Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jessica Montabaranom

@jessmontabaranom.bsky.social

310 followers 400 following 22 posts

Researcher working on fine scale movements and behaviour of marine mammals in tidally energetic environments and population monitoring of bottlenose dolphins in the UK 🦭🐬🌊 | Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews 🐳 she/her 🇫🇷🇬🇧

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Jessica Montabaranom @jessmontabaranom.bsky.social · Jan 8

🦭🔍 New paper alert in @jappliedecology.bsky.social! I'm excited to share my 1st first author paper, showing how seals avoid tidal turbines when they're operating! doi.org/10.1111/1365... 🧵

@seamammalresearch.bsky.social

Seals exhibit localised avoidance of operational tidal turbines

The result showing that seals exhibit avoidance of the turbine during operation is important for industry developers and regulators, as lower numbers of seals close to the turbine reduces the potenti...

doi.org

1 17 33

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

UKIRSC Marine Mammals @ukirsc.bsky.social · 2d

🐬 Registration is now OPEN for the UKIRSC 2026 Marine Mammal Conference hosted @plymuni.bsky.social 🎓A FREE event bringing together students from across the UK & Ireland to share research, connect, and learn from leading marine mammal scientists. 👇Link below

#UKIRSC2026 #MarineMammals

1 12 9

Jessica Montabaranom @jessmontabaranom.bsky.social · Jul 7

4/ 🐋 Huge thank you to the whole crew and science officers for making it such a memorable experience and teaching us about marine mammals in the Hebrides and the anthropogenic threats they face 🛥️🥅🎣🐟

Jessica Montabaranom @jessmontabaranom.bsky.social · Jul 7

3/ 🐋 We had such a blast! We saw common dolphins (my first time seeing these!), minke whales (including Knobble who's been spotted 62 times since 2002!!), porpoises, seals and otters 🦦!

Jessica Montabaranom @jessmontabaranom.bsky.social · Jul 7

2/ 🐋 These data are provided to the Scottish Government to inform protection measures for minke whales, Risso’s dolphins, harbour porpoises, and basking sharks across Hebridean seas.

Jessica Montabaranom @jessmontabaranom.bsky.social · Jul 7

1/ 🐋I recently joined a trip onboard Silurian, the vessel HWDT (www.hwdt.org) use to conduct research on marine mammal species visiting or resident to the Hebrides ⛵

1 1

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jul 6

PhD student Emilie Stepien uses satellite tags, CATS Cams and drones to observe seal reactions to shipping in the Wadden sea 🇩🇰
Watch a pregnant seal reacting to a sea eagle caught on drone video 🦅🦭

@emstepien.bsky.social 🧪🌐

#Wildlife #WaddenSea #HarbourSeal #AnimalBehaviour #MarineEcology

18 43

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Dr. Davina Derous @davinaderous.bsky.social · Jun 5

Care about climate change, physiology, marine mammals and want to do something about it?
Exciting PhD opportunity funded by @mastscot.bsky.social to work with Andrew Brownlow, myself, @jlkershaw.bsky.social , Fiona Manson,
@strandings.bsky.social,
@naturescot.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/3aj4kft9

1 3 2

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Arctic Basecamp @arcticbasecamp.org · May 14

Why Spring Is Critical for Harp Seal Pups ❄️

Harp seal pups are weaned just 10-12 days after birth. By spring, they must adapt fast as sea ice melts. As the Arctic warms, ice breaks up earlier, threatening pup survival and disrupting the marine food web.

🔗 Learn more: tinyurl.com/yfw63d7c

1 2 3

Jessica Montabaranom @jessmontabaranom.bsky.social · May 16

Congratulations on your talk Katie!!🐬

Katie Rapson @katie-rapson.bsky.social · May 16

Thanks to the ECS team for having me!! and to everyone here for sharing such exciting work - what a cool group of people, and in a very cool place!! 😎🐬

Luke Rendell @lrendell.bsky.social · May 16

Katie Rapson @katie-rapson.bsky.social did a great job presenting 3D tracking of harbour porpoise around experimental tidal energy installations - another #MSc_MMS_St_A graduate presenting at #ECSconference2025 🐋🦑

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Isabella Reeves @bellareeves.bsky.social · May 13

Last call ⏳🚨

If you have any elasmobranch and killer whale interaction records we want to hear about it!

Please reach our team with the email below, would love to include them in our global review!

3 32 48

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Matt Carter @mattidcarter.bsky.social · Apr 25

New #OA paper in Movement Ecology using a combination of statistical models (HMMs & GAMMs) to understand environmental drivers of behaviour in Saimaa ringed seals. Very pleased to be invited to collaborate on this research! 🤓🦭 @seamammalresearch.bsky.social @uniuef.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/2uhxez5x

Linking ringed seal foraging behaviour to environmental variability - Movement Ecology

Background Foraging rates directly influence animals’ energetic intake and expenditure and are thus linked to body condition and the ability to survive and reproduce. Further, understanding the underl...

movementecologyjournal.biomedcentral.com

1 6 15

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Dr Steven White @drstevenmwhite.bsky.social · May 1

If you find mosquitoes in Scotland please report them for our Mosquito Scotland project @mosquitoscotland.bsky.social! @ukceh.bsky.social

Mosquito Scotland Project @mosquitoscotland.bsky.social · May 1

Delighted to have BBC feature our citizen science mosquito reporting project. Huge thx to members of the public who have got in touch since last year with sightings from all across Scotland. Great if we can keep it going this summer: report at www.mosquito-scotland.com

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Mosquitoes in Scotland as far north as Shetland

The extent of Scotland's mosquito population is being understood thanks to a successful citizen science project.

www.bbc.co.uk

10 16

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Antoine Stier @antoinestier.bsky.social · Apr 30

Please share: (competitive) PhD funding in Strasbourg (France) to work on 🐧🔥:

Physiological and reproductive consequences of ‘warm’ environmental conditions on land in a sub-polar penguin species

Fieldwork in Crozet 🇹🇫 is forecasted (pending on HPAI situation)

amethis3.unistra.fr/amethis-clie...

1 35 27

Jessica Montabaranom @jessmontabaranom.bsky.social · Apr 30

🚀 Grateful to be featured for the second year in a row at the #WOSiSta Women in Ocean Science in St Andrews! 🌊 A great range of talks and advice nuggets from women at different career stages, recognise what has changed (and not changed) in the past couple of decades‼️

Izzy Langley @izzylangley.bsky.social · Apr 30

Honoured to be amongst some fab women at the #WOWiSta Women in Ocean Science in St Andrews event at the Scottish Oceans Institute today 💪 @jessmontabaranom.bsky.social @philippawright.bsky.social @molliestefanek.bsky.social @monicaarso.bsky.social @carolsparling.bsky.social

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Nature @nature.com · Apr 18

The US National Institutes of Health has terminated nearly 800 research projects at a breakneck pace, wiping out significant chunks of funding to entire scientific fields

Read the full story: https://go.nature.com/3EuFRPV

A graphic showing that 50.6% of research projects with "LGBT" search terms have been cancelled. 45.8% of grants with "transgender" in the search terms have been cancelled. 45.5% of research grants with "vaccine hesitancy" have been cancelled. 3.4% grants with "HIV" or "AIDS" have been cancelled.

5 220 290

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Heard Island Government @heardislandgov.bsky.social · Apr 3

It’s 9am TFT time here, and citizens are already gathering to protest Tariffs by the United States. Our plain clothes Officer Penguins are attempting to maintain calm, but unfortunately we keep losing them in the crowd.

180 4K 11K

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Emily Hague 🐳 @emily-hague.bsky.social · Mar 26

Can you spare a few minutes to share your thoughts on marine mammal protection in Scotland?🐳

Please fill in the survey most relevant to you (you are welcome to do both)
Scotland-wide: forms.office.com/e/xbkmFe4TxV Shetland: forms.office.com/e/ee9yBzJC35

More info: www.shetlandmarinemammals.com

A drone image taken of a humpback whale in coastal waters of Shetland

9 7

Jessica Montabaranom @jessmontabaranom.bsky.social · Mar 21

Incredible work done by @chrismcknight.bsky.social @eva-mariab.bsky.social @jlkershaw.bsky.social & co 🦭🎉

SMRU @seamammalresearch.bsky.social · Mar 21

Ever wondered why seals don't drown? New groundbreaking research from @smruecophys.bsky.social led by @chrismcknight.bsky.social published in @science.org reveals that, unlike other mammals, seals can sense blood oxygen levels.
Paper: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Sam Burgess @oceanterra.org · Mar 21

On the first World Glacier Day the evidence is alarming:

🧊 2023 saw a record annual mass loss of global glaciers
🗻 The years with the largest global glacier mass loss have all occurred since 2019
🌊 Estimates indicate the 2023 mass loss contributed ~1.7 mm to global mean sea level rise
#glacier 🧪⚒️🌏

Climate stripe of annual global glacier mass changes (gigatonnes) from 1976 to 2023. Data source: WGMS. Credit: C3S/ECMWF/WGMS.

2 15 33

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Eloquenti 🧪✍️📚 @eloquenti.com · Mar 19

🚨 With federal funding dwindling, we’ve created a starter pack of funding bodies offering #grants for #research🔬

📣 Repost & 💙 to connect #researchers with #funding 💵 💶 💷

#ResearchFunding #NIH #ERC #AcademicSky #MedSky #AcademicChatter #ECRChat #NewPI #academia #science #StandWithScience #eloquenti

11 51 110

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Wild Water Whales @wildwaterwhales.bsky.social · Mar 3

Take a moment to enjoy this beautiful southern right whale. Happy #worldwildlifeday

All research permitted by Government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands permit 2024_039.
🧪🐙🐳🌊
#whale #MarineConservation #wildlife #conservation #photooftheday #science #marinemammal #nature

3 9

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

pamguard @pamguard.org · Mar 1

We've had a great week teaching the latest PAMGuard features to folks in the US, but the week was marred by one of our attendees being fired half way through. Our hearts go out to her and other US Gov’t scientists losing their jobs this week, and we wish them success in finding new paths in life.

2 7

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Dr Katherine Whyte @kateywhyte.bsky.social · Feb 27

📣We are recruiting two(!) Ecological Statisticians to join our Offshore Renewables Group at @bioss.bsky.social.

If you have an interest in developing and applying statistical methods to ecological data, do check out the advert below. Please share with anyone who may be interested! 🙏

BioSS @bioss.bsky.social · Feb 27

🚨NEW VACANCIES!🚨

Our Offshore Renewables group are seeking TWO ecological statisticians to join the growing team.

Both are permanent roles- more info: www.bioss.ac.uk/vacancies/ec...
📆Deadline: 27th Mar 2025

#StatisticalEcology #OffshoreRenewables #Statistics #DataScience #Seabirds #MarineMammals

1 5 6

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

BTO | British Trust for Ornithology @btobirds.bsky.social · Feb 14

⚠️ A reminder to please report all sightings of dead birds for possible testing for Avian Influenza. In England, Wales & Scotland, contact Defra, in Northern Ireland contact @daera-ni.gov.uk & in Republic of Ireland gov.ie. Please ALSO report them to @birdtrack.bsky.social. Thank you. #UKBirding

Image of a dead Oysteratcher on the sand alongside the wording: Please report sightings of dead birds. Image credit: Dawn Balmer/BTO.

2 59 61

Reposted by Jessica Montabaranom

Alessandro Rigolon @alerigolon.bsky.social · Feb 10

I was just told that I have to remove “climate” from the title of an ongoing grant if I want to keep it. And publications from that grant cannot include “climate” and other forbidden words. I can’t believe I’m writing this from the United States of America. #AcademicSky

Alessandro Rigolon @alerigolon.bsky.social · Feb 6

Just received an email saying that it's not advisable to include the following words in future applications for research funding to the US DOT. Here we are.

1. Climate change
2. Greenhouse gas emissions
3. Emissions
4. Racial equity
5. Gender identity
6. Diversity, equity and inclusion
7. Environmental justice
8. Justice40 initiative

560 5.6K 13K