Gavin Leighton
@gavinleighton.bsky.social
Evolutionary Biologist & Behavioral Ecologist, Associate Professor at SUNY Buffalo State. Studying mimicry in woodpeckers and the evolution of social behavior in birds.
Opinions my own. He/him.
Opinions my own. He/him.
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
I’ve released a tool to sketch and edit phylogenetic trees!
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/
Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/
Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.
PhyloWeaver – Interactive phylogenetic tree editor
Edit and visualize phylogenetic trees directly in your browser. PhyloWeaver lets you interactively rearrange tree topologies and export high-quality figures for publications and presentations.
yawak.jp
November 18, 2025 at 1:59 AM
I’ve released a tool to sketch and edit phylogenetic trees!
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/
Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/
Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
AI slop gracing the cover of Royal Society B. Not only in AI yellow but scientifically nonsensical. Come on. I'm certain human photographs and artworks were ignored to platform ... this.
November 18, 2025 at 10:49 AM
AI slop gracing the cover of Royal Society B. Not only in AI yellow but scientifically nonsensical. Come on. I'm certain human photographs and artworks were ignored to platform ... this.
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Get in touch if you want to chat!
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
New paper on deep-sea fish diversity out now in @sse-evolution.bsky.social, with @cmartinez.bsky.social and @sarahtfried.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Distinct evolutionary signatures underlie body shape diversity across deep sea habitats
Abstract. The deep sea is known for extreme biological conditions such as high pressure, little-to-no solar light and cold temperatures. Despite these chal
academic.oup.com
October 13, 2025 at 7:09 PM
New paper on deep-sea fish diversity out now in @sse-evolution.bsky.social, with @cmartinez.bsky.social and @sarahtfried.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
October 3, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
What do you get when you cross a blue jay with a green jay? That’s not the start of a joke, but the subject of a new study that aims to describe a hybrid bird never encountered before in the wild. https://cnn.it/3WcFnDd
September 30, 2025 at 9:00 AM
What do you get when you cross a blue jay with a green jay? That’s not the start of a joke, but the subject of a new study that aims to describe a hybrid bird never encountered before in the wild. https://cnn.it/3WcFnDd
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
The first Aguillon Lab paper is officially out in early view at Evolution!! Led by postdoc @devonderaad.bsky.social, we’ve explored the hybrid zone between black-headed and rose-breasted grosbeaks in the Great Plains. #ornithology #hybridization #speciation #evolution doi.org/10.1093/evol...
September 12, 2025 at 3:49 PM
The first Aguillon Lab paper is officially out in early view at Evolution!! Led by postdoc @devonderaad.bsky.social, we’ve explored the hybrid zone between black-headed and rose-breasted grosbeaks in the Great Plains. #ornithology #hybridization #speciation #evolution doi.org/10.1093/evol...
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
I am beyond excited to announce that ggplot2 4.0.0 has just landed on CRAN.
It's not every day we have a new major #ggplot2 release but it is a fitting 18 year birthday present for the package.
Get an overview of the release in this blog post and be on the lookout for more in-depth posts #rstats
It's not every day we have a new major #ggplot2 release but it is a fitting 18 year birthday present for the package.
Get an overview of the release in this blog post and be on the lookout for more in-depth posts #rstats
ggplot2 4.0.0
A new major version of ggplot2 has been released on CRAN. Find out what is new here.
www.tidyverse.org
September 11, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
our paper on how light pollution affects bird vocal behavior is out today in Science!!
w/ @brentpease.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
w/ @brentpease.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
August 21, 2025 at 11:01 PM
our paper on how light pollution affects bird vocal behavior is out today in Science!!
w/ @brentpease.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
w/ @brentpease.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
🥳 New paper out in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society!
Manakin’s moving melody: the interplay between courtship dance display and vocalization as a predictor of hybridization in manakins (Aves: Pipridae)
academic.oup.com/biolinnean/a...
#ornithology
Manakin’s moving melody: the interplay between courtship dance display and vocalization as a predictor of hybridization in manakins (Aves: Pipridae)
academic.oup.com/biolinnean/a...
#ornithology
August 13, 2025 at 8:18 AM
🥳 New paper out in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society!
Manakin’s moving melody: the interplay between courtship dance display and vocalization as a predictor of hybridization in manakins (Aves: Pipridae)
academic.oup.com/biolinnean/a...
#ornithology
Manakin’s moving melody: the interplay between courtship dance display and vocalization as a predictor of hybridization in manakins (Aves: Pipridae)
academic.oup.com/biolinnean/a...
#ornithology
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
Further consolidating control over federal research funding under Russell Vought and a cadre of apparatchiks.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal
www.whitehouse.gov
August 7, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Further consolidating control over federal research funding under Russell Vought and a cadre of apparatchiks.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
July 30, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
Devastated to see the NSF postdoctoral research fellowship in biology archives. This is a transformative creative opportunity and a path to the professorship for many (including myself). Postdocs are highly trained and often in the newest techniques which spur innovation.
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB)
www.nsf.gov
July 29, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Devastated to see the NSF postdoctoral research fellowship in biology archives. This is a transformative creative opportunity and a path to the professorship for many (including myself). Postdocs are highly trained and often in the newest techniques which spur innovation.
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
“With these considerations, we expect to fund through the 4th percentile.”
There it is, in black and white, the destruction of cancer research in the US.
There it is, in black and white, the destruction of cancer research in the US.
Funding policy for 2025 from NCI. Was just released: 4 percentile…maybe!
www.cancer.gov/grants-train...
www.cancer.gov/grants-train...
Funding Policy - Research Grants
NCI funding policy for research project grant (RPG) awards reflects the funding goals of the institute, NIH, and HHS.
www.cancer.gov
July 23, 2025 at 10:21 PM
“With these considerations, we expect to fund through the 4th percentile.”
There it is, in black and white, the destruction of cancer research in the US.
There it is, in black and white, the destruction of cancer research in the US.
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
NEW: In an unprecedented move, the NIH will soon disinvite dozens of scientists about to take positions on advisory councils that make final decisions on grant funding.
NIH staff were told to select others aligned with the Trump administration and told to expect placements by political appointees.
NIH staff were told to select others aligned with the Trump administration and told to expect placements by political appointees.
Exclusive: NIH to dismiss dozens of grant reviewers to align with Trump priorities
The move would undo years of work, leaving advisory councils understaffed, and without the full expertise needed for reviews.
www.nature.com
July 14, 2025 at 11:25 PM
NEW: In an unprecedented move, the NIH will soon disinvite dozens of scientists about to take positions on advisory councils that make final decisions on grant funding.
NIH staff were told to select others aligned with the Trump administration and told to expect placements by political appointees.
NIH staff were told to select others aligned with the Trump administration and told to expect placements by political appointees.
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
String manipulation is a critical daily task for bioinformaticians.
Here is a cheatsheet using stringr: rstudio.github.io/cheatsheets...
I probably use stringr::str_replace() once every other day...
to clean up metadata (of course!) #rstats
Here is a cheatsheet using stringr: rstudio.github.io/cheatsheets...
I probably use stringr::str_replace() once every other day...
to clean up metadata (of course!) #rstats
July 14, 2025 at 1:45 PM
String manipulation is a critical daily task for bioinformaticians.
Here is a cheatsheet using stringr: rstudio.github.io/cheatsheets...
I probably use stringr::str_replace() once every other day...
to clean up metadata (of course!) #rstats
Here is a cheatsheet using stringr: rstudio.github.io/cheatsheets...
I probably use stringr::str_replace() once every other day...
to clean up metadata (of course!) #rstats
A couple presentations from the lab at #ABS2025! The first is a poster by Catherine Alverson during the first poster session, tonight (07/09). Catherine will be discussing her research on the evolution of dimorphism across thousands of bird species.
July 9, 2025 at 5:38 PM
A couple presentations from the lab at #ABS2025! The first is a poster by Catherine Alverson during the first poster session, tonight (07/09). Catherine will be discussing her research on the evolution of dimorphism across thousands of bird species.
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
“I hate to say it," says Yale energy economist Kenneth Gillingham, but the Senate version of Trump's big tax bill "would kill America's renewable energy market.” It's "truly bizarre, a self-defeating measure," adds Princeton's @jessedjenkins.com. By @hencarnell.bsky.social via @motherjones.com
Senate version of "beautiful" bill will "kill" America's clean energy sector, experts say
New taxes on wind and solar are "truly bizarre, a self-defeating measure."
www.motherjones.com
July 1, 2025 at 12:08 AM
“I hate to say it," says Yale energy economist Kenneth Gillingham, but the Senate version of Trump's big tax bill "would kill America's renewable energy market.” It's "truly bizarre, a self-defeating measure," adds Princeton's @jessedjenkins.com. By @hencarnell.bsky.social via @motherjones.com
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
NEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years.
NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
June 24, 2025 at 10:20 PM
NEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years.
NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
ooooh new paper out today. a couple of years ago a big group of us were like "hey let's spend a few weeks painstakingly looking up the sources of every official bird common name" and as of today, you too can join us in our ornitholetymological (yes i made that up) rabbit-hole:
AvianLexiconAtlas: A database of descriptive categories of English-language bird names around the world
Common names of species are important for communicating with the general public. In principle, these names should provide an accessible way to engage with and identify species. The common names of spe...
journals.plos.org
June 11, 2025 at 6:38 PM
ooooh new paper out today. a couple of years ago a big group of us were like "hey let's spend a few weeks painstakingly looking up the sources of every official bird common name" and as of today, you too can join us in our ornitholetymological (yes i made that up) rabbit-hole:
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
RFK Jr's "MAHA" report is filled with references to studies that literally do not exist, or that completely misinterpret the studies' findings.
“We did not publish a paper.. on this topic with that co-author group, or with that title,” says one cited researcher.
www.notus.org/health-scien...
“We did not publish a paper.. on this topic with that co-author group, or with that title,” says one cited researcher.
www.notus.org/health-scien...
The MAHA Report Cites Studies That Don’t Exist
The Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” report misinterprets some studies and cites others that don’t exist, according to the listed authors.
www.notus.org
May 29, 2025 at 12:35 PM
RFK Jr's "MAHA" report is filled with references to studies that literally do not exist, or that completely misinterpret the studies' findings.
“We did not publish a paper.. on this topic with that co-author group, or with that title,” says one cited researcher.
www.notus.org/health-scien...
“We did not publish a paper.. on this topic with that co-author group, or with that title,” says one cited researcher.
www.notus.org/health-scien...
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
Divergent selection and plasticity increases reproductive isolation early during incipient speciation. Find our new meta-analysis on experimental speciation studies here: rdcu.be/ek019 🧪 @EvolOdonata.ecoevo.social.ap.brid.gy @pipdowning.bsky.social
Meta-analysis reveals that phenotypic plasticity and divergent selection promote reproductive isolation during incipient speciation
Nature Ecology & Evolution - The authors examine factors affecting reproductive isolation in the early stages of speciation by collating data from 34 experimental speciation studies in 15...
rdcu.be
May 7, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Divergent selection and plasticity increases reproductive isolation early during incipient speciation. Find our new meta-analysis on experimental speciation studies here: rdcu.be/ek019 🧪 @EvolOdonata.ecoevo.social.ap.brid.gy @pipdowning.bsky.social
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
*** Academic BFD alert ***
We just published a new global bird phylogeny. It synthesizes the work of thousands of researchers before us, and it will grow and improve over time. @snacktavish.bsky.social @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
We just published a new global bird phylogeny. It synthesizes the work of thousands of researchers before us, and it will grow and improve over time. @snacktavish.bsky.social @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
April 29, 2025 at 4:56 PM
*** Academic BFD alert ***
We just published a new global bird phylogeny. It synthesizes the work of thousands of researchers before us, and it will grow and improve over time. @snacktavish.bsky.social @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
We just published a new global bird phylogeny. It synthesizes the work of thousands of researchers before us, and it will grow and improve over time. @snacktavish.bsky.social @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
The current #FeederWatch interactions dataset has grown to include just under 500,000 pairwise interactions! So many cool projects waiting to be done with this unique resource. FeederWatch data is always freely available feederwatch.org/explore/raw-...
Raw Dataset Downloads - FeederWatch
Public access to FeederWatch data The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada are committed to making data gathered through our programs freely accessible to students, journalists, and the general...
feederwatch.org
April 28, 2025 at 7:33 PM
The current #FeederWatch interactions dataset has grown to include just under 500,000 pairwise interactions! So many cool projects waiting to be done with this unique resource. FeederWatch data is always freely available feederwatch.org/explore/raw-...
Reposted by Gavin Leighton
A complete and dynamic tree of birds - out today in PNAS! Teamwork with @eliotmiller.bsky.social and others at
@birdsoftheworld.bsky.social and Open Tree of Life to put together current relationships across all birds. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
@birdsoftheworld.bsky.social and Open Tree of Life to put together current relationships across all birds. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
April 29, 2025 at 4:50 PM
A complete and dynamic tree of birds - out today in PNAS! Teamwork with @eliotmiller.bsky.social and others at
@birdsoftheworld.bsky.social and Open Tree of Life to put together current relationships across all birds. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
@birdsoftheworld.bsky.social and Open Tree of Life to put together current relationships across all birds. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...