Cristina Ottocento, PhD
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crisottocento.bsky.social
Cristina Ottocento, PhD
@crisottocento.bsky.social
Researcher in Chemical Ecology
Evolutionary biologist from 🇮🇹 - PhD at Jyväskylä University, Postdoc at Helsinki University 🇫🇮 - now at INRAE France 🇫🇷
Pinned
Thrilled to share this! Mostly done at @helsinki.fi, Konnevesi Station and @uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social 🇫🇮 with wonderful colleagues! In this study, we investigate whether the link between warning signals and chemical defences comes from how resources are allocated between these costly traits 🐦🦋
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
The story on chemical communication in #poisonfrogs doesn't stop with the sexy fingers! "Histological and Gene Expression Analyses of the Arm and Finger Macroglands of Two Hyloxalus Frogs" is the new paper by the super talented Diana Abondano (Link in comments)! Out now in MolEcol. #cienciacriolla🇨🇴
November 10, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
Watson’s death is a fantastic reminder that you can be intelligent without being a good person.
The obituary of someone who gained widespread fame through remarkable achievements at a young age and then expected to be taken seriously for anything he said thereafter.
James Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
BehaveAI is live!

Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.

Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.

Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
November 6, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
🚨🚨Job! 🚨🚨Permanent (75% time) job! We are a pretty awesome research group & seek a manager who deals with everything: personnel tasks, organizing retreats, preparing code for teaching / data structures for research... Fluency in German & English essential. stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de#/jgu/job/51527
stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de
October 17, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
“Above all, we must realise that each of us makes a difference with our life. Each of us impacts the world around us every single day. We have a choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place - or not to bother.”

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Jane Goodall, world-renowned primatologist, dies aged 91
Jane Goodall Institute says ‘tireless advocate’ for natural world died in California during US speaking tour
www.theguardian.com
October 1, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org

We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
September 25, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
I have a job opening in my lab. If you are interested in bird behaviour and predator prey interactions please take a look! werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...
Vacancy — Postdoc Position in Decision Making in Birds
Are you an expert in animal behavior? Do you have experience working with birds? The Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) is looking for a motivated researcher to investigate the ro...
werkenbij.uva.nl
September 25, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
September 24, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
I'm looking for PhD students to join the lab starting August 2026. We study the evolution of insect chemical signals so if you're interested in evolutionary biology, chemical ecology, molecular biology, behavior, or genetics, this could be a good fit for you! More info here: tinyurl.com/mrxchwfm
September 11, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
Looking for a PhD? I am advertising two industry sponsored PhD projects. One on black soldier fly genetics with #betabugs and another on searching insect biodiversity for novel enzymes #Syngenta. Get in touch if you are interested!! bbsrcdtp.lifesci.cam.ac.uk/available-ic...
Available iCASE projects | Cambridge Biosciences DTP PhD Programme
iCASE projects for academic year 2026-2027 line_divider.png Project: Understanding cellulose digestion by cryo-EM structure of cellulose microfibril-enzyme complexes Project reference: ICS-BIO-PD26 S...
bbsrcdtp.lifesci.cam.ac.uk
September 10, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
🚨 Postdoc opportunities! 🚨
We’re looking for postdocs in 🌿 biodiversity science, 🧬 genetic indicator assessment, and 📊 ecological statistics.

Join us in unraveling the drivers & consequences of global change on biodiversity — and be part of a supportive & collaborative environment!
DL 24 September
📢 Post doc! Want to join our team?

We are looking for 3 post docs in biodiversity science, genetic indicator assessment, and ecological statistics for a fixed term of 2 years!

Come unravel the drivers and consequences of global change on biodiversity with us!

DL 24.9.
#universityofhelsinki
3 Post doc positions in biodiversity science, genetic indicator assessment and ecological statistics
3 Post doc positions in biodiversity science, genetic indicator assessment and ecological statistics
jobs.helsinki.fi
September 3, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Please repost: 🚨We’re hiring!🚨 Come work with us on the PARSADA-ARDECO project at iEES-Paris. Ideally, you are interested in insect behaviour & ecology and have Master’s degree in Biology / Behavioural Ecology 🐛🦋 Apply by Sept 30th! jobs.inrae.fr/en/ot-27356 For more info, contact me
Assistant Engineer in Behavioural and Chemical Ecology
Context:The ARDECO project, funded under the Strategic Action Plan for Anticipating the Potential European Withdrawal of Active Substances and for the Development of Alternative Crop Protection Techniques (PARSADA), aims to structure and equip French research in chemical ecology, in order to accelerate the development of biocontrol solutions against insect crop pests. The objective is to identify, characterise, and validate volatile organic compounds (pheromones, kairomones) that modulate the behavior of agricultural pests. As part of this effort, INRAE is hiring an Assistant Engineer to support behavioural and chemical ecology experiments involving insect species targeted by the project. Missions:As a member of the iEES-Paris laboratory, you will contribute to:Conducting behavioural assays to test insect responses to volatile organic compounds (e.g., pheromones, kairomones)Performing volatile collections from plants and insects for chemical analysesEnsuring precise data collection and analysis of experiments, rigorous documentation, discussing results with colleagues, and preparing reports on the obtained resultsParticipating in insect rearing and maintaining colonies under controlled laboratory conditions We offer: A direct role in a national strategic project, bringing together academic research, technical institutes, and private sector actors (see https://iees-paris.fr/lancement-du-projet-parsada-ardeco/)A high-level research environment at the crossroads of functional genomics, neurophysiology, and applied ecology in a well recognised international and inclusive teamOpportunities for skills development and contract extension depending on project progression
jobs.inrae.fr
September 2, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
The 2025-26 Eco-Evo job list is out. Good luck to those applying!

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
ecoevojobs.net 2025-26
docs.google.com
August 19, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
📰Published📰Diet for survival: testing the resource allocation hypothesis in an aposematic moth🦋

buff.ly/CbuRKZN

🧪🌍
Diet for survival: testing the resource allocation hypothesis in an aposematic moth
Emily Burdfield-Steel, Cristina Ottocento, Miriam Furlanetto, Bibiana Rojas, Ossi Nokelainen, Johanna Mappes This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be f…
buff.ly
August 26, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
We are looking for Erasmus interns to help with our bird projects at Lammi Biological Station:
www.helsinki.fi/en/research-...

Apply here and specify that you are interested in the great tit project:
www.lyyti.in/Application_...
August 25, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
Final words of the last #ESEB2025 plenary by @jmappes.bsky.social:
"Science moves forward when we keep both our curiosity and our humility"
August 22, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
Excited to soon start my new role as Academy of Finland Research Fellow 🦋🐛I’ll later be advertising a PhD position on tiger moth colour and genomics, and will be speaking at #ESEB2025 this week if you want an idea of what’s going on!
August 18, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
Et si les odeurs naturelles des plantes pouvaient nous aider à protéger les cultures de façon durable ?

Pour en savoir plus, inscrivez vous au 1er #webinaire #ARDECO

🔍Infos : iees-paris.fr/evenements-s...

#biocontrôle #ProtectionDesCultures #insectesravageurs #pesticides #développementdurable
August 1, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
So happy to see this out in @funecology.bsky.social! We (@mothprof.bsky.social @crisottocento.bsky.social @jmappes.bsky.social et al.) studied whether the wing coloration of female wood tiger moths is an honest indicator of the quality of their chemical defences (1/3) @klivvvienna.bsky.social
August 21, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Thrilled to share this! Mostly done at @helsinki.fi, Konnevesi Station and @uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social 🇫🇮 with wonderful colleagues! In this study, we investigate whether the link between warning signals and chemical defences comes from how resources are allocated between these costly traits 🐦🦋
August 21, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
cool new paper in @nature.com about moth migration, showing they use the stars to navigate up to the mountains in the summer 🧪🌍🐙

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bogong moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night - Nature
Every spring, Bogong moths use the starry night sky as a compass to navigate up to 1,000 km towards their alpine migratory goal.
www.nature.com
June 19, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
✴️ NEW PAPER! ✴️ In the beautiful Caucasian mountains of 🇬🇪 lives a moth whose wing colour variation (🔴🟠🟡) has intrigued us for ages. Here (doi.org/10.1111/1744...), we studied whether such variation is associated with 🧬 structure or other traits such as size. (1/3)
June 20, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
This study shows some of the work done over the years in 🇬🇪 with some of my fav Finns (@jmappes.bsky.social O. Nokelainen, J.Valkonen), @crisottocento.bsky.social 🇮🇹, Tamar Chunashvili 🇬🇪 & Tõnis Tasane 🇪🇪. The genomics work was led by J. Galarza 🇲🇽 & @melbrien.bsky.social + @chrisjiggins.bsky.social 🇬🇧
June 20, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Reposted by Cristina Ottocento, PhD
🚨New paper alert!🚨

Tapeworms don’t just appear inside fish or birds. They travel there. Our latest paper tracks the first step of that journey: detecting parasites in first-intermediate hosts when they are rare + microscopic. We also developed primers/probes to detect parasites across taxa! (1/3)
June 13, 2025 at 2:54 PM