Christmas is over, time to think about spring!!!! 🌼 🌹 🌺 #ASABSpring2026

Like a tiny heart beating in time, this deep-sea jellyfish — Periphylla — pulses through the Ocean’s midwater. ROV pilots filmed this luminescent beauty at 920m along Argentina’s continental shelf, off the coast of Buenos Aires #ArgentinianDeepSeeps Credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

Take note! 📝 There are a lot of important dates coming up for #ASABSpring2026 and #ECBB2026 🗓️ More information here: www.asab.org/conferences-...

Registration for #ASABSpring2026 is now open! asab-spring-conference2026.github.io Don't forget the travel grant AND abstract deadlines are Feb 1!

We're open for abstract submission, and look forward to welcoming you all to Bristol in March! asab-spring-conference2026.github.io @asab-meetings.bsky.social #ASABSpring2026

Parasite-induced behavioural changes in hosts: competitively funded PhD project in the UK (lead supervisor Vicky Hunt in @milnerevolution.bsky.social, including me as second supervisor), open to students worldwide. Deadline 8th January 2026 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

We're open for abstract submission, and look forward to welcoming you all to Bristol in March! asab-spring-conference2026.github.io @asab-meetings.bsky.social #ASABSpring2026

The ASAB Spring Conference comes to Bristol! 23rd-25th March 2026. Abstract submission now open, closes 1st February. asab-spring-conference2026.github.io

Still looking for the perfect gift? 📚 Discover our latest book, 'How To Be A Dragonfly', full of wonder for young explorers ✨🐉 buff.ly/9q7jzxl Available from Amazon, @waterstones.bsky.social and other retailers. #ChildrensBooks #Dragonflies #Bookstagram

Ever considered joining the #RESAgForestEnt team? We are seeking an active researcher in the field to join our team as Editor-in-Chief. Think you might fit the bill? Learn more ⬇️ www.royensoc.co.uk/opportunities/eic-afe-2026/ Deadline: 15 January 2026 @royentsoc.bsky.social @wileyeco.bsky.social

Out today! Innovations in Decolonising the Curriculum: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. I am happy (with @kztwyman.bsky.social & Jasmeen Kanwal) to have contributed a chapter – "Teaching the Science of Race and Racism" – to this important book that "moves beyond debate to action" Please do read.

This story highlights a really interesting bit of interdisciplinary science, picking apart an ancient pollination syndrome with some compelling new experimental evidence.

🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀 👇 Exciting PhD studentships with an awesome team 👇

Fully funded #PhD studentships, start Sept 2026: 1. Weaponry and aggression in wild fiddler crabs, with me, Safi Darden, Martin How tinyurl.com/weaponsPhD 2. The emotional basis of behaviour, with me, Danny Williamson, Andy Higginson tinyurl.com/emotionsPhD #AnimalBehaviour @crab-exeter.bsky.social

🏆 Celebrating outstanding contributions to zoology and conservation science 🏆 ZSL’s programme of science and conservation awards recognise remarkable contributions of outstanding individuals. Just take a look at this year’s winners!

Honoured & humbled to receive a #Nature #Award for #Mentoring in #Science yesterday. ☺️ Testament to the wonderful #ECRs I've been privileged to work with. THANK YOU to all who nominated me. 🙏 #proud #support @natureportfolio.nature.com @bristolbiosci.bsky.social www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2025/de...

blown away by this, given the names of previous winners - recent and not so recent - hugely grateful to @zslofficial.bsky.social, and all the many students, postgrads, postdocs and collaborators who have helped make the last 14 years so fun and exciting Will go back to avoiding cameras now… 🫣

I’m incredibly honoured to have been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant to work on ant nest architecture over the next 5 year!🐜🏛️ Huge thanks to my collaborators, students, mentors, and colleagues for their support along the way! #ERC #EUfunding #ResearchExcellence #Science

In an interview with BBC News, Sir Paul Nurse PRS says that visa restrictions are endangering the UK economy: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Congratulations to Ed Drewitt on this latest publication from his PhD; this one is on parental provisioning of urban-breeding Peregrine Falcons :) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🚨New #behavioural #mimicry paper out in Proc B!🚨 In which we show that hoverflies have evolved to prefer the flower colour choices of their #bee models instead of their #fly relatives. Conversation article here: theconversation.com/natures-grea... Paper here: doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

The perfect Christmas gift for the stats-nerd in your life. www.ecoexplore.co.uk/products/p/d...

Today's view from the office.

👋to @josharbon.bsky.social who has completed a truly outstanding #NERC-funded postdoc investigating #pre-emptive #behaviour in relation to #intergroup #conflict 👏 Loads of exciting #research, new #methods learned & an awe-inspiring level of help provided to others 🥇 Good luck in #Cambridge, Josh

The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust is looking for a manager for their seabird recovery programme. www.wildlifetrusts.org/jobs/project...

We hope everyone is getting excited for #ASABWinter2025 !   To kick off the conference on Dec 15, we will be having a public lecture by Prof. Innes Cuthill about an interdisciplinary approach to the study of camouflage. So make sure you’re not late ⏰

Congrats Dr Arthur Yambayamba for passing his PhD with flying colours🍾 Arthur's thesis explores how climate & competition shape the structure of miombo woodlands. Check out some of the work here: 1) shorturl.at/aTVb7 2) shorturl.at/fD42Y Thanks to Casey Ryan & @mdekauwe.bsky.social for examining!

🧵1/9 There are 35,000+ fish species, but we have formal social-behaviour classifications for a tiny fraction. Most knowledge lives in the experience of researchers, fishers, divers, aquarists, naturalists, and Indigenous communities, but almost none of it is centralised. So we built ShoalBase.org.

Conference runs 23rd-25th March (NOT in April, as currently stated on website). Full conference website and details coming very soon...

@asab.org Spring, aimed at ECRs, is coming to Bristol! Conference grant DEADLINE for Developing Country Applicants (<£2500) or anyone needing an early decision for visas (<£750) is in ONE WEEK, 1st December. www.asab.org/conference-g... Referee statement also needed by then! 🐝🐜🦟🦂🐠🐟🐬🦎🐸🦆🐿️🦓

🚨Good news, everyone! 1) I'm thrilled to be joining the behavior powerhouse that is Indiana University!! So stoked, starting Jan 2026. 2) I'm recruiting grad students! Are you (or your trainee) interested in sensory ecology? behavior? evolution? fieldwork? spiders? Drop me a line Jstafstr(at)iu.edu

A lot has happened since our first announcement of #ExE2026, an evolutionary ecology conference hosted by @uniexecec.bsky.social in #Cornwall from June 29 to July 3 2026. Have a look at our new website to see our confirmed plenary speakers, the mid-conference excursions, and more. 👉 evoxeco.uk 👈

🚨RA/PhD position available in evolutionary neurobiology 🚨 Working on a deep dive into circuit changes during mushroom body expansion in Heliconius butterflies @camzoology.bsky.social - employment benefits - 4 years funding - 1000% fun Deadline: 14/1/2026 Details: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Rafflesia hasseltii: a plant seen more by tigers than people. Watching this flower open by night was the closest thing to magic:

A rare glimpse inside the largest flower on earth, seen today in the Sumatran jungle:

A very exciting opportunity for an environmental investigative journalist to join our team at the Initiative for Nature Conservation Cymru.

Come and do a PhD on 'Genome duplication, extinction and diversification in the evolution of flowering plants' with myself @jameswclark.bsky.social and Ilia Leitch @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social and join the @wgdip.bsky.social studying rediploidisation. Apply: tinyurl.com/26pmfvvc by Jan 8

The wonderful Rox Middleton and i have a #PhD project investigating how cuticles and extracuticular waxes protect #plants from environmental stress as they age. Developmental biology, genetics, environmental signalling and physics split between Bristol and Bath. Please get in touch for more details!

2/3 I have made three of my cartoons into new, limited edition prints. You can get them now at www.tomgauld.com/shop

I'm very happy to support suitable students interested in Behavioural Ecology or Evolutionary Ecology who are thinking of applying for the China Scholarship Council - University of Bristol PhD scholarships 🇨🇳🇬🇧 - please get in touch! Full application details here: www.bristol.ac.uk/students/sup...

Decision-making in slime moulds! Competitively funded PhD project in the UK (lead supervisor Andy Higginson in @crab-exeter.bsky.social, with co-supervisors in Bristol, Exeter and Macquarie, including me!), open to students worldwide. Deadline 3rd December 2025 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Are you a bachelor's / master's student looking for a thesis project or Erasmus Internship? We’re looking for someone to come and help us collecting data! If you’re interested, feel free to contact me! :)

Parasite-induced behavioural changes in hosts: competitively funded PhD project in the UK (lead supervisor Vicky Hunt in @milnerevolution.bsky.social, including me as second supervisor), open to students worldwide. Deadline 8th January 2026 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Decision-making in slime moulds! Competitively funded PhD project in the UK (lead supervisor Andy Higginson in @crab-exeter.bsky.social, with co-supervisors in Bristol, Exeter and Macquarie, including me!), open to students worldwide. Deadline 3rd December 2025 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

I'm very happy to support suitable students interested in Behavioural Ecology or Evolutionary Ecology who are thinking of applying for the China Scholarship Council - University of Bristol PhD scholarships 🇨🇳🇬🇧 - please get in touch! Full application details here: www.bristol.ac.uk/students/sup...

Given that photosynthesis requires light, then how do plants cope with living in the shade? 🌿☀️ Kerry Franklin and Heather Whitney from @bristolbiosci.bsky.social were on BBC Gardener's World yesterday, explaining how... Starts 32:42 at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

3 year postdoc funded by @ukri.org NERC on between-group cooperation in the Shark Bay dolphins is now live - please share widely 🙏 www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

🪸 Two weeks to go! Please apply for this Postdoc position! 🪸

Given that photosynthesis requires light, then how do plants cope with living in the shade? 🌿☀️ Kerry Franklin and Heather Whitney from @bristolbiosci.bsky.social were on BBC Gardener's World yesterday, explaining how... Starts 32:42 at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Looking for a PhD? 🦜 Interested in ornithology, animal behaviour, bioacoustics? I am advertising a PhD on vocal communication in ring-necked parakeets tinyurl.com/44a3hcnz Eligible candidates are encouraged to apply for University of Salford Widening Participation Scholarships tinyurl.com/4wtzzh3z