Author | Lightnews

Leila Fouda @leilafouda.bsky.social · 5d

North Atlantic right whale numbers estimated at 384. An increase in eight whales from last year - report today by the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. Slow population growth trend over the past four years gaining more than 7% of their 2020 population. 🦑🐋🧪🌍
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Scientists say North Atlantic right whale population slowly increasing

Once hunted to the brink of extinction, the most venerable of the leviathans now numbers 384, up eight from past year

www.theguardian.com

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Peter Corkeron @petercorkeron.bsky.social · 19d

Another great paper on baleen whales & calving
🐳🌍🦑🧪

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · Sep 23

New! Longer body size means more female calves in baleen whales! By Zoe Rand, Sarah Converse and myself

Paper: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Press:
www.washington.edu/news/2025/09...

Longer body size means more female calves for baleen whale moms

University of Washington researchers found, in historical whaling data, that longer baleen whale mothers were more likely to birth female calves than males. These results run contrary to a leading...

www.washington.edu

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Sep 8

Our recent study in the #MarineEcologyProgressSeries
highlights how body size, condition, and human impacts shape the survival of right whales & why they are so vulnerable to prey limitation and disturbance 🐋

🔗 in thread

#Conservation #WhaleResearch #RightWhales #OceanHealth #MarineScience 🌐🌏🧪🌱

📸 Southern right whale: Fredrik Christiansen, Aarhus University
📸 North Atlantic right whale: Center for Coastal Studies, taken under NOAA permit #24359
👉 Link to paper: https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v768/meps14914

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Leila Fouda @leilafouda.bsky.social · Jul 23

New Paper: Perceived and observed biases within scientific communities: a case study in movement ecology - "Who conducts biological research, where they do it and how results are disseminated vary among geographies and identities." doi.org/10.1098/rspb... 🧪🌍 #bias #research #science #academia

Perceived and observed biases within scientific communities: a case study in movement ecology | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Who conducts biological research, where they do it and how results are disseminated vary among geographies and identities. Identifying and documenting these forms of bias by research communities is a ...

doi.org

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Leila Fouda @leilafouda.bsky.social · Jun 26

"The myth of meritocracy...collapses under the financial sacrifices expected at every career stage... the hidden costs of ‘doing science’ are profound. These burdens disproportionately exclude those without generational wealth, compounded by race and gender. An important read #STEM #Academia 🧪

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Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · Jun 2

Anyone interested in blue whales and want to apply for a Simons Fellowship (due 31 July)? Do let me know, I have some projects in mind.
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution

The purpose of these awards is to provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in ecology and evolution. While we will consider all projects in ecolo...

www.simonsfoundation.org

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British Antarctic Survey 🐧 @bas.ac.uk · Apr 25

The Penguin Book of Penguins!

Coming later this year: a beautifully illustrated book about the world’s most beloved bird, written by British Antarctic Survey’s Peter Fretwell @ptfretwell.bsky.social

What better day to reveal the cover the #WorldPenguinDay? ⬇️

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Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · Apr 24

"The bill pretends that everything is tradeable. You can destroy an ancient woodland, as long as you deliver an 'overall improvement' in woodland cover, namely saplings in plastic tubes."

Reminder that the only way to replace a 200 year old tree is to plant a tree and wait 200 years

Labour’s great nature sellout is the worst attack on England’s ecosystems I’ve seen in my lifetime | George Monbiot

The horrifying planning bill, which rips up environmental protections, was drafted with CEOs in mind. We know because Keir Starmer told us, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

www.theguardian.com

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British Antarctic Survey 🐧 @bas.ac.uk · Apr 24

Grab a coffee and find out how 18,000 years ago you might have spotted megabergs off the coast of the UK!

James Kirkham @jdkirkham.bsky.social · Apr 24

Icebergs? The size of a city? 90 miles from the UK? Must be a joke, right?

No! Our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com shows massive tabular icebergs broke off the UK in the last ice age before the UK’s ice shelves disintegrated from climate warming.

🧵

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@bas.ac.uk

Change in iceberg calving behavior preceded North Sea ice shelf disintegration during the last deglaciation - Nature Communications

Massive tabular icebergs broke off of the UK during the last ice age. The widespread break-up of the ice shelves which produced these giant icebergs can be traced to around 18,000 years ago, and likel...

www.nature.com

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Jenna C. Hill @chillocean.bsky.social · Apr 17

NOAA just announced a long list of datasets that are going away🧪⚒️🌊: www.nesdis.noaa.gov/about/docume...
Download what you need asap and send comments to: [email protected]

Notice of Changes

Notices of changes are formal public announcements of planned services changes to applications and other products.

www.nesdis.noaa.gov

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Apr 11

New paper!

Social media for fisheries science and management professionals: How to use Bluesky and Instagram, and why you should.

This is the *first* paper in the peer reviewed scientific literature to explain how Bluesky works and how to use it for #SciComm 🧪🦑🐠

academic.oup.com/fisheries/ad...

Social media for fisheries science and management professionals: How to use Bluesky and Instagram, and why you should

ABSTRACT. Social media tools have revolutionized how people communicate with one another. A 2018 paper in Fisheries summarized the use of Twitter, Facebook

academic.oup.com

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Leila Fouda @leilafouda.bsky.social · Apr 3

Effect of oceanic conditions on humpback whale behaviour modelled. During migration whales engage in feeding & rely on environmental cues & memory of conditions to start migration to arrive at krill bloom. Unclear if whales will succeed tracking prey in changing climate doi.org/10.1038/s415... 🦑🐋🧪🌍

Migratory behaviour of humpback whales in the southeastern Pacific under climate change - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Migratory behaviour of humpback whales in the southeastern Pacific under climate change

doi.org

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Center for Biological Diversity @biologicaldiversity.org · Apr 2

The Center and allies have moved to intervene in a lawsuit challenging a 2008 federal rule protecting North Atlantic right whales from speeding ships and other vessels.

Learn more: biodiv.us/4jzUEb9

Aerial view of a North Atlantic right whale swimming in blue ocean water with pieces of seaweed floating around.

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Leila Fouda @leilafouda.bsky.social · Mar 27

Movie Day in class today aka Timbits & Tissues. We aired Last Of The Right Whales as part of the conservation conversation. Sharing work done across the North Atlantic, by our lab & our many brilliant colleagues trying to save the North Atlantic right whale. #Whales #Conservation #NARW #Teaching 🐋 🌎

Students watching last of the right whales. Immediately at the front of the photo is a light turquoise yeti of coffee and a pile of tissues

A large box of Timbits on top or a large box of tissues!

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Scripps Institution of Oceanography @scrippsocean.bsky.social · Mar 26

⭐ A newly discovered sea star has been named after a group of children representing the latest generation of the Scripps family, who have supported Scripps Oceanography for over a century! 🌊 Meet the Scripps Cousins Wood-Dwelling Seastar, also known as the Caymanostella scrippscognaticausa.

Seastar Named for Youngest Cousins of Scripps Family

A seastar that specializes in living on pieces of wood that have fallen into the ocean is among the top 10 new marine species described by researchers in 2024. And in the case of this particular inver...

scripps.ucsd.edu

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British Antarctic Survey 🐧 @bas.ac.uk · Mar 25

Year-end scramble getting you down? ⏳

Applications for lots of our Antarctic #jobs are closing in the next week. They include vehicles manager at Halley, and Radio Operator and IT Engineer at Rothera Research Station.

These are jobs unlike any other, in one of the most beautiful places on Earth ⬇️

Seriously remote work, in Antarctica. The photo is of Halley Research Station, stretching into the distance on a flat white polar landscape, with the label 'Today's Office'

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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · Mar 18

Who wants some good news?

The overwintering monarch population, which had plummeted last winter, has doubled this winter! www.worldwildlife.org/stories/east...

Eastern Monarch Butterfly Population Nearly Doubles

The population wintering in central Mexico's forests occupied 4.42 acres, up from 2.22 acres during the previous winter.

www.worldwildlife.org

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Huw Griffiths @huwiceandstuff.bsky.social · Mar 14

Minke mania today! Minke #whales came to check us out! #biopole2
@bas.ac.uk @biopole.bsky.social

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Kaia Mattioli @kaiamattioli.bsky.social · Mar 10

born too late to get a two Western blot Nature paper, born too early to be a science TikTokker, born just in time to start a postdoc during a global pandemic and look for faculty positions during a historic hiring freeze

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · Mar 13

There's a #LunarEclipse tonight! If you're in the dark region here, and if you have a view of the Moon at the right time, you'll see the eclipse. Check www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/luna... for more info and timings for the eclipse in your location. (Here on the East Coast, totality peaks around 3am.)

A map of where the eclipse will be visible. The darkened part of the map covers the entirety of North and South America and touches the western edge of Africa and Europe.

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Mar 11

We ( @drcatmac.bsky.social and I) are writing a marine conservation science and policy textbook!

We'd love to include case studies of ocean conservation success stories, and we welcome submissions of ideas here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Please be clear and detailed!

🧪🦑🌎🐟

Call for submissions of ocean conservation success case studies.

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Anthony M. Bonacolta @ambonacolta.bsky.social · Mar 12

"Male blue-lined octopuses inject females with venom during mating to avoid being eaten by their partners"

🐙 Octopuses never cease to amaze me. Also perfect headline for the week of Gaga's new album
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Refers to Chung et al here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Bad romance: male octopuses inject deadly venom into their mates

The paralysing toxin deployed by the male blue-lined octopus might help to protect him from being eaten.

www.nature.com

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Whale Scientists @whalescientists.bsky.social · Mar 10

We recap the whole study here: whalescientists.com/the-great-wh...

The Great Whale Conveyor Belt: Earth's Largest Mammals Keep Oceans Thriving

Large whales operate what scientists have called “the Great Whale Conveyor Belt,” the largest long-distance nutrient transport on Earth.

whalescientists.com

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Leila Fouda @leilafouda.bsky.social · Mar 10

The great whale conveyor belt of pee, skin, dead bodies & poop!! Whales transport ~4,000 tons of nitrogen yearly to low-nutrient coastal areas in the tropics and subtropics. Species recovery might help to restore nutrient movement by whales in global oceans! doi.org/10.1038/s414...
🦑 🐋 🧪 🌍

Migrating baleen whales transport high-latitude nutrients to tropical and subtropical ecosystems - Nature Communications

Baleen whales migrate from high latitude feeding grounds to subtropical reproductive winter grounds, translocating limiting nutrients across ecosystems. This study estimates the latitudinal movement o...

doi.org

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Leila Fouda @leilafouda.bsky.social · Mar 5

So proud of @eubalaenagina.bsky.social and her next exciting steps at The Marine Mammal Center in California! I am really glad we got to overlap at UNB and I will be following along as you do more brilliant science! May we all continue to fight as hard as Gina does for the world and people around us

Gina Lonati, PhD @eubalaenagina.bsky.social · Mar 4

In light of many friends and colleagues losing their jobs in the #biology sector, I have mixed feelings sharing the latest update in my life... 💙 (1/4)

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