James Gilbert

Lecturer in Marine Conservation at University of Hull An opportunity for an academic position as a Lecturer in Marine Conservation is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic job openings.

Faculty #job alert - come and join our lovely friendly School! The School of Environmental and Life Sciences @uniofhull.bsky.social are recruiting a #Lecturer in Marine Conservation. Closing date 19 Feb - see details below. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQF022/l...

Good morning #invertzoohull! Ready to start a new term with some glorious weirdness? So am I!

Great morning at Hull’s Community Orchard with @jamiesmithbio.bsky.social, sharing with the volunteers some results from the bee project, and getting vital feedback for future projects. This orchard sits on the last remaining common land in Hull. It’s a wonderful place full of vitality and energy ❤️

Just 3 days left to apply for this PhD position - email me with any Qs :)

Enhanced pollinator monitoring using novel flash-detection tags and DNA metabarcoding to track solitary bee foraging for pollen and nectar. at University of Hull on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Enhanced pollinator monitoring using novel flash-detection tags and DNA metabarcoding to track solitary bee foraging for pollen and nectar. at University of Hull, listed on FindAPhD.com

🚨 New PhD opportunity 🚨 studying foraging movements of #masonbees using novel tracking technology and metabarcoding! With me and @domino-joyce.fishsci.com.ap.brid.gy at Hull and Mike Smith at Sheffield. More at FindAPhD www.findaphd.com/phds/project... or message me directly :)

Yes! We’re looking at protein, carb and lipid levels ☺️

First data coming through from our pollen nutritional analysis! Do mason bees provide predictably different nutrition to larvae within nests that have been experimentally heated to temperatures representing different climate scenarios? We are about to find out....

Thrilled to announce a Postdoc opportunity in our group on the evolutionary genetics and ecology of colour. Wonderful system, great collaborators, and room to shape your own ideas.
Apply by 7 Jan: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/13477181...

Multigenerational exposure to high-fat and high-sugar diets exacerbates reproductive distress in an insect model Abstract. In several insect models, high-fat diets and high-sugar diets have detrimental effects, but it is largely unknown if multigenerational exposure c

*New paper alert*
So proud of this paper led by MSc student Jasmin Merkel!

It shows the long-term detrimental effects of high sugar diet and the lack of evolutionary adaptation to it. This is in insects but humans probably don't fare much better...
academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...

These need to be called “nectar dens”

Gottsberger's florid report (1991) on the pollination of Cyclanthaceae: "beetles arrived at the inflorescences, crawled around, copulated, gnawed on the staminodes, and frequently entered into the interior [...] there they "licked" on the stigmatic exudates"

more absolute filth in the pollination literature

Death and Taxus: the contribution of mechanical damage to the multiple factors associated with Taxus brevifolia mortality - Ecological Processes Background Recent increases in tree mortality are often attributed to climate, but climate extremes may just be the last of many stressors that have unfolded over many years resulting in tree death. P...

Death and Taxus. As a fan of bad puns in paper titles, this one is a classic. 🌲🌳🧪🌏 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#Psakibriefing
Science break.
The Malaysian Dead Leaf Mantis mimicking a mouth with teeth to scare off predators.

Nitrogen deposition reveals global patterns in plant and animal stoichiometry - Nature Communications Organisms vary in their nitrogen and phosphorus content, shaping ecological and evolutionary processes. This study shows that nitrogen deposition is a consistent global factor associated with plant an...

🧵1/5
🌍🔬 Our new paper is out! We identify the global mechanisms shaping the elemental composition of organisms — and the results overturn long-standing assumptions in ecology.

👇 Thread ↓
doi.org/10.1038/s414...

ECE 2026 - XIII European Congress of Entomology It is our great pleasure to welcome you to Tours, France, in the heart of the Loire Valley, from June 29 to July 3, 2026.

🚨 Less than 1 week left!

Early Bird registration & abstract submission for #ECE2026Tours close 15 Dec 2025.

Join us in Tours, France for 50 symposia across 10 themes covering the full breadth of entomology.

Submit your abstract & secure reduced fees today 👉 buff.ly/xfwQHLl

irbi-tours.bsky.social

Enhanced pollinator monitoring using novel flash-detection tags and DNA metabarcoding to track solitary bee foraging for pollen and nectar. at University of Hull on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Enhanced pollinator monitoring using novel flash-detection tags and DNA metabarcoding to track solitary bee foraging for pollen and nectar. at University of Hull, listed on FindAPhD.com

🚨 New PhD opportunity 🚨 studying foraging movements of #masonbees using novel tracking technology and metabarcoding! With me and @domino-joyce.fishsci.com.ap.brid.gy at Hull and Mike Smith at Sheffield. More at FindAPhD www.findaphd.com/phds/project... or message me directly :)

The fitness costs of reproductive specialization scale inversely with organismal size The evolution of reproductive specialization represents a fundamental innovation in multicellular life, yet the conditions favoring its evolution remain poorly understood. Here, we develop a populatio...

1/28 New preprint up, which I think is the best theoretical idea I've ever had. We asked a simple question: what are the costs of investment into non-reproductive somatic cells? Turns out these costs decrease with the *logarithm* of organism size!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A photo of a beetle standing in front of a green background. The beetle's head and thorax are bright metallic green and he has two horns, almost as long as his body, arising from his head and sloping backwards.

Onthophagus rangifer, one of the most extraordinary horned dung beetles you might ever see. From a baited pitfall trap near Skukuza on our #MSc #Wildlife #Conservation field course in the #Kruger park. #HullWildlifeConservation #insects #coleoptera #wildlifephotography @uniofhull.bsky.social

A group of students standing in front of a large electrified fence. A SANParks scientist holding a rifle is talking to them. The vegetation behind the fence is visibly higher than that in front.

Students on our #Msc #Wildlife #Conservation learning how elephants alter biodiversity and tree cover in the #krugernationalpark #HullWildlifeConservation. Exclusion experiments tell us how herbivores affect ecological comunities. When the herbivores are 🐘 you need serious gear to keep 'em out.

Not at all bad, got some really good suggestions on reframing and it strengthened it. Interesting they now publish the entire process openly with the paper, including all your emails to the editor! How come?

Biggest stingless bee nest entrance I’ve ever seen! [normal-sized adult male hand for scale]

How Memory Evolves: Integrating Cognitive Ecology, Neuroscience, and Experimental Evolution in Drosophila at University College London on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - How Memory Evolves: Integrating Cognitive Ecology, Neuroscience, and Experimental Evolution in Drosophila at University College London, listed on FindAPhD.com

New PhD position available! For applicants keen to combine evolutionary ecology, neuroscience and animal cognition. Based at UCL with me, @maxreuter.bsky.social, @fcamus.bsky.social and Tamara Boto (Bristol). Directly funded, see here for details and eligibility: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

The University of Cambridge invites applications for a joint Assistant/Associate Professorship in Computational Biology starting April 2026. Strong research and teaching abilities are required. More info: cam.ac.uk #job

HAH I can imagine. Dad has taken his all over the middle east

For more info see the 🧵 below: bsky.app/profile/jdjg...

My dad has one of these! And has had interesting times with it at various airports!

Nature’s greatest method actors: the insects that cosplay bumblebees When you’re an animal undercover, sometimes it’s not enough just to look like someone else

🚨New #behavioural #mimicry paper out in Proc B!🚨
In which we show that hoverflies have evolved to prefer the flower colour choices of their #bee models instead of their #fly relatives.
Conversation article here: theconversation.com/natures-grea...
Paper here: doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Funded PhD open to UK-domiciled, home fee applicants of Black African, Black Caribbean or other Black or mixed Black heritage - The legacy impacts of extreme climate events on animal behaviour, physio... PhD Project - Funded PhD open to UK-domiciled, home fee applicants of Black African, Black Caribbean or other Black or mixed Black heritage - The legacy impacts of extreme climate events on animal beh...

PhD position at the University of Bristol (with me!) entitled 'The legacy impacts of extreme climate events on animal behaviour, physiology, and fitness'.

Fully funded and is available for UK-domiciled students of black heritage. Please reach out with any questions.

tinyurl.com/5n7s8yp9

Great PhD opportunity to work with @juliakoricheva.bsky.social & me looking at floral rewards in forests. @rbgkew.bsky.social @rhulbiology.bsky.social

Allotments are vanishing when the UK urgently needs more of them In praise of digging for potatoes.

An article I wrote for @theconversation.com in response to #allotment sell-offs. Featuring evidence from myself and @davegoulson.bsky.social and the amazing work led by Jill Edmondson's team at Sheffield. #communitygardens #urbanbiodiversity #growyourown
theconversation.com/allotments-a...