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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · 11d

#ICRS is the premier conference for all things coral reef, and a great place to foster thinking and collaboration between ecologists, historical ecologists, and palaeontologists. Consider submitting your abstract to "Reefs through Time", hosted by some top-notch researchers #Coral #Paleobiology

Erin Dillon @erinmdillon.bsky.social · 14d

Work on reef paleoecology? Join our session "Reefs through time: leveraging today's interdisciplinary tools to better understand the past of reef organisms and ecosystems" at the 2026 International Coral Reef Symposium

📆Abstract deadline: Dec 1, 2025
🔗https://www.icrs2026.nz/call-for-abstracts

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Reposted by Aaron O'Dea

Dr. Brendan Anderson @fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social · 11d

In time for #FossilFriday, a new paper by Jansen Smith and many paleontologists (including me) on what questions the field may focus on in the coming decade

Identifying the Big Questions in paleontology: a community-driven project | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core - www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Identifying the Big Questions in paleontology: a community-driven project | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core

Identifying the Big Questions in paleontology: a community-driven project

www.cambridge.org

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Reposted by Aaron O'Dea

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 13d

One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Unprecedented suppression of Panama’s Pacific upwelling in 2025.” Explore the article here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

For more trending articles, visit ow.ly/Me2U50SkLRZ.

Wind-jet upwelling in the GOP. (A) Typical wind vectors and SST through the topographic low in the Isthmus of Panama showing reduced sea surface temperatures in the Gulf (Feb 4, 2019). (B) Daily satellite-derived SST 1985–2025. Dashed line shows the lowest 2025 SST (27.5 °C); gray arrow indicates anomalous 2025.

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · 20d

New paper! led by Chris Perry: Most W. Atlantic reefs in current state can't keep up with sealevel rise at 2°C+. If reefs could accrete at Holocene rates (like these in Enriquillo basin) they'd manage fine. Restoration pockets offer some local hope, but overall sobering news doi.org/10.1038/s415...

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Sep 3

Try this: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/.... Hope it works

Unprecedented suppression of Panama’s Pacific upwelling in 2025 | PNAS

The Gulf of Panama’s (GOP) seasonal upwelling system has consistently delivered cool, nutrient-rich waters via northerly trade winds every January–...

www.pnas.org

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Sep 2

Here in the tropics, climate "disruption" can upend predictable processes that coastal communities rely on. There are many regionally-important upwelling zones across the tropics. All need better monitoring and climate predictions. Great collaboration with @mpic.de.‬ OA! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Sep 2

More than 95% biomass of Panama's fisheries comes from the Pacific coast and the #1 largest export of Panama is sea food. Upwelling is economically critical for Panama and its people. Is this a one-off or a vision of the future? Photo: Steve Paton/STRI

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Sep 2

It appears the culprit was dramatically reduced wind patterns—74% fewer northerly winds with much shorter duration when they did occur. Just not enough to kick-start the upwelling...

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Sep 2

We analysed long term records of temperature and wind in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry using the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's long term monitoring program data. Here's to institutional monitoring!

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Sep 2

This seasonal upwelling is driven by the trade winds, and it brings cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface. Year on, year out it has predictably supported ocean life and fisheries for millennia. The cooling waters also protect coral reefs from heat stress. Photos: Natasha Hinojosa and Steve Paton

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Sep 2

📊 new paper! The natural phenomenon of upwelling, which normally occurs every year in the Gulf of Panama, failed for the first time on record in 2025...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
[most co-authors not on bluesky except @javsdiaz.bsky.social @jonscibulski.bsky.social]...

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Reposted by Aaron O'Dea

Adiel Klompmaker @paleoadiel.bsky.social · Aug 29

Just one more week (till 5 Sept) to apply for the postdoc position with me at UA Museums' Department of Museum Research and Collections. NSF-project together with Jill Leonard-Pingel, @odealab.bsky.social, and @sethf.bsky.social focused on marine ecosystems in Panama.

bsky.app/profile/pale...

Adiel Klompmaker @paleoadiel.bsky.social · Aug 8

Job Alert‼️ Postdoctoral Fellow opportunity in paleontology/biology at the University of Alabama Museums:
careers.ua.edu/jobs/688232b... Aim: assess biotic interactions using mollusks from both sides of the Isthmus of Panama. Please share widely! @paleosoc.bsky.social @almnh.bsky.social

Postdoctoral Fellow opportunity. The NSF-funded project “Energetic Controls on Marine Benthic Community Structure in Space and Time” aims to (1) evaluate how productivity affects the energetic and trophic structure of marine benthic communities on either side of the modern Isthmus of Panama, where there is now a strong contrast between the high productivity, upwelling-dominated regime of the eastern Pacific and the low-productivity, low-seasonality regime of the Caribbean (2) use this knowledge to evaluate the fossil record of Caribbean benthic ecosystems before, during, and after the uplift of the isthmus during which planktonic productivity decreased in the Caribbean and (3) relate ecosystem changes driven by productivity shifts to the well documented Caribbean extinction event ~2 Ma. This is a project in collaboration with Ohio State U, UC Berkeley, and STRI.
One key component of this project is to assess biotic interactions such as predation and possibly parasitism using fossil and modern molluscan assemblages from both sides of the Isthmus of Panama. I am recruiting a Postdoctoral Fellow with a background in paleontology and/or biology/ecology with strong quantitative skills, attention to detail and organization, and someone who can effectively supervise students. Conference support is provided. The postdoc will work with Dr. Adiel Klompmaker (aaklompmaker@ua.edu) within the University of Alabama Museums’ Department of Museum Research and Collections (https://collections.museums.ua.edu/).
Initial appointment will be for 1 year, with renewal contingent upon funding. The deadline to apply is 5 September 2025 at 22:55 US Central Day Time. The salary will be $56,000 per year. Please upload a cover letter expressing your interest and qualifications, a CV, and contact details of at least two references. To apply and for more information see: https://careers.ua.edu/jobs/688232bd-b82e-49d3-90ea-06601c242dab

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Reposted by Aaron O'Dea

Harriet E. Nuttall @whosyourmammal.bsky.social · Aug 16

Calling all Palaeontology PhD candidates and post-docs everywhere! No matter what your particular field of research or country of institution, please follow forms.gle/cLLkEjdLjPrT... and fill in my ANONYMOUS RESEARCH SURVEY – #Yourpalaeolife : investigating fieldwork by early career palaeontologists

#Yourpalaeolife: the experience of early career palaeontologists and fieldwork

Hello everybody! Welcome to my anonymous survey about fieldwork in palaeontology. I want to know about your experiences: what is the place of fieldwork in our research lives, how to we view it, and h...

forms.gle

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Reposted by Aaron O'Dea

Adiel Klompmaker @paleoadiel.bsky.social · Aug 8

Job Alert‼️ Postdoctoral Fellow opportunity in paleontology/biology at the University of Alabama Museums:
careers.ua.edu/jobs/688232b... Aim: assess biotic interactions using mollusks from both sides of the Isthmus of Panama. Please share widely! @paleosoc.bsky.social @almnh.bsky.social

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Aug 4

I do like a good past analogue for future change. V cool study by Pallacks et al shows how twilight zone lanternfishes—vital prey & carbon cyclers and earth's largest biomass—vanished from the E. Mediterranean when oxygen dropped, but rebounded fast when it returned. www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Ocean deoxygenation linked to ancient mesopelagic fish decline - Communications Earth & Environment

Historical phases of ocean oxygen minimum are associated with near extinctions of mesopelagic fish, suggesting risks of future deoxygenation to marine fisheries due to warming, according to an analysi...

www.nature.com

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Aug 4

We are hiring a lab manager for our lab family at Naos Island in Panama. More information and position description here: odealab.com/opportunities/.

Deadline is today, but if you need more time please just let me know

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Jul 24

Nice video report from Shuchita Jha at @inold.news on our Caribbean reef trophodynamics paper (www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...). How can some reef fishes be bigger today than they were 7,000 years ago? youtu.be/buGORJ3F1iM

Caribbean Coral Reefs Meet Archaeology

YouTube video by Neighbird

youtu.be

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Jul 10

Paywalled? Grab the pdf here: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ig0x2...

www.dropbox.com

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Jul 10

Thrilled to share our new paper, led by @jonscibulski.bsky.social, on the rich 16kyr-long history of human-ocean interactions along the Pacific coast of Panama and Costa Rica. Inspired by the late Richard Cooke MBE and beautifully illustrated by his son, @cookedillustrations.com #PaleoSky

Jon Cybulski @jonscibulski.bsky.social · Jul 10

🌊Just out! We reviewed the history of human-ocean interactions, focusing on the Pacific coast of the Southern Central Asmerican Isthmus (Panamá and Costa Rica).

Over 16K years of stories on culture, environment, and ecology!

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....
Illustration: Madeline Dall

Historical ecology of the Southern Central American Pacific coast | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

The Pacific coast of the Southern Central American Isthmus is a highly productive and biodiverse region with a rich human history. Although the interaction of the oceans, climate, biodiversity and early human systems has shaped the region’s ecology, ...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Jul 1

Paywall? Get the pdf here: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4tf47...

Joint first author: @erinmdillon.bsky.social plus other lovelies, including @gobyone.bsky.social @kt-cramer.bsky.social @jonscibulski.bsky.social @mattleray.bsky.social and others.

www.dropbox.com

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Jul 1

While writing this paper, our labs underwent their own trophic cascade! We used to have a few scorpions here and there. Administration put out scorpion poison and the we became infested by millipedes (?Chondrodesmus)

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Jul 1

While all this was going, the cryptobenthic fishes showed remarkable stability with no change in body size or abundance over 7,000 years. Are they immune to the cascading effects of predation or are bottom-up factors more important? Photo by @gobyone.bsky.social

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Jul 1

We also looked at the frequency of damselfish bite marks on Acropora coral. They increased nearly 10-fold on modern compared to ancient reefs, suggesting more damselfishes and again, reduced predation. Photo of S. planifrons in Bocas del Toro by @hannah-rempel.bsky.social

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Jul 1

We found that sharks and fishes that are commonly targeted by humans are >50% depleted and 22% smaller today than 7,000 years ago. Expected given long term exploitation!

What surprised us was that prey fish doubled in abundance and are growing 17% larger today, suggesting release from predation

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Aaron O'Dea @odealab.bsky.social · Jul 1

and extracted thousands of reef fish otoliths and dermal denticles from the fine reef sediments

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