Cool project using local LLMs to OCR handwritten field journals hosted by @biodivlibrary.bsky.social is discussed on the BJL forum forum.biodiversitylibrary.org/t/field-note.... The Field Notes Explorer is at fieldnotesearch.com

Quite a few. Karaka in Hawaii, bittercress, Acaena , and willowherb in the UK. There’s a published list of plants somewhere. I’ll see if I can find it. Flatworms too, in Ireland i think.

Although writing about palaeontology, Dave’s musings are equally applicable to ecology. “If we get to the point where we are only doing analyses and not actually accruing data with which to make those analyses, our ability to expand what we can know will eventually stop.”

New PhD position: Butterfly Evolution at High Elevations 🦋⛰️🧬 The project aims to understand the rapid evolution and adaptation of Andean white butterflies using genomics. DEADLINE: May 8, 2026 Start: Autumn 2026 (Czechia) More info: pavelmatos.wordpress.com/join-us/

NEW: Wikipedia has banned AI-generated content.

Join the Memphis Pangenomics 2026 event from May 11-15 for courses, a conference, and a biohackathon on computational pangenomics. Register by April 10, 2026. More info: https://pangenome.github.io/MemPanG26/ #conference

Register for the 16th Visualizing Biological Data conference (April 14-17) online or in-person. Submit posters and join workshops on April 21 & 23. Details: https://vizbi.org/2026. Help spread the word! #conference

Even though my residency at SLV has finished, you can keep georeferencing their digitised maps. I've set up automated processes to save all the data and feed it into the apps I created for exploration and use. 1,460 maps have been georeferenced so far! https://wragge.github.io/slv-allmaps/ #maps […]

Starting to spread the word to @gbif.org and @inaturalist.bsky.social uses that @biodivlibrary.bsky.social BHL has its own fancy looking forum as well: forum.biodiversitylibrary.org

Hi all. I am very excited that after 6 years I finally got my phylogenetic comparative methods book and online exercises online. Feel free to use and share. The book is here: nhcooper123.github.io/pcm-primer/. Note that it is not finished, we had to abandon it before the sunk costs fallacy broke us

We're so fortunate to have Wikimedians like Siobhan (@siobhanleachman.bsky.social) in our community! 🤩

So relieved to see this! All too often I find myself working with an insect that was last referenced in an obscure piece of literature from over a century ago. The BHL is my go-to for those pieces and I am so grateful for all their work archiving these precious entomological treasures! #ILoveBHL 🐛🧪

My favourite question to ask librarians and archivists is: "What is your favourite item in your collection?" This week I turned that question into an entire blog series. 🎈 What better way to celebrate BHL's 20th birthday? 🎊 Check it out: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/tag/bhlat20

I haven't seen an article make this point yet, but AI is going to be good for older devs. What are young devs good at? Focus, speed and keeping a lot of code in mind. AI is way better at all three. What are older devs good at? Judgment, taste, strategy, seeing around corners. AI is bad at that.

Have you heard about the new Microtask Generator? This tool turns overwhelming Wikipedia to-do lists into bite-sized, manageable tasks (and it works on mobile!) 📱 Developed by Outreachy interns to help organisers and newcomers find exactly where to start. Read the full story on Diff ⬇️

Vous voulez faire une thèse sur l'évolution de la tête des squamates au Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle? C'est par ici: adum.fr/as/ed/voirpr... Interested in a PhD on the evolution of the head shape of squamates at the Museum of Natural History of Paris? Here you go: adum.fr/as/ed/voirpr...

Sharing with the #SciArt Feed:

🧪🌾VACANCY - Postdoc in fungal ecology & modelling🧬 This 2-year postdoc focuses on mycorrhizal fungal biogeography using large-scale metabarcoding data and species distribution models.🌍 Join the group of @frewecologist.bsky.social and work with us @umeaplantsciencecentre.se! 📅 Apply by 30 April

Join a brief, anonymous survey on Generative AI use in research, approved by Clemson University. Participation helps improve community insights. Takes <7 mins. For eligible researchers: https://clemson.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0AIiyOikmB1l8G2

Join EVOLTREE's online seminar featuring Prof. Rasmus Nielsen on April 8, 2026, at 16:00 CEST, discussing adaptive genetic variation. R… https://www.evoltree.eu/evoltree-online-webinar-8-april-2026. More info: https://www.evoltree.eu/webinars/webinar/evoltree-online-webinars-spring-2026. #conference

Six postdoc positions in Earth system science are available in Germany, focusing on climate-driven plant extinctions and Bayesian phylogenetics. Applications deadline: 09.04.26. Details: https://fau-earth-system-science.github.io/index.html #postdoc

Join the Evolution x Ecology 2026 Conference in Cornwall! Submit abstracts by April 1 and register now: https://evoxeco.uk. Experience exciting research and stunning excursions! #conference

[Read] www.emiliabell.com/2026/03/23/w... and the linked pieces by Hugh Rundle. Always good to read critical thinking pieces to counter my overly technologist, positive tendencies

a little treat from the weevil mines, one of those baridine species where males have huge chest spines for "ritual jousting"

🚀 The 2026 Ebbe Nielsen Challenge is OPEN! Have an idea, tool or prototype that uses GBIF biodiversity data to advance open science, research or policy? Submit it to GBIF’s annual Challenge and compete for a share of €20,000 in prizes! 💸 ⭐ Deadline: 26 June 2026 🔗 gbif.link/ENC-2026

Whilst I personally don't like AI code generation, because damnit I want to figure it out for myself, I have a nagging feeling that it's as democratising for a lot of folks as Visual Basic was in 1993. It makes it all easy, so you can go experiment.

good luck to the participants of the SWAT4HCLS Biohackathon 2026 in the coming week! https://index.biohackrxiv.org/tag/SWAT4HCLS26 Use the hashtag to post your progress and have it show up on the BioHackRxiv #fediwall: https://guide.biohackrxiv.org/fediwall/ #swat4hcls26

Inspired by @rdmpage.bsky.social and his use of Claude to port SimpleMappr, been experimenting on a port from the ruby-based dwc_agent collector name parser to one in Go github.com/bionomia/dwc.... Boosted @bionomia.net processing ~50X, but Claude often falters on full parity & it skips tests.

This!

@rdmpage.bsky.social That's bizarre. It makes me want to create an account, harvest all their data, and republish it without a registration-wall.

New #OpenAccess work in #RESSystematicEnt reports on automated specimen triage, finding #DeepLearning enables orientation, sex ID & anatomical segmentation from robotic #imaging doi.org/10.1111/syen.70039 #Taxonomy @gkergoat.bsky.social @rudolf-meier.bsky.social @flyliceresearch.bsky.social

This is the most bizarre approach I’ve seen to sharing open access data. To just view it you need to sign in doi.org/10.25919/vac... Why does Australia’s National Biodibersity DNA Library need to know who you are just to be able to view CC-BY-NC data. What are they afraid of?

Lord knows I hate what Twitter / X has become. But it's only on Twitter that I can still get real-time African reactions to the Cup of African Nations stripping Senegal of the CAF championship and giving it to Morocco. I wish Bluesky were more global. It's just... not.

More on the Denisovan legacy in us: A Denisovan-derived Alu insertion in OCA2 contributes to pigmentation diversity in present-day Melanesians. More evidence (validated in melanocytes) that introgressed structural variants contributed to adaptive & phenotypic diversity 🧪🧬

A lovely feature ahead of #taxonomyday #taxonomistappreciationday tomorrow featuring friends Melanie Mackenzie and @drtimohara.bsky.social at Museum Victoria www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

A search for a long-mythologized fossil hotspot led a team of researchers deep into the Sahara Desert. What began as a hunt for a lost site in Niger turned into the discovery of a new species of Spinosaurus with a striking, scimitar-shaped crest.

💯 Big news! @Brewster.Kahle.org , founder & digital librarian of the Internet Archive, has been named to the 2026 #Curious100 by the Eames Institute, celebrating leaders using curiosity to preserve knowledge, spark innovation & shape a better future. More: www.eamesinstitute.org/curious-100/... 🧵

The University of Mayotte seeks a Lecturer in Ecology of lagoon ecosystems, focusing on anthropogenic impacts. Apply by April 3, 2026 via Odyssée: https://odyssee.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/ #job

The University of Galway is seeking a motivated PhD candidate in Biodiversity and Macroevolution. Applicants should have a relevant background and programming skills. Details at: https://herrera-alsina.tilda.ws/ #phd

The University of Copenhagen seeks a postdoctoral researcher for a project on conservation genomics and gene editing to restore genetic diversity in populations at risk of extinction. Apply by April 6, 2026. More info: https://globe.ku.dk #postdoc

Join the Royal Entomological Society's meeting on 'Insect Infection, Immunity and Microbionts' in Bath, UK, on April 16-17, 2026. Submit abstracts by March 23, 2026: https://www.royensoc.co.uk/event/infection-immunity-microbionts-special-interest-group-sig/ #conference

Naming your weevil species “rostrum?” That’s a bit too… well, you know

The deadline for this year's LinneSys approaches! You have until Fri, March 27th at 23:59 GMT+1 If you're looking for a small grant for systematics work, get your application in ASAP systass.org/linnesys/ Just become a member of the @systassn.bsky.social or the @linneansociety.bsky.social first!

Using AI to revive a macOS app to preview GIS files iphylo.blogspot.com/2026/03/usin...

The animal kingdom, arranged according to its organization, serving as a foundation for the natural history of animals. v.1 plates. London: G. Henderson, 1834-1837. (source: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/89321) #nature #illustration #art

It is a unique pleasure to have someone send you pictures of a species you described. It's like a report that one of your kids is doing all right. This beauty is Orectoscelis westwoodi, a myrmecophile (probably with Pheidole) described back in 2005 from Queensland, AU. (photo by Jan Pražák)

The 2026 Drosophila Community Service Award was presented earlier this month at #DROS26. This year's recipients were the REDFly Database Team and the FlyBase Developer Team, for their roles in the development of online repositories for the dissemination of Drosophila data.

Messing about with #ClaudeCode, #RDF and #SPARQL, building an app that enables multiple queries in same window, geographic and network display, and exploring the "schema" implied by the entitity types and their connections. I want something like the apps we have to query SQL databases.

📣 CETAF workshop: Access and Benefit Sharing in 2026 📅 21–22 April | Bonn 🇩🇪 Focusing on the EU ABS Regulation, 10 years after the Nagoya Protocol. Free to attend (registration required by 10 April): cetaf.org/cetaf-worksh...

Many journals require data and code sharing. Yet code is still rarely shared and datasets are often hard to reuse. Our new paper introduces the @sortee.bsky.social guidelines for data & code quality control in ecology & evolution, developed by 26 experienced data editors. 📄 doi.org/10.24072/pcj...