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Rob Knell

@robknell.bsky.social

1.7K followers 850 following 400 posts

Evolutionary ecologist working on, amongst other things, mating systems and adaptation. Knows enough stats to be dangerous and inflicts R on the innocent. Takes photos of animals. Also running/triathlon/technical diving.

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Dec 15

#Biostatistics R package: interactive learnr tutorials on statistics ranging from frequency distributions to model selection. Videos, text explanations, quizzes and coding exercises. cran.r-project.org/web/packages...

Biostatistics vignette

cran.r-project.org

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · 3d

Good stuff: not so long ago we thought these beautiful birds were on their way out forever. Also an object lesson in how the BINGOs can fail if they don't understand the local community. #wildlife #birds #conservation

Mongabay @mongabay.com · 4d

An Indonesian songbird once nearly extinct in the wild, the Bali starling, is making a comeback through community-led conservation.

Villages embraced traditional awig-awig regulations to protect the starling, creating powerful cultural, social and financial deterrents to poaching.

Indigenous-led protections spark Bali starling’s recovery in the wild

NUSA PENIDA, Indonesia — Two young conservation workers rattle up on a motorbike and dismount at the edge of a coconut grove. Picking through husks, fallen fronds and stray plastic bottles, they scan…

news.mongabay.com

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · 13d

I'm asking my MSc #wildlife #conservation students to write a 2000 word costed research proposal with ethics statement, data management etc... just wondering if anyone has any examples that they might be OK to share? Would be super helpful. 🧪 Mine are mostly v. long and technical.

Reposted by Rob Knell

Daily Spurious Correlation 🤖 @dailycorrelation.bsky.social · 16d

Per capita consumption of margarine correlates with The divorce rate in Maine (r=0.993)

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · 19d

As always @tetzoo.bsky.social gives us the facts on the latest cryptozoological frenzy

Darren Naish @tetzoo.bsky.social · 19d

This #LochNessMonster photo is doing the rounds on social media, accompanied by a fake story about it being real, and new, and attached to a specific eyewitness event. I see people on Facebook groups thinking that the photo is the 'real deal', sigh. However... 1/n

Image of lake monster underwater, with reflections on surface, and text over image claiming 'new photos surface'.

Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · 19d

In front of Finns as well. Deep shame.

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · 19d

I was a member of staff at QMUL when Edmund Burke was VP for Science and Engineering. Having seen his management style I am not remotely surprised by this.

Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · 19d

A state of emergency in Welsh and UK higher education

Bangor University staff in vice chancellor vote of no confidence

UCU union members at Bangor University passed a motion of no confidence due to staff and budget cuts.

www.bbc.co.uk

Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · 27d

www.bbc.com/news/article... looks like a press release with speculation and no data… maybe it’s the strong sexual selection that drives speciation in these guys? Also “dark DNA”? Please don’t embarrass yourself. 🧪

'Dark DNA' may explain dancing spiders' extraordinary diversity

There are many more species of peacock spider than other animals, scientists think they may know why.

www.bbc.com

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · 29d

How about Martin Novak or George Church? Anything from them?

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · 29d

Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrica

A braai (S African barbecue) alight at night

Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Sep 7

#Bloodmoon #Lunareclipse as seen from Shingwedzi, Kruger National Park, South Africa 🧪 #astrophotography

The moon, but red. Lit more from the bottom right.

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Reposted by Rob Knell

Prof Susie Maidment @tweetisaurus.bsky.social · Aug 27

Hi all, me, @richardjbutler.bsky.social and the amazing UK-US-Moroccan team are delighted to announce that.. we have a new specimen of Spicomellus AND IT'S WAY WEIRDER AND WAY COOLER THAN WE EVER IMAGINED!!

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Reposted by Rob Knell

Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · Aug 25

The future is here: pretty fascinating proof-of-concept study 🚀

"Real-time malaria detection in the Amazon rainforest via drone-collected eDNA and portable qPCR" 🧪🦟🧬

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🔓

Real-time malaria detection in the Amazon rainforest via drone-collected eDNA and portable qPCR

Zoonotic malaria risk at human-wildlife-environment interfaces requires surveillance that integrates signals from reservoirs, vectors and the environm…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Rob Knell

Prof. Elizabeth Clare @profbatgirl.bsky.social · Aug 25

How about some #eDNA, bird biology and a murder mystery by Steve Burrows? A book i consulted on is now out - it's got our airborne #eDNA it in (watch for the cameo...) #WomeninSTEM #AcademicSKY 🧪 here's to my true partner in crime @jlittlefair.bsky.social - our research is now a plot point 🤣

A Deceit of Lapwings

A Deceit of Lapwings : Burrows, Steve: Amazon.ca: Books

a.co

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Aug 25

stabilise FFS

Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Aug 25

Of course not. Dolphins are lovely and friendly and will re-align your chakras and satbilise your aura!

Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Aug 25

Really interesting article by Caroline Davis about a solitary and juvenile dolphin who's got a bit too fond of people. Plenty of potential for a bad outcome for both people and dolphin, sadly. #wildlife #conservation #HWC #human-wildlife #conflict

The perilous charm of Reggie the ‘friendly’ dolphin

The bottlenose in Lyme Bay has become a local celebrity – but experts warn human interaction could be putting everyone at risk

www.theguardian.com

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Aug 19

NB you don’t have to be a fish person!

Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Aug 19

#Job going: Head of Conservation @thedeephull.bsky.social, 50% with @uniofhull.bsky.social with some teaching on our MSc in Wildlife Conservation. We’re particularly interested in someone with good knowledge of legal frameworks, international agreements, NGOs etc. 🧪 www.thedeep.co.uk/jobs

Jobs | The Deep

www.thedeep.co.uk

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Aug 18

I reckon.

Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Aug 14

Judas Bishop

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Aug 14

Bismuth Zeppelin

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Aug 14

Today of all days I should have got Wordle in less than 5 goes…

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Aug 13

New paper out in Proceedings B. NB the picture is nothing to do with our work, which sadly used Drosophila rather than angry monkeys 🫤 have a read if you're interested in selfish genes, sex-ratio distorters, pesticide resistance or just general biological weirdness. 🧪

Novel stressors and trait variation determine X-linked meiotic drive frequency | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Sex ratio meiotic drive alleles bias their transmission by impairing the viability of non-drive gametes, leading to skewed population sex ratios. Despite theoretical predictions that drive alleles sho...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Aug 13

Hello
Can you summarise what this will involve? I was a data editor for another journal which shall remain nameless and ended up quitting for several reasons but the main one was because all they wanted me to do was check other people's code with very short deadlines.

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Rob Knell @robknell.bsky.social · Aug 13

Took daughter to see Alien on the big screen the other day. Response 10/10 great movie why didn’t you make me see it earlier?

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