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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · 9h

We have an updated version of this preprint, available at:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
Fingers crossed the formal, final version will be out soon.

We think this highlights a major issue in how we study behavior (& more).

Thank you @sekharma.bsky.social & @itchyshin.bsky.social!

#evolution

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Reposted by Ned Dochtermann

Szymek Drobniak @szymekdr.bsky.social · 6d

Our newest paper is out in Methods in Ecol Evol @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social :) amazing team effort - we show that the traditional way of analyzing comparative data lacks finesse. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/oidcS... w/ @itchyshin.bsky.social Yefeng Yang, Losia Lagisz & Ayumi Mizuno

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Reposted by Ned Dochtermann

Julia Saltz @juliasaltz.bsky.social · 5d

my lab has moved to @iubiology.bsky.social! We're getting the #newlab set up here and excited to interact with @iu-cisab.bsky.social, @bdsc.bsky.social, and more! I'd love to hear from prospective lab members, especially prospective PhD students, postdocs, and technicians. more info: saltzlab.com

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · 7d

Always great when a software's documentation contradicts things it can easily do. Arrggh.

(felt incompetent, might delete later)

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · 13d

Was reading a paper and recalled how after giving a plenary at my home society, career high point, an NAS fellow said something to the effect of ”I had low expectations but that was actually interesting”. Thanks! 🤣

Those are the kinds of expectations I can hopefully continue to meet!

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · 14d

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Reposted by Ned Dochtermann

Natalia Jagielska @nataliajagielska.bsky.social · 15d

Science is dominated by male native-English-speakers with elevated affluence. It's a demographic that makes up less than 3% of the total global population. If someone wants to keep politics out of science, they are comfortable enforcing the status quo that benefits them (a small privileged group).

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Reposted by Ned Dochtermann

Kate Laskowski @katelaskowski.bsky.social · 23d

SquidSim is the coolest package - it let's you build complex hierarchical data structures and then simulate data from the world you create. The best tool for doing proper power analyses and testing how well your models can uncover the 'truth'. I've been recommending it to everyone!

Joel Pick @joelpick.bsky.social · 23d

Interested in simulating the kind of data that you might commonly find in evolutionary and ecological studies?

Then we have the R package for you - squidSim!!

Check our new preprint:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

squidSim: a flexible R package for structured and reproducible simulations in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

ecoevorxiv.org

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Reposted by Ned Dochtermann

Joel Pick @joelpick.bsky.social · 23d

Interested in simulating the kind of data that you might commonly find in evolutionary and ecological studies?

Then we have the R package for you - squidSim!!

Check our new preprint:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

squidSim: a flexible R package for structured and reproducible simulations in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

ecoevorxiv.org

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · 28d

As a final addition, my departmental colleague (@batsrkul.bsky.social) Prof. Erin Gillam and I finally got our poster presentation recorded and up. Just a couple of months late!

We looked at average explanatory power across studies in animal behavior.

youtu.be/nXZ7yIARokE

#ABS2025
#evolution

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · 29d

Very interesting!
So bizarre.

Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

(just to be clear: bonkers was not meant negatively!)

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

Skimming the paper again, I don't see the variances compared, which makes sense given the paper's goals. It's also not clear how that would be done here. Any idea though how the variances differed on average?

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

This remains one of the most bonkers behavioral studies I've read. The amount of measurements...

I'm currently revising a proposal for estimation of a 21 trait G and even that will be excruciatingly painful.

1E is still one of my favorite figures.

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

As an aside, we did get a prusa on your recommendation. Now I’m considering a bambu for home.

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

Yeah, while being wrong can be interesting, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t rather relieved we weren’t totally so!

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

Relatedly: Your neuron work nicely shows how stochasticity in development might also play a role but is that possibly for something that hasn’t been under strong enough selection to promote canalization?

Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

All your IGV work and then the results in mollies are fascinating to me and challenging our assumptions. That there are alternative pathways to individuality is just really exciting.

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

It might well not be, unfortunately there aren’t a lot of systems we can test in. Another issue is it’s not repeatablity that matters but the magnitude of Vi relative to when there is Va. I don’t recall, have you compared to Vi in outbreeding pops?

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

Interestingly, we also found high levels of within-individual behavioral variation in our inbred lines. Within-individual variation remains too poorly studied, as also discussed in this review by others (including @dingemanselab.bsky.social)
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

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The biology hidden inside residual within‐individual phenotypic variation

Phenotypes vary hierarchically among taxa and populations, among genotypes within populations, among individuals within genotypes, and also within individuals for repeatedly expressed, labile phenoty....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

This suggests that, at least for sexually reproducing species, the standard model might be sufficient. However, the work with parthenogenic species suggests that the standard model isn't **necessary** which remains fascinating.

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

Alternatively, maybe species reproducing by parthenogenesis are just... different.

That's what we sought to examine here.
Ultimately, what we found was that highly inbred lines of crickets show the low among-individual variation expected according to the standard model (mostly).

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

If, instead, intra-genotypic variation, stochastic or micro-environmental contributors were sufficient, wow!, that would force us to reconsider pretty much all of what we thought we knew about "personality", "behavioral syndromes", etc.

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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

This, to me, was an exceptionally exciting finding--which the various research groups followed up on extensively and found was incredibly robust--because it suggested that what we know about what generates among-individual variation (what Bierbach et al. call "individuality") might be wrong!
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Ned Dochtermann @neddochtermann.bsky.social · Sep 8

Fantastic work a few years back by @katelaskowski.bsky.social and others not on bluesky suggested that among-individual variation was present at high levels even when both genetic and environmental variation should be approaching zero:
www.nature.com/articles/nco...
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Behavioural individuality in clonal fish arises despite near-identical rearing conditions - Nature Communications

Genetically-identical animals experiencing the same environmental conditions should develop, in theory, identical behavioral traits. However, Bierbachet al. show here that behavioral differences still...

www.nature.com

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