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Today, sadly, marks the end of the Species On The Move (SOTM) 2026 Conference. We had a fun 5 days making new friends and nourishing our minds from experts in the field. We ended the entire conference in a bang, with a banquet-style dinner and a interactive cultural performance from one of the indigenous tribes from Taiwan.
Our dear Year 3 undergraduate student, Leo, managed to clinch the best poster award for this conference! (Note: This is his very first conference!) We look forward to more quality work Leo. Please stay tuned to this space for updates to read up about what he had presented in this conference! Once again, congrats Leo!
We are also excited to see Janine from Prof. Eunice's lab had also won an award as well for her category! So happy to see two of NUS's students on stage for this conference!
Written by Xun Liang
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As part of Species On The Move (SOTM) Conference 2026, our Reprolab members split into 2 mini-expeditions as provided by the amazing SOTM organizers.
Leo and Xun Liang, together with Dr Nalini, took off to Yushan National Park to chase Taiwan’s high-elevation wildflowers and getting a crash course in alpine ecology (thin air, big views, tiny plants with serious resilience) while enjoying the cold, mountainous air.
Leo and Xun Liang, together with Dr Nalini, took off to Yushan National Park to chase Taiwan’s high-elevation wildflowers and getting a crash course in alpine ecology (thin air, big views, tiny plants with serious resilience) while enjoying the cold, mountainous air.
In the meantime, our lab's tea lover, Tyrone, took a deep dive into Taiwan's tea culture as he let the connected landscapes, local heritage, and indigenous community knowledge seep in one story (and cup) at a time.
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Apart from gaining different insights from the wonderful talks and posters during the Species On The Move (SOTM) 2026 Conference, one of the best parts of the conference happened outside the conference: shared dinners in Taiwan, bus-seat conversations, and the kind of spontaneous chats that turn into real connections. Grateful for new (and old) friends, fresh ideas, and the community that makes the work feel bigger than any one lab.
Really grateful to have Prof. Eunice Tan from TEAlab and her student, Janine, with us during this conference!
We also had fun connecting with Nicole Dorville from TEElab (also another TEElab!) under Prof. Eleanor Slade at NTU and learning more about her PhD work.
We also had fun connecting with Nicole Dorville from TEElab (also another TEElab!) under Prof. Eleanor Slade at NTU and learning more about her PhD work.
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Today, the Reprolab contingent presented their posters at the Species on the Move conference! All of us engaged enthusiastically with the members of the conference. In case you missed it, here is a quick summary of our posters!
Prof Nalini presented on behalf of Shakthee's and the lab's work on the evolution of BSFs under domesticated conditions. Together, our findings reveal that genomic drift, targeted selection, and microbial plasticity operate concurrently during insect domestication, suggesting how domestication can rapidly generate evolutionary novelty, especially in captive environments.
Tyrone presented on how Singapore’s heterogenous cityscape of residential zones and industrial estates interspersed amidst forest fragments, influences gene flow in wild mosquito populations, showing evidence of limited gene flow among urban clusters and consistent with repeated population bottlenecks from insecticide pressure and Wolbachia interventions. His work showed that the heterogeneity of cities and population control can shape the dynamics and adaptive potential of invasive species such as Ae. aegypti.
Mosquito RA Xun Liang shared about the intriguing process of satyrization between Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus. Here, he showed that Ae. albopictus males were more aggressive in mating interactions, and the effects of satyrization almost completely absent in Ae. aegypti females (surprisingly). These findings highlight how behavioural and reproductive mechanisms can facilitate mosquito distribution and disease transmission risks as these invasive vectors move into new environments.
Lastly, Leo tackled the problem of species concepts themselves by utilising an integrative approach to delimit the species boundaries of Sepsis punctum. He first showed through morphometric analyses that North American and European populations were phenetically divergent in some traits but not others, and that incomplete barriers of reproductive isolation were present between these populations. Together, these lines of evidence shows the importance of using integrative approaches to uncover hidden evolutionary divergence in widespread taxa.
Congratulations everyone and enjoy the rest of the conference!
Written by Leo
Written by Leo