Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
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roszenil.bsky.social
Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
@roszenil.bsky.social
In the bluegrass
Really good summary of our work on poricidal anthers! I am printing this phylo in a big poster!
November 5, 2025 at 1:32 PM
This work is the result of a lot of persistence, my co-authors especially @draverbee.bsky.social and @nicrodemo.bsky.social, greatly improved by reviewers and handling editors. Poricidal anthers evolved multiple times but this phenotype stayed in lineages 50 my after the origin of all angiosperms.
I cannot believe our work is finally out there and in @journal-evo.bsky.social ! This was an enormous group effort!

We provide an updated estimate of the number of buzz pollinated angiosperm species, genera, and families, look at consequences for diversification, number of transitions, and more!
October 23, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
And look at this graphic abstract….. 😱🤯
October 5, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Second this recommendation. Daniel is a wonderful colleague and this is a great opportunity.
Master's degree position at Towson University with Daniel Caetano on macroevolutionary and phylogenetic comparative methods! Daniel is an awesome human and a great mentor, share with your students!
caetanods.weebly.com/join-the-lab...
Join the lab
The Caetano lab at Towson University (Maryland, USA) is seeking a Master's degree student to start in Fall 2026. A Research Assistant (RA) position is available to the student during part (or all) of....
caetanods.weebly.com
October 2, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
Excited to begin the search for the next (6th) Burpee Post-Doctoral Fellow in Botany here in my lab at Bucknell! Funded research and teacher-scholar training embedded in the primarily undergraduate institution (#PUI) environment.

#iamabotanist

Details (+ application portal) here:

lnkd.in/eVsbe7K5
October 1, 2025 at 2:40 PM
The Department of Biology at the University of Kentucky is hiring a Microbiologist (broadly defined). Microbial eco-evo folks, this is your sign to come work with us. Not in the search committee, but happy to answer questions.
ukjobs.uky.edu/postings/600...
#microbiology #ecology
Assistant or Associate Professor in Microbiology
The Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY seeks to fill a tenure-eligible faculty position at the Assistant or Associate Professor le...
ukjobs.uky.edu
October 1, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
It's outdated in so many ways but Sepkoski's 1998 Rates of Speciation in the Fossil Record is such a classic and highly influential paper
Rates of speciation in the fossil record | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences
Data from palaeontology and biodiversity suggest that the global biota should produce an average of three new species per year. However, the fossil record shows large variation around this mean. Rates...
royalsocietypublishing.org
September 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
I'm a little bit late, but happy to see this new paper led by @imillercrews.bsky.social and anchored by @rosvall-lab.bsky.social now out on bioRxiv.

We analyze comparative songbird RNA-seq data using new features in our software package, CAGEE. Check it out!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
How sex shapes transcriptome evolution in the songbird brain
Sex differences have captivated scientists for a long time, yet the evolutionary rate of change in sex-biased gene expression has not been directly quantified. To address this issue, we leverage brain...
www.biorxiv.org
August 27, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
This July, an international team of researchers, co-led by Professor Rachel Warnock, organised a “Taming the BEAST” workshop in Beijing, China. BEAST2 is a software package used to reconstruct evolutionary trees and is widely applied in diverse areas... more info: www.gzn.nat.fau.eu/2025/08/06/w...
August 22, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
Marcial Escudero’s lab has a nice logo 😁
https://marcialescuderolab.weebly.com/
#eseb2025
August 20, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
G.G. Simpson is the most mentioned paleontologist at #eseb2025. These are 3 different talks from two separate sessions. But there are more! adaptive landscapes, adaptive radiations and horotely (rates) are in! So is the fossil record! @roszenil.bsky.social @ignacioq.bsky.social and others!
August 19, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
Our "Joshua tree is CAM" paper is finally out: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Data collection started back in 2021, when we saw weird results in some RNAseq that made me stop and wonder if Joshua trees, long thought to be C3, were actually...CAM!
Cryptic CAM photosynthesis in Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia, Y. jaegeriana)
Joshua trees are long-lived perennial monocots native to the Mojave Desert in North America. Composed of two species, Yucca brevifolia and Y. jaegeriana (Asparagaceae), Joshua trees are imperiled by...
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 19, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Unfortunately, I couldn't join in person #eseb2025, but the organizers kindly accommodated a video. Posted here in case you missed it!
youtu.be/n9Ls9-8p8x0?...
Zenil-Ferguson. The importance of quantifying rate uncertainty
YouTube video by Rosana Z-F
youtu.be
August 19, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
Another exciting #SSB2026 workshop to highlight:

A Primer for Phylogenetic Causal Inference

with @oschwery.bsky.social & @pseudacris.bsky.social

Also, lots of new info on the website and more soon:

ssb2026.github.io

Follow for the latest updates!

@jembrown.bsky.social @systbiol.bsky.social
August 15, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Working on this system with these wonderful scientists. What a treat!
#solanaceae
Big news! We are recruiting a postdoc to work on tomatillo evolution: jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta.... The clade containing tomatillos and its allies (ca 300 spp) has evolved lantern fruits at least 25 times - we want to know why! Join us @rociodeanna.bsky.social & @caschenck-bio.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Fellow in Tomatillo Evolution
jobs.colorado.edu
August 16, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
URM faculty received 7% more negative votes & were 44% less likely to receive unanimous votes from P&T committees -evidence that P&T decision-making processes contribute to the sustained underrepresentation of URM faculty in tenured faculty positions
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Underrepresented minority faculty in the USA face a double standard in promotion and tenure decisions - Nature Human Behaviour
Masters-Waage et al. report that underrepresented minority (URM) faculty in the USA face barriers in the promotion and tenure process, receiving more negative votes and fewer unanimous positive decisi...
www.nature.com
August 16, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
THRILLED to announce that my NSF "Closing the gap: The history of river connections with the formation of the isthmus of Panama and its impact on the evolution of plants in rivers" in collab w/Carlos Jaramillo at STRI and Caroline Strömberg at UW was awarded! Add for a PhD student+a postdoc to come🧵
August 14, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Nadie se arrepiente de ser valiente.
When students were attacked by cops in the México City protests of 68, UNAM’s Rector - Javier Barros Sierra - stayed silent for fear of jeopardizing university funding.

Just kidding. He ordered all flags to 1/2 mast, led 80,000 down Av. Insurgentes, & gave an epic speech defending free expression
August 9, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
It's Hawaiian Honeycreeper day! Spirit of the forest. <3
('I'iwi on mamane, Haleakala National Park) 🦉📷🌿
August 8, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Work from Dr. Katie Everson, Dave Weisrock and many wonderful colleagues- Lots of hybridization correlated with faster diversification rates in Lemurs! I didn't get to go to Madagascar so enjoy the pic of the local lemurs at Cincinnati Zoo
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
August 6, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
What a night for #Rubiaceae! I’m so proud of my student @laymonstera.bsky.social for taking home the American Society of Plant Taxonomist’s Cooley Award for best talk, and my colleague and dear friend Charlotte Taylor for receiving the lifetime achievement Asa Gray Award. #Botany2025 #LagoLab
July 30, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
A little belated but I've started a faculty position at Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology department at @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social. I'm absolutely stoked! I'll be recruiting at all levels and will be at #Botany2025

Reach out!

www.martinezgomezlab.com
Martinez-Gomez Lab
Plant Evo-Devo
www.martinezgomezlab.com
July 25, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
Right now, you're looking at the first known iNaturalist observation of the fern family Cystodiaceae! This species' scientific name is Cystodium sorbifolium.

📷 msundue on iNaturalist
📍 Malaysia
🔗: www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#ObservationOfTheDay
July 22, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
We find stable coexistence of Rüger's tropical tree demographic strategies (slow, fast, short-lived breeders, and long-lived pioneers) in a model with just competition for light and stochastic small-scale disturbances.

Great work, Damla Cinoğlu!
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Small disturbances and subsequent competition for light can maintain a diversity of demographic strategies in a neotropical forest: Results from model–data integration
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besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
July 22, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson
Meet Dr. Laura Lagomarsino, who fell in love with plants during childhood camping trips in California's redwood forests. Her passion for plant-pollinator relationships began with a magical moment watching hummingbirds visit curved flowers in Costa Rica's cloud forests.

#Botany 🧪

wp.me/pdRZhH-m9q
July 11, 2025 at 8:28 PM