Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Greg Albery @gfalbery.bsky.social · 9d

I'm v excited to be recruiting a PhD student to work on badger behaviour and ecology! Starting date is March 2026; see the ad here, or message me for more details: www.gregalbery.me/s/March-2026...

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Joel Pick @joelpick.bsky.social · 27d

Interested in simulating the kind of data that you might commonly find in evolutionary and ecological studies?

Then we have the R package for you - squidSim!!

Check our new preprint:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

squidSim: a flexible R package for structured and reproducible simulations in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

ecoevorxiv.org

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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · Aug 1

Torness this morning 06:07-09:21:
1 arctic skua, 29 manxies, 82 sandwich, 8 arctic, 6 common and 7 commic terns, 59 fulmar, 27 common scoter, 1 velvet scoter, barwit and 3 whimbrel.
Then found this beaut of a house martin expertly photographed by @jarrodhadfield.bsky.social later on.
#BirdingLothian

Jarrod Hadfield @jarrodhadfield.bsky.social · Aug 1

As far as I know, there are no confirmed breeding records of Black Redstart in Lothian, but this one at Torness doesn't look long out the nest. Thanks to @mattjsilk.bsky.social for putting me on to one of the strangest colour/pattern abnormalities I've seen - it's a House Martin! #BirdingLothian

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Jarrod Hadfield @jarrodhadfield.bsky.social · Aug 1

As far as I know, there are no confirmed breeding records of Black Redstart in Lothian, but this one at Torness doesn't look long out the nest. Thanks to @mattjsilk.bsky.social for putting me on to one of the strangest colour/pattern abnormalities I've seen - it's a House Martin! #BirdingLothian

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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · Jul 30

Looks same as bird in Firth of Forth a few days ago
bsky.app/profile/norm...

Norm Milligan @normmill.bsky.social · Jul 27

Thought this was a leucistic bird due to dusky underwing from BOC shots but probable photo artefact and more likely to be an albino Sandwich Tern sw past Gullane Point this morning. (3 albinos ringed at Forvie NNR to date). Thanks to @lothianrecorder.bsky.social for info

Albino Sandwich Tern flying over a grey sea

Albino Sandwich Tern showing dusky underwing which is probably due to photo artefact

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Norm Milligan @normmill.bsky.social · Jul 27

Thought this was a leucistic bird due to dusky underwing from BOC shots but probable photo artefact and more likely to be an albino Sandwich Tern sw past Gullane Point this morning. (3 albinos ringed at Forvie NNR to date). Thanks to @lothianrecorder.bsky.social for info

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Andy Radford @andyradford.bsky.social · Jul 7

🚨JOB alert🚨 Full-time Managing Editor role for @asab.org journal Animal Behaviour. Applicants must have animal #behaviour background; previous editorial experience would be ideal.
Apply by 31st July 2025.
#publishing #editor #job

More details: www.asab.org/opportunities

PLEASE share widely.

Opportunities — ASAB

www.asab.org

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michael chimento @mchimento.bsky.social · Jun 12

been a long time coming, there's now a preprint along with Will Hoppitt describing our new R package for creating, fitting and interpreting bayesian NBDA models (STBayes). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... Documentation is here michaelchimento.github.io/STbayes/inde...

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Barbara Class, Ph.D. (she/her) @barbaraclass.bsky.social · May 25

Our paper on disentangling assortative mating and indirect genetic effects in empirical datasets has just been accepted in @jevbio.bsky.social ! It has been a long process (5 years in the making!) and I am very proud of the result 🥳
academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...

Disentangling non-random assortment, indirect effects, and joint plasticity as causes of phenotypic (dis)similarity between social partners

Abstract. Social partners frequently resemble each other. These correlations between the phenotypes of interacting individuals (e.g. social partners, group

academic.oup.com

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Owen Jones @jonesor.bsky.social · Apr 26

New paper! I introduce mpmsim, an R package for simulating matrix population models (MPMs). Great for exploring life history, sampling error, and teaching population dynamics. Full docs + vignettes to get you started! doi.org/10.1111/2041...

mpmsim: An R package for simulating matrix population models

Matrix population models (MPMs) are widely used in ecology and evolution to explore population dynamics, including assessing management impacts and extinction risk. In comparative studies, MPMs ca...

doi.org

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Elizabeth Hobson @elizabethhobson.bsky.social · Feb 27

I am recruiting 1-2 postbacs for my parakeet sociality & cognition project! This position is for people finished with undergrad but who have not yet started grad school. Must be totally fascinated by parakeet social drama (there's a lot of it!)🪶🧪 Job ad here: ornithologyexchange.org/jobs/board/s...

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Megan Thompson @meganjthompson.bsky.social · Feb 25

Our common garden experiment with urban and forest great tits is out early view in Evolution! doi.org/10.1093/evol... @denisreale.bsky.social @annecharmantier.bsky.social

Visual representation of common garden procedure.

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Ally Phillimore @allyphillimore.bsky.social · Feb 12

Fieldwork opportunity: We're looking to hire a field assistant for the www.phenoweb.org project starting 1 April. Please repost. #phenology #fieldwork #birdringing

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Delphine De Moor @delphinedemoor.bsky.social · Feb 12

So exciting to see MacaqueNet out into the world! 🤩

Learn about our global community & database centralizing standardized affiliative & agonistic data from 61 populations across 14 macaque species: doi/10.1111/1365...

Explore >600 networks & request data: macaquenet.github.io/database/

MacaqueNet: Advancing comparative behavioural research through large‐scale collaboration

We present MacaqueNet, a global community of macaque researchers who developed the first publicly searchable, standardised database on affiliative and agonistic behaviour. This cross-species database...

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Tyler Bonnell @tylerbonnell.bsky.social · Feb 11

I'm looking to hire two MSc positions. Interested in social animals, agent-based modelling, and reinforcement learning (RL)? Take a look at these two projects!

Agent-based modelling of beluga social dynamics: tinyurl.com/4umsvkdx

Social network dynamics of RL agents: tinyurl.com/5jztxdd6

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Fletcher Halliday @fletcher-h.bsky.social · Feb 4

Please spread the word - I am looking for a postdoc to join my lab at @osubpp.bsky.social to study diversity and interactions of plants and pathogens in wild and working landscapes!

More information here: agsci-labs.oregonstate.edu/diseaseecolo...

Here's a photo of my favorite grass host, Dactylis glomerata, infected with ergot and stem rust in the beautiful Swiss Alps

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Ecology & Behaviour 2025 @ecobhvr2025.bsky.social · Nov 22

🚨SAVE THE DATE 🚨 The 17th Ecology & Behaviour is back at the CEFE!
Join us from August 11-15, 2025. Don't miss out!

Sign up here for updates: listes.services.cnrs.fr/wws/subscrib...
And, of course, follow us here! #ecobhvr2025

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Hanna Kokko @kokkonut.bsky.social · Dec 17

The artwork by Franziska Brenninger is pretty, and we (coauthors Viktor Kovalov and I) think the equations are pretty too! Theme of the paper: when it's hard to succeed, do you try harder or do you give up in a "resistance is futile" way? Context: parasitism. academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

Sex-specific immunocompetence: resistance and tolerance can both be futile but not under the same circumstances

Abstract. Immunocompetence evolution can involve a “resistance is futile” scenario if parasite encounter rates are so high that high investment in resistan

academic.oup.com

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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · Dec 11

"What makes a super-spreader? Unravelling the genetics of host infectiousness"

Funded #PhD position in my lab exploring the drivers of host heterogeneity in pathogen transmission. Get in touch if interested. Deadline 17 Jan 2025.

#HostPathogen #DiseaseEcology

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

EastBio: What makes a super-spreader? Unravelling the genetics of host infectiousness. at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - EastBio: What makes a super-spreader? Unravelling the genetics of host infectiousness. at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com

www.findaphd.com

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Neeltje Boogert @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social · Dec 5

Come do a PhD with Sinead English @englishse.bsky.social , Dan Padfield @padpadpadpad.bsky.social and me on Gulls! GPS- and Bluetooth-tracking! Microbiomes & AMR acquisition & transmission! Human-wildlife conflict & mitigation! should be fun :-)

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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · Dec 3

New NERC DTP PhD opportunity on social networks and demography in Soay sheep with me, Dan Nussey, Amy Sweeny and others (Autumn 2025 start). Apply by January 6th. Project and application details: e4-dtp.ed.ac.uk/e5-dtp/super...

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arsweeny.bsky.social @arsweeny.bsky.social · Nov 28

Interested in fitness consequences of the gut microbiome in the wild? Keen on being involved with an iconic long-term study system?

Check out a PhD opportunity working on Soay sheep microbiomes! Info below and feel free to contact with q's.

e4-dtp.ed.ac.uk/e5-dtp/super...

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