Megan S. Reich
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megansreich.bsky.social
Megan S. Reich
@megansreich.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa studying insect migration and dispersal #isotopes #monarchbutterfly #paintedlady
Reposted by Megan S. Reich
The NSW environment watchdog sat on a report for four years linking elevated levels of lead in children’s blood to current mining, and promised mining companies they would not do any “finger-pointing”, new documents tabled in state parliament show www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Environment watchdog buried report on lead in children’s blood to placate mining companies, emails show
Documents tabled in parliament show NSW agency took four years to publish report and told miners it would be put online ‘quietly’ but EPA says it was released to community earlier
www.theguardian.com
September 4, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Megan S. Reich
The #MountainPygmyPossum was first known only through the fossil record: some skull & jaw bones were found in 1895. Scientists believed the species must be extinct until 1966 when a living mountain pygmy possum was found. That’s a pretty secretive life!
September 3, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Reposted by Megan S. Reich
Ctr for Biodiv Genomics (Guelph) is hiring 10 entomologists (mostly post-docs) to help improve identifications on barcoded material: 2-yr appts, salary range CAD $62,500-$70,000. graduatestudies.uoguelph.ca/postdoctoral...
See posting for specific taxonomic gps preferred.
Arthropod Taxonomic Specialists (10 positions) | Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies
graduatestudies.uoguelph.ca
August 21, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Megan S. Reich
In Australia, millions of newly hatched Bogong moths embark on an impressive journey twice a year.

A new study has found that the moths, with no parents to guide them, rely on bright stars and the Milky Way visible in the night sky to aid their migrations.
Bogong moths use stars and the Milky Way to make epic migration
In Australia, millions of newly hatched Bogong moths embark on an impressive journey twice a year. Each spring, they hatch from eggs in their breeding grounds in Australia’s southeast and fly up to…
news.mongabay.com
July 2, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Megan S. Reich
University of Nebraska-Lincoln is hiring an Assistant Professor specializing in insect systematics. Opportunities like this are rare and valuable! (Not many jobs like this out there!) Spread the word to anyone who might be interested or benefit.
#entomology #science #sciencejobs #bugsky 🧪
June 30, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Check out this very exciting research! Bogong moths use a stellar compass to navigate

rdcu.be/esl5o
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.
rdcu.be
June 21, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Reposted by Megan S. Reich
🚨 New Paper 🚨
Coauthors and I just published our work in PLOS One on Canadian graduate funding. We found that Canadian graduate funding falls _well_ below cost of living.
On average, $10kCAD below cost of living.

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
May 22, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Reposted by Megan S. Reich
1/6) New paper out in Molecular Ecology! We uncover the intriguing biogeographic history behind the Holarctic disjunct distributions in Vanessa butterflies. @phylomigrationlab.bsky.social
#biogeography #insectmigration #butterflymigration #butterflies #evolution
shorturl.at/UFrrU
May 12, 2025 at 6:00 AM
Reposted by Megan S. Reich
Your daily Avian Hybrids story!

East or West? Different populations of Red-necked Phalaropes use distinct migration routes
avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2019/05/15/e...

#ornithology
East or West? Different populations of Red-necked Phalaropes use distinct migration routes
A study using geolocators uncovered a migratory divide in this wader species.
avianhybrids.wordpress.com
May 1, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Megan S. Reich
🌱🌎 Join us to learn about the newly published paper ‘The winner takes it all: a single genotype of Kalanchoe ×houghtonii is a global invader’ in @annbot.bsky.social by @joanperepd.bsky.social and co-authors. 🧵(1/7)

👉 doi.org/pjvs

@sphaeromeria.bsky.social @ibb-botanic.bsky.social
#AoBpapers
April 29, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Check out this lovely article featuring some of our research! 👩‍🔬🦋🗺️

www.scientificamerican.com/article/this...
This Butterfly’s Epic Migration Is Written into Its Chemistry
Painted ladies travel the globe every year on massive journeys—including across the Sahara
www.scientificamerican.com
April 16, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Wonderful opportunity to get some expert training! 👩‍🔬
🚨 Deadline Alert! 🚨

The BaySISS Stable Isotope Summer School application deadline is March 16, 2025!

✅ Learn from global experts
✅ Get hands-on lab training
✅ Free participation & travel grants available!

Don’t wait—apply now!

🔗https://www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/baysiss
#StableIsotopes #Science
March 11, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Reposted by Megan S. Reich
NEW PAPER: looking into the erosion of southern mountain caribou migrations. Over 35 years, migration distances shrank 15-25%, and elevational migrations are collapsing. Habitat loss, not weather, likely the main culprit. A major conservation challenge ahead.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
March 5, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Check out our most recent publication in PNAS Nexus! 🦋👩‍🔬
Painted lady butterflies that migrate from Europe to the Mediterranean are not genetically distinct from those that migrate from Europe to West Africa. Instead, environmental cues likely determine migration distance. In PNAS Nexus: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
February 16, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Check out our new paper, "Isotope geolocation and population genomics
in Vanessa cardui: Short- and long-distance migrants
are genetically undifferentiated," out in PNAS Nexus!

doi.org/10.1093/pnas...
Isotope geolocation and population genomics in Vanessa cardui: Short- and long-distance migrants are genetically undifferentiated
Abstract. The painted lady butterfly Vanessa cardui is renowned for its virtually cosmopolitan distribution and the remarkable long-distance migrations as
doi.org
February 7, 2025 at 11:34 AM
😢Individuals can help the monarch butterfly by planting milkweed and flowers, and avoiding pesticide use
The western monarch butterfly population is near record lows; fewer than 10k individual butterflies counted this year.

xerces.org/press/wester...
February 4, 2025 at 12:28 AM
The importance of observing any species you’re studying in its natural environment cannot be overstated. So grateful to have spent some time with the Bogong moth (and awesome new friends and colleagues) this month!
January 24, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Megan S. Reich
A cool opportunity for some citizen science. Monarchs are in decline in Oz and NZ as well as in the US/Mexico and getting involved in tagging programs can provide critical data
Monarch butterflies are in decline in NZ and Australia – they need your help to track where they gather
Citizen scientists are called on to help with tagging monarch butterflies and find out why their numbers are dropping.
theconversation.com
January 3, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Reposted by Megan S. Reich
New paper out @science.org shows that bats surf warm storm fronts to power continental migrations 🌀⛈️🦇🤙
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

By Edward Hurme; Ivan Lenzi; Martin Wikelski; Timm Wild; and Dina Dechmann
Bats surf storm fronts during spring migration
Long-distance migration, common in passerine birds, is rare and poorly studied in bats. Piloting a 1.2-gram IoT (Internet of Things) tag with onboard processing, we tracked the daily location, tempera...
www.science.org
January 2, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Super stoked to share our latest research on the migratory patterns of painted lady butterflies across the Sahara! 🦋🏜️

www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
Trans-Saharan migratory patterns in Vanessa cardui and evidence for a southward leapfrog migration
Chemistry; Nature conservation; Ecology; Entomology
www.cell.com
December 3, 2024 at 9:02 PM