Hengxing Zou
@hengxingzou.bsky.social
IGCB Postdoc Fellow at UMich SEAS. PhD Rice University. UChicago alum. Made in Beijing, China.
hengxingzou.github.io
hengxingzou.github.io
Pinned
Hengxing Zou
@hengxingzou.bsky.social
· Jul 29
Hyper-dominant species drive unexpected functional shifts in North American birds https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.23.666479v1
First postdoc paper just dropped! Using 50 years of Breeding Bird Survey data, we found that the unexpected functional shifts of bird communities in North America do not track species-level expectations, and these unexpected shifts can be explained by just 5% of “hyper-dominant” species.
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
We churned through over 100 million radar samples to quantify the structure of migration through the airspaces across the United States: Just out in Ecology esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
November 20, 2025 at 6:20 PM
We churned through over 100 million radar samples to quantify the structure of migration through the airspaces across the United States: Just out in Ecology esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
Join us for an @smtpb.bsky.social workshop on Modern Coexistence Theory. We'll cover mathematical foundations, the theory of partitioning, and data-based applications. Featuring @swatipatel.bsky.social, Nick Kortessis, & Lauren Shoemaker. Zoom link here: smtpb.org/event-6426026
November 19, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Join us for an @smtpb.bsky.social workshop on Modern Coexistence Theory. We'll cover mathematical foundations, the theory of partitioning, and data-based applications. Featuring @swatipatel.bsky.social, Nick Kortessis, & Lauren Shoemaker. Zoom link here: smtpb.org/event-6426026
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
WE JUST KEEP WINNING. (UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program RESTORED!!!!)
![On official UC letterhead:
UNIVERSITY
OF
CALIFORNIA
James B. Milliken President
Office of the President
1111 Franklin Street Oakland, CA 94607
universityofcalifornia.edu
CAMPUSES Berkeley
Davis
Irvine
UCLA
Merced
Riverside San Diego San Francisco
Santa Barbara Santa Cruz
MEDICAL CENTERS
Davis
Irvine
UCLA
San Diego
San Francisco
NATIONAL LABORATORIES Lawrence Berkeley Lawrence Livermore Los Alamos
DIVISION OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES
November 18, 2025
Dear Chancellors:
I'm writing with regard to the President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP) and the program's associated faculty hiring incentive.
As you know, for more than 40 years, PPFP has provided postdoctoral research fellowships, professional development, and faculty mentoring to scholars in all fields whose research, teaching, and service advance the academic and research missions of the University of California.
Since 2003, UC campuses that hire current and former PPFP fellows into ladder-rank positions have been eligible for a hiring incentive funded by the University that provides support for newly hired fellows for five years. Since the creation of the incentive, more than $162 million has been invested by the University to support PPFP faculty hires. This commitment has enabled our campuses to successfully recruit and retain outstanding faculty across a range of disciplines.
Given the myriad challenges currently facing UC - including disruptions to billions of dollars in annual federal support, as well as uncertainty around the state budget- reasonable questions were raised in recent months about whether the University could maintain the commitment to current levels of incentive funding. After considering a recommendation to sunset the incentive program due to these significant fiscal constraints, I consulted with all of you as well as faculty and campus academic administrators and systemwide Academic Senate leadership.
[continued on next image]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rzn6yramffebefeitqifiqqz/bafkreigiwq5ongzwpj4wqmgjam3yfvhyjnv5e3dbq6cnrrbwblqvs624gq@jpeg)
November 18, 2025 at 10:34 PM
WE JUST KEEP WINNING. (UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program RESTORED!!!!)
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
This is a reminder that @asn-amnat.bsky.social publishes abstracts in both English and your native language, using your native alphabet. You can see and read those online. Here is a screenshot of a great example. Love seeing this in my favorite journal.
November 14, 2025 at 3:47 PM
This is a reminder that @asn-amnat.bsky.social publishes abstracts in both English and your native language, using your native alphabet. You can see and read those online. Here is a screenshot of a great example. Love seeing this in my favorite journal.
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
This has gotten surprisingly little attention — it's not even on the front page of @science.org right now — but it's really hard to describe what the SAFE Research Act would do to US science and scientists without sounding insane
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
November 14, 2025 at 5:16 PM
This has gotten surprisingly little attention — it's not even on the front page of @science.org right now — but it's really hard to describe what the SAFE Research Act would do to US science and scientists without sounding insane
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
excellent new paper by Sam well summarized in this nice thread --- a TON of hard work went into testing these major hypotheses for range limits
Check out our new paper in @royalsociety.org testing mechanisms behind elevational range restriction in tropical montane songbirds! ⛰️🦜🌳
Backstory: when i first visited Central America in the early 2010's i was struck with elevational ranges of birds..
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Backstory: when i first visited Central America in the early 2010's i was struck with elevational ranges of birds..
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Testing the thermal physiology, habitat and competition hypotheses for elevational range limits in four tropical songbirds | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Restricted elevational ranges are common across tropical montane species, but the
mechanisms generating and maintaining these patterns remain poorly resolved. A long-standing
hypothesis is that specia...
royalsocietypublishing.org
November 12, 2025 at 8:54 PM
excellent new paper by Sam well summarized in this nice thread --- a TON of hard work went into testing these major hypotheses for range limits
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
So proud of this paper 🥳 Could not have done it without the amazing team along side me: Lauren Shoemaker, Lauren Hallett, Peter Vesk, @oscar-godoy.bsky.social and @mmayfieldecology.bsky.social
🆕 in "Ecological Monographs": Static models miss the mark—adding nonlinear, density-based facilitation helps predict coexistence, persistence, and realistic community dynamics
📄Neighbor density-dependent facilitation promotes coexistence and internal oscillation
doi.org/10.1002/ecm....
📄Neighbor density-dependent facilitation promotes coexistence and internal oscillation
doi.org/10.1002/ecm....
November 11, 2025 at 8:56 AM
So proud of this paper 🥳 Could not have done it without the amazing team along side me: Lauren Shoemaker, Lauren Hallett, Peter Vesk, @oscar-godoy.bsky.social and @mmayfieldecology.bsky.social
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
New paper showing how immigration alters the ecological processes structuring the assembly and variation in #Monarch caterpillar gut #microbiomes.
w/ @jaapderoode.bsky.social, @gabe-dubose.bsky.social, Joselyne Chavez, Lydia Fuller-Hall
Ecology Letters onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
w/ @jaapderoode.bsky.social, @gabe-dubose.bsky.social, Joselyne Chavez, Lydia Fuller-Hall
Ecology Letters onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Experimental Immigration Mediates Ecological Selection and Drift in Monarch Microbiome Assembly
The distribution of biodiversity depends on processes operating across scales, yet multiscale paradigms have struggled to permeate host-microbiome research. By integrating multi-scale ecological theo...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:40 PM
New paper showing how immigration alters the ecological processes structuring the assembly and variation in #Monarch caterpillar gut #microbiomes.
w/ @jaapderoode.bsky.social, @gabe-dubose.bsky.social, Joselyne Chavez, Lydia Fuller-Hall
Ecology Letters onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
w/ @jaapderoode.bsky.social, @gabe-dubose.bsky.social, Joselyne Chavez, Lydia Fuller-Hall
Ecology Letters onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
Amy Angert and I are recruiting a #postdoc to participate in a collaborative NSF-funded study of demographic responses to climate across the geographic range of the scarlet monkeyflower. Please repost! jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/224...
November 7, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Amy Angert and I are recruiting a #postdoc to participate in a collaborative NSF-funded study of demographic responses to climate across the geographic range of the scarlet monkeyflower. Please repost! jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/224...
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
Excited to share our fresh-off-the-press Annual Review on the role of temperature in metabolic scaling! We review the state of the field on this topic and unpack confusion about the various ways the term "scaling" is used in metabolic theories. www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Scaling Temperature Effects on Metabolism from Individuals to Ecosystems
The effects of temperature on metabolic rates are a core component of ecological change, with surprisingly regular effects across diverse ecological systems. Metabolic scaling theories can provide qua...
www.annualreviews.org
November 7, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Excited to share our fresh-off-the-press Annual Review on the role of temperature in metabolic scaling! We review the state of the field on this topic and unpack confusion about the various ways the term "scaling" is used in metabolic theories. www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
This program has spread nationwide, with many institutions, including my own, following this model. It’s been spectacular for my department and for my college.
A devastating set of decisions on the part of UC leadership to withdraw support from our nationally recognized postdoc program that prioritizes research excellence combined with addressing our university public service mission. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
UC to Stop Funding Systemwide Postdoc Program
Established in 1984 to encourage women and minority Ph.D.s to pursue academia, the program has attracted right-wing criticism for prioritizing diverse candidates.
www.insidehighered.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:36 PM
This program has spread nationwide, with many institutions, including my own, following this model. It’s been spectacular for my department and for my college.
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
the first paper from my lab at UCSC is on @ecoevorxiv.bsky.social
led by the brilliant Jordana Sevigny we assembled a >100 year timeseries of invert range extensions in the NE Pacific
huge range fluctuations are common; extensions are overwhelmingly associated with El Niño
doi.org/10.32942/X2T...
led by the brilliant Jordana Sevigny we assembled a >100 year timeseries of invert range extensions in the NE Pacific
huge range fluctuations are common; extensions are overwhelmingly associated with El Niño
doi.org/10.32942/X2T...
A century of invertebrate range extensions in the eastern North Pacific
doi.org
November 6, 2025 at 8:09 PM
the first paper from my lab at UCSC is on @ecoevorxiv.bsky.social
led by the brilliant Jordana Sevigny we assembled a >100 year timeseries of invert range extensions in the NE Pacific
huge range fluctuations are common; extensions are overwhelmingly associated with El Niño
doi.org/10.32942/X2T...
led by the brilliant Jordana Sevigny we assembled a >100 year timeseries of invert range extensions in the NE Pacific
huge range fluctuations are common; extensions are overwhelmingly associated with El Niño
doi.org/10.32942/X2T...
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
Biological modeling is organized inquiry, but how should we think about the process?
My new paper in #EcologyLetters argues that we should model like experimentalists: define treatments, measure responses, validate, perturb, repeat.
👉 doi.org/10.1111/ele....
Do you agree?
My new paper in #EcologyLetters argues that we should model like experimentalists: define treatments, measure responses, validate, perturb, repeat.
👉 doi.org/10.1111/ele....
Do you agree?
https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70251
November 6, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Biological modeling is organized inquiry, but how should we think about the process?
My new paper in #EcologyLetters argues that we should model like experimentalists: define treatments, measure responses, validate, perturb, repeat.
👉 doi.org/10.1111/ele....
Do you agree?
My new paper in #EcologyLetters argues that we should model like experimentalists: define treatments, measure responses, validate, perturb, repeat.
👉 doi.org/10.1111/ele....
Do you agree?
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
My lab at Indiana University is searching for a *postdoc* and *technician* to contribute to our work studying the evolution of social behavior using fruit flies as a model system. Details below, feel free to email me with any questions! More info on our research: saltzlab.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:56 PM
My lab at Indiana University is searching for a *postdoc* and *technician* to contribute to our work studying the evolution of social behavior using fruit flies as a model system. Details below, feel free to email me with any questions! More info on our research: saltzlab.com
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
If you're looking for a #postdoc but aren't quite a fit for my lab, check out this exciting opportunity via IU's Common Themes in Reproductive Diversity group! 2-year NIH traineeship to work on one of the group's core themes. Details here! ctrd.indiana.edu/how-to-apply/
How to apply
Learn how to apply to the Common Themes in Reproductive Diversity graduate program at Indiana University with detailed steps, requirements, and deadlines.
ctrd.indiana.edu
November 5, 2025 at 5:10 PM
If you're looking for a #postdoc but aren't quite a fit for my lab, check out this exciting opportunity via IU's Common Themes in Reproductive Diversity group! 2-year NIH traineeship to work on one of the group's core themes. Details here! ctrd.indiana.edu/how-to-apply/
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
New paper out today in Ecology Letters! In this synthesis we dive into the equilibrium assumption in ecology - why it's everywhere in ecological theory, the evidence for it in nature, when meeting the assumption is important, how to achieve it in empirical research, and more! tinyurl.com/yh6kyysm
November 3, 2025 at 1:31 PM
New paper out today in Ecology Letters! In this synthesis we dive into the equilibrium assumption in ecology - why it's everywhere in ecological theory, the evidence for it in nature, when meeting the assumption is important, how to achieve it in empirical research, and more! tinyurl.com/yh6kyysm
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
🧪⚛️
Here is a terrific research opportunity at OIST. Basically a Principle-Investigator position that prepares advanced postdocs for tenure-track faculty positions in Japan or abroad.
Deadline is 30 November 2026.
I know OIST well - an excellent research environment.
www.oist.jp/research/bur...
Here is a terrific research opportunity at OIST. Basically a Principle-Investigator position that prepares advanced postdocs for tenure-track faculty positions in Japan or abroad.
Deadline is 30 November 2026.
I know OIST well - an excellent research environment.
www.oist.jp/research/bur...
Buribushi Fellowship
www.oist.jp
October 29, 2025 at 5:46 PM
🧪⚛️
Here is a terrific research opportunity at OIST. Basically a Principle-Investigator position that prepares advanced postdocs for tenure-track faculty positions in Japan or abroad.
Deadline is 30 November 2026.
I know OIST well - an excellent research environment.
www.oist.jp/research/bur...
Here is a terrific research opportunity at OIST. Basically a Principle-Investigator position that prepares advanced postdocs for tenure-track faculty positions in Japan or abroad.
Deadline is 30 November 2026.
I know OIST well - an excellent research environment.
www.oist.jp/research/bur...
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
Are you a recent grad interested in global change?
Check out the ROADS program at UTEP: www.utep.edu/science/ramp/
I will be co-advising a student with Dr. Liz LaRue.
The project will combine a water competition experiment and remote sensing at Jornada Experimental Range.
Reach out with questions!
Check out the ROADS program at UTEP: www.utep.edu/science/ramp/
I will be co-advising a student with Dr. Liz LaRue.
The project will combine a water competition experiment and remote sensing at Jornada Experimental Range.
Reach out with questions!
RaMP
www.utep.edu
October 29, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Are you a recent grad interested in global change?
Check out the ROADS program at UTEP: www.utep.edu/science/ramp/
I will be co-advising a student with Dr. Liz LaRue.
The project will combine a water competition experiment and remote sensing at Jornada Experimental Range.
Reach out with questions!
Check out the ROADS program at UTEP: www.utep.edu/science/ramp/
I will be co-advising a student with Dr. Liz LaRue.
The project will combine a water competition experiment and remote sensing at Jornada Experimental Range.
Reach out with questions!
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
I'm looking for 1-2 PhD/Master's students to start in my lab in the fall of 2026.
Are you interested in studying plant interactions, species coexistence or community recovery after disturbance in arid environments? Details below!
Email me with questions and please share widely!!
🌱🌾🌵🏜️
Are you interested in studying plant interactions, species coexistence or community recovery after disturbance in arid environments? Details below!
Email me with questions and please share widely!!
🌱🌾🌵🏜️
October 6, 2025 at 6:59 PM
I'm looking for 1-2 PhD/Master's students to start in my lab in the fall of 2026.
Are you interested in studying plant interactions, species coexistence or community recovery after disturbance in arid environments? Details below!
Email me with questions and please share widely!!
🌱🌾🌵🏜️
Are you interested in studying plant interactions, species coexistence or community recovery after disturbance in arid environments? Details below!
Email me with questions and please share widely!!
🌱🌾🌵🏜️
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
Excited to share that I’ll be starting my research group in Nov 2025 at the Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica in Taipei🎉
We study how eco & evo rules govern complex systems layered by hosts🌱& symbionts🦠 & mobile genes🧬
Recruiting soon at all levels!
🔗 chang-yu-chang.github.io/changlab/
We study how eco & evo rules govern complex systems layered by hosts🌱& symbionts🦠 & mobile genes🧬
Recruiting soon at all levels!
🔗 chang-yu-chang.github.io/changlab/
Laboratory of Microbial Symbiosis, Ecology, and Evolution
chang-yu-chang.github.io
October 7, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Excited to share that I’ll be starting my research group in Nov 2025 at the Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica in Taipei🎉
We study how eco & evo rules govern complex systems layered by hosts🌱& symbionts🦠 & mobile genes🧬
Recruiting soon at all levels!
🔗 chang-yu-chang.github.io/changlab/
We study how eco & evo rules govern complex systems layered by hosts🌱& symbionts🦠 & mobile genes🧬
Recruiting soon at all levels!
🔗 chang-yu-chang.github.io/changlab/
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
NSF unexpectedly changed (at the last minute) who is eligible to apply for the Grad Research Fellowship, dropping 2nd year students. We started a petition to reverse this unfair change, Sign here:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
and please spread the word!!!!
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
and please spread the word!!!!
Petition to NSF to Restore Eligibility for the 2026 Graduate Research Fellowship Program Competition
laurenkuehne.github.io
September 29, 2025 at 7:20 PM
NSF unexpectedly changed (at the last minute) who is eligible to apply for the Grad Research Fellowship, dropping 2nd year students. We started a petition to reverse this unfair change, Sign here:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
and please spread the word!!!!
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
and please spread the word!!!!
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
One of the most important and magical shorebird stopover sites in the country is the Bolivar Flats Bird Sanctuary in Texas. It is currently under threat from development and we are in a race to save it. houstonaudubon.org/conservation...
September 26, 2025 at 2:01 AM
One of the most important and magical shorebird stopover sites in the country is the Bolivar Flats Bird Sanctuary in Texas. It is currently under threat from development and we are in a race to save it. houstonaudubon.org/conservation...
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
The Dept. of BioSciences at #RiceUniversity, in Houston, Texas, invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position in Evolutionary Biology, with a preferred focus on organismal responses to environmental change. Please RT!
Apply: apply.interfolio.com/173889
Apply: apply.interfolio.com/173889
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
September 12, 2025 at 6:45 PM
The Dept. of BioSciences at #RiceUniversity, in Houston, Texas, invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position in Evolutionary Biology, with a preferred focus on organismal responses to environmental change. Please RT!
Apply: apply.interfolio.com/173889
Apply: apply.interfolio.com/173889
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
Please consider applying to our open faculty position call that includes Ecology!
apply.interfolio.com/172075
apply.interfolio.com/172075
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
September 16, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Please consider applying to our open faculty position call that includes Ecology!
apply.interfolio.com/172075
apply.interfolio.com/172075
Reposted by Hengxing Zou
Awesome faculty position alert! Tenure-track assistant professor position in Evolutionary Biology, with a focus on organismal responses to environmental change.
Please help spread the word!
apply.interfolio.com/173889
Please help spread the word!
apply.interfolio.com/173889
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
September 12, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Awesome faculty position alert! Tenure-track assistant professor position in Evolutionary Biology, with a focus on organismal responses to environmental change.
Please help spread the word!
apply.interfolio.com/173889
Please help spread the word!
apply.interfolio.com/173889