What if your own theory was tricking you? What if the theory your research was based on was just a “Clever Hans”? Out today in TREE, we explore this problem and more. In this 🧵 I will elaborate the Clever Hans problem in biological theory.

What if your own theory was tricking you? What if the theory your research was based on was just a “Clever Hans”? Out today in TREE, we explore this problem and more. In this 🧵 I will elaborate the Clever Hans problem in biological theory.

When cells are in more realistic regimes, resource fluxes actually scale with radius rather surface area. And things get even more complicated when cells swim….the point here is that all three scalings are ”first principles approaches” but they are not all equally applicable

For example, how do resource fluxes scale with cell size? most people would guess 2/3’s because of simple intuition about surface volume ratios but that only works under unrealistic conditions of stationary cells and saturating resources.

Out today in @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social our paper “Second Thoughts about First Principles in Biology.” www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... . We are in favour of first principles approaches in biology but we think that we need to do better in how we use them.

Out today in @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social our paper “Second Thoughts about First Principles in Biology.” www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... . We are in favour of first principles approaches in biology but we think that we need to do better in how we use them.

Does it matter if single celled organisms are getting smaller as the world gets hotter? @djmmeeg.bsky.social and colleagues found that size-function relationships have been mis-estimated with worrying consequences for global carbon pumps. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42087558/

Nothing in the Budget last night for the ARC. Despite review after review recommending ARC funding be increased, nothing. Year on year, the same thing, no matter who's in Government.

Metabolic scaling is thought to scale very steeply with size in unicells but what if that steepness is simply an artefact? Out today in Ecology Letters, we show that metabolic scaling is not superlinear in unicells but instead scales at ~0.86 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

”Metabolic scaling is thought to scale steeply”….? Maybe I shouldn’t write these things before I’ve had coffee. it should be “Metabolism is though to scale steeply…..”

Metabolic scaling is thought to scale very steeply with size in unicells but what if that steepness is simply an artefact? Out today in Ecology Letters, we show that metabolic scaling is not superlinear in unicells but instead scales at ~0.86 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

I recently re-read Richard Hofstadter’s Anti-Intellectualism in American Life and now every time a Silicon Valley billionaire opens his mouth, I think about it. So I wrote about it for The Nation: www.thenation.com/article/soci...

How will evolution affect survival and yields of common fisheries species? A recent study by Jan Kozlowski, @djmmeeg.bsky.social @craig-white.bsky.social found that fish will evolve to survive warmer temperatures AND smaller sizes, reducing fisheries yields by ~50% www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Fish will have to adapt to a warming world, what will that adaptation do to fisheries yields? We answer that question today in Science. I’ll summarise our findings very briefly in this thread www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....

Out today in @science.org our paper on how evolutionary adaptation to warming will reduce fisheries yields. Please let me know if you need me to send you a copy. Summary of the paper coming soon. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Fish will have to adapt to a warming world, what will that adaptation do to fisheries yields? We answer that question today in Science. I’ll summarise our findings very briefly in this thread www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....

Out today in @science.org our paper on how evolutionary adaptation to warming will reduce fisheries yields. Please let me know if you need me to send you a copy. Summary of the paper coming soon. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The principles of experimental design in ecology and evolution has 20k downloads, but unfortunately I still have to reject ~20% of papers without review because they lack replication at the right level. More discussion among mentors and mentees please. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

The principles of experimental design in ecology and evolution has 20k downloads, but unfortunately I still have to reject ~20% of papers without review because they lack replication at the right level. More discussion among mentors and mentees please. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Just noting that ARC is still on X/Twitter. Despite it now being clear that that platform produces child exploitation materials, they remain active there. If you interact with ARC staff, I really think they need to answer this question. It's moved being simply "disconnected from researchers" to … 🤢

Is hermaphrodism less common in animals because it is energetically more costly? George Jarvis and @djmmeeg.bsky.social have analysed 536 species of marine invertebrates and found that hermaphrodites require approximately 27% less energy than gonochores on average. doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

❗New paper alert❗ The 2nd publication from Poppy Romera's Masters is just out in @natcomms.nature.com We find that adherence of 180 soil food webs to the energy equivalence rule strongly depends on the measure of energy use, trophic level, and food web structure. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Excited to share our study testing competing theories on the energy dynamics of hermaphroditism! Grateful to @djmmeeg.bsky.social for guidance, to Thomas Brey for metabolic rate data, and to Deborah Charlesworth for feedback. Thanks also to the editors and reviewers at Proc B. @royalsociety.org

Re-upping for a different timezone

Darwin speculated that it was energetically costly to be an hermaphrodite. He thought that might explain why they were relatively rare in animals. Our paper out today tested this conjecture for the first time. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Darwin speculated that it was energetically costly to be an hermaphrodite. He thought that might explain why they were relatively rare in animals. Our paper out today tested this conjecture for the first time. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Anyone looking for a Australia-based postdoc? Like animal behaviour / coding / birds? My fantastic collaborator, Iliana Medina, is advertising a position researching bird nests: unimelb.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/UoM_Ex...

Apply and come be my colleague!

Opportunity! Anybody knows of young marine ecologists (within 7 years from earned PhD) that would like to come to Gothenburg, Sweden, for a nationally funded Assistant Professorship? It is highly competitive but well funded. (1) of (3)

🌿🍄‍🟫🌱🍄We’re recruiting!!🌿🍄‍🟫🌱🍄 I’m looking for two postdocs and a technician to join my group @sheffielduni.bsky.social @sheffieldpps.bsky.social to work with me on my exciting @royalsociety.org Faraday Discovery Fellowship project, details for each post as follows:

🦜 New PhD project with @ACCE_DTP and project partners Macaw Recovery Network and Longleat — using bioacoustics data to help conserve one of the Neotropics’ most charismatic parrots, the Critically Endangered Great Green Macaw. Find out more about ACCE+ DLA and how to apply 👉 accedtp.ac.uk

Thank you to everyone for their support over the past 100 years, and for helping us celebrate this year. You can catch up with all our 100-year content on our special anniversary page bit.ly/4naj8Jr

Such a great resource!

The 2025-26 Eco-Evo job list is out. Good luck to those applying! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

"Australia has the second-lowest public expenditure on tertiary education institutions in the OECD…This has resulted in an endless chase for dollars (international students & “the next big thing”) rather than thinking about what an educated Australia should look like” www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

I use your paper in a grad course on experimetal design and analysis. The students find it super helpful!

Aha, here it is: bsky.app/profile/djmm...

Two (!) ongoing Academic (Research and Teaching) positions in Ecology, here at Monash University in Melbourne. Closing in a little over a week! Please share widely! Both at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer level (similar to Assistant Professor) careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...

An ongoing Academic (Research and Teaching) position in Genomics, here at Monash University in Melbourne. Closing in a little over a week! Please share widely! Lecturer/Senior Lecturer level (similar to Assistant Professor). careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...

The three academic positions (Lecturer/Senior Lecturer) in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University are now advertised. Details here: Ecology: careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo... Genomics: careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...

Our “Why are cells the size they are?” workshop was an inspiring delight. Thanks to all the participants and @biologists.bsky.social, I’m so grateful to everyone.

The Why Are Cells The Size They Are workshop by @biologists.bsky.social was superb. The attendee list was exceptional and whole thing was inspiring. Chose a special conference to be my first for nearly three years.

The Company of Biologists Workshop: Why Are Cells the Size They Are? Thank you to Workshop organisers Dustin Marshall and Craig White. #Workshop #Biology #CellBiology #Cells #Community #Collaboration #Research #Researchers #Academia #Academics

In about a week we (Biological Sciences @ Monash Uni in Melbourne, Australia) will be opening a search for 3 (!!!) permanent academic positions (40% research, 40% teaching, 20% service) at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. 1 Genomics, 2 Ecology. Please share, email me, DM, follow, send carrier pigeons…

Why throwing all potential predictors into your model and letting it decide has, and always will, be bad for inference.

Voting in Oz, <15 mins from arriving to democracy sausage

We are hiring a chair/professor in our Ecology and Environmental Modelling group at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social. Scotland is a lovely place to work, and my colleagues are fantastic! Reach out if you are interested in joining the CREEM family ☺️ vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...

We offer a 5-year research position in the #PlanktonEcology lab in Wilhelmshaven. Are you interested in empirically testing ecological concepts? We offer a stimulating scientific environment, experimental facilities & support to establish an independent research profile uol.de/en/job/postd...

The next call for the MSCA postdoctoral fellowships scheme opens soon. Come work with me if you're interested in anything related to biodemography and population ecology. And if you're not, consider coming to work with one of my many fine colleagues instead.

No budget increase for the Australian Research Council 😡