Alexis Heckley
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alexisheckley.bsky.social
Alexis Heckley
@alexisheckley.bsky.social
360 followers 200 following 11 posts
NSERC postdoctoral fellow at The University of Oklahoma, studying Neotropical bat behaviour and parasites.

PhD from McGill University, studying intraspecific variation in guppies and stickleback.

alexisheckley.wixsite.com/mysite
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
biorxivpreprint.bsky.social
Meta-analysis reveals the tempo of evolutionary parallelism of local adaptation between native and introduced ranges of plant species https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.04.674372v1
September 10, 2025 at 4:32 AM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
kelly-ireland.bsky.social
Just created a stickleback feed so it’s easy to see what other Bluesky users are saying about stickleback in one feed. The post just needs to include the word stickleback in it, even if it’s just in image alt text.
ehttps://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:rtgmt535jxnnvolguctkalcy/feed/aaacekwe4gzdk
May 30, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
pfvale.bsky.social
This primer on infection avoidance was incredibly fun to write with @cr-amo.bsky.social and Mandy Gibson. We cover its taxonomic breadth, mechanisms and evolution, and its importance across fields as diverse as public health, conservation, and agriculture. 🧪
www.cell.com/current-biol...

#SymbioSky
This figure highlights the diversity of avoidance across different species in response to pathogens and parasites. (A) Rainbow trout avoid waters with high concentrations of trematode cercariae, reducing exposure to these parasites. (B) Healthy Caribbean spiny lobsters avoid sharing dens with those infected by viruses, preventing the spread of infection within their communities. (C,D) Avoidance underlies many human public health measures such as social distancing, to minimize the risk of infectious disease contagion. (E) Oystercatchers avoid eating the largest cockles, which are likely to be infested with parasitic helminths. (F,G) Bees and ants (eusocial insects) exhibit complex social behaviours to minimize infection risks. Bees isolate or remove infected individuals from the colony, while ants restructure their social networks to reduce contact with fungal-infected foragers. (H) Sheep avoid food and water sources contaminated with feces, reducing the risk of ingesting parasites that may be present in such environments. (I,J) Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster. These model organisms illustrate how detected pathogenic cues can modify behaviour and provide insights into the neurological integration of sensory perception and behavioural response to pathogens. Plants, like Saline latifolia (K), can avoid infection too, for example by flowering for shorter periods to reduce contact with fungal spores transmitted by pollinators. Root compounds of some sorghum (L) lines are associated with reduced germination of parasitic Striga seeds, demonstrating chemical avoidance strategies. (M) Crickets avoid detection by parasitic flies through the selection of variants that cannot sing, disrupting the ability of parasites to locate hosts acoustically. (N) Spongy moths show variability in larval behaviour to avoid virus-contaminated foliage. (O) Lemurs avoid water sources that have an elevated risk of fecal contamination.
May 20, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
mollysimonis.bsky.social
I am recruiting graduate students for Spring 2026 in my Lab at Auburn University. Please share broadly🦇

simonislab.weebly.com/opportunitie...

linking to 🧪 and 🦊
Opportunities
We are currently recruiting graduate student(s) interested in seasonal pathogen dynamics and bat health throughout various field sites and/or highway culverts throughout Alabama. You can find out...
simonislab.weebly.com
May 20, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
danielbolnick.bsky.social
The upcoming International Stickleback Conference (at Bamfield Marine Science Center in late July) still has some openings, but register soon! Stickleback-curious researchers are welcome too!
event.fourwaves.com/stickleback-...
STICKLEBACK 2025: 11th International Congress on Stickleback Behaviour and Evolution
Fourwaves - STICKLEBACK 2025: 11th International Congress on Stickleback Behaviour and Evolution
event.fourwaves.com
May 18, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
janayf.bsky.social
How fast can brains epigenetically respond to predation stress?

We found that brain DNA methylation in guppies can shift within 30 minutes of predator exposure — with different time courses between males and females.

New paper from my PhD now out! 🧠🐟
doi.org/10.1111/mec....
Rapid Neural DNA Methylation Responses to Predation Stress in Trinidadian Guppies
DNA methylation (DNAm) is a well-studied epigenetic mechanism implicated in environmentally induced phenotypes and phenotypic plasticity. However, few studies investigate the timescale of DNAm shifts...
doi.org
April 29, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
gensocuk.bsky.social
🎉 Congratulations @janayf.bsky.social on winning our 2025 Bruce Cattanach Prize!

Janay's talk is on the epigenetic plasticity in response to environmental stress: insights from an evolutionary fish model #Epigenetics2025
April 24, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
ecoevoevoeco.bsky.social
Check out our latest paper on phenotypic variation in guppies - led by Alexis Heckley.

"Abiotic environmental factors contribute to spatial variation in boldness and exploration in guppies (Poecilia reticulata)"

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1095...
April 17, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
ecoevoevoeco.bsky.social
Live near New Haven, CT, and looking for something interesting to do April 23?

I am giving the Bass Distinguished Lecture, titled “The World Without Evolution?” taking place Wednesday, April 23 at 5 pm in O.C. Marsh Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

peabody.yale.edu/news/hendry_...
March 30, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
qwebber.bsky.social
NEW MSc POSITION! We're starting a new study system on eastern small footed bats in Ontario. Please share widely and/or apply if you're interested in foraging ecology, bats, and conservation! Link to application is here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
February 11, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
danielbolnick.bsky.social
I usually reserve this account for my personal views; but today I want to represent my position as President of @asn-amnat.bsky.social to post a message that will shortly go out to the membership of the American Society of Naturalists from the ASN Executive Council
February 6, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
fletcher-h.bsky.social
Please spread the word - I am looking for a postdoc to join my lab at @osubpp.bsky.social to study diversity and interactions of plants and pathogens in wild and working landscapes!

More information here: agsci-labs.oregonstate.edu/diseaseecolo...
Here's a photo of my favorite grass host, Dactylis glomerata, infected with ergot and stem rust in the beautiful Swiss Alps
February 4, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
danjbecker.bsky.social
bats are immunologically "special", but bat species also differ in their immune response. we gather evidence for interspecific variation in bat immunity, propose hypotheses, and outline future comparative directions. i've really enjoyed working with this ECR team.
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
Diverse hosts, diverse immune systems: evolutionary variation in bat immunology
ecoevorxiv.org
February 3, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
donutbat.bsky.social
Well, I mean come on? #sweet prompt for #JanuArty ? I mean what's next #bats 🦇 ? Hahahahaha! Here ya go! Love you BlueSky -Happy Friday!

We Sold Our Souls For Cinnamon Rolls
33×72"

#bat #batart #bskyart #painting #art #artwork #wallart #fineart #ArtYear #wildlife #nature #weirdart #cinnamonroll
Will Eskridge original painting of three bats and three cinnamon rolls on gold leaf background. We Sold Our Souls For Cinnamon Rolls. acrylic and gold leaf on stretched linen
January 24, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
ecoinvasions.bsky.social
Quote: "Ecological and evolutionary principles help to explain why both pandemics and wildlife die-offs are becoming more common; [and] why land-use change and biodiversity loss are often followed by an increase in zoonotic and vector-borne diseases."
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Pathogens and planetary change - Nature Reviews Biodiversity
This Review explores the relationship between emerging infectious diseases and biodiversity loss, and how both are connected to global environmental changes in the Anthropocene.
www.nature.com
January 24, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
kathleenganley.bsky.social
Jasper experienced a devastating wild fire. Now they need temporary housing - what’s the hold up? The UCP.

They won’t allow temporary housing unless it is permanent, and only single detached homes, and they have to be sold….

So temporary not temporary housing.

#AbLeg
January 23, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
gehaines.bsky.social
If you need a distraction and find reading science about weird ponds relaxing, I have a new preprint up with Joe Phillips, Bjarni Kristjánsson, and Camille Leblanc about some cave pond limnology. doi.org/10.32942/X2G... 💧🐟
Weather and landscape morphology drive thermal regime variation among Mývatn ponds, and implications for resident Arctic charr
doi.org
January 21, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
colincarlson.bsky.social
There's a lot of replies to our new paper talking about how capitalism or overpopulation are the real enemy. Without getting into whether that's true of the climate emergency or the sixth mass extinction (🙃), I want to briefly explain why pandemics are different. www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Pathogens and planetary change - Nature Reviews Biodiversity
This Review explores the relationship between emerging infectious diseases and biodiversity loss, and how both are connected to global environmental changes in the Anthropocene.
www.nature.com
January 16, 2025 at 6:15 PM
alexisheckley.bsky.social
Check out our new review, 'Pathogens and Planetary Change', in @natrevbiodiv.bsky.social! The paper is nicely summarized in this thread by @ctrlalttim.bsky.social (and another thread I've also re-posted by @colincarlson.bsky.social). Very excited to have been part of this fantastic collaboration!
ctrlalttim.com Timothée Poisot @ctrlalttim.com · Jan 16
Pandemics, global change, and biodiversity loss? In a new paper published in the first issue of @natrevbiodiv.bsky.social, we argue that these are three facets of an ongoing polycrisis, with common roots, and hopefully common solution.

A short thread.

🧪😷
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Pathogens and planetary change - Nature Reviews Biodiversity
This Review explores the relationship between emerging infectious diseases and biodiversity loss, and how both are connected to global environmental changes in the Anthropocene.
www.nature.com
January 16, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
colebrookson.bsky.social
🦠 NEW REVIEW 🌡️ What does health have to do with environmental change? Well, a lot, but the way that pop-sci describes these relationships isn't always the case: www.nature.com/articles/s44.... So, what does it all mean? We try to answer this in our new review "Pathogens and planetary change" 🧵
January 16, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
haileyrobertson.bsky.social
Couldn't ask for a better first Bluesky post! Our new paper, "Pathogens and planetary change," is out now in @natrevbiodiv.bsky.social. We discuss the linkages between biodiversity loss + pandemics and how we can address these interconnected crises 🧪😷

Give it a read: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Pathogens and planetary change - Nature Reviews Biodiversity
This Review explores the relationship between emerging infectious diseases and biodiversity loss, and how both are connected to global environmental changes in the Anthropocene.
www.nature.com
January 16, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
torrelavelle.bsky.social
🚨New paper out @natrevbiodiv.bsky.social on how pathogens and parasites are responding to global change, and implications for pandemic prevention and biodiversity conservation. Check it out below!
colincarlson.bsky.social Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · Jan 15
🚨😷🧪 NEW: A growing body of evidence shows that pandemics, biodiversity loss, and climate change are part of a broader polycrisis - but there are no simple solutions. A sweeping overview of "Pathogens and planetary change" for the first issue of @natrevbiodiv.bsky.social, out now 🔓 rdcu.be/d6lHl
Top panels: graphs showing increases in spillover events, extinction rates, and temperature anomalies over the last few centuries. Bottom panel: a map of 10 pandemics since the year 1900. Four were linked to agriculture, two to wildlife use, and one to climate change.
January 15, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
colincarlson.bsky.social
Popular science narratives about pandemics - specifically, that they happen because of disordered relationships with nature - just aren't true. Half of modern pandemics have been one virus (influenza), and only a modest fraction of pandemic pathogens (3 of 10) have jumped from wildlife to humans.
A map of 10 pandemic since 1900. Four (all influenza) were related to agriculture; two (HIV and Covid-19) were related to wildlife use; one (cholera) was related to climate change; and three (cholera, plague, and influenza) were not related to any planetary change drivers.
January 15, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
ciaramweets.bsky.social
🧪😷 Biodiversity loss and disease emergence share common drivers - meaning that there are opportunities to create shared solutions for biodiversity and health. Global and national governance efforts to combat disease events must be integrated with environmental protection and sustainable development
colincarlson.bsky.social Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · Jan 15
If you take one thing away from our paper, I hope it's this: there's no safe path through the Pandemicene without action on environmental protection, sustainable development, and health system strengthening. Single-issue advocacy and siloed solutions put the world at greater risk from pandemics.
header of our paper "Pathogens and planetary change"
January 15, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Alexis Heckley
natrevbiodiv.nature.com
Carlson and colleagues explore the relationships between emerging infectious diseases, biodiversity loss, and global environmental change. go.nature.com/4gT0za1
Biodiversity loss can drive disease emergence, and vice versa; they also share many of the same upstream drivers.
January 15, 2025 at 3:22 PM