Kaiser Lab
Evolution, ecology & biological clocks - with a focus on lunar rhythms
in development & reproduction of the marine insect Clunio.
+ Genomics | Biodiversity | Behaviour | NeuroBio | MolBio | SciCom
bit.ly/KaiserLab
@mpi-evolbio.bsky.social @maxplanck.de
- Reposted by Kaiser LabExpressions of interest: Director at MPI EvolBio (f/m/d) — We invite expressions of interest from distinguished scientists in evolutionary biology with a bold, long-term research vision that complements our Institute. More information: www.evolbio.mpg.de/3856225/Dire...
- Reposted by Kaiser LabA new #PNAS Commentary spotlights our #MPI-EvolBio work: jumbo phages can transfer large mobile genetic elements between bacteria, expanding how we think about gene exchange in microbial communities. www.evolbio.mpg.de/3858689/pnas...
- Reposted by Kaiser LabJoin us on Monday at 15:00 CET for the first @ergabiodiv.bsky.social Plenary meeting of 2026! Hugues Roest Crollius will present an update on the progress of the French marine #genomes ATLASea programme www.erga-biodiversity.eu/post/atlasea... #biodiversity #genomics
- Happy to share exciting work by my colleague Nathalie Feiner @mpi-evolbio.bsky.social, and coauthors @joanameier.bsky.social, @nataliazajac.bsky.social, Guannan Wen, Tobias Uller & more. Also see their preprint on #lizard (& snake) #genomics: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v... 🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎= 10 #genomes
- New milestone for wall lizards: 10 chromosome-level reference genomes released by MPI EvolBio, Wellcome Sanger Institute & collaborators — now >50% of described Podarcis species have high-quality references. A backbone resource for evo & pop genomics. www.evolbio.mpg.de/3851900/ten-...
- Frontiers for Young Minds now has a plain and concise introduction to the Earth BioGenome Project! @ebpgenome.bsky.social Good read for older kids and the general public! #SciCom #STEM #Biodiversity #Genome #Conservation kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....
- What a cool way to get people engaged with #population #genomics! But why is there no episode on parentage analysis ... ? #Conservation #EvoBio #R #MayTheForceBeWithYou #StarWars #LukeSkywalker @lauradbertola.bsky.social @drobledoruiz.bsky.social @seaprof.bsky.social @robynshaw.bsky.social
- Reposted by Kaiser Lab🎓 IMPRS EvolBio opens its 2026 PhD call! Up to 10 doctoral positions in evolutionary biology at MPI-EB — work in an international, cutting-edge research environment where others go on vacation. Start: Sept 2026 | Deadline: Jan 11, 2026 👉 www.evolbio.mpg.de/3848518/impr... #PhD #EvolutionaryBiology
- A very interesting piece on the evolution of #photoperiodism and its relation to #circadian #clocks by Luisa Jabbur @jabbur.bsky.social and Carl Johnson.
- #TansleyInsight: Could photoperiodic responses have evolved before the emergence of #CircadianClocks? @jabbur.bsky.social & Carl Hirschie Johnson 👇 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #LatestIssue
- Reposted by Kaiser LabBig congratulations to Dr Nikhil Sharma on receiving the Kiel Life Science Postdoc Award 2025! His outstanding work in theoretical biology and evolutionary graph theory makes us proud. Well deserved! 👏 #KLS #MPIEvolBio www.evolbio.mpg.de/3847270/kiel... (Photo: Christian Urban, Kiel University)
- Reposted by Kaiser LabRajalekshmi N. Sarma (MPI EvolBio) will be speaking at Kiel University’s Night of the Profs this Friday! Catch her Science Show talk at 21:00 in the Frederik-Paulsen Lecture Hall. Free admission — bring your friends and family! More info: uni-kiel.de/de/veranstaltungen/night-of-the-profs (CAU Kiel)
- Reposted by Kaiser LabBig cheers from MPI for Evolutionary Biology! 🎉 Our alumna Dr. Christin Nyhoegen wins the KlarText Prize 2025 for her piece “Penicillin and a Small Dose of Mathematics.” She shows how math helps improve antibiotic treatments and prevent resistance. 👏 #KlarTextPreis #MPIEvolBio #ScienceCommunication
- WE ARE HIRING! Please spread widely! #Postdoc in #Evolutionary #Genomics -> www.mpg.de/25524526/ #Postdoc in #Molecular #Biology & #Cell #Signalling -> www.mpg.de/25524509/ @mpi-evolbio.bsky.social @maxplanck.de #ScienceJobs #EvoBio #MolBio #Ecology #Chronobiology #Marine #EntoSky #Biodiversity
- "Chuck the gadgets, the fads and the alarm." The importance of the #circadian #clock for human #sleep, covered in a recent News Feature in #Nature. Must read. #chronobiology #ScienceMatters
- How can larval #competition for space, adult #reproductive #timing and the #tides interact to produce different timing strains, aka #chronotypes, of the marine insect #Clunio? See our latest preprint with Alec Jacobsen & @gokhalecs.bsky.social #evolution #ecology #chronobiology #circalunar #clock
- Previous work with @kokkonut.bsky.social (tinyurl.com/28hxwree) showed that #sympatric Clunio strains reproduce AT full #moon or BEFORE new moon. During these times low tide levels differ, placing the eggs & larvae at different elevations. This spatial separation allows #coexistence of the strains:
- Our current follow-up #modelling study with @gokhalecs.bsky.social, former colleague @mpi-evolbio.bsky.social, suggests that larval competition for space can actually drive the evolution of divergent reproductive timing, aka #allochrony, which results in spatial separation and reduced competition.
- Reposted by Kaiser LabCould humans and AI one day form a single “evolutionary individual”? Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology raise this question in a new publication exploring human–AI interdependence. www.evolbio.mpg.de/3836073/news...
- Years of work distilled to 1 minute: Our recent paper with @kokkonut.bsky.social has made it to #youtube ! The AI illustrations do not look anything like real-life #Clunio - but they are captivating. And the scientific content is accurate and well explained! Original paper: tinyurl.com/28hxwree
- Here is a nice piece on #Clunio #biology and #rhythms by @ulrikegebhardt.bsky.social - including some of our #research @mpi-evolbio.bsky.social with @juleneumann.bsky.social and @kokkonut.bsky.social. (In German only.) #chronobiology #moon #MarineEcology #Science #SciCom #taktvoll #Mond #Natur
- Today @ #EBRS2025: Session #EVOLUTION (2pm, AM4) D Doležel: #clock gene evolution MP Shahandeh: #circadian #plasticity S Reece: #parasite #rhythms A Schneider: #olfactory #membrane #clockworks A Coric: L-Cry & #circalunar #timing C Kyriacou: Cry & #magnetic fields Hosts: E Nagoshi & T Kaiser
- Curious how the #moon is perceived, controls #development, and may drive #speciation in a #marine #insect? Check our posters at #EBRS2025: > P107 (Tue) @juleneumann.bsky.social > P135 (Tue) > P196 (Thu) @kokkonut.bsky.social @gokhalecs.bsky.social #chronobiology #circalunar #evolution #ecology
- Our work with @kokkonut.bsky.social on #temporal #niches and #coexistence in #Clunio (see tinyurl.com/bderptbr and tinyurl.com/28hxwree) has been featured in a Research Highlight @animalecology.bsky.social: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #ecology #evolution #chronobiology
- One week to go until #EBRS2025 in #Lübeck! We are very much looking forward to exciting #chronobiology! #circatidal #circadian #circalunar #circannual Sessions on: -> #Evolution -> Short and long #clocks -> Clocks in the #wild -> #Seasonality ... and many more: ebrs-online.org/index.php/ev...
- There is also a really nice thread by @kokkonut.bsky.social giving more details to our two joint papers on how #timing by the #moon allows #coexistence in a #marine #midge: tinyurl.com/bderptbr tinyurl.com/28hxwree #Ecology #Evobio #Chronobiology Click below for the full thread!
- Happy to share that we just published two papers from an exciting and fruitful collaboration with Hanna Kokko, involving Runa Ekrem, Alec Jacobsen and Lotte de Vries! @kokkonut.bsky.social @lottedevries.bsky.social #Evobio #MarineEcology #Ecology #Modelling #Chronobiology Picture by Solvin Zankl
- In the first study we showed that #coexistence of #Clunio strains which live in the same habitat, but differ in #lunar reproductive #timing is not easily explained. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
- In the second study we found out that differences in #lunar reproductive #timing of the adults can lead to spatial separation of the larvae, which in turn allows coexistence. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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View full threadA big thank you to everyone involved in this! It was great fun!
- #MarineLife … and #insects? Yes! The #marine #midge #Clunio lives for only one low #tide and its emergence follows the #lunar #cycle! Read the full thread below. #addOcean #MarineEcology #Entomology @gettoknownature.bsky.social @wonderofscience.bsky.social
- #Moonstruck #Midges: Introducing Clunio marinus #Clunio is a midge and a truly #marine #insect. You can find it on the #European #Atlantic #coast in the #intertidal zone. This is the region between the low #tide and high tide, alternating between marine and terrestrial conditions. (1/5)
- Reposted by Kaiser Lab
- Interested in (studying) biological #clocks? Here is a brilliant and concise introduction to the field, focussing on #ciradian clocks, and stressing the #adaptive nature of clocks. And it's #OpenAccess ! #chronobiology 🧪 @doabooks.bsky.social doi.org/10.21827/686...
- If you want to know more about #circalunar #clocks, the following might also be interesting: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #lunar #moon #tides #chronobiology
- A question to the #Naturalists 🌿 out there: Have you ever met this strange critter at the #beach? You should be able to find Clunio species on rocky #coasts around the world – but only around full #moon and new moon! See full thread @clocksevolution.bsky.social @inaturalist.bsky.social #nature
- #Moonstruck #Midges: Introducing Clunio marinus #Clunio is a midge and a truly #marine #insect. You can find it on the #European #Atlantic #coast in the #intertidal zone. This is the region between the low #tide and high tide, alternating between marine and terrestrial conditions. (1/5)
- Reposted by Kaiser LabHands-on Science – at the Plön Stadtbucht Festival! This Sunday, we invite you to our interactive booth: 🧬 Turn your first name into a personalized DNA bracelet 🔬 Discover fascinating lake microorganisms and yeast under the microscope #Plön #Stadtbuchtfest #ScienceForEveryone #CitizenScience
- #Moonstruck #Midges: Introducing Clunio marinus #Clunio is a midge and a truly #marine #insect. You can find it on the #European #Atlantic #coast in the #intertidal zone. This is the region between the low #tide and high tide, alternating between marine and terrestrial conditions. (1/5)
- (2/5) #LifeCycle Clunio’s long-lived larvae prefer to be submerged and therefore settle in the lower parts of the intertidal zone. However, the adults need these regions to be exposed for egg-laying. The solution was to reduce adult lifespan – and thereby mating and egg-laying – to a few hours …
- (3/5) #Lunar #Rhythm … and then time these hours to the lowest low tides. These tides always occur at full and new #moon. Clunio has an internal timer, a so-called #circalunar #clock. It enables the midges to predict #moon phases and allows adults to only emerge at the right #time.
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View full threadStay tuned for more! If you want further information right away, please check our webpage @mpi-evolbio.bsky.social: www.evolbio.mpg.de/biologicalcl...
- This is really exiting work! Congratulations! @marketa-kau.bsky.social
- 🧠 Missing link of synchronized skull and brain development and evolution revealed — explaining rare congenital syndromes. 🧬 Evolution meets development and medicine. #Evolution #Development #BrainSkull #EvolutionaryInnovations www.evolbio.mpg.de/3823787/news...
- Reposted by Kaiser Lab🎉 Today, we celebrated a major milestone: the opening of our new state-of-the-art research building! 5,650 m² of cutting-edge labs, offices, and meeting spaces — driving world-class science in Plön and beyond. 🚀 www.evolbio.mpg.de/3822418/feie... #EvolutionaryBiology #ScienceNews #ResearchExcellence
- Reposted by Kaiser LabThis week, the Clunios @clocksevolution.bsky.social had the pleasure of hosting @clairemerot.bsky.social and hear about her awesome research on the role of inversions in adaptive evolution! We explored the baltic sea and found wrackbeds full of seaweed flies. Thanks again for visiting us, Claire!
- Reposted by Kaiser Lab🧬 Rethinking Cooperation in Biology? New study suggests that natural growth differences – not just strategy – matter big time for cooperation in nature. Turns out, yeast don't need to be strategic. www.evolbio.mpg.de/3815028/news... #evolution #ecology #cooperation #science
