It’s quicker when you know absolutely nothing about the subject and don’t feel so much pressure….

Horst (German original I think) also means a raised area (in lowland) or a perched nest

This study sampled whale baleen from museum specimens to study long term hormone patterns in bowhead whales 🐋 . The results provide clues into whale reproduction and stress over decades, while providing a useful baseline for future research.

Read it here ➡️ academic.oup.com/conphys/arti...

Thanks - and hello!! I've spent the last day and a half trying to organise photo haul.. mostly removing images of kids squabbling to be honest. Hope all is good with you!

Vaca falls, Cayo, Belize

Inviting water for a kayak, Southwater Caye Marine Reserve Belize

Evening reading spot overlooking back reef flat

blue-green water, coconut palms, Southwater Caye, Belize

That'll do for now...

Nurse shark and jacks, Hol Chan marine reserve Belize

? Amazon? boa, Cayo district, Belize

Xunantunish Mayan temple complex, Belize

Green iguana in mangroves, Ambergris Cay, Belize

Belize barrier reef with gorgonians

Male basilisk lizard - Belize rainforest

Mopan river Cayo district, Belize

Just back from Belize. Definitely recommend... maybe more pictures to come...

Hi all. I am very excited that after 6 years I finally got my phylogenetic comparative methods book and online exercises online. Feel free to use and share. The book is here: nhcooper123.github.io/pcm-primer/. Note that it is not finished, we had to abandon it before the sunk costs fallacy broke us

New study shows democracy has deep global roots—not just Greece and Rome A new study on ancient societies from around the world is rewriting what we thought we knew about democracy. A team of researchers analyzed archaeological and historical evidence from 31 ancient socie...

Press release for our new paper!

“…people across the world created inclusive political systems, even under difficult conditions…An understanding of the hallmarks of autocracy and democracy can help identify threats and pump the brakes on burgeoning totalitarian regimes.”

phys.org/news/2026-03...

Check out my recent #JFB Editor's Choice: "Uncovering the lazybones of the shark world": doi.org/10.1111/jfb..... Stable isotopes, going beyond identifying where a fish has come from, or where it has been - now providing data on life-history traits! Paper by Delgado et al doi.org/10.1111/jfb....

presumably this is what you're watching over the next 90 mins?

Evolutionary adaptation to global change reduces sustainable fisheries yields Global warming is altering the fisheries that underpin food security, but projections of these impacts generally exclude evolutionary processes. We describe a model that forecasts how fish will adapt ...

Fish will have to adapt to a warming world, what will that adaptation do to fisheries yields? We answer that question today in Science. I’ll summarise our findings very briefly in this thread
www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....

First bluebell flowers in the woods

It’s started!

I trod on Beth’s foot in a club. Proud days.

I was there- and it was!

Long-term warming reduces fish biomass, but heatwaves shift it - Nature Ecology & Evolution A large-scale analysis of changes in fish biomass over 25 years identifies average biomass declines associated with long-term warming, as well as sharp decreases and increases in biomass associated wi...

Nice large data analysis on fish biomass / distribution response sto warming - species' thermal position within range clearly moderating observed responses www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Britain’s Story: The Next Chapter - BBC Royal Charter Review, Green Paper and public consultation

This is the Gov looking for your input on the BBC. It takes a while to complete (15/20 mins) but it’s pretty comprehensive and covers most aspects.

Please share. I’m surprised many people haven’t seen it yet.

www.gov.uk/government/c...

Weak trophic position–body mass relationships undermine simple size-spectrum models for coral reefs 🦑🧪

royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

The Physiological Challenge of Climate Change for Free-Living Terrestrial Mammals Most scenarios that seek to predict the responses of terrestrial mammals to climate change focus on the direct thermal effects of higher ambient temperatures. Measurements from free-living mammals rev...

Chuffed to have been invited to write for Annual Review of Physiology, describing our work on climate change impacts on terrestrial mammals. www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

We face two potential missteps in ecophysiology: 1) measuring animals under socially unrealistic conditions & 2) extrapolating results to nature, where social dynamics alter trait expression, plasticity, & evolutionary outcomes. Our new commentary in @jexpbiol.bsky.social : doi.org/10.1242/jeb....

We have an exciting #FSBI2026 scientific prgm. Confirmed speakers include Prof Rashid Sumaila (Univ of British Columbia), Dr Ioanna Katsiakaki (Cefas), Prof Steven Cooke (Carelton Univ), Dr Bryce Stewart (Univ of Plymouth), & Dr Sarah Brichenough (Southern IFCA) fsbi.org.uk/symposium-2026/

Inferring bird migration from bone isotopes and histology: A fossil‐friendly methodological framework Bird seasonal migration is a remarkable biogeographic phenomenon, yet its deep-time origin(s) and evolutionary history remain poorly understood, with the bird fossil record largely overlooked. Thi...

Inferring bird migration from bone isotopes and histology: A fossil‐friendly methodological framework - Duhamel - 2026 - Methods in Ecology and Evolution - Wiley Online Library besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The flounder effect: disparities in taxonomic and ecological study intensity across extant and fossil marine organisms hamper conservation - npj Biodiversity npj Biodiversity - The flounder effect: disparities in taxonomic and ecological study intensity across extant and fossil marine organisms hamper conservation

New paper out:

The flounder effect: disparities in taxonomic and ecological study intensity across extant and fossil marine organisms hamper conservation

with @fossildetective.bsky.social, @bigfacecats.bsky.social, Curtis Congreve & @jonhendricks.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44... 🦑⚒️

We are extending the abstract submission deadline for #FSBI2026! Submit your abstracts by Friday 6 February at 17:00. We are committed to getting decisions back in time for the FSBI Travel Grant deadline on 1 March! fsbi.org.uk/symposium-2026/

New paper out, possibly one of the most tedious projects of my life... it's working name was Project ARDUOUS and boy howdy did it live up to its name 🧪🏺
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

⚠️ 1 week to go until the abstract deadline #FSBI2026!! Deadline: 2nd Feb at 5pm. The conference aims to bring together scientists from a range of disciplines to explore ways of integrating our research and strengthening relationships with stakeholders and policymakers. Don't miss out! bit.ly/45mWtU4

New paper out today! "Fossil otolith assemblages reveal millennial-scale changes in reef fish biomass and trophic structure across the Isthmus of Panama"

🔓https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0419

We used fossil fish otoliths to reconstruct community structure and energetics over millennia.

Earth with a greenish tint, showing North and South America against a dark background.

A person in a hard hat and orange safety vest examines a rocky hillside, using a tool to inspect or collect samples. The terrain is rugged and the sky above is clear.

Rows of tiny, translucent, spiral-shaped shells scattered on a black background.

Our scientists have unravelled a 66 million-year-old mystery behind how our planet transformed from a tropical greenhouse to the ice-capped world of today.

Read more: tr.ee/dPOe9u

@amoeba-lab.bsky.social | @sotonoceanearth.bsky.social | @russellgroup.bsky.social

Cooking off some cod #otoliths. IYKYK

⚠️ 12 days until abstract deadline #FSBI2026!! Deadline: 2nd Feb at 5pm. The conference aims to bring together scientists from a range of disciplines to explore ways of integrating our research and strengthening relationships with stakeholders and policymakers. Don't miss out! bit.ly/45mWtU4