Recapped #ASN2023 for the Molecular Ecologist:
- microbial community genetics
- mind-blowing photosynthesis
- grappling with the legacy of eugenics
- applications of coexistence theory

Returning to Asilomar https://www.molecularecologist.com/2023/01/13/returning-to-asilomar/

#science #evolution #ecology #genetics

Super grateful to have been awarded ✨best grad student talk✨ at @ASNAmNat #ASN2023 with co-awardee @JHarencar. My roommate @TheGoodnight94 was runner-up!
👉🏼Watch the talk here: youtu.be/JHjxcY5DKxw #Asilomar2023

Awesome talk by Cara Faillace with @Exp_EvoEco about how evolutionary history alters species coexistence 🌱🌊 at @ASNAmNat #ASN2023 #Asilomar2023

Okay now THAT is a good title slide #ASN2023

Nice methods-forward talk by Chris Moore, who built a whole bunch of species distribution models for North American plant species to estimate the effects of animal seed dispersal on geographic ranges, which ... animal dispersal apparently doesn't make a difference?

#ASN2023

Naven Narayanan presenting some quite elegant modeling to isolate conditions when mutualists should facilitate vs restrict geographic range expansions

#ASN2023

Nice methods-forward talk by @chrismoore, who built a whole bunch of species distribution models for North American plant species to estimate the effects of animal seed dispersal on geographic ranges, which ... animal dispersal apparently doesn't make a difference?

#ASN2023

Team “The Harvard of Northridge” is here to kick butt (not score zero) at #ASN2023 natural history trivia

Sad to be missing #ASN2023 but am enjoying following the posts here! Keep ‘em coming!!!!

Sönke Johnsen dropping some excellent one-liners in a talk on what I might call visibility management by marine organisms:

"The open ocean is the only place where you can be eaten by birds and sharks at the same time"

"A lot of the predators come with their own flashlights"

#ASN2023

Greg Fournier talking through the sequence of evolutionary innovations — oxygenic photosynthesis, then aerobic respiration — by which life eventually created an oxygen atmosphere on Earth.

It's a more involved process than I'd considered! Early cyanobacteria might have actually limited themselves by creating O2 they couldn't cope with.

#ASN2023

Erika Edwards kicking off the #ASN2023 afternoon symposium on photosynthesis by repeatedly blowing my mind explaining the commonalities and differences between C4 and CAM photosynthesis — the leaf anatomy needed for each make it pretty unlikely a plant can to do both, but she works with genus *Portulaca*, which CAN go from C4 to CAM

Took the camera out into the #Asilomar dunes for a bit after lunch at #ASN2023

#photography #nature #wildflower #bird #deer

Claire Godineau showing the results of individual-based simulations that find seed banks generally create "adaptive lags" in response to environmental change, even though they can help maintain genetic variation.

#ASN2023

Daniel Anstett presenting population genomic sequencing of *Mimulus cardinalis* populations making their way through the 2012-15 California drought and maybe experiencing evolutionary rescue.

Really nice marriage of quantitative population genetics and demographic data.

#ASN2023

Starting day two of #ASN2023 in the "Life History" session in Acacia — I'm third in the lineup, talking about some very new #JoshuaTree work

Amazing talk by @zoejean88 at #ASN2023 @ASNAmNat about biotic differentiation in marine systems 🌊⛴🐠 with @Aurore_Maureaud and @pinskylab #Asilomar2023

Michele Markstein talking through obstacles to teaching about the history of eugenics in science classes, with lots of specific suggestions for overcoming them — encourages us to think about who benefits, and who's harmed, when we gloss over that history #ASN2023

Rain held off most of the day, but it's really audible now, on the roof of the chapel #ASN2023

Brandon Ogbunu actually getting laughter in the symposium with his description of the "giddiness" of eugenics — "if we sequence enough, the truth will just fall out of the data"

#ASN2023