted in blogging, career, chat, community, ecology, evolution, howto, methods, Molecular Ecology, the journal, Science Communication, science publishing | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

How to handle the burden of deleterious mutations

Posted on 4 March, 2020 by Patrícia Chrzanová Pečnerová

With the increasingly pressing matter of populations being threatened by fragmentation and isolation, and with progressively more efficient sequencing technologies and analytical tools at hand, conservation genetics is starting to turn the spotlight on the topic of genetic load. It … Continue reading →

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