Four of our lab members presented their work at the Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB 2025) in Barcelona in August. Beril presented a pilot study linked to her multi-pinniped comparative genomics project, which looks into differences in genomic inbreeding and bottleneck strength as a consequence of historical sealing across South American fur seal populations. Rebecca presented her recently published study on the effects of mutation load on sexual trait expression and reproductive success in lekking black grouse. Kosmas presented some new results on the distribution of mutation load and inbreeding across different Antarctic fur seal colonies. Finally, Anneke got the opportunity to present results from a joint project led by David about the effects of inbreeding on Antarctic fur seal female reproductive success.

As a bonus, the event coincided with the “Festes de Gràcia”, a street festival in a neighborhood of Barcelona called Gràcia with beautiful street decorations, music and dance. ESEB 2025 joined in by incorporating themes of evolution and biodiversity in the street decorations and other activities. Of course ESEB attendees were welcomed to join in on the festivities, which were great fun!

We had a great conference with many interesting presentations and thought-provoking discussions.