Michaël Nicolaï
@michaelnicolai.bsky.social
Proud dad of three. Post-doc at the EON lab (UGent). Lover of color. Nothing makes sense in evolution except the biology of (f)light.
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
October 20, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
Excited to share our new paper where we find that the rise, decline and fall of clades is not explained by the usual suspects (diversity-dependence, ecological opportunities) but rather by species' insidious loss of macroevolutionary fitness: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/3
Loss of macroevolutionary species fitness explains the rise and fall of clades - Nature Ecology & Evolution
The interplay between speciation and extinction rates shapes clade diversity dynamics. Using a novel phylogenetic model that includes living and fossil lineages, the authors estimate speciation and ex...
www.nature.com
October 17, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Excited to share our new paper where we find that the rise, decline and fall of clades is not explained by the usual suspects (diversity-dependence, ecological opportunities) but rather by species' insidious loss of macroevolutionary fitness: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/3
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
Hechenleitner, E.M., Martinelli, A.G., Rocher, S. et al. A long-necked early dinosaur from a newly discovered Upper Triassic basin in the Andes. Nature (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...
A long-necked early dinosaur from a newly discovered Upper Triassic basin in the Andes - Nature
Discovery of a nearly complete skeleton of Huayracursor jaguensis, a Carnian dinosaur from the Northern Precordillera Basin in northwestern Argentina provides evidence of increased body size and early...
doi.org
October 15, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Hechenleitner, E.M., Martinelli, A.G., Rocher, S. et al. A long-necked early dinosaur from a newly discovered Upper Triassic basin in the Andes. Nature (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...
I'm not comparing myself to Darwin "But I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything."
September 29, 2025 at 2:14 PM
I'm not comparing myself to Darwin "But I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything."
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org
We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
September 25, 2025 at 6:26 PM
📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org
We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Every year again, this blows my mind. At the same a gentle reminder that one upon a time there were over a BILLION passenger pigeons alone. What we are seeing now is probably just a fraction of what we had before 😱
Truly impressive number of birds migrating tonight. More than 800 MILLION birds up in the air right now❗ #BirdMigration
September 25, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Every year again, this blows my mind. At the same a gentle reminder that one upon a time there were over a BILLION passenger pigeons alone. What we are seeing now is probably just a fraction of what we had before 😱
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
In 2017, we discovered the whereabouts of the last known male #greatauk 👉 tinyurl.com/3nc8s74x
Now we’ve confirmed where the last female resides…
Spoiler: she’s at @cincymuseum.bsky.social!
Read the full story here 👉 academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
Now we’ve confirmed where the last female resides…
Spoiler: she’s at @cincymuseum.bsky.social!
Read the full story here 👉 academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
September 22, 2025 at 8:23 PM
In 2017, we discovered the whereabouts of the last known male #greatauk 👉 tinyurl.com/3nc8s74x
Now we’ve confirmed where the last female resides…
Spoiler: she’s at @cincymuseum.bsky.social!
Read the full story here 👉 academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
Now we’ve confirmed where the last female resides…
Spoiler: she’s at @cincymuseum.bsky.social!
Read the full story here 👉 academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
September 24, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
Super happy to share the first chapter of my PhD, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface ✨🐀 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Iridescence in mammals is not as rare as we thought, but it’s all created in the same way!
Iridescence in mammals is not as rare as we thought, but it’s all created in the same way!
September 17, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Super happy to share the first chapter of my PhD, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface ✨🐀 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Iridescence in mammals is not as rare as we thought, but it’s all created in the same way!
Iridescence in mammals is not as rare as we thought, but it’s all created in the same way!
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
Hey you. Wanna apply for a fellowship on collections? the AHRC Early career fellowships in cultural & heritage institutions are open!
The Natural History Museum priorities are below.
If you wanna talk birds, hit me up. Collectors, colonialism, Canada, Australia & more
www.ukri.org/opportunity/...
The Natural History Museum priorities are below.
If you wanna talk birds, hit me up. Collectors, colonialism, Canada, Australia & more
www.ukri.org/opportunity/...
September 12, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Hey you. Wanna apply for a fellowship on collections? the AHRC Early career fellowships in cultural & heritage institutions are open!
The Natural History Museum priorities are below.
If you wanna talk birds, hit me up. Collectors, colonialism, Canada, Australia & more
www.ukri.org/opportunity/...
The Natural History Museum priorities are below.
If you wanna talk birds, hit me up. Collectors, colonialism, Canada, Australia & more
www.ukri.org/opportunity/...
Mammal colours boring? Guess again (mostly a note to myself). Superstar Jess has been finding iridescence colours across mammals! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Multilayer thin-film produces recurrent evolution of iridescence in mammals | Journal of The Royal Society Interface
Iridescent coloration is a vibrant structural colour that is widespread in nature,
but in mammals is thought to be limited. Although multiple rodent and Eulipotyphlan
species have been anecdotally des...
royalsocietypublishing.org
September 11, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Mammal colours boring? Guess again (mostly a note to myself). Superstar Jess has been finding iridescence colours across mammals! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
New paper @biolinvasions.bsky.social led by Sarah-Sophie Weil.
Can macroevolution inform contemporary invasion potential?
We outline the assumptions of this approach, assess support, then test if dispersal ability can proxy for naturalisation success in several tetrapod groups.
rdcu.be/eD9Tt
Can macroevolution inform contemporary invasion potential?
We outline the assumptions of this approach, assess support, then test if dispersal ability can proxy for naturalisation success in several tetrapod groups.
rdcu.be/eD9Tt
September 4, 2025 at 3:39 PM
New paper @biolinvasions.bsky.social led by Sarah-Sophie Weil.
Can macroevolution inform contemporary invasion potential?
We outline the assumptions of this approach, assess support, then test if dispersal ability can proxy for naturalisation success in several tetrapod groups.
rdcu.be/eD9Tt
Can macroevolution inform contemporary invasion potential?
We outline the assumptions of this approach, assess support, then test if dispersal ability can proxy for naturalisation success in several tetrapod groups.
rdcu.be/eD9Tt
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
My feather cell type paper is finally out! doi.org/10.1111/ede.... We’ve packed a ton of stuff into this paper but I’ll go through some highlights in this thread!
Genetic Characterization of the Cell Types in Developing Feathers, and the Evolution of Feather Complexity
We used single cell sequencing to investigate the cell types of developing chicken feathers. From these data, we are able to describe the transcriptional profile of feather cell types, look at their ....
doi.org
August 26, 2025 at 5:24 PM
My feather cell type paper is finally out! doi.org/10.1111/ede.... We’ve packed a ton of stuff into this paper but I’ll go through some highlights in this thread!
Great thread, great paper
Pick an idiom: "more than meets the eye", "beauty more than skin [feather] deep" etc.
In work led by Rosalyn Price-Waldman, we describe a hidden (and ignored!) black or white layer found below the visible surface of bird feathers which helps make bird colours so striking!
🧪 🪶 #colsci
In work led by Rosalyn Price-Waldman, we describe a hidden (and ignored!) black or white layer found below the visible surface of bird feathers which helps make bird colours so striking!
🧪 🪶 #colsci
Songbirds play optical tricks to make their feather colors ‘pop’
Concealed black or white bands on feathers boost the vibrancy of bird plumage
www.science.org
August 13, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Great thread, great paper
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
July 30, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
New research in #ScienceAdvances shows that some songbirds have such bright-looking feathers by having a backdrop of black or white plumage underneath their bright feathers—an illusionary tactic of color also used by painters.
Learn more in #ScienceAdviser: scim.ag/46ZaPeM
Learn more in #ScienceAdviser: scim.ag/46ZaPeM
July 25, 2025 at 3:06 PM
New research in #ScienceAdvances shows that some songbirds have such bright-looking feathers by having a backdrop of black or white plumage underneath their bright feathers—an illusionary tactic of color also used by painters.
Learn more in #ScienceAdviser: scim.ag/46ZaPeM
Learn more in #ScienceAdviser: scim.ag/46ZaPeM
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
Is 2025 (red lines) a good butterfly year? Yes, on Dutch Butterfly Monitoring transects there are more butterflies than in 2023 and 2024. Numbers almost exactly equal 2022. But look at the 1990s. Compared to then it is a poor butterfly year. Shifting baselines!
July 14, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Is 2025 (red lines) a good butterfly year? Yes, on Dutch Butterfly Monitoring transects there are more butterflies than in 2023 and 2024. Numbers almost exactly equal 2022. But look at the 1990s. Compared to then it is a poor butterfly year. Shifting baselines!
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
Excited to advertise a shared PhD position at KU Leuven (Belgium) and Mondsee (Austria) with @markusmoest.bsky.social on the genetic basis, plasticity and evolution of melanization in Daphnia from alpine lakes. Apply here: www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...
July 7, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Excited to advertise a shared PhD position at KU Leuven (Belgium) and Mondsee (Austria) with @markusmoest.bsky.social on the genetic basis, plasticity and evolution of melanization in Daphnia from alpine lakes. Apply here: www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
Our new preprint @scottvedwards.bsky.social 🧬🐦 Long-read genomes show songbird germline-restricted chromosomes (GRCs; expelled from somatic cells) are 70 % repeats and packed with active LTR retroviruses. A hidden reservoir for TE-driven innovation/diversification! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
July 2, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Our new preprint @scottvedwards.bsky.social 🧬🐦 Long-read genomes show songbird germline-restricted chromosomes (GRCs; expelled from somatic cells) are 70 % repeats and packed with active LTR retroviruses. A hidden reservoir for TE-driven innovation/diversification! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
Can macroevolutionary indices be used to inform contemporary extinction risk? We explore this question in an Ecology Letters review out today. Led by Sarah-Sophie Weil and Laure Gallien, it should be a useful resource for anyone using these approaches. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Can Macroevolution Inform Contemporary Extinction Risk?
We investigate the underlying assumptions of the idea that macroevolutionary indicators for large groups of species, such as rates of extinction, diversification or niche evolution, can inform specie...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
June 30, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Can macroevolutionary indices be used to inform contemporary extinction risk? We explore this question in an Ecology Letters review out today. Led by Sarah-Sophie Weil and Laure Gallien, it should be a useful resource for anyone using these approaches. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Do I know someone who can help me with slides on plant diversity? I know nothing about plants, but my son is turning into Linnaeus, spending hours looking at flowers and classifying plant families (correctly). I would like to help him out (instead of the other way around 🤣).
June 16, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Do I know someone who can help me with slides on plant diversity? I know nothing about plants, but my son is turning into Linnaeus, spending hours looking at flowers and classifying plant families (correctly). I would like to help him out (instead of the other way around 🤣).
Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï
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/...
Huh?
April 26, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Huh?