Judith A.H. Smit

Most people think of animal communication as sounds, dances or smells. But many insects communicate through vibrations that travel through plants. I'm very excited to share this interview about my research on vibrationally duetting #treehoppers at STRI in Panama! stri.si.edu/story/judith...

🕷️💤 New paper in time for 🎃! Do #spiders really sleep? In our new study on #Portia fimbriata we tested all behavioural criteria of #sleep and found evidence for regulated, two-stage sleep with recurring REM-like stages. Out in @pnas.org! @roesslerdaniela.bsky.social 📄 tinyurl.com/3fky8ze7 🧵1/9

🔔PhD Position!🔔 Interested in collective behavior and communication? Want to use quantitative approaches to analyze animal behavior? Come join us @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social My group is looking for a PhD student to join our team in 2027, apps due Nov 22! imprs-qbee.mpg.de/132695/analy...

I'm hiring a postdoc for our NSF IntBIO project on songbird behavior, physiology and fitness! Start date as early as April 1 or as late as Sept 2027. Emphasis on behavioral endocrinology and transcriptomics, plus field ornithology based on applicant interests: academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/33216.

I am recruiting for a 2-year postdoc position with our group at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior! Learn more & apply here: tinyurl.com/3n88uv2p Deadline: 20 Dec 2026 Start date: Flexible in 2027 @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @livingingroups.bsky.social @carlzeissstiftung.bsky.social

Taxonomic bias shapes what we know (and don’t know) about nature 🌍🔍 In a new piece for @aunz.theconversation.com, we explain what it is, why it matters, and what two of our recently published studies reveal about it. 🧵👇

Hola! Interested in doing a 3-month research #internship on treehopper vibrational communication with me at STRI in Panama? 🤩 More info: stri.si.edu/academic-pro... Application deadline Oct 15. Also many other cool projects! #AnimalBehavior

We offer a fully funded 4-yr contract for a PhD candidate in Evolutionary Biology to join our group (www.eco-evo-devo.com). The project will combine genomics and ecophysiology to understand the evolution of developmental plasticity in spadefoot toads. For requisites and contact info please check 👇

Notocera treehoppers, aren't they fantastic? 😍 Saw these ones in National Park Altos de Campana in Panamá. #insects #membracids #treehoppers

New paper out 📣✨ We show that not only the availability of high-quality habitat is important for population persistence under climate change: variation in vegetation productivity within and between habitat patches can buffer populations during extreme years. 📽️ youtube.com/shorts/4LmqY...

Come and work with us (the Kokkonuts) as a postdoc! Our research within (theory-evo-eco) is broad; let's say it's implicitly defined by the journal club papers we read. Which is why the application process includes a JC-related task, I hope it'll be a fun one for you! www.evoldir.net/brian/evoldi...

#SICB Pittsburgh Abstract submission is open for SICB 2027! www.xcdsystem.com/sicb/abstrac... Come share your research and learn about the most exciting areas of integrative, comparative, & organismal #biology in Pittsburgh, PA on January 3-7, 2027. The deadline is August 28 at 11:59 PM HST.

Are you a biologist with experience in and enthusiasm for imaging and -omics techniques? Apply for working in Amsterdam (@vuamsterdam.bsky.social) on the exciting topic of socially transferred materials! 🐌 🐸 🐜🧬🔬 workingat.vu.nl/vacancies/po...

We are hiring a #postdoc to work on our NSF funded project on metabolic rate as a driver of individual variation in treefrog acoustic communication. Please spread the word to potentially interested candidates (or apply if you are one of them): jobs.okstate.edu/jobs/postdoc...

I am looking for PhD students and postdocs to join my lab at the University of Pittsburgh in Fall 2027. Anyone excited about urban evolution, hummingbirds, & community engagement, please reach out! And/or find me at #AOS2026 this week! More info here: www.valentina-alaasam.com

Had such a great and inspiring time at #ISBE2026 in Torino! Thanks to the organizers for the amazing conference. Ciao for now!

Soooo excited for #ISBE2026 in Turino! I’d love to connect to people working on communication (sounds/vibrations), plasticity, sexual selection, social interactions and/or urbanization! Shoot me a message or see you there! 😁

With the conference just a few days away, I thought it would be nice to create an #ISBE2026 attendees Starter Pack to help us connect more easily. If you’re attending and would like to be included, send me a message or reply below! go.bsky.app/CiXGqQ7

I compiled a list of 350 #funding opportunities for #postdoctoral research #fellowships: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J2M_tQgoqV4ivpfEClh9qs9f2KQN2O1G3Jpda2aoHfQ/edit?usp=sharing I realized I should share this again after mentioning it to some folks at the #EFP2026

Very proud of María Paz Rueda Rodriguez and Omar Morosse!! They gave amazing presentations about our treehopper research at the STRI fellows symposium last week!

Are you an early-career researcher based in the Global South? Apply by 20 November 2026 for BiO Global South Conference Travel Grants to attend an international biological or biomedical conference. More information at www.biologists.com/grants/bio-g...

Rate animal artworks for science!

So excited to announce our search for 4 postdocs (funded by the Simons Foundation) who will use genomics to "test how ecological interactions, natural selection, natural enemies, hybridization & environmental gradients shape...tropical tree communities" in Panama: stri.si.edu/story/bci-ev... ...1

PhD position open 🚨 We are seeking a talented, enthusiastic, and collaborative PhD candidate to investigate how seasonal environmental change influences population vulnerability and to develop new indicators of demographic risk and resilience in wild bird populations. nioo.knaw.nl/en/vacancies...

~1 billion times the distance from Earth to the Sun. That is approx the total length of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal hyphae in topsoils. These microscopic fungal networks form one of Earth’s circulatory systems moving carbon and nutrients. Out now in @science.org : lnkd.in/eKAsVN_Z

Leaf-mimicking katydids don’t just use their funky camouflage to survive, they’re using it to find love too! 🥰🍃💘 New paper out now in #ProcB @royalsocietypublishing.org (Photo cred: Christian Ziegler): doi.org/10.1098/rspb... 1/n

🚨We're hiring again, this time for a research assistant position 🚨 The position is to help with a project looking at learning and social behaviour in birds along an urban gradient Position at @ceec-research.bsky.social 📆28th June deadline More info: shorturl.at/vBxiW #ringing #fieldwork

Urban animals behave differently than those living in more natural environments -- possibly because urban environments select for certain behavioral types or because they act as environmental "filters". Fantastic co-authors: @neddochtermann.bsky.social @annecharmantier.bsky.social

📢Fully-funded #PhD opportunity with us: 🐦 Quantifying (social) learning and social behaviour in an urbanised world 🐦 Position at @ceec-research.bsky.social 📆29th May deadline More info: tinyurl.com/yz28s96x Apply: tinyurl.com/2wpkb64y #cognition #socialbehaviour #fieldwork #birds 🙏Please Share

Great opportunity! 🤩 If anyone has questions about this fellowship or about STRI more generally I’d be happy to answer!

Treehoppers have such interesting shapes... For instance, look at this Cladonota treehopper we saw in Altos De Campana National Park in Panamá! 🤩 #insects #membracids #treehoppers

📢Fully-funded #PhD opportunity with us ❓Quantifying animal #movement patterns & behavioural #interactions in a changing world 👥Joint position in @bristolbiosci.bsky.social & #MacquarieUniversity 📆19th April deadline tinyurl.com/343acaev #maths #modelling #data #fieldwork #Australia 🙏PLEASE SHARE

Super excited about this new paper! and eternally grateful to the amazing coauthors, the wonderful network of colleagues who gave us stimuli, and all of the thousands of people that listened to animal sounds for us!

Applications for the next NOMIS-STRI cohort of postdoctoral fellows are open now! Come join us in Panama! #animalbehavior STRI.si.edu/nomis

Introducing the campest katydid of all time. 🦄💅🏽👸💞 Why would this animal (Arota festae) have evolved this way, other than to look utterly fabulous? We have unleashed some (slightly whacky) thoughts, now out in @esajournals.bsky.social. Photo credit: @zekerowe.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... 1/n

🚨JOB alert🚨 We have three (yes, THREE) 🌟lectureships🌟 advertised in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol. Broad remit, including #AnimalBehaviour & #GlobalChangeBiology ⏱️Deadline: 8th March 2026 🙏Please circulate widely 😊Come join us! Full #job details: tinyurl.com/y3us95rc

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

Had our first treehopper station at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's Batnight! Lots of fun telling people about these amazing insects!! #treehoppers #membracids #outreach

How do we know our research results are REAL? We replicate them! Most folks agree but lament on how hard it is to publish these replications. My dearest gentle reader, lament no more! Delighted to unveil: Replication Studies, a new section of Behavioral Ecology 1/ academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...

Applicants in all marine fields are encouraged to apply. This includes marine behavioral ecology, sensory biology, bioacoustics, movement ecology… ⏰ Deadline is Feb 15, 2026 📣 Please help us spread the word!

Come join us in beautiful Stockholm! A fun project using a cool system in a great place with an amazing supervisor - so many reasons to apply 🐟 🇸🇪

Enchophyllum treehoppers, caught in the process of molting. The adult is initially very pale and will turn black with two spots in a matter of hours! #insects #membracids #treehopper

We're bringing back Open Science Shop + Mothbox meetings in 2026! Interested in manufacturing Mothboxes locally? Then these meetings are perfect for you! New meeting times: 1am and 3pm UTC. @dinalab.bsky.social

🧪📍🌊 🦑🍎 Marine Scientist Position – Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), full-time, permanent Marine Scientist position based in Panama. Application review begins February 15, 2026 (open until filled). Early-career researchers are strongly encouraged to apply. www.stri.si.edu

We are hiring – postdoc position exploring how kinship shapes social ageing in killer whales. Collaboration with @samellisq.bsky.social @drwhale.bsky.social and Prof Rufus Johnstone (Cambridge) starts 1st April 2026 and ends 31st March 2029. Apps close 2nd Feb. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPZ788/p...

The inaugural Gordon Research Conference in Urban Evolution and Ecology, which will be held Jan 31-Feb 5, 2027, in Ventura, California. You can watch for updates at www.grc.org/urban-ecolog.... You can also sign up to receive email updates here: forms.gle/XJWskPTEgWmX....

A gallery of treehoppers, a delightful lineage of sap-feeding, singing insects with a bizarre assortment of body ornaments.