James Orr

Isolation, engineering and ecology of temperate phages from the human gut - Nature Human host-associated cellular products may act as induction agents for bacteriophages.

Very excited to share the latest work from our lab, which was published today in Nature!
nature.com/articles/s41...

PhD graduate and now post-doc Sofia Dahlman, along with co-senior author Sam Forster from The Hudson and other researchers from our lab and others.

Broadcaster and scríbhneoir Manchán Magan dies aged 55 The writer, broadcaster and documentary maker Manchán Magan has died at the age of 55, his family has confirmed.

This is a real loss. Few people did as much as Manchán Magan to connect the Irish landscape to its language and culture. His books are impressive works of accessible scholarship and will hopefully be read for many years to come. #SpeirGorm

A teal flyer for a PhD opportunity to investigate how warming may change antimicrobial resistance. The project will use experiments on Klebsiella bacteria to answer questions about how temperature affects their response to antibiotics, plasmid transfer, and fitness costs. The research involves microbiology lab work, bioinformatics, and mathematical modeling. The flyer includes contact details for Dr. Daniel Padfield and the logos of the sponsoring institutions.

I have an MRC-funded PhD project available (www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...) on how warming will change the problem of AMR. Join a small and friendly group (padpadpadpad.netlify.app/about) in (sometimes) sunny Cornwall. 🧪🦠 #microsky

Please share the ad below with anyone who may be interested.

Check out this new article on null model selection for multiple stressor research. Fantastic work by Iris Pimentel from @leeselab.bsky.social within the @crc-resist.bsky.social.
Freely available at: dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

Man seated, in red coat, white trousers and black boots. Dog sitting to left with head on man’s knee. Skin of wolf on floor under their feet

Wolves were treated as a threat to livestock and hunted to extinction in Ireland, aided by bounties. Portrait of John Watson with hound at his side and skin of ‘last wolf in Ireland’ 1786 under their feet. Royal Dublin Society collection #InternationalWolfDay

Was great to attend a Summer Academy of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. Really creative and clever students - enjoyed the seminar with the students and felt honored to give an evening talk in such a nice location on trends in insect populations. #Neubeuern #Studienstiftung #Insectdecline

Want to name a real virus? I have recently discovered 9 new phages which now need names! To enter, you simply need to donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust on my JustGiving page (£2 = 1 entry) and share your email with me on donation (see link info). Please share 💚 www.justgiving.com/page/meaghan-c-1

Thrilled to announce our webinar series:

🌱📈 Quantifying Ecology 📈🌱

We are collaborating with our SIG friends to bring you quantitative methods in different ecological contexts.

Kicking off with Dr @jamesaorr.bsky.social and @bes-aquaticgroup.bsky.social on 5th August. More details to come!

Ecosystems have multiple interacting processes that buffer against co-occurring stressors There are multiple processes that buffer the effects of anthropogenic stressors. Much is known about how single buffering processes (e.g., biodiversity, adaptation) mitigate the effects of stressors o...

Final version published in @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social

Kong et al.
Ecosystems have multiple interacting processes that buffer against co-occurring stressors

www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

Making sense of (sublinear) density dependence Sublinear density dependence has been reported in numerous empirical studies and yet it is seemingly incompatible with most resource-explicit competition models. Reconciling this disconnect will either necessitate substantive revision of empirical methods or the assumptions of resource competition theory, but it also presents opportunities for original research with wide-ranging implications.

Online now: Making sense of (sublinear) density dependence

Please share. 2 tenure-track T&R math/stat jobs at the University of Queensland, Australia. Amazing weather, gorgeous campus & lifestyle. 17% employer retirement contribution, lots of leave. Strong global reputation. Supports diversity @stevenstrogatz.com uq.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/uqcare...

Honoured to receive the 2024 Robert May prize !! 😊 🎉 Many thanks to the @britishecologicalsociety.org
& @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social

The T-series bacteriophages are reductionist models that continue to shape the field - Nature Microbiology Jeremy Barr discusses how he began studying bacteriophages, the historic use of the T-series phages and how they have shaped the field.

🚨Jeremy Barr discusses how he began studying #bacteriophages, the historic use of the T-series #phages, and how they have shaped the field.

#MicroSky #PhageSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ecosystems have multiple interacting processes that buffer against co-occurring stressors There are multiple processes that buffer the effects of anthropogenic stressors. Much is known about how single buffering processes (e.g., biodiversit…

Very happy to see this paper out, wonderful collaboration with Gaowen Yang and @jamesaorr.bsky.social & other friends

Kong et al. @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social
Ecosystems have multiple interacting processes that buffer against co-occurring stressors

🧪
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We have announced the 2024 Robert May Prize shortlist, our award for early career researchers! 🏆

Follow the link below to see our shortlisted authors and their papers 🌎 🧪 👇

Poster for Quantitative Phage-Bacteria Dynamics Across Scales Summer School, June 23-27, 2025, UMD https://bit.ly/phageschool2025-umd

Reminder: application deadline upcoming for applications from MS + PhD students + postdocs for a Summer School on

Quantitative Phage-Bacteria Dynamics Across Scales
U of Maryland, College Park, June 23-27, 2025

Apply by 3/21/25:
bit.ly/phageschool2...

We are looking for a #PhD student to work on the impacts of multiple stressors on native #oysters as part of the BRICONS Project co-supervised by @annikaclements.bsky.social - contact me for details on how to apply @tcddublin.bsky.social

Evolution Under Competition Increases Population Production by Reducing the Density‐Dependence of Net Energy Fluxes and Growth Using experimental evolution, we determined the impact of intra- versus interspecific competition on three marine phytoplankton species. We found that the species achieved the same evolutionary outco....

Happy to share our new paper! We tested how species evolve in response to #competition. We tracked the evolution of 3 #phytoplankton species, evolved alone or together. Our main finding is that #density-dependence weakens through #evolution to increase population production. doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

Check out our dispatch on apicomplexans that infect corals!

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

These parasite-like partners have lost photosynthesis but retained chlorophyll... are they friend or foe?

@currentbiology.bsky.social #protistsonsky #symbiosky #microsky #coralreefs

Coexistence Theory for Microbial Ecology, and Vice Versa Classical models from theoretical ecology are seeing increasing uptake in microbial ecology, but there remains rich potential for closer cross-pollination. Here we explore opportunities for stronger ....

In our new paper we discuss how modern coexistence theory can help microbial ecologists tackle fundamental & applied questions, and how microbial systems can help to push coexistence theory forward! With Andrew Letten and Dave Armitage (@darmitage.bsky.social). doi.org/10.1111/1462...

We are excited to announce our new seminar series highlighting research on population biology and theoretical ecology from academics and post-grads based in the Asia-Pacific. We have a great line up of speakers for the next few months. Stay tuned for more info!

Now accepting applicants for 25-26 intake of our #StatisticalEcology MSc: bit.ly/3ooHNyc. A unique opportunity to develop skills at the interface of #statistics and #ecology (some partial scholarships available too). Please help me share!

A pinhole camera photo taken from Summer to Winter Solstice. It's a bit blurry as the aperture was made with a tiny needle and no focus mechanism. There are yellow to green lines across the photo, that's the Sun moving across the sky over the course of a day. The top line is from the Summer Solstice, the bottom line from the Winter Solstice. Cloudy days don't have any lines or broken lines as the Sun was obscured by clouds. There are some trees on the left, right and in the background.

A pinhole camera photo, a 6 month exposure from Summer to Winter solstice. There are trees on the right side and background. A house with two cars in the drive are visible almost in the center of the photo. The lines are made from the Sun moving across the sky with the bottom line being the Winter Solstice and the top line the Summer solstice. On cloudy days the lines are broken or not visible as the sun was obscured by clouds. The lines show some reflections from a tree trunk. The lines are mostly a white color with some hints of blue, green and yellow in places. Some of the colors could be from rain or snow staining the paper I was using.

Happy Winter Solstice!

These photos were taken with a pinhole camera I made from a beer can and left out from Summer to Winter Solstice - a 6 month exposure.

Bottom line = Winter Solstice. Top line = Summer Solstice.

The lines are the Sun moving across the sky w/some reflections. No line = clouds

#ESAus2024: alcohol/food didn't affect guesses on the number of species observed in our house (answer 1,168, average ESA guess 200). An excuse to indulge at tonight's dinner. Find Andrew Rogers if you want to chat about our house biodiversity study 👉 doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... 🌍 @ecolsocaus.bsky.social

A Functional Basis for the Assembly of Australian Subtropical Rainforest Tree Communities We surveyed rainforest tree communities across the Australian subtropics (spanning 600 to 2500 mm rainfall year−1) and measured functional traits on 285 (91%) of all recorded species. Hydraulic strat....

🔥 in Ecology Letters 🔥
#Traits describing hydraulic strategies and deciduousness explain the occurrence trends of almost 300 #rainforest #tree species across a steep rainfall gradient in Australia. #FunctionalTraits
dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele....

Thanks Khuong! It's been a long journey haha

Variability of functional and biodiversity responses to perturbations is predictable and informative Nature Communications - Measures of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning show variable responses to perturbations, complicating the prediction of responses to global change. This study shows that...

Big thanks to Jeff Arnoldi (at CNRS) who mentored me through this work 🌊

Thanks also to TCD Zoology and @oxfordbiology.bsky.social, to the reviewers for their motivating comments, and to the rest of our team: Jeremy Piggott, @yodacomplex.bsky.social, and @michcjackson.bsky.social!

rdcu.be/d1V4O

Here’s a tutorial aimed at empirical ecologists interested in applying our framework to their own data (e.g., from large experiments, syntheses, or biomonitoring programs): jamesaorr.github.io/community-pr... - sorry about any typos!

Using the brilliant dataset produced by Zhenghu Zhou and colleagues (doi.org/10.1038/s414...), we demonstrate how our framework can provide new insights into species’ contributions to functions and species' response to perturbations using only information about community-level responses.

We propose a framework, built on geometric arguments, that uses the variability of community-level responses to quantify:

(i) the similarity of functions
(ii) how many species contribute to functions
(iii) the response diversity of communities
(iv) the biomass scaling of perturbations