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!

Octopuses can use any of their arms to perform tasks, but tend to use a particular arm, or arms, for specific tasks, according to a study in Scientific Reports. go.nature.com/4pjR34k 🌊 🧪

That method is a bit confusing because the countries with which comparisons are being made are distorted. I like this method of comparison better, showing a country’s actual area compared with the Mercator projection.

Even if you don't code (or use Python), the visual way we explain how locations of sensitive species are obfuscated (i.e. made less precise📍) in this post is something I'm very happy with in the end It might be worth a look if you work with sensitive species data 🙂🧪🌏

🔍 Need to search for species in an area with a buffer? 🔵 Learn how to add a buffer in Python and see how to consider threatened species with obfuscated locations in a new ALA Labs post by Amanda Buyan & me 😀 labs.ala.org.au/posts/2025-0... 🧪🌏 #Python #matplotlib #geopandas #geospatial #quartopub

A stack of bricks 🧱 or a luxury frog sauna? 🐸 Many species seek out these warm enclosures and, excitingly, regular visits on warm days can help fight against deadly chytrid fungus too. The fungus is sensitive to heat. ~28°C (82°F) is enough to limit chytrid growth 🧪🌏 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Sex-reversal in birds (genetically male/female but appear female/male) is surprisingly common. Best detail: A genetically male bird called a laughing kookaburra had recently laid an egg. (1/2) By @phiejacobs.bsky.social on @science.org

A tree-ring dataviz where every ring represents that tree’s number of observations each year?? 🌳🤩🌳 Yet another stunning piece of work from @shandiya.bsky.social. This one leafs me speechless 🍃🫢 😜 #rstats 🌏🧪📊

Need to make a species list for an area? 📋🌱 Learn how to download a list of species, cross-reference with conservation status lists, and visualise with {ggplot2} in a new ALA Labs post by me & Amanda Buyan 🔗 labs.ala.org.au/posts/2025-0... #rstats 🧪🌏📊

It's been a while since I last shared my starter pack If you're a stats/data person in or from the Pacific region (not just Australia or Aotearoa) and would like to be included, please let me know! #statssky #episky #databs #rstats #python

Wurmbea tenella - Eight Nancy A widespread winter flower in Western Australia, where it is endemic. Each tepal has a bright purple spot halfway along, advertising the presence of nectary glands to possible pollinators #ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #bloomscrolling #inaturalist

Apparently I like this colour palette. Am I too predictable lol #rstats 📊

Nautiluses are so cool. They just seem so ancient! 🐙🦑 Like other cephalopods they have tentacles, but not just 8 or 10—they have 47 pairs that lack any suckers or hooks 🤨 They also use their chambered shells to control buoyancy This post was inspired by my friend Omanyte I picked up in Tokyo 🧪🌏

The newly-paired female Powerful Owl this morning. Her nearby partner was displaying a bat, so dinner is sorted. Last night they were very active, calling & purring, mating twice, the female went into the nest hollow to investigate, the male later sat at the entrance purring #brisbane #birds #wildoz

It reminds me of how Kevin Parker (Tame Impala) learned people weren’t hearing the parts he wanted people to hear on Borderline (the bass line + specific harmonies & rhythms), so he redid the sound production and rereleased the song. IMO the newer version sounded better youtu.be/2g5xkLqIElU?...

Some great tips on making better #dataviz 👇 In my experience, the final point—feedback—is invaluable Funny how another person might focus on something completely different to what you intended 🙃 Adjusting from this feedback always makes for a clearer visual message📊🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

It's #WorldRainforestDay! 🌴 Australia's Gondwana Rainforests hold examples of major evolutionary & geological stages dating ~359 mya, including the largest surviving population of Araucarians (the most phylogenetically primitive species of conifer) 👴 Code & high-res 📷 👇 #rstats #dataviz 📊🧪🌏🌳

This is outrageously cool The authors managed to nullify the geomagnetic field around bogong moths but allowed them to see a typical starry night sky and the moths could *still* navigate the correct direction of migration 🤯 🧪🌏

Just received my favourite ever wrong-name-coffee-order: Dance

ggplot2 is amazing but sometimes you can spend days playing with tiny formatting details and oh no now I'm spiralling #rstats

Hey good news, I just learned about this fish

Fantastic talk at #ICCB2025 by @shandiya.bsky.social on our teams’ work supporting open data *and* code at ALA

Whoa cool! 👀 Hey UNSW & Macquarie friends, be sure to go watch Carl! He’s an excellent science communicator (very inspiring for me during my phd) and the topic sounds really interesting

oh noooo 😢🐧 With extremely low levels of ice-pack in recent years, less breeding success, reduced prey availability, changing ice conditions, less snowfall & more predators are all listed as potential drivers 🫤 Authors suggest emperor penguins should be listed as 'Vulnerable' if trend continues 🌏🧪

🚨galah 2.1.2 is on CRAN! 📦 This version fixes a major bug that prevented queries with more complex filters from returning the correct result. It also adds a way to get species conservation status from authoritative lists 🔗 Details: galah.ala.org.au/news/index.h... #rstats @rowdynerd.bsky.social 🌏

This mobile-friendly & R-friendly app lets you create species checklists for a specified area 📋🐦🦘🌱 It uses global and national data (from GBIF & ALA) to make a list comprehensive & fast! Cool new tool from an awesome group of people made with #Shiny & #rstats🧪🌏 unsw.shinyapps.io/infinitylists/

Can’t wait to add to everyone’s hex sticker ecosystem! Martin and I have been looking forward to this day since the moment we began working on these new #rstats packages over a year ago 👴 🥲 We’re intending to officially release them to the world *very* soon, so keep your eyes peeled 👀 🌏 #wildOz

When warnings of Insectageddon were issued a few years ago, there was widespread denial. Less so now. It's devastating. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A little late to the party, but this is my #dataviz for World Parrot Day using data from the Atlas of Living Australia. This was inspired by @andrea-data.bsky.social's longlisted entry to the Information Is Beautiful Awards. #rstats 🪶🧪📊

If you think the seasons are feeling… different, you may be right. Our new review in Science (@science.org) shows that Earth’s changing rhythms could have major and underestimated consequences for life on Earth. 🌍🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Another beautiful dataviz 🌸🤩 Seasonality of cherry blossoms in Kyoto, Japan By Shreya Arya, longlisted for the 2024 Information Is Beautiful Awards www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase/728... #dataviz 🌱🌏🧪📊🗻🌸

The hooded pitohui in Papua New Guinea carries a toxin called Batrachotoxin - the same toxin found in poison dart frogs on the other side of the world! Ongoing research aims to figure out where this toxin originates and how these birds remain immune 🧪🌏🐦🐸

Australia's 2019-20 bushfires burnt an area the size of Washington State 🔥 How did this impact species like Southern greater gliders? Learn how to use {tidymodels} & {tidysdm} to explore this question in a new ALA Labs post by intern Jarod Wright & me labs.ala.org.au/posts/2025-0... #rstats 🧪🌏🦘🌳

Megazosteria patula is just one of Australia's many beautiful native cockroaches. The species is found in a range of habitats, from deserts to caves to under seaweed. Look at that gorgeous iridescence! #bugsky 📸: Ryan T Hughes, Nick Volpe via iNaturalist

New paper open access in @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... Cit sci data quality is a hot topic, and assumptions about ID accuracy are often made without evidence. We decided to test identification accuracy for a WA plants @inaturalist.bsky.social dataset

Andrea is a talented, Montreal-based information designer that's also on Bluesky at @andrea-data.bsky.social

Australian lyrebirds scratch the soil when foraging, turning over leaf litter as they search for food This study finds that this behaviour also creates conditions for more, bigger inverts to grow, increasing future food dividends 😋 theconversation.com/australias-s... 🧪🌏🦜🪱

This International Day of Forests, I made a forest using Eucalyptus data 😀🌳 Eucalypt forests form three quarters of Australia's native forest area. They're also the tallest flowering plant in the world! Code + hi-def 📸 👇 #rstats #dataviz 🧪📊🌏🌲

This dataviz is absolutely amazing 😍 Global bird species' conservation status displayed as a massive flock! By Andrea Garrec, longlisted for the 2024 Information Is Beautiful Awards www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase/731... #dataviz 📊🌏🧪🐦🦉🦆🦅

Thinking you're ready to submit your R package but then you run `devtools::check()` #rstats

📣 The longlist has been announced! Check out the entry showcase to see this year’s entries, including nearly 1,000 entries that have been selected for the longlist. Browse the 2024 longlist: www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase?act...

Toad-in-the-hole? ⛳🐸🏌️‍♂️ Cane toads in Queensland love their local golf course. ⛳ Some golfers take this as a serendipitous chance to drive 🏌️‍♂️ down their numbers. Thanks to the {galah} package team for easy access observation data! @rowdynerd.bsky.social @daxkellie.bsky.social. #rstats

Eastern quolls are extinct on mainland Australia and dwindling in Tasmania. Hopefully these 24 quolls can slow this trend 🤞 Fun fact: For their size, quolls have some of the strongest bites of any living carnivorous mammal in the world! (pound for pound, on par with a jaguar & a grey wolf) 🧪🌏🦘😬

It snowed *so* much in Japan while we were there that cars were at risk of being absorbed into the earth after only 2 days of snowfall ☃️🌨️

I’ve been in Japan the last 2 weeks! It’s beautiful and I can’t wait to go back 🇯🇵🍜🍣🏯

Happy #DarwinDay!

Do you know the name of the moon in an Indigenous language? If you said no, you’re not alone. Despite their long history, very few Australians are taught the names and stories of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people, a poignant point from John-Paul Janke at Science Meets Parliament #SMP2025

{galah} 2.1.1 is on CRAN! Lots of bug fixes and we finally have an article on how to make your downloads reproducible 😀 Use {galah} to download data of species observations, counts & media in R 🦘🌳🍄‍🟫 galah.ala.org.au/R/index.html #rstats 🌏

This article is filled with fun facts about insects' unseen but vital role in keeping ecosystems healthy 🐛😍 But artificial light impacts nocturnal insects Turn off your lights at night, or if you must use lights, use red light which is outside of most insects' visual spectrum! 🟥 🔆💡🦋🐞🧪🌏

New study explored preprint use in ecology & evolution! A few interesting things: ▪️ Most preprints are by authors who published their first paper in the last 10 years ▪️ Median time between preprint & publication is ~8 months ▪️ Authors are reluctant to share data & code with preprints (<50% did) 🧪🌏