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Benjamin Freeman

@benjaminfreeman.bsky.social

1.3K followers 440 following 130 posts

Biologist. Mountain Bird Lab PI. Climate change. Species interactions. Asst Prof @GeorgiaTech. #RapYourAbstract #MountainBirdNetwork

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Benjamin Freeman @benjaminfreeman.bsky.social · Nov 20

why you should write to people when you like their papers / figures

or, how an email from Peter Billman to me in March 2019 led to a collaboration started in August 2020, which eventually produced a fun paper published this week

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Forecasting range shifts using abundance distributions along environmental gradients

Globally, many species’ distributions are shifting in response to contemporary climate change. However, the direction and rate of shifts remain difficult to predict, impeding managers’ abilities to o...

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Benjamin Freeman

Dustin Reichard @juncowren.bsky.social · 10h

So excited to finally share our work on how birds responded to the 2024 Great American Eclipse! Thanks to @rosvall-lab.bsky.social for inviting me on this journey! I never expected any of my research to show up in @science.org, let alone on the cover. Surreal. I hope you enjoy it!

Science Magazine @science.org · 10h

As the Moon eclipsed the Sun on 8 April 2024, birds took note.

Leveraging nature’s own experiment, scientists and the public joined forces to show how different species responded to sudden midafternoon darkness followed by a new “dawn.” Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/48WbhLL

As the Moon eclipsed the Sun on 8 April 2024, birds like these rock pigeons (Columba livia) took note.

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Kim Rosvall @rosvall-lab.bsky.social · 6h

This is a nice IU short on our eclipse project. #NSF youtube.com/shorts/PrQGn...

Indiana University scientists lead project on how birds responded to the 2024 Great American Eclipse

YouTube video by Kimberly Rosvall

youtube.com

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 11h

This is quite literally, anti-science.

It is what happens when ideologues fit the data to the narrative and not the other way around. With these leaders in charge, HHS will generate junk discoveries, junk findings, and ultimately, junk cures.

Americans must turn elsewhere for guidance.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 11h

RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

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Steve Ross @maximumsteve.bsky.social · 13h

Good morning, and Happy Thurs-Jay!! Peace! California Scrub Jay... #birds #birding #birdwatching #jays #corvids #scrubjays #thursjay #peace

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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 15h

The global whaling industry experienced a boom c. 1840-1950 as technology allowed whalers to hunt the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.

Under standard models, we would have expected krill populations to have *exploded*.

Instead, they DROPPED exponentially.

Let's talk about the KRILL PARADOX.

Change in distribution and abundance of southern right whales. (A) Shows historical and contemporary wintering distributions (Figure 1 from Carroll et al., 2018), and (B) shows decline in abundance and subsequent recovery (solid line is the mean, dashed line shows upper and lower 95% CI). Modified Figure 1 from Jackson et al. (2008). Contemporary sightings are divided into regions where large aggregations are seen during winter: Argentina (ARG), Brazil (BZL), South Africa (SAF), southwest Australia (SWA), south central Australia (SCA), and New Zealand sub-Antarctic (NZSA) and regions where sightings are typically of small numbers of individuals per year. The large aggregations are IWC management units and correspond to historical whaling grounds, although another 5 whaling grounds show little sign of recovery. Summer feeding areas are poorly described and so not shown.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 1d

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org

The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org

The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...

www.nobelprize.org

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Benjamin Freeman @benjaminfreeman.bsky.social · 3d

and less than a page. classic!

Benjamin Freeman @benjaminfreeman.bsky.social · 3d

and a winner of a manuscript title

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Benjamin Freeman @benjaminfreeman.bsky.social · 3d

fantastic ideas here!

Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · 3d

One for the occasional series of #ornithology papers you need in your life but might not have read - Common/Spotted Sandpiper flight style as an antipredator behaviour.
academic.oup.com/auk/article-...

Reposted by Benjamin Freeman

Jonathan Lambert @jonlambert.bsky.social · 8d

My first time appearing in the "Notables" section of a book I eagerly await each year!

For a @quantamagazine.bsky.social story I wrote last fall about LUCA.
jaimealyse.beehiiv.com/p/basnw25

Coming soon! The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2025

Discover the 2025 Best American Science & Nature Writing anthology, curated by Susan Orlean and featuring exceptional science writing that explores the wonders of our natural world.

jaimealyse.beehiiv.com

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 8d

It's off my desk! I've just sent the manuscript for the 3rd edition of 'The Scientist's Guide to Writing' to the publisher (Princeton U. Press).

"It's just a revision. It will be easy!" - and other lies I tell myself...

The Scientist’s Guide to Writing

Note: A third edition of The Scientist’s Guide to Writing is currently in production, for publication in mid- to late 2026. Watch this space for updates. While running experiments and collec…

scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com

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Alex Tomlinson @alextomlinson.com · 9d

Poster I made for the Great Midwest Crane Fest!

Flat, graphic poster of a Whooping Crane standing in the negative space of many Sandhill Cranes. The poster reads "The Great Midwest Crane Fest - Nov. 15-16, 2025 Baraboo, Wisconsin.

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Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · 9d

Needed to take a bit of a social media break for personal reasons, but hopping back on say:

At awe of the civil servants at NSF, NIH, etc.

While Vought uses their jobs/livelihood as a political pawn re: shutdown, their first instinct has remained: how do I support the communities of scientists?

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Dan Chamberlain @danc-eco.bsky.social · 10d

We are seeking an ornithologist/modeller for a 2-year POST-DOC in Turin. Using archaeological remains, we will reconstruct past avian communities to understand the impacts of climate change and human pressure on birds through time. For details see cutt.ly/irN76QDZ PLEASE RT. #ornithology #AviArch

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Seema Sheth @seemasheth.bsky.social · 13d

NSF GRFP solicitation is finally up. Life Sci deadline extended to Nov 10 but 2nd year grad students no longer eligible www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Jacob Levine @jacoblevine.bsky.social · 15d

I am advertising a postdoctoral position in my new lab at Duke, to start as early as August 2026. If you are interested in how plant communities respond to climate change, please consider applying!

academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30614

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 15d

New from #SCIMaP - analysis of the White House’s Proposed FY 2026 National Science Foundation Budget.

Take-home: Slashing NSF by >50% will lead to ~$11 billion in economic loss and extensive job loss and reduced training opportunities in communities nationwide.

Report: osf.io/e8rnc

a 🧵

Economic loss from the White House's NSF FY 2026 Proposed Budget

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Sean A. S. Anderson 🍉 @seananderson.bsky.social · 17d

Friends: I'm recruiting at least one PhD student to join our lab in Atlanta in the Fall of 2026. Information about our research can be found at the link below. Please pass along to any students interested in the quantitative study of speciation, secondary contact, and the build-up of biodiversity!

The Anderson Lab at Georgia Tech

my academic website

seanasanderson.github.io