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Tomer J. Czaczkes

@tomerczaczkes.bsky.social

1.6K followers 420 following 80 posts

Social insects (mainly ants). Cognition. Comparative psychology. Collective behaviour. Invasive ants. Information use. Professor of Applied Zoology and Animal Ecology at the Freie Universität Berlin.

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Tomer J. Czaczkes @tomerczaczkes.bsky.social · Nov 20

Hello all! A bit about my groups research:
We study the #behaviour and #cognition of insects - especially #ants. The lab has four major themes:
- Cognition and Comparative psychology
- Animal behavioural economics
- Learning and memory
- All sorts of random stuff we find interesting!
A 🧵 on these!

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Changing Cities e.V. @ccitiesorg.bsky.social · 2d

📣 Am 18.10. eröffnen wir mit einer Rad-und Fußdemo auf der #A100 die Autobahn für ALLE!
📍 Estrel Hotel, S Sonnenallee
⏰ 14 Uhr
Egal ob zu Fuß, mit Rad, Skates oder anderem - Hauptsache ohne Auto!
🚲 🛼 🛴

A100 wegbassen: Demo auf der Autobahn am am 18.10.

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Tomer J. Czaczkes @tomerczaczkes.bsky.social · 2d

Yes, I saw this!

Reposted by Tomer J. Czaczkes

ASSAB @animbehav.bsky.social · 16d

🕷️PhD position: Homemakers; web building behaviour in New Zealand sheet-web spiders 🕷️

Please email Dr Leilani Walker - [email protected]

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depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 16d

imagine if a family of beavers randomly showed up right now and finished whatever thing you've been putting off

In early 2025, beaver activity in the Brdy Protected Landscape Area, Czech Republic, contributed to the restoration of a wetland ecosystem. A family of beavers constructed a series of dams that coincidentally accomplished environmental goals of the Czech government, which had delayed its proposed project since 2018 for bureaucratic and financial reasons. The beaver-built dams saved the Czech government approximately US$1.2 million,

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Corrie Moreau @corriemoreau.bsky.social · 19d

UPDATE: The 2025-2026 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resources! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

ecoevojobs.net 2025-26

docs.google.com

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Daniel Lakens @lakens.bsky.social · Aug 15

An abbreviation (ABB) in a journal article (JA) or Grant Application (GA) is rarely worth the words it saves. Every ABB requires cognitive resources (CR) and at my age by the time I'm halfway through a JA or GA I no longer have the CR to remember what your ABB stood for.

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Daniele Carlesso @danielecarlesso.bsky.social · Aug 12

In humans, bigger teams often mean less effort per person — the #Ringelmann effect. Weaver #ants 🐜 flip the script: #teamwork makes them superefficient!

Video + paper out now in Current Biology!
@cellpress.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/44yrvp6m
tinyurl.com/3jnnevfn

Superefficient teamwork in weaver ants / Curr. Biol., Aug. 12, 2025 (Vol. 35, Issue 17)

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

tinyurl.com

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Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · Aug 10

Urodid moth cocoon, Costa Rica. The basket hangs by a thread (possibly to discourage ants) and the structure may allow rain to drain and/or prevent mold. But it doesn't stop parasites - I think the seed-like ovals are cocoons of parasitic flies or wasps, indicating the moth pupa's likely fate. 🐙🌿

A macro photo, vertical orientation, of an unusual moth cocoon, spun out of gold silk but in an oval-shaped, open-weave basket that looks like wire mesh. Part of a green leaf is out of focus in the background, and the top of the basket is attached to a white woven thread extending up out of frame. In the lower left half of the cocoon are a dozen or so small, gray, seed-like structures that are probably the cocoons of tiny parasitic wasps or flies, indicating they parasitized the moth pupa that originally made the mesh cocoon.

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Anon Opin @anonopin.bsky.social · Aug 9

Much as I'd love to bring back Tomorrow's World, what we really need is Today's World, explaining the predatory nature of the tech industry, internet and phone scams, and online culture to people who aren't terminally online

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Tomer J. Czaczkes @tomerczaczkes.bsky.social · Aug 4

Totally agree. One of those creations that just ooze quality. A few weaker tracks, but still.

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Tomer J. Czaczkes @tomerczaczkes.bsky.social · Aug 4

The money saved from the various open access deals and publisher contracts should be enough to run their own professional Mega-Journal, I guess

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Tomer J. Czaczkes @tomerczaczkes.bsky.social · Aug 4

I would see it more that every article has to be posted as a preprint on the funders server, and then the funders journals get "first dibs". If it's rejected by them, then authors get to send it elsewhere. Volume-wise, if the various arXives, PLOSs etc manage, it would surely be doable.

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Tomer J. Czaczkes @tomerczaczkes.bsky.social · Aug 4

I completely agree, and have thought this for a while! Not ideal, but certainly a realistic goal, fitting the models we are used to, but diffusing a lot of issues. Not quite clear to me what the potential downsides are, compared to the current system.

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Andrew Johnston @andrewjohnston.bsky.social · Aug 4

Two specimens of Megetra punctata from southeastern Arizona. Surprisingly the smaller one was a female and the larger a male - I think size is totally related to how much blustery ooze they have left in them and not correlated to gender. These things reflex bleed as soon as they are touched!

A large, seemingly inflated black beetle with orange red markings on it. The abdomen is blown up and it has tiny hardened front wings which don’t cover its body.

A smaller individual of the same species which seems to have had the abdomen shrivel up some.

The large individual curled into the fetal position with an orange glob of its toxic blood secreted around its head to avoid predation and hopefully deter entomologists. Unfortunately for him, I had forceps.

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The Crustacean Society @crustaceansociety.bsky.social · Aug 3

❗️Job Alert: Deep-Sea Benthic Biologist (Assistant Professor) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA 🌊 Apply by Dec 1, 2025: apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF04175

📷 Auckland Museum Collections (CC) #MarineBiology

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Tomer J. Czaczkes @tomerczaczkes.bsky.social · Aug 2

The real danger is that it all seems so plausible. These LLMs are used to save us time, and they can, but each reference has to be checked carefully. Perhaps Google's Notebook does a better job - I'm yet to test that.

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Tomer J. Czaczkes @tomerczaczkes.bsky.social · Aug 2

Your regular reminder that LLMs give the illusion of fluency, but still hallucinate dangerously when asked about more niche topics, such as ant behaviour.

Here, Gemini invented a paper which I apparently authored. The link works, but sends you to an unrelated paper.

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Max-Planck-Gesellschaft @maxplanck.de · Aug 1

Director at Max Planck - a unique position! The Open Call for Expressions of Interest in Max Planck Directorships is open now and can be submitted by the 31st of October 2025. ➡️ mpg.de/directors - Please share the Open Call among potential candidates.

Open Call for Expressions of Interest in Max Planck Directorships:
Expressions of interest can be submitted until 31 October 2025.

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Christoph Bautz @christophbautz.bsky.social · Aug 1

Schon mehr als 163.000 verteidigen die Energiewende!

Wirtschaftsministerin Katherina Reiche (CDU) droht mit dem fossilen Rückschritt: Statt erneuerbare Energien voranzubringen, plant sie neue Gaskraftwerke. Im Sinne ihres ehemaligen Arbeitgebers – der Gaswirtschaft.

Hier der Appell dagegen: 👇

Erneuerbare statt Gas – jetzt Appell unterzeichnen!

Vom Gas-Konzern direkt ins Kabinett: Katherina Reiche (CDU) will die Erneuerbaren ausbremsen. Das müssen wir verhindern!

aktion.campact.de

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Jerome Beetz @beetzjerome.bsky.social · Aug 1

We are looking for a Postdoc (up to 5 years) who wants to study neural mechanisms of spatial memory in honeybees.

This includes tetrode recordings in behaving honeybees.

Application Deadline is 1st of October 2025.

More details:
www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/services/...

Postdoctoral Position (f/m/d) at the Chair of Behavioral Physiology & Sociobiology

Biocenter of the University of Würzburg Am Hubland 97074 Würzburg

www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de

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Andi Fischer @andifischer10.bsky.social · Jul 31

🎓 #PhD in Animal Metabolomics & Ecology @unigreifswald🇩🇪
Sexual and non-sexual communication in a widow spider 🕷️⚗️
DFG-funded | 3 years | behavioral ecology & chemical ecology
Details: bit.ly/widow-phd
Apply by Sept 24, start in February 2026
#AcademicSky #pleaserepost

Chemical Ecology of Widow Spiders

We are hiring for a funded PhD positionapply here Untangling pheromonal communication between and within the sexes of widow spiders Our group is undertaking a comprehensive exploration of the chemi…

bit.ly

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Juliano Sarmento Cabral @jsarmentocabral.bsky.social · Jul 10

Hiring/Seeking a *permanent* programmer in ecological modelling at my lab @unibonn.bsky.social. We mechanistically model plant communities, island biogeography, species range dynamics, eco-evolutionary feedbacks, diversity gradients, tropical forests, vascular epiphytes. Pls rt! shorturl.at/Bzzdt

Programmer in Ecological Modelling

Full-time, permanent, EG 10, Reference number: 2025/72

shorturl.at

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Diana Fisher @dianafisher1080.bsky.social · Jul 15

Ongoing academic position lecturer in terrestrial animal ecology at JCU Australia. Deadline 8th August 2025. careers.jcu.edu.au/jobs/lecture...

Lecturer, Animal Ecology - Townsville, QLD, Australia

James Cook University (JCU) is creating a brighter future for life in the Tropics and beyond, through education and research that makes a difference locally and globally. We now have an opportunity a...

careers.jcu.edu.au

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Craig White @craig-white.bsky.social · Jul 28

Two (!) ongoing Academic (Research and Teaching) positions in Ecology, here at Monash University in Melbourne. Closing in a little over a week! Please share widely! Both at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer level (similar to Assistant Professor) careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...

Job Search

careers.pageuppeople.com

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What a week, huh? all Wednesdays @whataweekhuh.bsky.social · Jul 30

Captain Haddock looking very frazzled, saying, “What a week, huh?”
Tintin leans into the frame and says, “Captain, it’s Wednesday.”
Snowy is very excited about the drink he has found.

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