Rob Knell

Lecturer in Marine Conservation at University of Hull Discover Lecturer in Marine Conservation jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.

Job reminder: lectureship in Marine Conservation available at Hull. Deadline is the 19th. We're friendly and you can still buy a house on an academic salary here. 🧪 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQF022/l...

I’ll look forward to being educated on the errors of my ways :-)

Knapp, A., et al. (2018). Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society, 285(1875), 20180312.

Knapp, A., (2021). Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society, 288(1944), 20202938.

Knell, R. J., (2013). Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 28, 38–47.

I'm not sure how any of those are relevant to palaeontology: would you sneer at a physicist because they don't know Eryops from Tiktaalik? Anyway, here are some references, you can let me know how much of a loser I am as well.

Let's just say I was an author on a lot of the papers on sexual selection in fossil animals with Darren N and Dave H.

Fascinating, do I also fit into that category, given www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... and zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1... and quite a few more?

That sexual selection is one of the primary drivers in evolution is well established. Studies of Mesozoic #dinosaurs and #pterosaurs, however, have been dominated by the view that the variation, extravagance and diversity seen in these animals is not due to the pressures of sexual selection, but...

A gannet diving across the frame upper right to lower left. The sea behind is blue-green. The bird has not yet completely folded its wings.

Two gannet diving upper left to lower right into a grey sea. The lower bird is mostly in the water, the upper bird is about to enter the water. The upper bird has a fishhook embedded in its wing and fishing line trailing from it.

A gannet diving across the frame upper right to lower left. The sea behind is blue-green. The very tip of the bird's beak has just entered the water.

A head-on picture of a plunge diving gannet at the moment the tip of its beak touches the water.

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #DivingForFood so here are some plunge diving gannets from the North Sea in 2025. Note the upper bird in image 2 has a fishhook embedded in its wing and is trailing fishing line #birds #ukbirds #seabirds

Well, you might think that...

Very briefly, Horner and Kevin Padian claimed that exaggerated traits in dinosaurs (lambeosaur crests, ceratopsian frills and horns etc.) most likely evolved for species recognition. We disagreed and made the case for them being socio-sexual signal traits.

Speaking as someone who was involved in the sexual selection argument referred to here, along with @tetzoo.bsky.social and @davehone.bsky.social, I reckon Horner got thoroughly and convincingly panned. One of my main takeaways was how little actual biology some of these senior palaeo guys know... 🧪

I've always thought Padian deserves a bit of respect for that, he knew he was going into the lions den and turned up, represented and took a beating with reasonable grace. Also he's not married a 19 year old aged 60 or visited Epstein post-conviction.

"Pummeling"? Someone has a very selective memory indeed, and I don't think it's me.

Why this new 'spiny dragon' dinosaur found in China is such a huge deal | Discover Wildlife The Iguanodon-like dinosaur had a covering of hollow spikes, according to new research.

Why this new 'spiny dragon' dinosaur found in China is such a huge deal ... a new article at Discover Wildlife www.discoverwildlife.com/dinosaurs/ha... #dinosaurs

A cliff with many black guillemots lined up on the ledges

A gannet sitting on rocks with the sea behind.

Last week the cliffs were empty. Now the gannets and guillemots are back at @rspb.bsky.social Bempton Cliffs. I declare ornithological spring to have started. #birds #ukbirds #ukwildlife #seabirds

Used to cycle up there regularly. Recommend the treacle tart from the National Trust cafe at the top.

Heard lots of good things about Endurance Artist, looking forward to hearing your verdict.

I saw them several times back in the day…

A cup of splosh ana greasy dog
I’m ’appy when I’m riding me ‘og!

A female kestrel flying right to left with her wings raised. She is holding an unfortunate vole in her yellow feet

A female kestrel flying right to left with her wings roughly horizontal, making the red-brown tops of the wings with black tips visible. She is holding an unfortunate vole in her yellow feet

Female kestrel with her unfortunate breakfast from @rspb.bsky.social Bempton Cliffs this morning. No gannets on the cliffs yet but quite a few lurking offshore. It feels like the whole place is waiting... #birds #ukbirds #ukwildlife

Agreed 100%: the whole problem is because of the perverse incentives to publish.

Have always been a keen user of the em-dash, now I'm using it even more and imagining people being confused as to whether I've used ChatGPT to generate a three line email. #AI #Slop

My point being that for me at least journals have always played an important role in filtering out the lower quality papers. Having edited a mid-range journal in my field I know how much filtering gets done.

Don't think that's what I said... however, I think the usefulness of preprint servers is quite field specific. In my area there was already a lot of slop around even before AI and that makes preprints less useful than in other fields.

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

ArXiv preprint server clamps down on AI slop First-time posters to venerable platform now need an endorsement from an established author

Remember when people were saying that preprint servers would make journals irrelevant? 🧪

I’m not directly involved in the recruitment but I’d imagine so.

Sheffield merely the latest university to claim that legally withdrawing your labour should actually be postponing your labour, and punishing people further. Here’s how strikes work:
1. You legally stop working for a period of time. You don’t get paid.
2. Win or lose you go back to work.

Bloody hell. The link in the text works but for some reason the thumbnail it imported does not.