Kate Laskowski
@katelaskowski.bsky.social
UC Davis. Developmental drivers of individuality in the Amazon molly. Nature through nurture and a lot of noise. Really into random effects. Hard no to autocrats
We have the opposite - they took our physical phones away and told us we can now make phone calls via zoom and I have no idea how this works (but it has reduced the number of text book sales reps calling me to 0 so that's a win)
November 14, 2025 at 6:43 PM
We have the opposite - they took our physical phones away and told us we can now make phone calls via zoom and I have no idea how this works (but it has reduced the number of text book sales reps calling me to 0 so that's a win)
Oh wow! This is awful, I'm so sorry to hear this. And so very sorry for your loss - I know the two of you were still close <3
November 13, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Oh wow! This is awful, I'm so sorry to hear this. And so very sorry for your loss - I know the two of you were still close <3
And hopefully in July too for ISBE??
November 12, 2025 at 2:15 AM
And hopefully in July too for ISBE??
This was a real team effort and one of my most enjoyable writing projects of the summer, in large part because working with @jacobrjohnson.bsky.social and @kirstensheehy.bsky.social was so fun!
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
This was a real team effort and one of my most enjoyable writing projects of the summer, in large part because working with @jacobrjohnson.bsky.social and @kirstensheehy.bsky.social was so fun!
This is not a new idea but we hope to highlight how selection can not just alter mean-level phenotypes, but also variance in phenotypes. Thus there are likely mechanisms that can shift both the deterministic and probabilistic outcome of phenotypes (7/7)
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
This is not a new idea but we hope to highlight how selection can not just alter mean-level phenotypes, but also variance in phenotypes. Thus there are likely mechanisms that can shift both the deterministic and probabilistic outcome of phenotypes (7/7)
Just as sexual reproduction & recombination help generate among-individual variation in genetics, stochastic developmental mechanisms may help generate variation in any number of phenotypes, similar to ideas of classic bet-hedging (6/7)
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Just as sexual reproduction & recombination help generate among-individual variation in genetics, stochastic developmental mechanisms may help generate variation in any number of phenotypes, similar to ideas of classic bet-hedging (6/7)
We suggest that there likely exist mechanisms that can harness this inherent stochasticity and so can be shaped by natural selection as a way for lineages to generate more (or less) variation. Noisy developmental processes may be a feature of the system, not just a bug! (5/7)
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
We suggest that there likely exist mechanisms that can harness this inherent stochasticity and so can be shaped by natural selection as a way for lineages to generate more (or less) variation. Noisy developmental processes may be a feature of the system, not just a bug! (5/7)
Drawing on lots of work showing that genetically identical animals reared in identical conditions still exhibit variation, we highlight how stochasticity during the developmental process likely plays a key role in generating individuality, something we all *know* but maybe haven't appreciated (4/7)
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Drawing on lots of work showing that genetically identical animals reared in identical conditions still exhibit variation, we highlight how stochasticity during the developmental process likely plays a key role in generating individuality, something we all *know* but maybe haven't appreciated (4/7)
That is, we can never perfectly predict any individual's behavior. This probably isn't surprising and this variation often gets swept into the black box of "residual variation." But what if there's more to it than that? What if the variation *is* the point? (3/7)
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
That is, we can never perfectly predict any individual's behavior. This probably isn't surprising and this variation often gets swept into the black box of "residual variation." But what if there's more to it than that? What if the variation *is* the point? (3/7)
We know that genetic & environmental variation will always interact to shape behavior, often in the form of mean-level shifts: guppies from high pred areas shoal more, or flies with the rover allele are more active. But even so, nothing is ever purely deterministic and variation still abounds (2/7)
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
We know that genetic & environmental variation will always interact to shape behavior, often in the form of mean-level shifts: guppies from high pred areas shoal more, or flies with the rover allele are more active. But even so, nothing is ever purely deterministic and variation still abounds (2/7)