Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
@eebdennis.bsky.social
330 followers 120 following 8 posts
movement ecology | quantitative ecology | postdoc @ UMN EEB & Harvard OEB | previously PhD @ UMN EEB 🇰🇷🇺🇸 https://kimx3725.github.io/
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eebdennis.bsky.social
🚨 New preprint!

Have you ever wondered if we can detect disease in wildlife just by looking at their movement?

We show how hidden Markov models can link animal trajectories to infection states — tested on reintroduced scimitar-horned oryx and simulated data.
👉 arxiv.org/abs/2509.21132
Detecting disease progression from animal movement using hidden Markov models
Understanding disease dynamics is crucial for managing wildlife populations and assessing spillover risk to domestic animals and humans, but infection data on free-ranging animals are difficult to obt...
arxiv.org
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
instbirdpop.bsky.social
🪶 If you are able, you donate here: birdpop.org/pages/do...
We lost roughly $1 million in funding without warning. Projects cancelled included all of our bird monitoring work for the National Park Service & projects w/ the Bureau of Land Management on Gunnison's Sage-Grouse, Pinyon Jays & more. 1/4
Graphic with the following text followed by The Institute for Bird Populations logo: Emergency Appeal: Federal Funding Cut
Last week 9 of our federal grants were abruptly cancelled without cause.
If you can make a donation today, it will have a big impact.
Thank you for your support, The Institute for Bird Populations
eebdennis.bsky.social
Thanks to:
- Théo Michelot for many discussions on applying HMMs to movement data.
- Jared Stabach and Katherine Mertes for helping identify movement datasets from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
- My PhD advisor, John Fieberg, for guidance throughout this work.
eebdennis.bsky.social
🚨 New preprint!

Have you ever wondered if we can detect disease in wildlife just by looking at their movement?

We show how hidden Markov models can link animal trajectories to infection states — tested on reintroduced scimitar-horned oryx and simulated data.
👉 arxiv.org/abs/2509.21132
Detecting disease progression from animal movement using hidden Markov models
Understanding disease dynamics is crucial for managing wildlife populations and assessing spillover risk to domestic animals and humans, but infection data on free-ranging animals are difficult to obt...
arxiv.org
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
theomichelot.bsky.social
The hmmTMB paper is finally out in the Journal of Statistical Software!

An R package for hidden Markov models with random effects, flexible spline-based covariate effects, and fast inference using TMB or Stan.

Check out the GIthub repository for more examples.

doi.org/10.18637/jss...
hmmTMB: Hidden Markov Models with Flexible Covariate Effects in R by Théo Michelot
<p>Hidden Markov models (HMMs) are widely applied in studies where a discrete-valued process of interest is observed indirectly. They have for example been used to model behavior from human and animal...
doi.org
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
michaelgbertram.bsky.social
Perceived and observed biases within scientific communities: a case study in movement ecology

New paper out in @royalsocietypublishing.org, originally conceived at a Gordon Research Conference

👉 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
hbronnv.bsky.social
If there is an optimal behavior, why is there so much variation in the world? We found that, for white storks, context is everything. @anflack.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

New paper! @cellpress.bsky.social doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.06.044
🧵1/5
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
biodivpathways.bsky.social
We're #hiring a Statistical Wildlife Ecologist! This position analyzes large, complex datasets to support landscape management throughout Canada.

Learn more and apply through the University of Alberta by May 27, 2025:

wildlifescience.ca/hiring-stati...

#biodiversity #mammals #wildlife
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
m-laforge.bsky.social
I am currently looking for an MSc student to join my research group for September 2025 to investigate moose habitat selection in the context of apparent competition in Ontario's Far North. Please share and contact me for further details!
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
larissabeumer.bsky.social
Come study these most adorable - and tough - #Arctic ungulates with us! 🦌 Fully funded 4-year PhD position in Svalbard Reindeer Movement Ecology at The University Centre in #Svalbard: shorturl.at/DaHpw Application deadline is the 25th of April 2025!
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
ecoisilva.bsky.social
I have created a Movement Ecology feed here on Bluesky! 🌍🐾 bsky.app/profile/did:...

Currently, it tracks posts with the #movementecology, #animalmovement, #animalmigration, and #wildlifetracking tags from contributors.

🔹 Want to be added? Message me or reply here!

#Ecology #WildlifeResearch
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
cecibaldoni.bsky.social
🚨 Shrew paper alert! 🚨

Our latest study found that brain size changes stayed on track, but behavior? 🤔 Not so much❗
Captivity makes shrews hyperactive and less motivated to learn, hinting at chronic stress.
🐾 Curious? Full paper here: doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
#Shrews
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
rolandkays.com
We have a cool new job that just opened up at the museum.
Head of Conservation ($50-$88K)

Be the champion for the conservation activities and the related messaging for the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

www.governmentjobs.com/careers/%7B0...
Job Bulletin
www.governmentjobs.com
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
animove-course.bsky.social
To all Animovers out there: Our next workshop will take place from the 30th of November until the 13th of December 2025. More information about location, price and how to apply will follow soon....🤗🐒🦥🌎🐸🐊🕷️🪱
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
asanchez-tojar.bsky.social
This Registered Report masterpiece just dropped at BMC Biology, brilliantly led by a great team with the help of 300+ analysts & reviewers

Same question, same data: go figure!

tl;dr: Substantial heterogeneity among results comes from differences among analytical choices

🔗 doi.org/10.1186/s129...
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
michaelgbertram.bsky.social
The first many-analysts study in ecology is finally published! 🥳🙌

300+ coauthors and 5+ years, this was a massive effort by @elliotgould.bsky.social Hannah Fraser Tim Parker and co.

Open access 👉 bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
ellycknight.bsky.social
Like birds and models? Dr. Erin Bayne and I are currently recruiting a 2 year postdoc to come work with us at the Boreal Avian Modelling project on boreal bird models and applications of those models. Full details are here tinyurl.com/4yxju63k. Feel free to get in touch with qs!
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
theomichelot.bsky.social
Updated vignette on Bayesian inference for hidden Markov models with hmmTMB: specifying priors, extracting posterior samples, visualising posterior uncertainty for estimated distributions and covariate-parameter relationships, etc.

Based on Stan, so it's pretty fast too!

github.com/TheoMichelot...
Posterior sampled for relationship between transition probabilities and covariates in a 2-state hidden Markov model. The posterior samples allow for convenient visualisation of the uncertainty.
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
jpartecke.bsky.social
3-year Postdoc Position

Join our team @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social and investigate the dynamics of seasonal songbird migration using biologging technologies
See details here: bit.ly/3ZojW38

Please get in touch if interested & share with anyone else who might be!
Reposted by Dongmin (Dennis) Kim
mongabay.com
Are you passionate about California’s unique biodiversity and conservation?

Mongabay is hiring a California-based Staff Writer to cover biodiversity corridors, wildlife ecology in the context of climate change, and Indigenous conservation practices etc.

Apply now: mongabay.org/opportunity/...!