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patrickmckenzie.bsky.social
Patrick McKenzie
@patrickmckenzie.bsky.social
1.4K followers 510 following 150 posts
Postdoc in Harvard OEB -- Hopkins lab. systematics, speciation, hybridization in flowering plants. Natural history via community science. Previously Eaton lab at Columbia. Birder, Arkansan, he/him
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patrickmckenzie.bsky.social
Patrick McKenzie @patrickmckenzie.bsky.social · Apr 14
Hot off the presses and so so thrilled. Thanks to @inaturalist.bsky.social + computer vision we found something beautifully simple: Red and orange flowers bloom later than all the other colors in the eastern United States. Paper here: authors.elsevier.com/a/1kwzh3QW8S...
Visual abstract: “we test hypotheses about floral diversity with community science data and an advanced computer vision model. Red/orange flowers have delayed flowering that matches hummingbird migratory patterns”
patrickmckenzie.bsky.social
Can't imagine what it'd be like to deal with TGCT as a child. Proud to be involved in this work characterizing the pediatric patient experience.
February 3, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
shellygaynor.bsky.social
Happy recruitment/interview season for PhD students! Recruiting students in ecology & evolutionary biology? Make sure your department's stipend is accurate in our database: rhettrautsaw.app/shiny/Biolog...
Salary to living wage plot with only 4 programs falling aprove the 1:1 line and paying a living wage.
January 23, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
aeberardi.bsky.social
Hooray! Check out this special issue for some fantastic new work on flower color!
botsocamerica.bsky.social Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · 20d
🌼🎨 We're proud to announce that the #AJB Special Issue on Paradigm Shifts in #Flower Color is now online! 🎨🌼

Check out this i troduction by Special Issue editors Andrea Berardi, José Carlos del Valle, Matthew Koski, Eduardo Narbona & Justen Whittall: doi.org/10.1002/ajb2...!

#plantscience #botany
In a genus known for morphological and taxonomic challenges, the vibrant floral bracts of Castilleja have long fascinated botanists. Despite the group's high diversity in the western U.S., Castilleja coccinea, the scarlet paintbrush, is one of the few eastern species and displays striking flower color polymorphism. While scarlet is predominant, a yellow morph appears in some populations, primarily in the Midwest region. In “Selection maintains floral color polymorphism in the scarlet paintbrush Castilleja coccinea (Orobanchaceae)” in this Special Issue (“Paradigm Shifts in Flower Color”), Fetterly et al. explore abiotic and biotic factors shaping this polymorphism. They identify habitat differences as potential drivers of color divergence, while floral trait variation suggests pollinators and environment act together to maintain distinct morphs. (Image credit: Jeremie Fant.)
January 20, 2026 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
maribethlatvis.bsky.social
‘Dispersification’ of Agalinis (Orobanchaceae) Into South America Is Associated With Hummingbird Pollination and Perennial Life-History Shifts
@pedropezzi.bsky.social @soltislab.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
January 20, 2026 at 7:42 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
benstemon.bsky.social
New preprint is up!

Not going spoil the results for you 🤓 but we looked at some “bird” vs “bee”-pollinated Penstemon hybrid zones and came away with some pretty unexpected results!
Foreground: Penstemon davidsonii, a small mat-forming sub shrub with purple flowers growing on top of a stone. Background: Penstemon newberryi, a slightly larger subshrub with pink flowers growing out of stones. All amidst a mountainous landscape.
January 19, 2026 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
andrewlhipp.bsky.social
Join @amsocplanttaxon.bsky.social for the first webinar in our 2026 series: "Taxonomy: What is it good for?"

Free to all! Join us to hear @sandyknapp.bsky.social's "Of course taxonomy matters! The story of the mega-genus Solanum (Solanaceae)"

Pls register & share:

us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
January 12, 2026 at 7:19 PM
patrickmckenzie.bsky.social
I wrote in the most recent issue of Arnoldia about using @inaturalist.bsky.social and, more generally, about the continuing role of natural history in motivating questions in evo bio + my excitement about community science for unlocking new scales of analysis: arboretum.harvard.edu/arnoldia-sto...
“Natural History, Crowdsourced,” an article in Arnoldia by Patrick McKenzie. The article begins with an image of a ruby-throated hummingbird visiting Lobelia cardinalis. Quiet hours in the sun, meditating with the bugs, plants, and birds, are my inspiration as an evolutionary biologist.
January 9, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
botanicalbecks.bsky.social
Come stop by P40 and chat with me about an east coast Penstemon species - Penstemon canescens! I'll be presenting the early stages of my masters thesis and would love to bounce morphology research methods off people!
January 6, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
jbyoder.org
I started getting reports of an unseasonal Joshua tree bloom in the last few weeks, and looking over records on @inaturalist.bsky.social it's pretty widespread! So we're putting out the call for folks to record this "bonus bloom" and help us study it 🌿

lab.jbyoder.org/2025/12/10/w...
Weird wet weather has Joshua trees flowering early — or late? Help the Yoder Lab map this “bonus bloom” to understand why
A flowering tree in Yucca Valley, CA, observed by iNaturalist contributor wanderingmojave on December 9. A tree with lots of flowers in Tehachapi, CA, observed by iNaturalist contributor tina9294 o…
lab.jbyoder.org
December 10, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
jcorush.bsky.social
I'm recruiting a Ph.D. student for Fall 2026.

Interested in comparative studies and trait evolution in fishes?

Send me an email with a CV and research interests. Please take a look at my website (jcorush.github.io ) for more information about my research.

#hybridization #minnows #mudskippers
Corush Lab
jcorush.github.io
December 4, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
samridhi.bsky.social
Super happy to share the *first* lab publication. Out today in Molecular Ecology - a review of methods used to identify repeated adaptation using genomic data (1)

Molecular Ecology | Molecular Genetics Journal | Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
seemasheth.bsky.social
We are recruiting field technicians to contribute to a field study of adaptation to climate in Chamaecrista fasciculata in Raleigh/Chapel Hill, NC. My collaborators at UGA will soon post similar positions in Ithaca, NY and Archbold Biological Station, FL. Please share jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/225...
Temporary Plant Evolutionary Ecology Field Technician
The Sheth plant evolutionary ecology lab in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC) is currently seeking field technician to participate in an NS...
jobs.ncsu.edu
November 20, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
davidlowry.bsky.social
I am currently searching for a new postdoctoral researcher to study the evolution, genetics, and physiology of cold acclimation and freezing tolerance in switchgrass at Michigan State University. This work will be funded by a newly funded five-year DOE grant. careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...
Research Associate-Fixed Term - East Lansing, Michigan, United States
Position Summary The Lowry Lab at Michigan State University is searching for a postdoctoral research associate to conduct molecular and physiological experiments to understand the causes of genetic va...
careers.msu.edu
November 20, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
arunsethuraman.bsky.social
Aaah! New preprint from the Sethuraman Lab has dropped! Tamsen and I have been working on this for a while, and we can’t wait for your feedback. Short thread on our swanky new polyploid genome simulator, DemographiKs, and its functionality.
biorxiv-genomic.bsky.social bioRxiv Genomics @biorxiv-genomic.bsky.social · Nov 20
Hidden in Plain Sight. How Ks histogram dynamics can reveal and obscure ancient whole genome duplications. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.19.689290v1
November 20, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
yawaguchi.bsky.social
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.
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
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
nhm.org
🐜 Ants are her business. Welcome Dr. Megan Barkdull, one of our two new Entomology Curators, and discover some of the secrets hiding in ant DNA: go.nhm.org/megan-barkdull
Dr. Megan Barkdull is focusing her research on ants—particularly turtle ants—which produce markedly different morph from the same genetic template. Look closely at the twig (or keep reading) to check out these charismatic little critters.
November 18, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
colinpurrington.bsky.social
After years of being curious but lazy, I finally got around to documenting what's inside the black walnuts in my yard. In the process I became obsessed with the strange wasp that hunts down the pupae of the resident flies. 🌿 #wasps #diapriidae #nature #diptera colinpurrington.com/2025/11/life...
Life inside rotting walnut husks » Colin Purrington's blog
There’s an eastern black walnut (Juglans nigra) on my neighbor’s property that rains down fruit every fall, and I finally got curious about what species might be inside. So far I’ve found four flies, ...
colinpurrington.com
November 16, 2025 at 10:26 PM
patrickmckenzie.bsky.social
Available now in @asn-amnat.bsky.social ! Taking on some big-scale natural history: processed >40k @inaturalist.bsky.social images of Monarda fistulosa using computer vision to query for flower presence and phenotype flower color: doi.org/10.1086/739413
November 14, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
botsocamerica.bsky.social
ROOT & SHOOT 2026 travel awards are open for SACNAS, MANRRS, or AISES student/mentor pairs. Up to $3,000 per pair (US) / $4,000 (intl) to attend select plant-science conferences.

Apply by Dec 5, 2025.

Details & application:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
NSF Research Coordination Network: ROOT & SHOOT. 2026 travel award application for members of SACNAS, MANRRS, or AISES
The NSF-funded LEAPS: RCN: ROOT & SHOOT (Rooting Out Oppression Together and SHaring Our Outcomes Transparently) aims to strengthen plant science to become more welcoming to all. Part of this mission ...
docs.google.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
sse-evolution.bsky.social
The Undergraduate Community at Evolution program provides travel funding, mentoring, and a presentation opportunity at #Evol2026. Please share with undergrads in your lab! www.evolutionsociety.org/content/educ...
@asn-amnat.bsky.social @systbiol.bsky.social @evolmtg.bsky.social
Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Undergraduate Community at Evolution Program. Applications due January 20, 2026.
November 10, 2025 at 2:29 AM
patrickmckenzie.bsky.social
micro-break from paternity leave to catch @martinebotany.bsky.social talk for NEBS. Awesome examples of the value of natural history for generating new questions
Chris Martine presenting in front of a PowerPoint and chalk board
November 8, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Patrick McKenzie
darrenirwin.bsky.social
New and improved! (as of today, now with page numbers and an issue number ;)

"Evidence for ancient selective sweeps followed by differentiation among three species of Sphyrapicus sapsuckers"

Led by Dr. Libby Natola:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Evidence for ancient selective sweeps followed by differentiation among three species of Sphyrapicus sapsuckers
Abstract. Genomic differentiation usually accompanies speciation, but that differentiation is often highly heterogeneous across the genome. Understanding w
doi.org
November 6, 2025 at 6:59 PM
patrickmckenzie.bsky.social
Behold: Monarda diversity!
12 images of Monarda flowers, each from a different species, showcasing a range of different shapes, sizes, and colors
November 4, 2025 at 5:15 PM