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drgodwit.bsky.social
Nathan Senner
@drgodwit.bsky.social
400 followers 400 following 49 posts
Mass Audubon Bertrand Chair for Ornithology in Dept. Environmental Conservation at UMass Amherst. Fan of all things godwits. Oh, and other birds, and ecology, and evolution, and just cool science generally.
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Nathan Senner
eliotmiller.bsky.social
Eliot Miller @eliotmiller.bsky.social · 3h
Using automated acoustic monitoring, citizen science, and centuries of ornithological research and understanding to quantify ecological integrity at scale.

The BirdsPlus Index, a novel method for assessing site-level conservation values.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
sheldonbirds.bsky.social
Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 9h
Climate change effects on synchrony between trophic levels is a pressing research question. But how does the substantial spatial variation in phenology of trees drive local adaptation in insects in classic tri-trophic systems? New work from @rona-learmonth.bsky.social @andreaestandia.bsky.social ⬇️
Simplified figure emphasising the importance of trophic synchrony between primary producers (e.g. oak trees), primary consumers (e.g. winter moth caterpillars) and secondary consumers (e.g. great tit) in variable environments Using a mobile elevated work platform to carry out experimental translocations of winter moth eggs between trees with different phenologies A late instar winter moth larva on oak leaves
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drgodwit.bsky.social
Nathan Senner @drgodwit.bsky.social · 21h
'Miserable': Hundreds sheltering in Western Alaska schools in dire conditions alaskapublic.org/news/environ...
'Miserable': Hundreds sheltering in Western Alaska schools in dire conditions
The state is evacuating the vulnerable and trying to find safe shelter for all. “We're moving as fast as we can,” the incident commander said. “We know that folks are miserable.”
alaskapublic.org
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
science.org
Science Magazine @science.org · 1d
About 120 million years ago, a pterosaur fell from the sky and died in a pond. A layer of sediment washed over it, preserving not only its skeleton, but also its stomach.

The resulting fossil is the first pterosaur ever found with a belly full of plants. #NationalFossilDay https://scim.ag/4hbaedc
A fossil of a pterosaur with text: Pterosaur died with belly full of plants—a fossil first. New discovery confirms the long-debated hypothesis that the ancient winged reptiles ate plants
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
alexanderlees.bsky.social
Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · 1d
Our new paper led by Rafael Lima used carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotope analyses to interrogate the origin of some biogeographically controversial Brazilian bird specimens - an #ornithology 🧵 1/10
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Stable isotope data indicate origins of mislabelled historical bird specimens
Natural history specimens provide valuable insights across diverse research fields, but those needing more accurate metadata have limited scientific value. We applied stable isotope analysis to inves...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
jlwilliamson.bsky.social
Jessie Williamson @jlwilliamson.bsky.social · 1d
My lab is hiring a 2-yr hummingbird evolution and genomics postdoc and a 1-yr salaried research and lab tech. Both with full U. Wyoming benefits. Please spread the word! Info below. Best consideration date Nov 1, start dates early Spring 2026.
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
bou.org.uk
BOU @bou.org.uk · 2d
EARLY VIEW in IBIS

Challenges in population monitoring: Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica) on the East Atlantic Flyway defy assumed population structure | onlinelibrary.wiley....

Jesse R. Conklin, Roeland A. Bom, Åke Lindström, Pierrick Bocher, Theunis Piersma | #ornithology 🪶
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
napaaqtuk.bsky.social
Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 3d
Western Alaska was hit hard by the recent storms. Houses floated away in Kipnuk, houses flipped over, people lost everything from the flooding that came with the storms. Please donate if you can. This group has a long history of supporting AK communities.

alaskacf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/c...
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
jameststroud.bsky.social
James T. Stroud @jameststroud.bsky.social · 3d
@jblosos.bsky.social and I (and, it turns out, many other lizard biologists!) kept seeing wild lizards with missing legs/hands/feet.

How do they survive? Surely natural selection would weed out these unfortunate individuals?

Perhaps not...🦎🦵

theconversation.com/3-legged-liz...
3-legged lizards can thrive against all odds, challenging assumptions about how evolution works in the wild
Most lizards probably don’t survive devastating injuries. But a new study documents 122 cases of limb loss across 58 species – these exceptions shine a new light on natural selection.
theconversation.com
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
thelabandfield.bsky.social
Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 6d
It's also not "just another" extinction, it's the first from mainland Europe in centuries. CENTURIES.

And there will be others within our lifetime.

That's biodiversity loss.

We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794
XC398794 Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris)
Awful wind noise in the original! See sonogram and notes of the recording circumstances on p12 of Gretton A. (1991) The ecology and conservation of the Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris). ...
xeno-canto.org
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drgodwit.bsky.social
Nathan Senner @drgodwit.bsky.social · 6d
When I hear about AI I think about: 6 new AI data centers would triple the energy usage of the state of Montana. A 150-word email written with AI uses 1,500ml of H2O. Does AI fixing your R code or telling you inane versions of thoughts you already had cover those costs? www.mtpr.org/montana-news...
NorthWestern Energy plans to power a massive new data center
Montana’s largest utility company has signed on to provide power to a proposed data center. It would use more than the entire amount of energy used by all residential NorthWestern Energy customers in ...
www.mtpr.org
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
thelabandfield.bsky.social
Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 6d
Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today.

Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
davelevitan.bsky.social
Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 6d
EXTREMELY COOL BAT STUFF: A study out in Science today found that the greater noctule bat, Europe's largest, hunts and catches *migrating birds* while in flight. In at least one case, a bat climbed to more than 1200 feet, then chased a robin downward FAST until it caught it near the ground.
Greater noctule bats prey on and consume passerines in flight
Despite billions of passerines seasonally migrating during the night at high altitudes, only three bat species have been found to consistently tap into this rich prey resource. However, it remains unk...
www.science.org
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
rosvall-lab.bsky.social
Kim Rosvall @rosvall-lab.bsky.social · 7d
Pumped to share our work on bird behavior and the 2024 Eclipse, in today's @science.org. 100k bird vocalizations + 10k continent-wide observations from the public = really fun collab led by Liz Aguilar, with @juncowren.bsky.social @mathcancer.bsky.social @imillercrews.bsky.social #NSF
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
mascarell.bsky.social
Alex Mascarell Llosa @mascarell.bsky.social · 7d
🧪🪶🌍🕊 25 Critically Endangered Birds
All of these species are on the brink of extinction.
A poster to raise awareness and inspire action. Every effort counts. ✨
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
bou.org.uk
BOU @bou.org.uk · 7d
Incorporating the full annual cycle when studying reproductive isolation and speciation | doi.org/10.1002/jav.... | Journal of Avian Biology | #ornithology 🪶
Incorporating the full annual cycle when studying reproductive isolation and speciation
As individual tracking devices and year-round genetic sampling become more accessible, research on the historically understudied nonbreeding period has exploded in the past decade. These studies are ...
doi.org
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
catieivy.bsky.social
Dr. Catie Ivy @catieivy.bsky.social · May 6
Do you like songbirds? Are you concerned about how wildfire smoke may impact their physiology?

I'm searching for graduate students who are interested in looking at the effect of wildfire smoke on songbird physiology! Come join my lab @usaskartsci.bsky.social!

research-groups.usask.ca/ivy-lab/
The Ivy Lab! - Welcome to the Ivy Lab!
research-groups.usask.ca
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
kasolari.bsky.social
Katie Solari @kasolari.bsky.social · 8d
Very excited to share that our work assessing the genomic diversity of snow leopards has come out today in PNAS! Spoiler alert - they have the lowest genetic diversity of all big cats!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
news.stanford.edu/stories/2025...
@petrovadmitri.bsky.social @elliecat.bsky.social
Exceedingly low genetic diversity in snow leopards due to persistently small population size | PNAS
Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) serve as an umbrella species whose conservation benefits their high-elevation Asian habitat. Their numbers are belie...
www.pnas.org
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
katrinaphillips.bsky.social
Katrina Phillips @katrinaphillips.bsky.social · 9d
The 2026 Gulf Conference will be here in Mobile, AL from May 4-7

Open to coastal scientists & stakeholders in government, academia, non-profit, and private sectors to discuss current Gulf research and help plan for the future of the Gulf.

Abstracts due Nov 7

gulfofamericaalliance.org/gulfcon2026
Satellite image of the Gulf of Mexico
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
jonlambert.bsky.social
Jonathan Lambert @jonlambert.bsky.social · 9d
In many parts of rural Africa, babies bop around on mom's back during the daytime, where they're exposed to malaria. Treating those baby wraps with permethrin cuts that risk drastically.

"It was a level of effect that was beyond even our wildest expectations."

www.npr.org/sections/goa...
Babies take a lesson from soldiers in the war against malaria
Inspired by a military strategy to ward off disease-carrying mosquitoes, researchers see if the technique will help cut malaria infections in little ones.
www.npr.org
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
phypapers.bsky.social
phy_papers @phypapers.bsky.social · 12d
No Consistent Effect of Migration on Speciation Rates in Two Avian Superfamilies: A Check on the Robustness of Trait-Dependent Diversification Methods https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41042249/
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
elisesaysallaz.bsky.social
Elise Say-Sallaz @elisesaysallaz.bsky.social · 13d
Very happy to share our new paper published in Current Biology !

We show that the “big bad wolf” actually fears humans for good reason.
It’s the first-ever playback experiment on wild wolves in Europe 🇵🇱🌲.
mripas.bsky.social
Mammal Research Institute PAS @mripas.bsky.social · 14d
Our new article shows: The 'big bad wolf' fears us. Would you have thought? authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5E3QW8S...
Photo by Rafał Kowalczyk. @currentbiology.bsky.social
@kathikasper.bsky.social
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
instbirdpop.bsky.social
The Institute for Bird Populations @instbirdpop.bsky.social · 14d
🪶 If you are able, you donate here: birdpop.org/pages/do...
We lost roughly $1 million in funding without warning. Projects cancelled included all of our bird monitoring work for the National Park Service & projects w/ the Bureau of Land Management on Gunnison's Sage-Grouse, Pinyon Jays & more. 1/4
Graphic with the following text followed by The Institute for Bird Populations logo: Emergency Appeal: Federal Funding Cut Last week 9 of our federal grants were abruptly cancelled without cause. If you can make a donation today, it will have a big impact. Thank you for your support, The Institute for Bird Populations
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Reposted by Nathan Senner
jasondovemark.bsky.social
Jason Mark @jasondovemark.bsky.social · 14d
If conservationists work from a compromised baseline, our notions of abundance, scarcity, and ecological wellbeing will keep getting defined downward:
"The researchers show that using the 1970s as a baseline tends to normalize an already severely degraded state."
phys.org/news/2025-10...
Bird conservation threatened by shifting baseline syndrome
New research shows that populations of dozens of waterbird and seabird species have been declining for much longer than previously thought in Europe. The article "Shifting the baseline for waterbird a...
phys.org
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