Postdoc job alert! We are hiring a NYU-based postdoc to work on our project on the social and environmental determinants of aging. The 3 year post will be based in James Higham's lab and will focus on endocrine, immune, and inflammatory aspects of aging. Please share! apply.interfolio.com/173938

Matt Sparks, my PhD student, and Roger Santer wrote a very interesting article for The Conversation on fly vision, and why understanding it better can help prevent human disease. theconversation.com/how-a-fly-se...

Super happy to share the first chapter of my PhD, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface ✨🐀 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... Iridescence in mammals is not as rare as we thought, but it’s all created in the same way!

Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.

Depressing stich-up by the right-wing press. Rayner is an inspiration to everyone trying to get on in life after a difficult childhood, and for helping others to do the same. I hope she is back in Government soon.

The genomics of discrete polymorphisms maintained by disruptive selection: Trends in Ecology & Evolution www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

New paper @biolinvasions.bsky.social led by Sarah-Sophie Weil. Can macroevolution inform contemporary invasion potential? We outline the assumptions of this approach, assess support, then test if dispersal ability can proxy for naturalisation success in several tetrapod groups. rdcu.be/eD9Tt

@riadsala.bsky.social and I have been spending a long time thinking about modelling visual foraging. v2 model glow up: 1) it can account for individual diffs in lots of summary stats 2) it can deal with 'outliers' really nicely and 3) it should be easier to use! osf.io/preprints/ps...

📢 New in Ecology Letters: heterogeneity ≠ stability. 🌊🪨 3-yr rocky-shore experiment: 4 cascades canceled the classic heterogeneity–stability link. 📄 doi.org/10.1111/ele.70158 With @thefairchild.bsky.social , @MatthewPerkins, @JamesBull & @jngriffy.bsky.social — thanks to @NERC & @SwanseaUniversity.

Sunrise at Refugio Juclar in Andorra. Hiking retreat after ESEB.

Pick an idiom: "more than meets the eye", "beauty more than skin [feather] deep" etc. In work led by Rosalyn Price-Waldman, we describe a hidden (and ignored!) black or white layer found below the visible surface of bird feathers which helps make bird colours so striking! 🧪 🪶 #colsci

Check out our perceptive on the Emerging uses of artificial intelligence in deep time biodiversity research www.nature.com/articles/s44... #AI #paleontology

Important things to consider before we outsource the research and writing process to machine proxies

Haiku from today's bike ride: fast car overtakes oh no sleeping policeman exhaust scrapes down road

Hot cats, cool linoleum floor.

Why do imperfect mimics (such as many hoverflies) exist? We created 3D printed replicas of flies, wasps and our own custom intermediates and then "asked" various predators what they thought of our 3D stimuli. Read all about it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Do you have field work experience? Do you want more? Our team wants YOU to manage our field site studying Kinda baboons in Kasanka National Park, Zambia! Start date is this August 2025 so apply ASAP! Job ad here: tinyurl.com/KindaBaboon

Can macroevolutionary indices be used to inform contemporary extinction risk? We explore this question in an Ecology Letters review out today. Led by Sarah-Sophie Weil and Laure Gallien, it should be a useful resource for anyone using these approaches. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Excited (& a bit terrified) to officially share our #R #package with the world 🤩 swaRmverse provides a pipeline to analyze #collective #motion #data, promoting more comparative work across the Swarm-Verse 🐐🦬🐦🐒🐟 🦖🐑🕸️ With @sjmgarnier @SHOALgroup 🙏

🐠💥2 year postdoc in fish sensory ecology!! 💥🐟 If you’re into animal colour, collective behaviour, predator-prey interactions, enjoy behavioural experiments and fieldwork, please apply! Based in Oxford with fieldwork in northwest Thailand (and elsewhere). Please repost! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNM294/p...

Nightjars are truly remarkable birds. Ground-nesting and masters of camouflage, they rely on their incredible natural patterns to protect their eggs and chicks from predators. This stunning moment, captured by one of our team members on a NatureSpy cam, shows a female blending Nightjar blending in

1/3 www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate... PhD studentship! Comparative Analysis and Modelling of Collective Behaviour in Natural and Artificial Systems. **this scholarship for UK residents only, as defined by UKCISA regulations** Details below! Please RT (AI-generated image)

Our latest publication on using visual ecology approaches to improve insect pest control - here how modelling pest acuity can identify the best sized patterns for visual traps. Out in J. Insect Science: academic.oup.com/jinsectscien...

Scientists have experimentally recreated the speciation process in several species. They split one population of the same species into two, let them adapt to environment A or B, and then bring them back together. Our meta-analysis of these experiments may surprise you: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Postdoc job alert! I'm hiring a 3-yr postdoc to work on our Social Modifiers of Primate Lifespans grant. Job info and how to apply below. Deadline June 1. Pls share! jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

Hawaiian caterpillar patrols spiderwebs camouflaged in insect prey’s body parts www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Clownfish diversification from anemone hosts influencing colour pattern, morphology and community assembly. Very nice study.

Current PhD student Matthew Sparks is working on this - urban fly visual ecology. Will share findings with you and Viz soon...

Bird colouration varies a tremendous amount. But why? In a new paper, @j-dunning.net , John Endler, & I look at the relationship between plumage and viewing conditions in 2610 species of birds, finding strong, non-sexual effects (esp. on females). 📷Zak Pohlen (tanager), Darren Clark (thrush)

Slowly returning to social media…Dips toe in water... Hello! Will start by sharing that I’m thrilled to be part of this ambitious paper. Take a look for #primate #vision #olfaction #sensory-ecology #evolution www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Check out our new paper on primate behavior and comparative studies in biological anthropology @umassamherst.bsky.social @sbs-umass.bsky.social @bioanth.bsky.social @bioanth.org doi.org/10.1002/ajpa...

@nature.com has just published online our new paper!🎉🐸🌡️Lead by @patricepottier.bsky.social and supervised by myself and @itchyshin.bsky.social: in this massive research effort we overcome several common convictions related to the topics we studied. www.nature.com/articles/s41... Here are take-homes.

Swansea Council is currently felling hundreds of mature trees with zero public consultation.

Ever wondered whether prey always outcompete predators (aka life-dinner principle?). Turns out when prey are numerous, predators edge ahead in the evolutionary arms race - download paper here: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....

A leaf-mimicking moth uses nanostructures to create 3D leaf shape appearance: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

I thought I knew all the footpaths near me but I found this sunken beaut on my morning run.

All (female) velvet ants are badass, but why do some species have conspicuous spots on their metasoma? New paper led by Vinicius Marques Lopez out today looks into this: doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

Have you ever wondered what’s the role of surprise in predator–prey interactions? We’ve got you covered! Check our new review led by #OlivierPenacchio and #AliceExnerova, out now in Functional Ecology doi.org/10.1111/1365...

New article by Roger Santer and myself 'Insect visual perception and pest control: opportunities and challenges' available to read in Current Opinion in Insect Science: doi.org/10.1016/j.co...

Charles Elton wrote his classic book "Animal Ecology" nearly a century ago. Yet much of it, including the conclusion, remains insightful. Elton was 27 years old when the book was published. He finished writing it in ~3 months.

PLEASE SHARE: Postdoc Opportunity in Montpellier France. 18 months starting May 2025: Generative AI for Studying the Influence of Habitats on the Diversification of Bird Color Patterns. Applications and information here: tinyurl.com/2368teak @evoldir.bsky.social

Looking for advice on mentoring people towards (funded) PhD training after a long break from research (e.g. to raise a family). Are there any targeted training programmes or funding opportunities in the UK?

In our last article, discover the evolutionary model of "SECOND-ORDER KIN SELECTION" and its potential consequences on cooperative behaviors in mandrills and other animals !@MandrillusP elifesciences.org/articles/79417

Happy New Year to those looking for funded #PhD opportunities! There are still 2 weeks left to apply for one of our Crocus projects in areas including atmospheric science, oceanography, cryosphere, ecology and biodiversity, hydrology, soil sciences, and more! crocus-dla.ac.uk/projects-for...

Please share! I am hiring a postdoc in Evolutionary Development to join our lab 🧪 🥼 🧬 recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF01855 initial reviews begin Jan 31st (to be adjusted in the ad)

Hey BlueSkyers, we’re finalizing a #meta-analysis 📚 on comparative studies examining the link between #SexualSelection and #Speciation. If you have unpublished data or know of studies that might not surface in a systematic search, please reach out - we’d love to include them! Please share!

Fully-funded PhD: Comparative analysis of collective behaviour in natural and artificial systems. Supervised by Andrew King and myself at Swansea University, @rjpheathcote.bsky.social (Oxford) and Marina Papadopoulou (Tuscia). Come fly in the swaRmverse! www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate...

Are you interested in pursuing a #PhD in the environmental sciences and do you identify as Black, Asian, or from a Minority Ethnic background? Our Crocus BAME Home Scholarships may be the right opportunity for you! Apply by Monday 20 Jan 2025: crocus-dla.ac.uk/bame-home-sc... #BlackInSTEM #BAME

Want an amazing present for your fav folks at Christmas? Then what about a book on the hidden life of flies? Blow their minds with amazing maggot facts. Pollinators of cocoa, recyclers of waste and some badass predators are included.. #TheSecretLifeofFlies