Justin M. Bernstein
@justbernstein.bsky.social
Ph.D., NSF Postdoc at the American Museum of Natural History, studying evolution using genomics of snakes 🐍 🧬
Posts are my own
Posts are my own
So proud of the student I've been mentoring, Soe, on her first publication! Check it out @HerpNotes to see some neat country level records on wolf snakes in Myanmar! herpetologynotes.org/index.php/hn...
July 11, 2025 at 5:25 PM
So proud of the student I've been mentoring, Soe, on her first publication! Check it out @HerpNotes to see some neat country level records on wolf snakes in Myanmar! herpetologynotes.org/index.php/hn...
Wondering how fossils 🦴 can tell the stories of the past? Check out our new paper on Holocene #bats in the Caribbean, and what they taught us about extinction! 🦇 Congratulations to lead @mormoops.bsky.social at the AMNH, and all collaborators royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
A Holocene bat colony collapse highlights the importance of hot caves in the Caribbean | Biology Letters
Species loss in fragile insular communities can alter the composition and stability
of local assemblages. Climate change or anthropogenic pressures are sometimes attributed
to the loss of Caribbean ba...
royalsocietypublishing.org
May 21, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Wondering how fossils 🦴 can tell the stories of the past? Check out our new paper on Holocene #bats in the Caribbean, and what they taught us about extinction! 🦇 Congratulations to lead @mormoops.bsky.social at the AMNH, and all collaborators royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Check out our new paper embracing the heterogeneity of whole genomes for understanding evolutionary processes! And it's on #snakes! Always a plus! Huge thank you to my collaborators @bwperry.bsky.social and many more!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Disentangling a genome-wide mosaic of conflicting phylogenetic signals in Western Rattlesnakes
Species tree inference is often assumed to be more accurate as datasets increase in size, with whole genomes representing the best-case-scenario for e…
www.sciencedirect.com
February 14, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Check out our new paper embracing the heterogeneity of whole genomes for understanding evolutionary processes! And it's on #snakes! Always a plus! Huge thank you to my collaborators @bwperry.bsky.social and many more!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
I did something I thought was impossible. I cleared out my email of 11 years, 30,000 emails. Including an email from 3 years from myself with a link "how to clear your inbox and clean your email."
December 24, 2024 at 2:18 PM
I did something I thought was impossible. I cleared out my email of 11 years, 30,000 emails. Including an email from 3 years from myself with a link "how to clear your inbox and clean your email."
I'm amazed that even in torrential downpours and flash floods, these guys still manage to hang onto branches or even just sit atop leaves. Pseudogekko and Cyrtodactylus in the Philippines
December 4, 2024 at 2:41 PM
I'm amazed that even in torrential downpours and flash floods, these guys still manage to hang onto branches or even just sit atop leaves. Pseudogekko and Cyrtodactylus in the Philippines
I'm a snake guy, but I can't not post some of the other beautiful species we see here in the Philippines, like this Kaloula! Check out those toes!
December 3, 2024 at 4:42 PM
I'm a snake guy, but I can't not post some of the other beautiful species we see here in the Philippines, like this Kaloula! Check out those toes!
Another successful symposium in the Philippines! Doing these kinds of events between field research expeditions is imperative for local communities and academics to be aware of and understand why we do what we do!
December 1, 2024 at 10:01 AM
Another successful symposium in the Philippines! Doing these kinds of events between field research expeditions is imperative for local communities and academics to be aware of and understand why we do what we do!
Amazing elevation and landscapes in the Philippines, and beautiful species!
November 29, 2024 at 4:53 AM
Amazing elevation and landscapes in the Philippines, and beautiful species!
We hosted a seminar day specifically discussing research and enhancing student and local community awareness on #snake #biodiversity and education in the Philippines. A major success and the start of work to come! A huge thank you to FSUU, my collaborations, and all those that attended! 🧬
November 20, 2024 at 10:37 PM
We hosted a seminar day specifically discussing research and enhancing student and local community awareness on #snake #biodiversity and education in the Philippines. A major success and the start of work to come! A huge thank you to FSUU, my collaborations, and all those that attended! 🧬
Awesome work by the team for getting Editor's Choice on our paper (doi.org/10.1093/jher...) in Journal of Heredity! Was so fun co-leading with Jackson Roberts🐍#genomics
August 30, 2024 at 8:29 PM
Awesome work by the team for getting Editor's Choice on our paper (doi.org/10.1093/jher...) in Journal of Heredity! Was so fun co-leading with Jackson Roberts🐍#genomics
A lot of exciting genomic work in my last year, but it's also exciting to get some really fun projects with collaborators done as well! More Mud #Snake research on the rise!
mapress.com/zt/article/v...
mapress.com/zt/article/v...
Incorporating New Datatypes to Enhance Species Delimitation: A Case Study in Rice Paddy Snakes (Homalopsidae: Hypsiscopus )
| Zootaxa
mapress.com
August 29, 2024 at 4:51 AM
A lot of exciting genomic work in my last year, but it's also exciting to get some really fun projects with collaborators done as well! More Mud #Snake research on the rise!
mapress.com/zt/article/v...
mapress.com/zt/article/v...
Calliophis intestinalis, a beautiful coral snake in Asia that has amazing, colorful defensive displays. Highly venomous and a master of dramatically playing dead (notice the head tilt in the photo of it completely upsidedown, showing the black and white belly). #WCH10
August 7, 2024 at 9:52 AM
Calliophis intestinalis, a beautiful coral snake in Asia that has amazing, colorful defensive displays. Highly venomous and a master of dramatically playing dead (notice the head tilt in the photo of it completely upsidedown, showing the black and white belly). #WCH10
The #WCH10 in Borneo has been incredible. With incredible wildlife of all types. I'll post some throughout, and end it with the best part of it all, the people I've gotten to see. To start, here is this beautiful forest dragon (Gonocephalus) with it's stunning eyes
August 5, 2024 at 11:11 PM
The #WCH10 in Borneo has been incredible. With incredible wildlife of all types. I'll post some throughout, and end it with the best part of it all, the people I've gotten to see. To start, here is this beautiful forest dragon (Gonocephalus) with it's stunning eyes
Sad to be leaving #Evol2024 early, but it's time to head to Kuching for @WCHerp #WCH10! No title slide for my talk on diversity drivers of some Southeast Asian snakes, so here is a beautiful Myrrophis that will be in the talk! Credit to Artur Tomaszek in Hong Kong for the photo
July 28, 2024 at 4:36 PM
Excited to talk about our rattlesnake transcriptomics research at #Evol2024! Come check my talk out on Saturday the 27th if you're interested in hybrids and genomes!
July 25, 2024 at 6:38 PM
Excited to talk about our rattlesnake transcriptomics research at #Evol2024! Come check my talk out on Saturday the 27th if you're interested in hybrids and genomes!
Woohoo! Our study is finally out, providing short-read whole #genomes for 18 #snake families! 🐍🧬 . Check it out here: academic.oup.com/jhered/advan.... Great work with @Sara_and_Snakes and all of our other collaborators and Iridian Genomes.
May 9, 2024 at 6:40 PM
Woohoo! Our study is finally out, providing short-read whole #genomes for 18 #snake families! 🐍🧬 . Check it out here: academic.oup.com/jhered/advan.... Great work with @Sara_and_Snakes and all of our other collaborators and Iridian Genomes.
While I work on some genomics projects, I'm really excited to have been able to contribute to this book on aquatic #snakes! Ebook (and eventually limited prints) available at: herpconservation.com/book-fundrai...
April 23, 2024 at 10:57 AM
While I work on some genomics projects, I'm really excited to have been able to contribute to this book on aquatic #snakes! Ebook (and eventually limited prints) available at: herpconservation.com/book-fundrai...
And here it is! Our study identifies both inland tectonic and environmental factors as the likely drivers of diversification in rice paddy #snakes. This contrasts from common diversification paradigms of sea-level fluctuations in Asia.
Now in Scientific Reports!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Now in Scientific Reports!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
March 12, 2024 at 3:16 PM
And here it is! Our study identifies both inland tectonic and environmental factors as the likely drivers of diversification in rice paddy #snakes. This contrasts from common diversification paradigms of sea-level fluctuations in Asia.
Now in Scientific Reports!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Now in Scientific Reports!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
After many years of collaborations, our newest paper describing poorly-studied biogeographic paradigms for Southeast Asian snakes will be published! Watch this space!
March 12, 2024 at 12:27 AM
After many years of collaborations, our newest paper describing poorly-studied biogeographic paradigms for Southeast Asian snakes will be published! Watch this space!
I couldn't be more proud of how far Reptiles and Amphibians journal has come since Bob handed it off to me. It has become #1 at KU journals, went from 80,000 article downloads in 2022 to 112,800 in 2023, and our editorial board went from 5 (USA) to 30 (8 countries). Thank you all for supporting us 🙏🏻
January 9, 2024 at 5:13 PM
I couldn't be more proud of how far Reptiles and Amphibians journal has come since Bob handed it off to me. It has become #1 at KU journals, went from 80,000 article downloads in 2022 to 112,800 in 2023, and our editorial board went from 5 (USA) to 30 (8 countries). Thank you all for supporting us 🙏🏻
A tad late on posting this from the summer, but thank you to ASIH for the award! It is such an honor and I'm proud to contribute to what we know (and don't know) on Southeast Asian snake biodiversity!
December 7, 2023 at 5:46 PM
A tad late on posting this from the summer, but thank you to ASIH for the award! It is such an honor and I'm proud to contribute to what we know (and don't know) on Southeast Asian snake biodiversity!
Starting off the morning with some high throughout brewing
December 5, 2023 at 2:06 PM
Starting off the morning with some high throughout brewing