Catherine Sheard
@sheardcat.bsky.social
Fellow @ University of Aberdeen. Professionally: macroevolution, especially birds & languages. Personally: drinks too much coffee, plays too much D&D.
she/her
she/her
Pinned
Catherine Sheard
@sheardcat.bsky.social
· Jun 25
New pinned intro time:
Hi! I'm Catherine, a PI (fellow/lecturer) at the University of Aberdeen. My lab works on trait macroevolution, particularly the causes/consequences of behavioural innovations. I'm a senior editor at GEB, co-chair of BES Macro, and have zero chill about the northern lights.
Hi! I'm Catherine, a PI (fellow/lecturer) at the University of Aberdeen. My lab works on trait macroevolution, particularly the causes/consequences of behavioural innovations. I'm a senior editor at GEB, co-chair of BES Macro, and have zero chill about the northern lights.
Sensible advice from @stephenbheard.bsky.social on choosing a PhD topic: career-advice.jobs.ac.uk/before-your-...
In particular -- research potential supervisors not just as scientists but as mentors! Everyone has a different mentorship style. Try to find an environment that would work for you.
In particular -- research potential supervisors not just as scientists but as mentors! Everyone has a different mentorship style. Try to find an environment that would work for you.
How to choose a PhD research topic - jobs.ac.uk
Deciding your PhD topic and supervisor is incredibly important. Use our guide to get it right and nail down your research topic...
career-advice.jobs.ac.uk
November 25, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Sensible advice from @stephenbheard.bsky.social on choosing a PhD topic: career-advice.jobs.ac.uk/before-your-...
In particular -- research potential supervisors not just as scientists but as mentors! Everyone has a different mentorship style. Try to find an environment that would work for you.
In particular -- research potential supervisors not just as scientists but as mentors! Everyone has a different mentorship style. Try to find an environment that would work for you.
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
🧵1/9 There are 35,000+ fish species, but we have formal social-behaviour classifications for a tiny fraction. Most knowledge lives in the experience of researchers, fishers, divers, aquarists, naturalists, and Indigenous communities, but almost none of it is centralised. So we built ShoalBase.org.
ShoalBase | Join, Explore, Contribute Now
ShoalBase offers a global database on fish social behaviour, supporting research, conservation, and ecology through community contributions and visual data mapping.
ShoalBase.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:11 PM
🧵1/9 There are 35,000+ fish species, but we have formal social-behaviour classifications for a tiny fraction. Most knowledge lives in the experience of researchers, fishers, divers, aquarists, naturalists, and Indigenous communities, but almost none of it is centralised. So we built ShoalBase.org.
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
🐦Community composition coupled with habitat fragmentation drives acoustic divergence in bird assemblages
"We demonstrate how birds adjust their sound frequencies via acoustic niche partitioning driven by both community composition and habitat fragmentation"
📖 Read the full paper ➡️ buff.ly/B75UgYW
"We demonstrate how birds adjust their sound frequencies via acoustic niche partitioning driven by both community composition and habitat fragmentation"
📖 Read the full paper ➡️ buff.ly/B75UgYW
November 25, 2025 at 1:02 PM
🐦Community composition coupled with habitat fragmentation drives acoustic divergence in bird assemblages
"We demonstrate how birds adjust their sound frequencies via acoustic niche partitioning driven by both community composition and habitat fragmentation"
📖 Read the full paper ➡️ buff.ly/B75UgYW
"We demonstrate how birds adjust their sound frequencies via acoustic niche partitioning driven by both community composition and habitat fragmentation"
📖 Read the full paper ➡️ buff.ly/B75UgYW
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
NEW! 🦠🦧 We revisited a perplexing paradox: do wildlife really pose less of a risk to human health as they become more endangered? Turns out, it's sampling bias all the way down: conservation risks correlate with disease surveillance blindspots. 🔓 esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Viral diversity and zoonotic risk in endangered species
A growing body of evidence links zoonotic disease risk, including pandemic threats, to biodiversity loss and other upstream anthropogenic impacts on ecosystem health. However, there is little current...
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:25 PM
NEW! 🦠🦧 We revisited a perplexing paradox: do wildlife really pose less of a risk to human health as they become more endangered? Turns out, it's sampling bias all the way down: conservation risks correlate with disease surveillance blindspots. 🔓 esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Crikey. US scouting in general, and the Boy Scouts in particular, are *so* right-wing coded. Hard to believe that the Trump administration is afraid of a pro-religion, pro-military, pro-civics organisation.
www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
U.S. ready to cut support to Scouts, accusing them of attacking 'boy-friendly spaces'
Documents show the U.S. military is planning to sever all ties with the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts.
www.npr.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Crikey. US scouting in general, and the Boy Scouts in particular, are *so* right-wing coded. Hard to believe that the Trump administration is afraid of a pro-religion, pro-military, pro-civics organisation.
www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
New open access publication: Moving to Stay in (a Woman’s) Place: Was Patrilocality the Dominant Mode of Postmarital Residence across Later European Prehistory? Current Anthropology.
Thanks to Wenner Gren for funding the workshop it emerged from!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Thanks to Wenner Gren for funding the workshop it emerged from!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Moving to Stay in (a Woman’s) Place : Was Patrilocality the Dominant Mode of Postmarital Residence across Later European Prehistory? | Current Anthropology
This paper questions whether forms of female mobility and their relation to kinship were uniform throughout later European prehistory. Patrilocality has become the primary way in which sex-based diffe...
www.journals.uchicago.edu
November 24, 2025 at 4:44 PM
New open access publication: Moving to Stay in (a Woman’s) Place: Was Patrilocality the Dominant Mode of Postmarital Residence across Later European Prehistory? Current Anthropology.
Thanks to Wenner Gren for funding the workshop it emerged from!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Thanks to Wenner Gren for funding the workshop it emerged from!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
This afternoon I've been using one of the Cornell bird cams as my background noise, for the first time since spring 2020, and holy cow do I miss Neotropical birds.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtox...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtox...
November 24, 2025 at 5:05 PM
This afternoon I've been using one of the Cornell bird cams as my background noise, for the first time since spring 2020, and holy cow do I miss Neotropical birds.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtox...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtox...
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
living in the future is so weird sometimes. like of course this makes sense, this is super practical and smart, but also. hhhhhhh
Players are roleplaying in Fortnite to teach each other their rights when encountering ICE officials
“I would slip [the warrant] under the door, but there’s no space under the door,” the agent says.
The civilian pauses. “Well. Sounds like a personal problem.”
www.404media.co/ice-defense-...
“I would slip [the warrant] under the door, but there’s no space under the door,” the agent says.
The civilian pauses. “Well. Sounds like a personal problem.”
www.404media.co/ice-defense-...
Inside an ICE Defense Training on Fortnite
A group of immigrant rights organizers are helping people use Fortnite to practice what to do if they encounter ICE agents in the wild.
www.404media.co
November 24, 2025 at 3:18 PM
living in the future is so weird sometimes. like of course this makes sense, this is super practical and smart, but also. hhhhhhh
ICYMI: David Burslem (Aberdeen), Daniel Pincheira-Donoso (QUB), Zoe Goodwin (RBGE), and I are advertising a fully funded PhD project on plant traits, to be based in my lab.
Open to international applicants, deadline January 14, please contact me with any questions.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Open to international applicants, deadline January 14, please contact me with any questions.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
QUARTILES DLA CASE: Trait-based drivers of the ornamental plant trade at University of Aberdeen on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - QUARTILES DLA CASE: Trait-based drivers of the ornamental plant trade at University of Aberdeen , listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:54 AM
ICYMI: David Burslem (Aberdeen), Daniel Pincheira-Donoso (QUB), Zoe Goodwin (RBGE), and I are advertising a fully funded PhD project on plant traits, to be based in my lab.
Open to international applicants, deadline January 14, please contact me with any questions.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Open to international applicants, deadline January 14, please contact me with any questions.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
Study after study shows that using LLMs is bad for cognition, bad for learning, bad for understanding, bad for mental health. So why are our schools and universities still relentlessly pushing them?
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Study after study shows that using LLMs is bad for cognition, bad for learning, bad for understanding, bad for mental health. So why are our schools and universities still relentlessly pushing them?
Also, if instead of plants 🪴 you want to work on dolphins 🐬, my colleague David Fisher is offering the coolest-sounding project on dolphin behaviour: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
QUARTILES DLA: Bottlenose dolphin responses to shipping traffic: sociality, behaviour and welfare outcomes at University of Aberdeen on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - QUARTILES DLA: Bottlenose dolphin responses to shipping traffic: sociality, behaviour and welfare outcomes at University of Aberdeen , listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Also, if instead of plants 🪴 you want to work on dolphins 🐬, my colleague David Fisher is offering the coolest-sounding project on dolphin behaviour: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Like big trait databases? Think biology should think about humans more? Fascinated by house plants?
My fantastic colleagues and I are advertising a PhD project based at the University of Aberdeen on the ornamental plant trade. Come join us!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
My fantastic colleagues and I are advertising a PhD project based at the University of Aberdeen on the ornamental plant trade. Come join us!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
QUARTILES DLA CASE: Trait-based drivers of the ornamental plant trade at University of Aberdeen on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - QUARTILES DLA CASE: Trait-based drivers of the ornamental plant trade at University of Aberdeen , listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Like big trait databases? Think biology should think about humans more? Fascinated by house plants?
My fantastic colleagues and I are advertising a PhD project based at the University of Aberdeen on the ornamental plant trade. Come join us!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
My fantastic colleagues and I are advertising a PhD project based at the University of Aberdeen on the ornamental plant trade. Come join us!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
My lab discussed this paper in journal club today -- it's beautifully written and represents a very interesting set of results!
Oh, fun: Geography, Environmental Conditions and Life History Shape Patterns of Within-Population Phenotypic Variation in North American Birds
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Geography, Environmental Conditions and Life History Shape Patterns of Within‐Population Phenotypic Variation in North American Birds
Intraspecific variation is a fundamental component of biodiversity, shaping species interactions and coexistence dynamics. While numerous mechanisms have been proposed to shape the degree of phenotyp....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:05 PM
My lab discussed this paper in journal club today -- it's beautifully written and represents a very interesting set of results!
My uni email isn't loading on either my computer or my phone. And it seems to be just a me-problem. Sigh.
November 20, 2025 at 10:49 AM
My uni email isn't loading on either my computer or my phone. And it seems to be just a me-problem. Sigh.
The ASN (American Society of Naturalists) is seeking Diversity Committee members! Are you an ASN member? Want to make the EEB community a better place? Like being in Zoom meetings with people who have cute dogs? Consider applying!
www.amnat.org/announcement...
www.amnat.org/announcement...
Join the American Society of Naturalists Diversity Committee!
<p>The ASN Diversity Committee seeks to add 2 new members in January 2026. Applicants <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd3q_KL8RfhMULohoDwlD_gg8Lbwk0MqvrAydjeirQA4sJlVw/viewform">shou...
www.amnat.org
November 19, 2025 at 6:12 PM
The ASN (American Society of Naturalists) is seeking Diversity Committee members! Are you an ASN member? Want to make the EEB community a better place? Like being in Zoom meetings with people who have cute dogs? Consider applying!
www.amnat.org/announcement...
www.amnat.org/announcement...
Anyone looking for a Australia-based postdoc? Like animal behaviour / coding / birds? My fantastic collaborator, Iliana Medina, is advertising a position researching bird nests:
unimelb.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/UoM_Ex...
unimelb.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/UoM_Ex...
Research Fellow in Behaviour and Ecology
Role type: Full Time; Fixed Term for 2 years Faculty: Faculty of Science Department/ School: School of Biosciences Salary: Level A: $87,266 - $118,416 (PhD Entry Level - $110,319) plus 17% super Colla...
unimelb.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Anyone looking for a Australia-based postdoc? Like animal behaviour / coding / birds? My fantastic collaborator, Iliana Medina, is advertising a position researching bird nests:
unimelb.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/UoM_Ex...
unimelb.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/UoM_Ex...
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
I will not fight with people on Threads about Makaton. I will not fight with people on Threads about Makaton. I will not thebaffler.com/outbursts/si...
Signed Away | Sara Nović
The hearing world continues to pillage and caricature the deaf community—most recently with the proprietary, sign-based system Makaton.
thebaffler.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:03 AM
I will not fight with people on Threads about Makaton. I will not fight with people on Threads about Makaton. I will not thebaffler.com/outbursts/si...
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
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!
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!
November 17, 2025 at 3:58 PM
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!
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!
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
Cassie Stoddard'a talk was really insightful and colorful:
"sure, we're living exciting times to study the genome, but also to study the phenome, the birds' phenotypes using collections"
#BOUasm25 #ornithology #evolution @bou.org.uk
"sure, we're living exciting times to study the genome, but also to study the phenome, the birds' phenotypes using collections"
#BOUasm25 #ornithology #evolution @bou.org.uk
November 18, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Cassie Stoddard'a talk was really insightful and colorful:
"sure, we're living exciting times to study the genome, but also to study the phenome, the birds' phenotypes using collections"
#BOUasm25 #ornithology #evolution @bou.org.uk
"sure, we're living exciting times to study the genome, but also to study the phenome, the birds' phenotypes using collections"
#BOUasm25 #ornithology #evolution @bou.org.uk
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
1/ Thousands of species are exploited every year for the wildlife trade.
Using birds as a model group, at #BOUasm25 I talk about how colour influences demand on a global scale.
My podcast about this topic -> shorturl.at/YsUvL
#conservationscience🌎, #ornithology, #conservation
Using birds as a model group, at #BOUasm25 I talk about how colour influences demand on a global scale.
My podcast about this topic -> shorturl.at/YsUvL
#conservationscience🌎, #ornithology, #conservation
November 18, 2025 at 12:00 PM
1/ Thousands of species are exploited every year for the wildlife trade.
Using birds as a model group, at #BOUasm25 I talk about how colour influences demand on a global scale.
My podcast about this topic -> shorturl.at/YsUvL
#conservationscience🌎, #ornithology, #conservation
Using birds as a model group, at #BOUasm25 I talk about how colour influences demand on a global scale.
My podcast about this topic -> shorturl.at/YsUvL
#conservationscience🌎, #ornithology, #conservation
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
PhD scholarship alert! Are you interested in cognitive evolution? Do you want to know how development influences cognitive traits? Do you love hanging out with birds in the forest? If the answer to these questions is yes, please apply to work with us! 1/2 🧪
www.wgtn.ac.nz/scholarships...
www.wgtn.ac.nz/scholarships...
November 17, 2025 at 9:47 PM
PhD scholarship alert! Are you interested in cognitive evolution? Do you want to know how development influences cognitive traits? Do you love hanging out with birds in the forest? If the answer to these questions is yes, please apply to work with us! 1/2 🧪
www.wgtn.ac.nz/scholarships...
www.wgtn.ac.nz/scholarships...
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
Thread on today's paper, which is 3/4 from my dissertation on the evolution of fishes and using morphological data for phylogenetic analyses. Come with me, on a journey on phylogenetics and fishes.
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
An ontological morphological phylogenetic framework for living and extinct ray‐finned fishes (Actinopterygii)
The ray-finned fishes include one out of every two species of living vertebrates on Earth and have an abundant fossil record stretching 380 million years into the past. The division of systematic kno...
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Thread on today's paper, which is 3/4 from my dissertation on the evolution of fishes and using morphological data for phylogenetic analyses. Come with me, on a journey on phylogenetics and fishes.
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
New work out from our @islandbirdproject.bsky.social team lead by @raquelponti.bsky.social
We will be presenting this at the upcoming conference #BOUasm25
"A day at the museum: collections-based
ornithological research in a changing world" on BlueSky, 18th of Nov.
We will be presenting this at the upcoming conference #BOUasm25
"A day at the museum: collections-based
ornithological research in a changing world" on BlueSky, 18th of Nov.
Morphological Evolution in Island Birds Is Associated With More Terrestrial Lifestyles and a Lower Number of Raptors and Intra‐Family Competitors | onlinelibrary.wiley.... | Global Ecology and Biogeography | #ornithology #RaptorResearch 🪶
November 5, 2025 at 9:38 PM
New work out from our @islandbirdproject.bsky.social team lead by @raquelponti.bsky.social
We will be presenting this at the upcoming conference #BOUasm25
"A day at the museum: collections-based
ornithological research in a changing world" on BlueSky, 18th of Nov.
We will be presenting this at the upcoming conference #BOUasm25
"A day at the museum: collections-based
ornithological research in a changing world" on BlueSky, 18th of Nov.
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
🔔MASTS Vacancy: MASTS-SUPER: Programme Support Officer 🌊
Closing: 26 Nov. 📍More information and application: www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
Closing: 26 Nov. 📍More information and application: www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
November 13, 2025 at 10:52 AM
🔔MASTS Vacancy: MASTS-SUPER: Programme Support Officer 🌊
Closing: 26 Nov. 📍More information and application: www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
Closing: 26 Nov. 📍More information and application: www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...