What do you think the primary goal of applied ecological/conservation research is?

1️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/PuXpIV/1" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">Diagnose threats and impacts
2️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/PuXpIV/2" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">Understand ecological processes
3️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/PuXpIV/3" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">Inform management or policy
4️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/PuXpIV/4" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">Something else (comment below)

📊 Show results

Black cat in front of a hot fire through a thermal scope.

Funded PhD studentship available on the way that mating system affects coevolutionary processes with natural enemies. #ecoevo #sexualselection looking for a great candidate spread the word! www.findaphd.com/phds/project... 🧪

This is fascism.

Bedtime for democracy...

The impact of climate change on sexually selected traits and it's consequences for evolutionary fitness

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

Genomics and development of an exaggerated sexual trait in stalk-eyed flies

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

Join us! 🧬🪰🎉🔬

We are currently advertising two #PhD projects to study the #evolution, #development and #genomics of sexual traits in stalk-eyed flies.

Deadline for applying is Wednesday, January 7, 2026. Get in touch for more info!

I've been avoiding reading articles on the death of James Watson, co-discoverer of #DNA's structure.

That is, until I saw that @statnews.com published one by Sharon Begley, a renowned science writer who passed in 2021.

Yes, you read that right.

www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/j...

🧪 (1/5)

Quote from the late and unlamented James Watson: “Anyone who would hire an ecologist is out of his mind”. I find myself proud to be a member of a group that he disliked. 🧪

Human Geography at Leicester is facing closure. Staff contracts are to end in June 2026; students are to be relocated to other universities, or taught out by a maximum of two (!) teaching-only staff. Other departments and subjects are facing closure, too. Please join the demo!

So given recent news I’ve been doing a bit of reading on James Watson. It’s hard to find anything positive to say about this sexist and racist bigot who happened to get in on the scientific discovery of the century. 🧪

PhD position at the University of Bristol (with me!) entitled 'The legacy impacts of extreme climate events on animal behaviour, physiology, and fitness'.

Fully funded and is available for UK-domiciled students of black heritage. Please reach out with any questions.

tinyurl.com/5n7s8yp9

Nature suggests you use their "Manuscript Adviser" bot to get advice before submitting

I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:

Interested in doing a PhD in theoretical ecology and evolution? Come join us in Bern!

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

Is Madagascar possibly home to a giant, black fossa - about twice the size of the scientifically recognized species? The article at Tet Zoo now has a good number of reader comments ... tetzoo.com/blog/2025/10... #mammals #carnivorans #carnivora

Bloody hell. #academia #academicfreedom #repression #china

🦀 news (with apologies for subjecting you to that horrible pun in the headline...)

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Homage to Xavier Bou: little swifts at the Olifants River high-water bridge, Kruger National Park. Unstacked from video taken with an Iphone 14. #birds #photography #SouthAfrica #iPhone

Just want to thank @qmul.bsky.social for once again giving me confidence that my decision to leave was correct www.reddit.com/r/AskAcademi... #academia #phd

(this post copied over from The Other Place, after I was reminded of it by another release form)

A couple of really skanky hyaenas from the Kruger Park. #wildlife #photography #kruger #hyaena #filthhound

I think if I see one more university document that tells me my objectives should be SMART I will need some primal scream therapy.

Just returned from a 10-day expedition in Kuala Belalong, Brunei, with @taxonexpeditions.bsky.social. We found many stalk-eyed flies, mostly Diopsidae, but also these Themara true fruit flies (Tephritidae). Not sure which species: both T. ampla and T. hirsuta have been found there before.