Blake Matthews
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ebmatthews.bsky.social
Blake Matthews
@ebmatthews.bsky.social
Evolutionary ecologist, aquatic ecosystems, Canadian scientist at Eawag (Switzerland), limnologist, Greenland, stickleback, zooplankton.

https://www.blakematthewslab.com/
Pinned
2 results, and 3 speculations from this paper: academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...

Results: (1) Greenlandic stickleback co-occurring with Arctic char are bigger and (2) have relatively smaller heads than when stickleback are alone in a lake.
Predator-mediated resource limitation shapes body and head size variation in stickleback populations
Abstract. Predator and prey communities are important putative drivers of phenotypic variation in consumers. However, in natural food webs, we often lack a
academic.oup.com
Reposted by Blake Matthews
🚨 We're hiring!
PhD position in Evolutionary Systems Biology at Stockholm University & SciLifeLab

🎓 Focus: evolution, development, computational & mathematical modeling, prediction
📍 Stockholm, Sweden
🕒 4 years, fully-funded
🔍 Details: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Please share!
August 25, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by Blake Matthews
🚨postdoc opportunity at UBC🚨 applications are now open for the Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship, due internally Oct. 15 - www.postdocs.ubc.ca/award/killam...

I can nominate 1 person and give feedback on that nominee's materials - if interested plz email me by Sept. 10 - join us!
August 17, 2025 at 5:15 PM
2 results, and 3 speculations from this paper: academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...

Results: (1) Greenlandic stickleback co-occurring with Arctic char are bigger and (2) have relatively smaller heads than when stickleback are alone in a lake.
Predator-mediated resource limitation shapes body and head size variation in stickleback populations
Abstract. Predator and prey communities are important putative drivers of phenotypic variation in consumers. However, in natural food webs, we often lack a
academic.oup.com
August 11, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Reposted by Blake Matthews
Developmentally stunted stickleback? Study of 34 Greenlandic lakes reveals the absence of top predators reduces the available prey biomass, leading to small-bodied, large-headed stickleback populations:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

Moosman et al. @brodersenfish.bsky.social @ebmatthews.bsky.social
Predator-mediated resource limitation shapes body and head size variation in stickleback populations
Abstract. Predator and prey communities are important putative drivers of phenotypic variation in consumers. However, in natural food webs, we often lack a
doi.org
July 18, 2025 at 9:42 AM
AI audio summary of our recent paper on nutritional-based plasticity of isopod pigmentation is not bad… sciencecast.org/casts/o6xg85...
Science Cast
Increase your recognition in the scientific world with short video-casts
sciencecast.org
May 18, 2025 at 7:09 AM
A text from my wife (who is a lawyer). Turns out she understands my profession (an aquatic ecologist) better than the NYT.
May 14, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Blake Matthews
What I wish I knew: 33 thoughts for early career researchers
Reflections I wish someone had shared with me early in my research career.

predirections.substack.com/p/what-i-wis...
What I wish I knew: 33 thoughts for early career researchers
Thirty three reflections I wish someone had shared with me early in my research career.
predirections.substack.com
April 29, 2025 at 3:08 AM
"Finally, the regressions of habitat suitability from SDMs versus site elevation have substantially higher R-squared values compared with models of stochastic lambdas versus site elevation for the same populations, which could lead researchers to overestimate the predictive power of these models."
Adaptation and gene flow are insufficient to rescue a montane plant under climate change
Climate change increasingly drives local population dynamics, shifts geographic distributions, and threatens persistence. Gene flow and rapid adaptation could rescue declining populations yet are seld...
www.science.org
May 7, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Reposted by Blake Matthews
I am looking for a postdoc position! I have experience in host-parasite interactions, animal behavior, sexual selection, science outreach, and science education. Plus, I'm a photographer and illustrator which could come in handy! Please reach out if you have any positions open or know someone.
May 4, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Blake Matthews
Amazing study from Jill Anderson, Megan Demarche and colleagues, integrating species distribution models, reciprocal transplants, snow manipulation and more to test whether a montane plant can adapt to climate change. The sad answer: not without human intervention.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
May 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Blake Matthews
We still have a few spots left for the GRC Ecological & Evolutionary Genomics meeting in Tuscany this summer (July 13-18). Lots of great speakers already lined up, and we'd love to hear from you! www.grc.org/ecological-a...
May 1, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Blake Matthews
Junior faculty job alert in Germany - Marine Evolutionary Genomics @geomarkiel.bsky.social / University of Kiel www.geomar.de/en/karriere/... Marine study system of your choice (no microbes, sorry…), excellent infrastructure and ship access, moderate teaching requirements, closing date 6 June
April 26, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Happy to have served as the opponent for the PhD defense of Jingyao Niu today. Was a fun process to be part of… check out her published papers and those coming out soon. www.researchgate.net/profile/Jing...
April 3, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Blake Matthews
Come join us at beautiful UBC! The King Lab is recruiting a Post-doc Fellow to develop mathematical theory on infectious disease evolution and emergence, together with Ben Ashby (SFU) #zoonoses #biodiversity www.zoology.ubc.ca/kinglab/join...
Join Us! | King Lab
Are you interested in joining the King Lab? More information here!
www.zoology.ubc.ca
March 31, 2025 at 1:22 AM
aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Here, we show how the genetic composition of communities can affect the build-up of environmental heterogeneity over time. Environmental heterogeneity is not always external to organisms. Evolving organisms can shape it through local effects.
Differential effects of Daphnia genotype composition on spatial environmental heterogeneity in experimental metacommunities
Spatial environmental heterogeneity is an important driver of aquatic biodiversity. Ecological and evolutionary theory often consider spatial heterogeneity as being driven by exogenous factors, yet h...
aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
March 28, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Postdoctoral fellowship at Eawag, Switzerland. Independent position hosted in one of the research departments, including mine at Kastanienbaum.
apply.refline.ch/673277/1246/...
March 15, 2025 at 1:17 PM
In case you missed this last year…I think this is probably the most insightful thread/exchange about the current state of ecology (and some ecologists). It cuts at some of the core issues in the discipline, and asks “are we ok?”. dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2024/03/26/a...
Are there big ideas or new big questions in ecology any more?
Jeremy made a compelling case that the typical scientist produces modest contributions to the field but that is enough (it is still leaving the world better than we found it). But several commentor…
dynamicecology.wordpress.com
March 11, 2025 at 7:13 AM
These (!) marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/post... are open again for postdocs looking to come to Switzerland… happy to chat about project ideas - www.blakematthewslab.com
Postdoctoral Fellowships
The information provided on this page is a summary of the main rules and requirements for Postdoctoral Fellowships (PFs) and who can apply for them.
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu
March 9, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Blake Matthews
Post doc in Europe? 🇪🇺🔬💡
It’s open to anyone in the 🌍
Call open 9 April 25
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/post...
Postdoctoral Fellowships
The information provided on this page is a summary of the main rules and requirements for Postdoctoral Fellowships (PFs) and who can apply for them.
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu
March 9, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Reposted by Blake Matthews
We are hiring a postdoc at Umeå University in aquatic ecosystem ecology. See the link for details!
www.umu.se/en/work-with...
@grocherros.bsky.social
Postdoc (2 years) in aquatic ecosystem ecology
www.umu.se
March 5, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Portraitmoded head shots of some of the attendees of our recent evolutionary-ecology workshop in 🇨🇭 (Eawag, Kastanienbaum)… a mashup of philosophically inclined evolutionary biologists and professional philosophers of science!
February 21, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Reposted by Blake Matthews
Job: Come work with me! Please repost!

We're seeking a faculty colleague whose research, teaching, and outreach focuses on water quality and freshwater ecosystems in the context of climate change. Review of applications will begin April 15, 2025.

careers.msu.edu/jobs/assista...
February 20, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Reposted by Blake Matthews
The Idiot's Guide to Effective Population Size. Mol Ecol e17670. doi.org/10.1111/mec....
The Idiot's Guide to Effective Population Size
This is a reference manual for the elegant, yet hideously complex concept of effective population size (Ne), inspired by a classic, self-published manual of automotive repair ‘for the compleat idiot’...
doi.org
February 16, 2025 at 5:16 PM