These eye-catching insects offer a prime opportunity for scientists to dig deep into invasion ecology and evolutionary biology

Probably my favorite race of the year. Gives me goosebumps to think how far women have come in the last 50 years and grateful for pioneers like Kathrine Switzer when running this historic race - the 1st women’s only road race in the world in 1972!

Just registered for #JMIH2026 - come join me in New Orleans!!! Most of my lab will be there (minus Fallon, who will be presenting at SMBE instead!) and we will be giving talks and posters on urban anoles and wall lizards—ecology, genomics, microbiome, morphology!

Evolving nature-based solutions for urban resilience | Science: A wonderful collaboration across ecology, evolution, urban science, and urban design and planning www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New paper by NYU Biology undergrad (now PhD student at U. Chicago) Shira Linsk! Shira combined on-the-ground sampling with @inaturalist.bsky.social data to better understand how moths are impacted by urbanization doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Our March issue is out! www.nature.com/nrbd/volumes... Key topics: 💧Extreme events and river biodiversity (@jdtonkin.bsky.social) 🌇Urban eco-evolutionary dynamics (@kmwinchell.bsky.social) 🦋Butterflies and moths (Akito Kawahara) 📊Biodiversity model intercomparisons (@zurelllab.bsky.social) 🧪🌎

7 year streak on @duolingoverde.bsky.social ! 💪 Spanish level 120 (high B2), French level 48 (A2), German 17 and Portuguese 21 (A1). Spanish would probably be higher if I tested but I spend most of my time in French these days and use Spanish to refresh and practice

On the cover of @royalsociety.org and in the @nytimes.com! Our new paper on #spottedlanternfly led by PhD student @fallonmeng.bsky.social suggests evolution in urban environments is the secret behind this species invasion success www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/s...

Excited to share our new review in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com, coauthored w/allstar postdocs @vale-alaasam.bsky.social @annainthefield.bsky.social @anthonysnead.bsky.social Bridging island biogeography & evolutionary processes, we explore how eco-evo dynamics play out in the urban mosaic rdcu.be/e4tcj

New paper by my lab! PhD student @fallonmeng.bsky.social set out to use whole genome sequencing of Spotted Lanternfly from China & the US to better understand the invasion... and discovered that adapting to the city may be the key to their invasive success! royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

The Church Evolution Lab (CEL@NYU) is hiring a postdoc! We have several new projects to study the genomic basis of biodiversity in model clades – especially Hawaiian Drosophila. apply.interfolio.com/179354 Come join our new group, you can study bugs and live in NYC! Feel free to share widely!

check out our new findings about the why spotted lanternfly are doing so well in invasion?! doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Bumping this up one last time. I'm looking to hire graduate student(s) to work on an NSF-funded project to study elevational range shifts among dragonflies here in Colorado. @cudenverclas.bsky.social 🧪🌍🐙 Applications will be considered until Nov 1. See post below for more details

I love when my lab insists I go to the field with them. A perfect day catching urban species at a beautiful natural site. Hard to believe we never left NYC

Short hair Kristin is back! 18” donated to Wigs for Kids! www.wigsforkids.org

The NYU lizard colony (@kmwinchell.bsky.social) is now one step closer to being up and running! Today we finished these 56 lizard "condos" which can individually house 224 lizards! This has been a massive effort, and we are so excited to have reached this milestone🦎 We are so close to anoles at NYU!

I’m at #ESA2025! But just for today. I’m giving an inspire talk this afternoon on urban evolutionary ecology. Come find out what I think about when people ask me “if wildlife are adapting to cities, will evolution solve all our problems?”

super proud of lab alum Shira Linsk—featured in this story about NYU undergrads conducting "research that launched their careers". Shira completed TWO publication-worthy projects as an undergrad on #urbanecology & is headed to U Chicago for a PhD in ecology & evolution! www.nyu.edu/about/news-p...

Wish I could be at #Evol2025 this year! I’ll be starting a new lab at NYU this fall, and will be recruiting at all levels. Please spread the word if you know anyone who wants to work on evo. genomics, phylogenies, and comparative development of inverts (like Hawaiian Drosophila!) shchurch.github.io

I am thrilled to announce that in January 2026 I will be starting my own lab at NYU Biology! Soon enough I will be recruiting postdocs and students! Please reach out if you are interested with a CV and description of your research interests, or if you know of people who could be interested! 🧬🗽 🦊

More Italian wall lizards (Podarcis siculus) - this time, in the Bronx!

Fun new things starting in the lab this summer as we dive deeper into the intersection of urbanization and invasion! This is an invasive wall lizard from NYC, a project being led by postdocs @annainthefield.bsky.social & @anthonysnead.bsky.social along with our summer REU students and NYU undergrads

The single-striped grass mouse can be found near cities, but our nighttime lights have negative impacts on this understudied grassland mammal from Africa. Floor Didden tells us about a recent study urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/05/18/a... #urbanecology #urbanmammals

The tiny plant Draba verna grows out of cracks in sidewalks & roads. Nils tells us more about this resilient #urbanplant & invites us to appreciate the beauty growing between the pavement cracks more often urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/05/16/u... #urbanecology #urbanobservation

Does it ever seem like your neighborhood birds & squirrels recognize you? They probably do! Jitte van Leeuwen explains how & why animals learn to recognize humans in order to thrive in the fast-paced city urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/05/15/t... #urbanecology #urbanevolution

Lisa de Haas tells us about a charismatic #urbanwildlife from North America: the chipmunk. Learn more about how the chipmunk is adapting to city life by taking it easy! urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/04/17/r... #UrbanEcology #UrbanEvolution #urbanmammals

So proud of graduating seniors Emerald Lin & Shira Linsk for both winning undergraduate research awards! @annainthefield.bsky.social did an amazing job mentoring Shira on TWO manuscripts on urban moth biodiversity! Emerald is off to work w/Audubon this summer & Shira to a PhD program this fall! 🔥🔥🔥

These pictures are from a few years ago, but I am SO excited to be starting up a whole project on the Italian wall lizards in Queens, Brooklyn, and on Long Island this May with @anthonysnead.bsky.social and @kmwinchell.bsky.social and some awesome undergrads 🦎☺️

Rose-ringed parakeets have become common in urban areas throughout Europe in the past 15 years. Thomas Griep explains why these beautiful birds are so successful in #urban ecosystems urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/04/04/h... #urbanecology #urbanevolution

According to this post, I will be teaching at this thing. Apply today!

How are soil microbes affected by urbanization? Ao Mo tells us about how key urban impacts affect the diversity of these important components of ecosystems urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/04/04/h... #urbanecology #urbanevolution

Urban cutie 🦎💚

One of my favorite anoles, Anolis pulchellus, looking at its beautiful reflection in a car window.

The Winchell Lab at #SICB2025 ❤️ @kmwinchell.bsky.social @vale-alaasam.bsky.social @anthonysnead.bsky.social @ambystomal.bsky.social @papayaguacamaya.bsky.social

Come check out Winchell Lab posters at #SICB2025 right now! Lanternflies and birds and biodiversity and microbiomes!

Very cool talk at #SICB2035 by @hcamarillo.bsky.social on plethodon “nonadaptive radiation” showing species clusters in skull morphology consistent with repeated adaptive diversification!

NYU MS student Rafael Baez is doing super cool work with urban frogs in NYC! Trypanosomes, chytrid, immune function, and natural history. Some truly integrative research! #SICB2025

Sad to have missed some great talks yesterday, but today there is another great lineup of #Anolis talks at #SICB2025! Check out the list curated by @anoleannals.bsky.social : www.anoleannals.org/2024/12/22/a...

Didn’t get enough #urbanevolution at #SICB2025 yesterday? I have good news - there’s more! Join us for a complementary talk session this morning in International Salon 5 8:25-9:45 & at the poster session today!

#ProudPI moment: postdocs @vale-alaasam.bsky.social & Anthony Snead co-organized an amazing #SICB2025 symposium & PhD students Fallon Meng crushed her first conference talk!

Join us TODAY at #SICB2025 for a whole day of #urbanevolution talks in Marquis A. We’ve got a lineup that includes birds, bugs, lizards, & more! Also a fun workshop at 10:30 on urban research challenges and getting started, and a round table discussion this afternoon!

Missed my mile goal by a bit this year reminding me consistency is the key to success. But 1341 miles running, another 1200 walking, and two marathons (and two world major ⭐️⭐️) is pretty good. Next year I’ll blow past 1500 on my way to a BQ 💪🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🦄

Have you ever thought about the perks of doing fieldwork in your own backyard? ...Are you "urban-ecology-curious"? Come to our workshop at #SICB2025 on Jan 4 10:30-12:00 to learn about urban field safety, accessibility, engaging undergrads, designing experiments, permit perils, and more!

www.nwf.org/Home/Magazin... #urbanevolution

Anoles at SICB 2025 www.anoleannals.org/2024/12/22/a...

New Lit Alert: City lights, moonlit nights: examining bat responses to urbanization and lunar cycles City lights, moonlit nights: examining bat responses to urbanization and lunar cycles Claysson de Aguiar Silva & Ludmilla M. S. Aguiar  Abstract Urbanization is one of the most abrupt mechanisms of…

Urban Evolution at SICB 2025 The annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) is here! From January 3-7 biologists will convene in Atlanta, Georgia to share the latest and greatest from a broad range of research areas. Urban evolution talks have a strong showing at…

Just had the most epic run in San Diego. This place is incredible!

‼️📝 New paper! 1st undergrad honor thesis from the lab! Hannah Owen looked at thousands of #spottedlanternfly @inaturalist.bsky.social images to study spatio-temporal & phenology patterns of the invasion, and to understand the role of #urban environments in their spread www.nyu.edu/about/news-p...

Are cities the key to a long life for the spotted lanternfly? Whilst it sounds unlikely, new research by @kmwinchell.bsky.social & co suggests these colourful invasive insects are enjoying the (warm) city life, a 🧵(1/4) @linneansociety.bsky.social #science #UrbanEcology #Conservation 🧪🌎