Bruce Stagg Martin
@bstaggmartin.bsky.social
Phylogenetics/comparative methods geek working as postdoctoral researcher at University of Georgia in Leebens-Mack lab. Currently an NSF PRFB fellow (plant genomes program) trying to figure out what the deal is with eucalypt trees. Opinions = my own
I already shared the preprint for this month's ago, but I still find this to be one of the coolest new discoveries! The idea of "ghost kingdoms" of life just never really occurred to me before, but of course it's completely possible when you think about it.
Important message here: 4 billion years of evolution was not teleological. It was not _meant_ to get to us or our world.
It was doing it own thing in its own time
#Biodiversity
www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-g...
It was doing it own thing in its own time
#Biodiversity
www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-g...
Mysterious Giants Could Be a Whole New Kind of Life That No Longer Exists
Ever since their discovery more than 165 years ago, massive fossilized structures left by an organism known as Prototaxites have proven impossible to categorize.
www.sciencealert.com
January 23, 2026 at 2:11 PM
I already shared the preprint for this month's ago, but I still find this to be one of the coolest new discoveries! The idea of "ghost kingdoms" of life just never really occurred to me before, but of course it's completely possible when you think about it.
It's never as simple as we'd like, eh? Well, at least there's no shortage of puzzles to solve!
New paper with @smishra677.bsky.social!
How many different trees can be generated by just one duplication event? It turns out A WHOLE LOT, if you consider the coalescent process.
1/
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
How many different trees can be generated by just one duplication event? It turns out A WHOLE LOT, if you consider the coalescent process.
1/
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org
January 23, 2026 at 2:07 PM
It's never as simple as we'd like, eh? Well, at least there's no shortage of puzzles to solve!
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
And still no Dem leaders have gone to Minneapolis. No donor efforts to alleviate anything. Just leave people out to fend for themselves.
January 22, 2026 at 5:27 AM
And still no Dem leaders have gone to Minneapolis. No donor efforts to alleviate anything. Just leave people out to fend for themselves.
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
When @omearabrian.bsky.social saw the manuscript, he described it as: ‘What if this figure could be an entire paper?’
I choose to interpret that as high praise.
Now accepted at AmNat: The geometry of macroevolution (with Dan Rabosky). www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
I choose to interpret that as high praise.
Now accepted at AmNat: The geometry of macroevolution (with Dan Rabosky). www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
January 17, 2026 at 3:58 PM
When @omearabrian.bsky.social saw the manuscript, he described it as: ‘What if this figure could be an entire paper?’
I choose to interpret that as high praise.
Now accepted at AmNat: The geometry of macroevolution (with Dan Rabosky). www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
I choose to interpret that as high praise.
Now accepted at AmNat: The geometry of macroevolution (with Dan Rabosky). www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
ICE just set up a bluesky account. Just a quick reminder that this blocklist exists:
bsky.app/profile/did:...
bsky.app/profile/did:...
January 17, 2026 at 12:34 AM
ICE just set up a bluesky account. Just a quick reminder that this blocklist exists:
bsky.app/profile/did:...
bsky.app/profile/did:...
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology." n.pr/4583d8f
Today is the Smithsonian's deadline to give thousands of documents to the White House
The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology."
n.pr
January 13, 2026 at 11:54 AM
The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology." n.pr/4583d8f
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
Evolution isn’t always forward-looking. Experiments show that an early, beneficial mutation can trap E. coli on a local fitness peak, preventing ecotype diversification in structured environments and highlighting the role of G×E interactions.
academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
Historical contingency limits adaptive diversification in a spatially structured environment
Abstract. Understanding how genotype-by-environment (G × E) interactions influence evolutionary trajectories and contribute to historical contingency is ke
academic.oup.com
January 5, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Evolution isn’t always forward-looking. Experiments show that an early, beneficial mutation can trap E. coli on a local fitness peak, preventing ecotype diversification in structured environments and highlighting the role of G×E interactions.
academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
Renee Nicole Good, 37. Married mother of a six year old, was unarmed and driving away when she was shot and killed in her car this morning by a member of the United States Government.
‘She was an amazing human being:’ Mother identifies woman shot, killed by ICE agent
Renee Nicole Good, 37, lived in the Twin Cities with her partner.
www.startribune.com
January 7, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Renee Nicole Good, 37. Married mother of a six year old, was unarmed and driving away when she was shot and killed in her car this morning by a member of the United States Government.
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
We should all sit with this ICE murder. Any one of us could be executed by ICE, and our government wouldn’t bat an eye. Instead they’d just lie about us to the world.
January 7, 2026 at 9:39 PM
We should all sit with this ICE murder. Any one of us could be executed by ICE, and our government wouldn’t bat an eye. Instead they’d just lie about us to the world.
Exactly! Even if you think mass deportation is a worthy goal (it isn't, but that's another topic), it doesn't take an expert to see how massively scaling up ICE this quickly would only result in an immense armed force of poorly-trained fanatics.
ice agents simply aren't trained well enough to be on the street. they are a genuine danger to citizens
January 7, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Exactly! Even if you think mass deportation is a worthy goal (it isn't, but that's another topic), it doesn't take an expert to see how massively scaling up ICE this quickly would only result in an immense armed force of poorly-trained fanatics.
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to ICE: "Get the fuck out of Minneapolis."
January 7, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to ICE: "Get the fuck out of Minneapolis."
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
What in the Gestapo is going on in Grand Rapids?
Watch this activist get arrested *mid-interview* for speaking out against U.S. action in Venezuela.
Watch this activist get arrested *mid-interview* for speaking out against U.S. action in Venezuela.
January 5, 2026 at 4:12 PM
What in the Gestapo is going on in Grand Rapids?
Watch this activist get arrested *mid-interview* for speaking out against U.S. action in Venezuela.
Watch this activist get arrested *mid-interview* for speaking out against U.S. action in Venezuela.
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
Really excited to have the new issue of Paleobiology @paleosoc.bsky.social out celebrating the 50th anniversary of #punctuatedequilibria #macroevolution #paleobiology #palaeontology #paleontology @nilese.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Latest issue | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core
Paleobiology
www.cambridge.org
January 2, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Really excited to have the new issue of Paleobiology @paleosoc.bsky.social out celebrating the 50th anniversary of #punctuatedequilibria #macroevolution #paleobiology #palaeontology #paleontology @nilese.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
True facts
![Comic. [Top panel: Long-necked dinosaur with red X over it.] [Bottom panel: two smaller dinosaurs the same shape except their neck isn’t long, while in the background there’s an extremely long neck criss-crossing the frame like a snake. Green check mark in center.] [caption] Thanks to modern paleontological reconstructions, we now know that most sauropods had short necks, and all those extra vertebrae belonged to the sauropod colony’s queen.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreigjcepbb3hjlvpjzmj6msuydmem6gdakkl5svr4kh4q7qi3c4m2fu@jpeg)
December 30, 2025 at 1:58 AM
True facts
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
Did you know there are 2 types of avocado varieties? A-types switch from female to male, B-types male to female, within a single day. This reciprocal sex alternation promotes cross-pollination and has a simple genetic basis. Read more in this recent preprint from the final chapter of my PhD thesis 🥑
Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies an ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado
In avocado and certain wild relatives in Lauraceae, pollination occurs via a synchronized rhythm of floral sex timing between two hermaphroditic flowering types. A-type plants present female-phase flo...
www.biorxiv.org
December 29, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Did you know there are 2 types of avocado varieties? A-types switch from female to male, B-types male to female, within a single day. This reciprocal sex alternation promotes cross-pollination and has a simple genetic basis. Read more in this recent preprint from the final chapter of my PhD thesis 🥑
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
“A brutal state of affairs, profoundly inegalitarian - where all existence is evaluated in terms of money alone - is presented to us as ideal”
- Badiou
- Badiou
December 24, 2025 at 2:21 PM
“A brutal state of affairs, profoundly inegalitarian - where all existence is evaluated in terms of money alone - is presented to us as ideal”
- Badiou
- Badiou
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
PhytClust: efficient and optimal node clustering in phylogenetic trees https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.11.693738v1
December 15, 2025 at 12:32 AM
PhytClust: efficient and optimal node clustering in phylogenetic trees https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.11.693738v1
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
🧪🐠 I am hiring a postdoc! Work will be on patterns of biodiversity across phylogenetic scales using teleost fishes as a model. Apply by end of Jan 2026 for full consideration apply.interfolio.com/179070 I encourage folks to reach out with any questions. Please Share!
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
December 15, 2025 at 4:02 PM
🧪🐠 I am hiring a postdoc! Work will be on patterns of biodiversity across phylogenetic scales using teleost fishes as a model. Apply by end of Jan 2026 for full consideration apply.interfolio.com/179070 I encourage folks to reach out with any questions. Please Share!
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
New preprint out! Using ~75k environmental OTUs + 77 fossil calibrations, we reconstructed a Proterozoic timeline of eukaryote evolution. Our results show crown eukaryotes were already diversifying >1.6 Ga, long before the first undisputed fossils (~1.05 Ga).
🔗 DOI: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🔗 DOI: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
December 15, 2025 at 8:19 AM
New preprint out! Using ~75k environmental OTUs + 77 fossil calibrations, we reconstructed a Proterozoic timeline of eukaryote evolution. Our results show crown eukaryotes were already diversifying >1.6 Ga, long before the first undisputed fossils (~1.05 Ga).
🔗 DOI: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🔗 DOI: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
NEWS from Ohio State Fish Division: You can now search our 6,000-tissue collection on our website! 🐟
mbd.osu.edu/collections/...
mbd.osu.edu/collections/...
Fish Division | Museum of Biological Diversity
mbd.osu.edu
December 12, 2025 at 4:02 PM
NEWS from Ohio State Fish Division: You can now search our 6,000-tissue collection on our website! 🐟
mbd.osu.edu/collections/...
mbd.osu.edu/collections/...
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
Their closing message to Indiana: change your maps to artificially benefit the President's political party or 'roads will not be paved' as punishment.
They are openly saying this.
Who would want to live in a country that works like that?
They are openly saying this.
Who would want to live in a country that works like that?
December 11, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Their closing message to Indiana: change your maps to artificially benefit the President's political party or 'roads will not be paved' as punishment.
They are openly saying this.
Who would want to live in a country that works like that?
They are openly saying this.
Who would want to live in a country that works like that?
What a monumental waste of resources to commit to in the name of one guy's overinflated ego.
NSF
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
December 11, 2025 at 7:55 PM
What a monumental waste of resources to commit to in the name of one guy's overinflated ego.
Oh my god! I *loved* this guy's paleoart growing up. So cool to see his breadth beyond dinosaurs!
Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :)
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
December 10, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Oh my god! I *loved* this guy's paleoart growing up. So cool to see his breadth beyond dinosaurs!
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
Delighted to publish Forum Article by @nicolasgaltier.bsky.social et al:
"Journals run by learned societies or universities have more ethical policies while being cheaper and similarly cited"
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Thank you for choosing JEB - we encourage the support of #societyjournals
"Journals run by learned societies or universities have more ethical policies while being cheaper and similarly cited"
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Thank you for choosing JEB - we encourage the support of #societyjournals
Time to publish responsibly: DAFNEE, a database of academia-friendly journals in ecology and evolutionary biology
Abstract. The current economics of scientific publishing reveal a profound imbalance: academia pays prices far exceeding the actual costs of publication. R
doi.org
December 9, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Delighted to publish Forum Article by @nicolasgaltier.bsky.social et al:
"Journals run by learned societies or universities have more ethical policies while being cheaper and similarly cited"
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Thank you for choosing JEB - we encourage the support of #societyjournals
"Journals run by learned societies or universities have more ethical policies while being cheaper and similarly cited"
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Thank you for choosing JEB - we encourage the support of #societyjournals
Reposted by Bruce Stagg Martin
The software is here: github.com/mol-evol/pan...
December 6, 2025 at 12:01 AM
The software is here: github.com/mol-evol/pan...