Some of the news coverage from our latest paper in @animalecology.bsky.social! We used a meta-analytic approach to understand whether and how behavioral change is associated with urban environments. Dream collaboration with @neddochtermann.bsky.social and @annecharmantier.bsky.social!

I generally don't go for formality but getting referred to as Mr. Dachtermann in an email from a student submitting a late assignment... I guess it's good they got the second n into the last name. Not sure if that's better or worse than "Dr. Man"

I think the National Academies are damaging their reputation in an attempt to curry favor from political figures or to appease funders. I am disappointed and hope (and will try to insist) that they will take different approaches in the future. 30/30

This is a figure from a text book. This was not produced with "AI" (predates it). The book's author, editor, and copy editor all were okay with this. (you may have to click on the thumbnail to see the problem)

A worthwhile, and depressing, read.

I’ve no idea why but I have TONS of horseshoe crab art showing up. How delightful! I quite like this viridis one.

Rep. Delia Ramirez to DHS officials: "I have as much respect for you as I do for the last white men who put on masks to terrorize communities of color. I have no respect for the inheritors of the Klanhood and the slave patrol. Those activities were criminal and so are yours."

DAVE MATTHEWS: “I don’t want my taxes to pay for masked thugs to roam our streets & terrorize our communities... She was trying to get away. He shot her 3x in the head. Murdered in cold blood. They’re trying to tell us not to believe what we see. FUCK ICE.” (H/T @marcofoster.bsky.social )

Some hope in the world, and animals send us a message of peace and play: when the big one respects the small one, it’s a win-win situation.

Last spring, I was asked to give carreer advice to grad students. And the one thing I told them was: our best skill is our ability to learn difficult things -- it's also the first skill you will lose unless you intentionally don't let yourselves go.

Apparently the early peak is assumed in some fields but how sad is that? One of the best things about my job is I get to keep learning new things and get better at the things I want to improve. (I also get to choose where I invest that effort which is an amazing luxury)

We are pleased to announce the inaugural Gordon Research Conference on Urban Evolution and Ecology which will be held from Jan. 31 - Feb. 5, 2027. Please save the dates, and we look forward to welcoming you to beautiful Ventura Beach, California!

This is one of my wife and I's favorite movies. We watch it regularly. In addition to Rickman, every performance is amazing. Rockwell's "DO I?" and Weaver's "Hold please" get repeated far more often than they probably should.

I'm working on something that requires a lot of professional puffery. Unfortunately, I default to extreme self-deprecation and my colleague on the project is, well, Dutch. I suspect the outcome might look something along the lines of: "Dochtermann is just okay but we would really like the money"

Accurate news reporting from yesterday’s joint lab meeting with @batsrkul.bsky.social‘s group.

I am looking for a postdoc to work in our long-term system of food-caching mountain chickadees in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The expected start is April 2026. Please see details here: chickadeecognition.com/positions If interested and qualified, please contact me directly (email on the website).

I had been trying to adopt universal design approaches. However, given LLMs, I now think I have to move back to in person, paper and pen, for any exams. Similarly, LLM use is forcing a move back to other, more rigid, assessment methods.

Over the last two years I’ve seen “Yet, …” surge in use in place of “However, …”. This seems increasingly the case regardless of field, publication, or country of author. Is this LLM driven or just an emerging norm? (I also don’t like it so it could be biased detection but I don’t think so)

For the Aussies, the zoologists and the architects out there. 💩🧊🧪 By @chazhutton.com

Check footnote 7. Personally, the formula notation has always made a lot more sense to me than the tidyverse "pipes".

We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing: a 🧵 1/n Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...

A lot of people are quoting this post and that's good because they should, AI sucks and robs us of something special and only mediocre uncreative piss-babies rely on it to make anything at all, fuck AI, p.s. Emma Thompson is now the president, sorry, that's just how it is

Hi folks, Any recommendations of dissecting scopes with digital cameras that are sufficient for insect (cricket) morphometrics and relatively inexpensive (<2000)? Thanks!

I cannot believe our work is finally out there and in @journal-evo.bsky.social ! This was an enormous group effort! We provide an updated estimate of the number of buzz pollinated angiosperm species, genera, and families, look at consequences for diversification, number of transitions, and more!

As folks get news about promotion and tenure, first, congrats!. Second, some unsolicited advice: Chairs & Deans don’t like the joke “My goal now is to be dead wood”. Solid lede for promotion seminars though.

Did a new one

Just to be super clear, if you’re phoning in your peer review to ai you should quit your job so someone else who actually likes science can have it.

Same: heard that a colleague (in a different department) openly discussed using LLMs for "ideation" and I replied that it was amazing they outright admitted they were bad at their job. Pathetic. Of course that could also probably have been inferred from the use of the word "ideation".

I too would like to move to the beach.

We have an updated version of this preprint, available at: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v... Fingers crossed the formal, final version will be out soon. We think this highlights a major issue in how we study behavior (& more). Thank you @sekharma.bsky.social & @itchyshin.bsky.social! #evolution

Our newest paper is out in Methods in Ecol Evol @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social :) amazing team effort - we show that the traditional way of analyzing comparative data lacks finesse. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/oidcS... w/ @itchyshin.bsky.social Yefeng Yang, Losia Lagisz & Ayumi Mizuno

my lab has moved to @iubiology.bsky.social! We're getting the #newlab set up here and excited to interact with @iu-cisab.bsky.social, @bdsc.bsky.social, and more! I'd love to hear from prospective lab members, especially prospective PhD students, postdocs, and technicians. more info: saltzlab.com

Always great when a software's documentation contradicts things it can easily do. Arrggh. (felt incompetent, might delete later)

Was reading a paper and recalled how after giving a plenary at my home society, career high point, an NAS fellow said something to the effect of ”I had low expectations but that was actually interesting”. Thanks! 🤣 Those are the kinds of expectations I can hopefully continue to meet!

Science is dominated by male native-English-speakers with elevated affluence. It's a demographic that makes up less than 3% of the total global population. If someone wants to keep politics out of science, they are comfortable enforcing the status quo that benefits them (a small privileged group).

SquidSim is the coolest package - it let's you build complex hierarchical data structures and then simulate data from the world you create. The best tool for doing proper power analyses and testing how well your models can uncover the 'truth'. I've been recommending it to everyone!

Interested in simulating the kind of data that you might commonly find in evolutionary and ecological studies? Then we have the R package for you - squidSim!! Check our new preprint: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

As a final addition, my departmental colleague (@batsrkul.bsky.social) Prof. Erin Gillam and I finally got our poster presentation recorded and up. Just a couple of months late! We looked at average explanatory power across studies in animal behavior. youtu.be/nXZ7yIARokE #ABS2025 #evolution

New preprint out from the lab, including @rroyaute.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... In this we test what we refer to as the "standard model" of behavioral variation. This was inspired by recent work identifying intra-genotypic variation as a major contributor to "individuality". 1/

Following up on the #ABS2025 meeting, our lab's presentations are now available on youtube: www.youtube.com/@Dochtermann...

How do overlapping identities shape access and inclusion in ecology? 🌍 Our new report highlights why intersectionality matters and how it helps build a fairer, more inclusive discipline. Read the BES report: https://f.mtr.cool/xjqiwpgdtp 🌎🧪

Wonderful recognition for a great group of people!

What are folks preferred languages for agent/individually based models? I had a grant criticized for proposing to use R. I know how to use R and could brute force on our cluster. A reviewer didn't think this was "real programming" (minor point but annoying). 1/3 #evobio #evolution 🧪

Sticking with the classics this weekend… but, also, maybe they forgot?

Huge thank you @aeastephens.bsky.social‬ for initiating the TrendsTalk series 'Disability in ecology and evolution' in T.R.E.E. providing visibility for disabled researchers in #Ecology & #Evolution to make our field more #inclusive www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

Something else I mentioned in my workshop this morning on how to develop a sustainable academic writing practice: YOU NEED TO READ. A LOT. And not only read, but ABSORB the knowledge and insights derived from others' scholarship. This will help you find YOUR OWN contribution.

Still buzzing from the society meeting! 🧠💬 From cool talks & social mixers to winning 1st poster 🏆 AND becoming grad rep for my home society, what a ride! Upward & onward🚀 #AcademicTwitter #ABS2025