Liam Dougherty

Anthropocentric bias may explain research disparities between animal tool use and nest building Scientists are not immune from bias. Studying nonhuman species objectively is inherently challenging, especially for ‘charismatic’ and ostensibly huma…

“the widespread appeal of animal tool use is partly due to anthropocentrism”

👍 for this new comparison of how animal tools and nests are talked about, from Sally Street et al.

The need to slap a human-like ‘intelligence’ label on animals is a symptom of this bias (writing a book on that now) 🧪🪹🔨

Is it hot right now? YES!! (In most of Europe anyway) 🥵🥵🥵

Loving these new web applications developed for the UK 🇬🇧 by @roostweather.bsky.social and @edhawkins.org and Spain 🇪🇸 by @dargueso.bsky.social and AUS 🇦🇺 (original) by @mlip.bsky.social
🌍🧪⚒️🌡️📈

Links:
istheukhotrightnow.com
hoyextremo.com

Reliability of meta-analyses in ecology and evolution: (mostly) good news from a case study on sexual signals | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Meta-analyses are powerful synthesis tools that are popular in ecology and evolution owing to the rapidly growing literature of this field. Although the usefulness of meta-analyses depends on their reliability, such as the precision of individual and mean ...

Massive piece of work by @pietropollo.bsky.social and colleagues!

Really encouraging paper showing that many EcoEvo meta-analyses are largely reproducible and replicable!

doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

you might think N American species are getting common at their north range limit and rare at their south range limit as temps get warmer

but you would be wrong

new paper in GEB w/ @eliotmiller.bsky.social & Matt Strimas-Mackey, eBird Status & Trends ftw

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Meta-analysis reveals that phenotypic plasticity and divergent selection promote reproductive isolation during incipient speciation Nature Ecology & Evolution - The authors examine factors affecting reproductive isolation in the early stages of speciation by collating data from 34 experimental speciation studies in 15...

Divergent selection and plasticity increases reproductive isolation early during incipient speciation. Find our new meta-analysis on experimental speciation studies here: rdcu.be/ek019 🧪 @EvolOdonata.ecoevo.social.ap.brid.gy @pipdowning.bsky.social

Short-term increases in rival number improves single mating productivity in male Drosophila Abstract. In variable environments, animals can change their reproductive behaviours and physiology to maximise reproductive returns. Natural environments

New paper led by Lily Amos, with @stuartwigby.bsky.social and myself- very rapid changes in male Drosophila mating behaviour in response to multiple stressors (academic.oup.com/beheco/advan...).

🚨 PhD in Ecology 🚨

We’re looking for up to 2 PhD students to join our lab!
If you’re curious about behavioural ecology & species interactions, this is for you!

🌐 More info: torsekar.in
📅 Deadline for Univ PhD entrance exam: 12 May '25
🔗 Apply: tinyurl.com/23ubx89z
#PhDOpportunity #Ecology

Over the past 4 years, ABC has collected donations and distributed the funds as microgrants to animal behaviour students in financial need. These microgrants have helped students cover costs such as books, travel, registration fees, etc. Thank you to everyone who donated to ABC!

Over the past 4 years, ABC has collected donations and distributed the funds as microgrants to animal behaviour students in financial need. These microgrants have helped students cover costs such as books, travel, registration fees, etc. Thank you to everyone who donated to ABC!

Come join us in Barcelona this August!

Six-decade research bias towards fancy and familiar bird species | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Human implicit biases towards visually appealing and familiar stimuli are well documented and rooted in our brains’ reward systems. For example, humans are drawn to charismatic, familiar organisms, bu...

"from 1965 to 2020, nearly half the variation in publication trends among 293 North American male passerine & near-passerine birds was explained by 3 factors subject to human bias: aesthetic salience (visual appeal), range size (familiarity) & number of universities within ranges (accessibility)"

Tell him good luck from me!

Screenshot of the linked Quarto website, with input checkboxes to change different conditions for a regression model that predicts economic performance based on US political party, with a reported p-value

I’ve long used FiveThirtyEight’s interactive “Hack Your Way To Scientific Glory” to illustrate the idea of p-hacking when I teach statistics. But ABC/Disney killed the site earlier this month :(

So I made my own with #rstats and Observable and #QuartoPub ! stats.andrewheiss.com/hack-your-way/

Vulnerability of amphibians to global warming - Nature A 4 °C global temperature increase would push 7.5% of amphibian species beyond their physiological limits.

@nature.com has just published online our new paper!🎉🐸🌡️Lead by @patricepottier.bsky.social and supervised by myself and @itchyshin.bsky.social: in this massive research effort we overcome several common convictions related to the topics we studied. www.nature.com/articles/s41... Here are take-homes.

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...

Wrote Scientific Reports February 8 2024 that a newly published meta-analysis on mindfulness & brain morphology excluded all null-findings and therefore ... by definition found a relationship.

Still no proper response from the journal (other then many "we'll look into it"). It's been a year now.

The first many-analysts study in ecology is finally published! 🥳🙌

300+ coauthors and 5+ years, this was a massive effort by @elliotgould.bsky.social Hannah Fraser Tim Parker and co.

Open access 👉 bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

NERC Independent Research Fellowship 2024 Apply for funding to further your career through an independent research fellowship.

NERC Fellowships are open! We (Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, at the @liverpooluni.bsky.social) have a policy to provide a PERMANENT JOB to successful candidates at the end of the fellowship. Please in touch if you're interested!

2025 BBSRC Fellowships scheme Apply for funding to carry out independent research within a host laboratory and gain leadership skills.

BBSRC fellowships are open: 3yrs of funding, ECRs worldwide are eligible (including the US 👀). Deadline 7th May. If you've a some postdoc experience (but no prior independent fellowships) and fancy coming to my Dept/ Institute in @liverpooluni.bsky.social, drop me a message.

Excellent end to the week. Just heard that our symposium "Enhancing Diversity and Transparency in Ecology and Evolution: Reliable Practices for Research and Organisations" has been accepted at @eseb2025.bsky.social! w/Marija Purgar (not on BSky). Stay tuned for more info!

@sortee.bsky.social

Very excited our symposium on “Ecological and evolutionary implications of climate change on reproduction” has been accepted for @eseb2025.bsky.social! Linked to our ESEB STN, organised by Rhonda Snook, Claudia Fricke, @liamdougherty.bsky.social and me. See you in Barcelona? Details to follow.

Check out this special issue in The Journal of Thermal Biology! 🌡️🔥🌡️
If you've done some work that advances our understanding of the variation in thermal responses across life stages, this one is for you👇

Silent cells? Potential for context-dependent gene expression in mature sperm | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Sperm are traditionally viewed as transcriptionally and translationally silent cells. However, observations that components of the cellular machinery of gene expression are maintained in ejaculated sp...

New review paper!
@1jonevans.bsky.social @pacogarciagonzalez.bsky.social and I ask whether mature sperm cells might actively express genes. Really proud to see this one out - has been a long, difficult journey through much skepticism to publication. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Hey BlueSkyers, we’re finalizing a #meta-analysis 📚 on comparative studies examining the link between #SexualSelection and #Speciation. If you have unpublished data or know of studies that might not surface in a systematic search, please reach out - we’d love to include them!

Please share!

Journal editors - I would like to review a manuscript with a PhD (for training purposes) - if you have a manuscript for review on any of the following topics - sparrow behaviour, urban-rural avian ecology, avian diet/feeding/foraging, bill morphology - please consider sending me a review request!

#KimWever and I are uncovering a lot of problematic articles in our systematic review. @science.org has picked up the story. Read: www.science.org/content/arti...

Some friends like @okalliokoski.bsky.social, @jamesheathers.bsky.social and @torstenrackoll.bsky.social also share their experience.

‘It felt very icky’: This scientist’s name was used to write fake peer reviews Elsevier retracts dozens of journal articles that were published based on “fictitious” reviews

Earlier this year, I received news that fake peer reviews were allegedly being submitted impersonating me and approximately six others

I shared my story with Science to, hopefully, reduce the chance of this kind of breach happening again

www.science.org/content/arti...

PhD Programmes, Research Projects & Studentships in the UK & Europe FindAPhD is a comprehensive guide to PhD studentships and postgraduate research degrees

For anyone looking for PhDs in the UK starting October 2025 in ecology, evolution, environment etc. The new Doctoral Landscape Awards (DLAs) recently got announced so lots of people will be adverting PhDs with January deadlines. Check out findaphd.com to search for ones that interest you!