Owen Osborne
@owengosborne.bsky.social
Evolutionary biologist. Lecturer at Bangor University.
Speciation | Adaptation | Biogeography | Genomics | Host-microbe interactions
Speciation | Adaptation | Biogeography | Genomics | Host-microbe interactions
Reposted by Owen Osborne
🎉 Exciting milestone … my first PhD paper has been accepted in the Journal of Experimental Biology! 🥳
Not all winter warming is equal: steady, mild winters increase activity and can cause molecular damage, but short, warm spells have little effect on wall lizards 🦎
Not all winter warming is equal: steady, mild winters increase activity and can cause molecular damage, but short, warm spells have little effect on wall lizards 🦎
Accepted manuscript now online! The first paper from @miaryras.bsky.social's exciting PhD work on the consequences of warming winters for lizard physiology and behaviour, in collab w/ @wolfgangwuster.bsky.social, @arc-trust.bsky.social, & others:
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
Sleeping beauty awakened: Experimental winter warming increases activity with signs of potential DNA damage in common wall lizards
Winter is warming faster than summer, posing substantial threat to hibernating ectotherms, whose physiology depends directly on environmental conditions. While the effects of active season warming are...
doi.org
November 10, 2025 at 8:35 PM
🎉 Exciting milestone … my first PhD paper has been accepted in the Journal of Experimental Biology! 🥳
Not all winter warming is equal: steady, mild winters increase activity and can cause molecular damage, but short, warm spells have little effect on wall lizards 🦎
Not all winter warming is equal: steady, mild winters increase activity and can cause molecular damage, but short, warm spells have little effect on wall lizards 🦎
Reposted by Owen Osborne
Hybridization and introgression are major evolutionary processes. Since the 1940s, the prevailing view has been that they shape plants far more than animals. In our new study (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
September 12, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Hybridization and introgression are major evolutionary processes. Since the 1940s, the prevailing view has been that they shape plants far more than animals. In our new study (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
Reposted by Owen Osborne
First post! New paper in Infection & Immunity.
We asked: what do #probiotics do to microbiome & immune system?
They do more to microbiome than immune system, but depended on probiotic & effects fleeting with cocktail impacts different than individual strains.
journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
We asked: what do #probiotics do to microbiome & immune system?
They do more to microbiome than immune system, but depended on probiotic & effects fleeting with cocktail impacts different than individual strains.
journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
April 6, 2025 at 4:33 AM
First post! New paper in Infection & Immunity.
We asked: what do #probiotics do to microbiome & immune system?
They do more to microbiome than immune system, but depended on probiotic & effects fleeting with cocktail impacts different than individual strains.
journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
We asked: what do #probiotics do to microbiome & immune system?
They do more to microbiome than immune system, but depended on probiotic & effects fleeting with cocktail impacts different than individual strains.
journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
Reposted by Owen Osborne
Photographic evidence that it has also colonised a galaxy far, far away...Silene uniflora growing on Luke Skywalker's island retreat (aka Skellig Michael)!
Organisms can adapt to environmental change through individual plasticity. Past experience of coping with salt water has conferred on the coastal flower Silene uniflora enhanced plasticity to cope with zinc pollution from mines. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
February 11, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Photographic evidence that it has also colonised a galaxy far, far away...Silene uniflora growing on Luke Skywalker's island retreat (aka Skellig Michael)!
We’re recruiting for a #PhD opportunity funded by NERC Envision DTP, investigating the impact of climate change on chytrid disease dynamics in Appalachian salamanders.
Full details here: findaphd.com?pj=182328
Full details here: findaphd.com?pj=182328
February 12, 2025 at 11:16 AM
We’re recruiting for a #PhD opportunity funded by NERC Envision DTP, investigating the impact of climate change on chytrid disease dynamics in Appalachian salamanders.
Full details here: findaphd.com?pj=182328
Full details here: findaphd.com?pj=182328
Reposted by Owen Osborne
Our new paper shows that plasticity that has evolved to deal with one stressful situation, can help plants to adapt rapidly to new stressful situations. doi.org/10.1073/pnas... @meebangor.bsky.social @rbgkew.bsky.social @ukri.org @pnas.org
February 6, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Our new paper shows that plasticity that has evolved to deal with one stressful situation, can help plants to adapt rapidly to new stressful situations. doi.org/10.1073/pnas... @meebangor.bsky.social @rbgkew.bsky.social @ukri.org @pnas.org
Reposted by Owen Osborne
In 2013 Liz Scordato & I did a ~6k mi transect of Russia. It was *part* of a larger study of how divergence in traits used in mate choice & competition affects the formation of new species. Today, we have a paper in Science, led by Drew Schield & Becca Safran 🧪🪶🦚
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Sexual selection promotes reproductive isolation in barn swallows
Despite the well-known effects of sexual selection on phenotypes, links between this evolutionary process and reproductive isolation, genomic divergence, and speciation have been difficult to establis...
www.science.org
December 13, 2024 at 3:09 PM
In 2013 Liz Scordato & I did a ~6k mi transect of Russia. It was *part* of a larger study of how divergence in traits used in mate choice & competition affects the formation of new species. Today, we have a paper in Science, led by Drew Schield & Becca Safran 🧪🪶🦚
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Owen Osborne
In 2020, we showed that studies published in ecological journals WITH a code-sharing policy showed a 21% reproducibility potential at max (Culina et al 2020, @plosbiology.bsky.social)
We've now investigated journals WITHOUT a code-sharing policy. The results are worrying.
📰 doi.org/10.32942/X21...
We've now investigated journals WITHOUT a code-sharing policy. The results are worrying.
📰 doi.org/10.32942/X21...
Code-sharing policies are associated with increased reproducibility potential of ecological findings
doi.org
December 10, 2024 at 7:38 AM
In 2020, we showed that studies published in ecological journals WITH a code-sharing policy showed a 21% reproducibility potential at max (Culina et al 2020, @plosbiology.bsky.social)
We've now investigated journals WITHOUT a code-sharing policy. The results are worrying.
📰 doi.org/10.32942/X21...
We've now investigated journals WITHOUT a code-sharing policy. The results are worrying.
📰 doi.org/10.32942/X21...