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Reposted by Orlin S Todorov

Josef Uyeda @pseudacris.bsky.social · May 21

Unsolicited listicle: My list of the most criminally underused/underappreciated phylogenetic comparative methods. Note, I am not involved in ANY of these methods; but I see them as things people are often asking of comparative data but have been surprised at how infrequently they have been cited.

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Reposted by Orlin S Todorov

Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · 5d

Extinct Pleistocene carnivores were diurnal and highly active - fresh off the press 🐯 Only BMR and diurnality are robust predictors of extinction and this also stands for extant species 🦨🐅🦝 With @johnalroy.bsky.social we use an exhaustive sample and account for phylogenetic and trait uncertainty.

https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecog.08061

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Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · 5d

And no, neither smaller, nor larger 🧠 are related to extinction proclivity.

All data available at ecoregister.org and doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16924578

Extinct Pleistocene carnivores were diurnal and highly active

There is much contention over the causes and correlates of megafaunal extinctions at the end of the Pleistocene. A major role for human impact such as hunting has been discussed widely. If correct, t...

nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · 5d

BMR is a major but often overlooked confound of all traits previously proposed to be related to carnivore extinction during the Pleistocene in the context of the overkill hypothesis. We looked at 22 eco & LH traits in a sample of 120 extant and 14 extinct species from every biogeographic realm.

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Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · 5d

Extinct Pleistocene carnivores were diurnal and highly active - fresh off the press 🐯 Only BMR and diurnality are robust predictors of extinction and this also stands for extant species 🦨🐅🦝 With @johnalroy.bsky.social we use an exhaustive sample and account for phylogenetic and trait uncertainty.

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Reposted by Orlin S Todorov

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 14d

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).

But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

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Reposted by Orlin S Todorov

katja heuer @k4tj4.bsky.social · Jul 27

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To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, you’ll be surprised!

🧵Thread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...

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Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · 25d

🦘🦘🦘 If you ever wonder why roos jump in your headlights (or even if you don't) here is a brief overview of why and what is different about marsupial cognitive ability. 🦘🦘🦘

uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/c595eb...

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Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · Sep 1

Congratulations!

Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · Aug 29

It was a pleasure being part of this collaboration led by Barry Brook with @johnalroy.bsky.social @willgearty.bsky.social et al! Watch this space for more 🐅🐆🐈🦝

Andrej Spiridonov @andrejpaleo.bsky.social · Aug 18

We live in the non-uniformitarian world of post-Pleistocene mammalian turnover:
"findings demonstrate that human-driven niche modification, beyond earlier megafaunal extinctions, profoundly reshaped mammal communities on a global scale."
doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...
🧪 ⚒️ #Paleobio #EvoBio #Macroecology

Regional‐level faunal turnover from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene at 34 multi‐site locations.

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Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · Aug 26

Check what gem I stumbled upon last week:

bsky.app/profile/orli...

Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · Aug 19

Randomly coming across a MDPI article where the author cites himself every time he's unsure what to cite (t-test, Fisher). It's also the editor's choice 🤦‍♂️
www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/14...
50 out of place self-citations! AI or just negligence?
plantscience.psu.edu/directory/rp...

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Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · Aug 19

Fruit trees have been cultivated for nearly 3000 years :D

Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · Aug 19

Randomly coming across a MDPI article where the author cites himself every time he's unsure what to cite (t-test, Fisher). It's also the editor's choice 🤦‍♂️
www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/14...
50 out of place self-citations! AI or just negligence?
plantscience.psu.edu/directory/rp...

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Reposted by Orlin S Todorov

Dr Jeremy Walker @jeremywalker.bsky.social · Aug 16

Public info institution the BoM never mentions fossil-fuelled global heating, even during mega-droughts, heatwaves, bushfires floods. Why? Perhaps because its board is controlled by Shell, Santos, Woodside & Chevron?

If you think this stinks, make a subsmission!

michaelwest.com.au/undue-influe...

Undue Influence: oil and gas giants infiltrate Australia's Bureau of Meteorology - Michael West

Oil giants Shell, Santos, Woodside and Chevron finance the Bureau of Meteorology. The BOM does not discuss "climate change".

michaelwest.com.au

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Reposted by Orlin S Todorov

John Alroy @johnalroy.bsky.social · Aug 13

Human impacts on large mammals went well beyond triggering late Quaternary mass extinctions. A new paper by Brook et al. showing that biogeographic patterns were erased by the spread of domesticated species:

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

A related paper is in press. Stay tuned.

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Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · Aug 11

Deadline is 1st October and the project is fully funded for local and international students. Spread the word!

Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · Aug 11

We are recruiting a PhD student to work on a decision-support tool for food producers to assess and optimise the environmental sustainability of products. Ideally, someone who is knowledgeable about food production, sustainability and can or is willing to learn how to code in R/Shiny or Python.

Available projects for research degrees | University of Tasmania - Environmentally sustainable food product

Globally, there is an urgent need to make food production environmenta...

www.utas.edu.au

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Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · Aug 6

Came here to say that 🙈

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Orlin S Todorov @orlinst.bsky.social · Jul 31

36 USD delivery to oz 🤦🏻‍♂️

Reposted by Orlin S Todorov

David Grimm @david-grimm.bsky.social · Jul 28

Crab-like creatures are famed for having evolved five times in evolutionary history. But anteaters have evolved at least 12 times--in half the evolutionary span. Cool story by @jakebuehler.bsky.social for @science.org

‘Things keep evolving into anteaters.’ Odd animals arose at least 12 separate times

Findings speak to the dramatic impact ants and termites can have on mammalian evolution

www.science.org

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Reposted by Orlin S Todorov

Gates Dupont @gates.bsky.social · Jul 31

🚨 First PhD chapter is out! My work thus far, with @andy2dobson.bsky.social

We found that formerly common species have declined the fastest, on average.

📄 North American bird declines are driven by reductions in common species | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

North American bird declines are driven by reductions in common species

Declines in North American birds are driven not by rare species vanishing but by sharp losses among formerly common species.

www.science.org

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Reposted by Orlin S Todorov

Alan McElligott @amcell.bsky.social · Jul 30

my guess is that this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of unethical conduct.... ⬇️

Retraction Watch @retractionwatch.com · Jul 29

Frontiers to retract 122 articles, links thousands in other publishers’ journals to “unethical” network

The publisher Frontiers has begun retracting a batch of 122 articles across five journals after an investigation found a network of authors and editors engaged in “unethical actions” such as manipu…

retractionwatch.com

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Reposted by Orlin S Todorov

Mark Rubin @markrubin.bsky.social · May 12

-- Metascience 2025 Virtual Preconference --

"Critical Metascience: Does Metascience Need to Change?"

23rd June 15:00 BST

nomadit.co.uk/conference/m...

🔹️ Sven Ulpts

🔹️ Sheena Bartscherer

🔹️ Me!

🔹️ Carlos Santana

🔹️ @lisamalich.bsky.social

🔹️ @jbakcoleman.bsky.social

#MetaSci #STS #PhilSci

Despite broad uptake, metascience and the Open Science reform movement have garnered ample criticism. Such criticism is also known as critical metascience. We will reflect on central critiques by bringing together key voices from a variety of disciplines, asking what needs to change, how and why?

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Reposted by Orlin S Todorov

Berna Devezer @devezer.bsky.social · Jun 2

all this talk about changes in p-value magnitude being interpreted as an increase in the "quality of evidence" necessitates that i share this. we all should share and actually read this in fact (for starters).
#stats #metasci

The Difference Between “Significant” and “Not Significant” is not Itself Statistically Significant

It is common to summarize statistical comparisons by declarations of statistical significance or nonsignificance. Here we discuss one problem with such declarations, namely that changes in statisti...

www.tandfonline.com

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Reposted by Orlin S Todorov

Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda @alejandrofabregastejeda.com · Jun 3

What theoretical & methodological challenges emerge when investigating #behavior across the tree of life? We are organizing an interdisciplinary workshop on 'comparative behavioral biology' (Sept. 26-27). Please help us share the open CfA! 📢👇 hiw.kuleuven.be/clps/events/... #philsci #HPbio #evobio

A collage illustrating diverse biological behaviors across life forms: orange and yellow lichens growing on rock (symbiotic behavior), a close-up of bacteria (microbial interactions), leafcutter ants cooperating to carry a leaf (social insect behavior), a sundew plant trapping an insect (plant predation), and phylogenetic trees representing evolutionary relationships.

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