Sean Rands

Woo! So well deserved, Rob!

An image of Dr. Rob Thomas holding a mug smiling at the camera with a stone wall in the background features in a circular frame over a background of white, green and pale pink colouring. Wording top left reads: Winner The Marsh Award for Ornithology Dr. Rob Thomas. The BTO logo and Marsh Charitable Trust logo are top right of the image.

The Marsh Award for Ornithology goes to Dr. Rob Thomas! @robthomasbirds.bsky.social has made a huge contribution to ornithology through academic research, teaching & mentorship that’s inspired generations of students. He’s also published a monograph on the Storm-petrels. @marshawards.bsky.social

Investigating the relationship between heat-mediated cognitive impairment and antipredator response in a wild bird | Royal Society Open Science Increasingly frequent heatwaves require animals to spend more time thermoregulating at the expense of other fitness-related behaviours. Emerging evidence also indicates that high temperatures can impa...

Our new paper is out! @camillasoravia.bsky.social leads this research, which looks into the relationship between heat- mediated cognitive impairment and the antipredator response in wild pied babblers. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, Why are some animals black and white? Why are zebras so stripy? Why do penguins wear tuxedos?

Prof Tim Caro and I both feature in this BBC World Service radio show about why zebra have stripes. Catch it at 8:30pm GMT on Fri 3rd Oct or replay on the link below. @bristolbiosci.bsky.social @ecologyofvision.bsky.social

🥳Excited to share our latest collaborative work using whole-cell models and #AI to design genomes!🦠🧬 What a time to be alive! Project led by Ioana Gherman, with Kieren Sharma, Joshua Rees-Garbutt, Claire Grierson, Lucia Marucci, Wei Pang & Zahraa Abdallah #synbio authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Modelling Evolution Cambridge Core - Philosophy of Science - Modelling Evolution

My new book 'Modelling Evolution' is now published! Please share. Available for free download for 2 weeks with this link: www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Exciting news to share! I have started my new role as a Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology / Director of MSc Bioinformatics program at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol @bristolbiosci.bsky.social

NetLogo 7 is here!!

✨New modern UI with dark mode
🔧Performance improvements & new features

👉Download: www.netlogo.org/download
📣 Full announcement: www.netlogo.org/announcements/

#NetLogo #AgentBasedModeling #ABM #ComplexSystems

Arthur Yambayamba's first PhD chapter is out today @biotropica.bsky.social 🍾

Using NFI data from Zambia we explore how climate and competition shape the crown allometries of Miombo woodlands 🌳📐

📜 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Only one week left for active and enthusiastic researchers to join two of our Editorial Board teams! 🪲

📢 Vacancies are open! Why not consider applying?

#RESAgForestEnt Commissioning Editor: buff.ly/kCN1Fah

#RESPhysEnt Reviews Editor: buff.ly/SJ8h79l

Deadlines: 15 September 2025 ⏰

Sulfoxaflor Impairs Bumblebee Memory Across Moderate and Extreme Temperatures Bumblebees rely on their memory to navigate a complicated landscape and floral marketplace. When foraging, bees are often exposed to a multitude of anthropogenic stressors, but how these stressors in...

New paper (first work from Bristol!)

'Sulfoxaflor impairs bumblebee memory across moderate and extreme temperatures'

@bristolbiosci.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Dwarf Mongooses Lose Body Mass in Hot Weather due to Limited Behavioural Plasticity Using long-term data from wild dwarf mongooses (Helogale parvula), we demonstrate that on hot days (≥ 35°C) compared to matched cooler ones (≤ 33°C), mongooses emerged and commenced foraging earlier ...

☀️New Paper!☀️ In @ecol-evol.bsky.social

Dwarf mongooses lose body mass in hot weather due to limited behavioural plasticity

With top co-authors: @josharbon.bsky.social, Amy Morris-Drake, @juliekern.bsky.social, @andyradford.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71963
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social

🧵⬇️

Point of View: To be, or not to be, part-time in academia Part-time working can be beneficial for individual academics, and also for academia as a whole.

To be, or not to be, part-time in academia?
This is a tricky question that has faced many of us and in @elife.bsky.social we discuss the benefits and challenges of being part-time. With @emiliapsantos.bsky.social and a fantastic, interdisciplinary team!
elifesciences.org/articles/106...

Genuinely looking forwards to seeing this one..

Excited to share that we have just been awarded a NERC Pushing the Frontiers grant to work on between-group cooperation in the Shark Bay dolphins. We will soon advertise a 3 year post-doc to join the team - drop me an email if you might be interested! Pls share widely 🙏🏻

Delighted to see this work out in PNAS. The idea that got me into butterflies, started on it in 2011 but took the intellectual energy of @benitoexplains.bsky.social, and the support of a great team, to develop it and put it all together.

Thanks to #NERC @ukri.org for funding 🙏🏻

Repeated evolution of reduced visual investment at the onset of ecological speciation in high-altitude Heliconius butterflies Abstract. Colonization of new habitats is typically followed by divergent selection acting on traits that are immediately important for fitness. For exampl

New from @gadusmo.bsky.social’s PhD thesis 👐🏼 with @dickmerrill.bsky.social, Jake Morris, Camilo Salazar and Carolina Pardo-Díaz

‘Repeated evolution of reduced visual investment at the onset of ecological speciation in high-altitude #Heliconius butterflies’ 1/n 🧪

academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

I still despise Oasis.

“Keep your voice down…”

Animal Vibration Lab showcased at the 2025 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition

The Animal Vibration Lab @ox.ac.uk will be at the @royalsociety.org summer science exhibition this week!

Sense elephant vibrations, face off with a tarantula, and handle seismic monitoring tools to uncover how vibrations help animals communicate and sense their environment 👇
bit.ly/3FYIhqX

A close up of hands using pinning forceps to transfer an Emperor moth specimen to the main drawer which can be seen in the background.

Very excited to say that we are seeking an Assistant Curator to join our entomology team! 😁🪲

For full details on this 2 year fixed-term post, head to our website:
➡️ careers.nms.ac.uk/job/727783

#Entomology #InsectCollection #EntoJobs #MuseumJobs

high up view of people visiting insect week event

child with insect face mask by the craft table

children visiting insect display

child looking at microscope by insect stall

#InsectWeek event @bristolbiosci.bsky.social was a huge success - over 200 visitors across all ages, some who had even cycled here from other cities, and there was lots of enthusiasm and fascination for the mini-beasts (woodlice, spiders, and ticks also featured!). Thanks to all who came & helped!

If you went to state school, do you ever feel British life is rigged against you? Welcome to the 93% Club | Alastair Campbell The civil service, judiciary and media are still dominated by the privately educated 7%. Lasting change is not a pipe dream – but it’s up to us, says writer and podcaster Alastair Campbell

This is an awesome idea (www.93percent.club), aimed at fostering state-educated professional networks both in university and beyond - and, I didn't realise it had aptly started here in Bristol. #StateSchoolProud

Great news, but we'll be sad to lose Steve here in Bristol!

🎉We are delighted to announce that Professor Stephen Montgomery @ebablab.bsky.social‬ will be the 3rd Prince Philip Professor of Ecology and Evolution.

We look forward to welcoming him next year!

Insect Week BRISTOL ENTOMOLOGY RESEARCH NETWORK

For #InsectWeek head over to us here in the LSB on Tuesday 24 June to discover the amazing world of insects!

See these creatures up close, learn about the research, and do some awesome crafting!

All are welcome, and it's FREE admission!

12-6pm, Tues 24 June!

bristentnet.weebly.com/insect-week

Soils and topography drive large and predictable shifts in canopy dynamics across tropical forest landscapes Tropical forests can vary enormously in their 3D structure and dynamics across surprisingly small spatial scales. However, the drivers that underpin this local-scale variation in forest structure an.....

So proud of Beibei Zhang for leading this paper in @newphyt.bsky.social showing how soils & topography shape variation in canopy dynamics across tropical forest landscapes 🌳🔃🌐

Link to 📃: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A short 🧵

We are looking for a Research Assistant to contribute to our ongoing analysis of dolphin acoustic data from West Wales - collaboration between @wtsww.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social 🐬
Deadline is 29th June - please share widely!
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

We've just launched AviList! - the new unified global taxonomic checklist for the world's birds, developed through the Working Group on Avian Classification, including BirdLife, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, IOC and others @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social www.avilist.org

Left: Colourful image of cells and neurons with the text "The Royal Society Publishing" Right: Phlosophical Transactions B. Submit a proposal to edit an influential themed issue in your field by 18 July. For more information visit bit.ly/PTBproposals

Next deadline for submitting a proposal for a special issue in @royalsocietypublishing.org #PhilTransB is July 18th. I'm on the editorial board and would highly recommend it as an opportunity for new networks, insights and highlighting your field. Find out more at bit.ly/PTBproposals