For millions of years the traits of predators and prey have dictated their interactions. In the Anthropocene, humans are altering these traits. In @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social, we explore how human-induced traits shifts reshape predator-prey interactions.

tinyurl.com/TREEshifts

I do not use AI for writing. I like writing. Why would I farm out my favorite part of my job to a gdamn robot who takes no joy from it?

I only use AI for my wow-I'm-a-professional-scientist-and-I-still-don't-know-how-a-science-thing questions like "What are magnets and how do they work?"

Neuroactive Pollution Disrupts Cognition in Fish by Causing Sex-Specific Effects on Spatial Learning Cognition underpins how animals perceive, navigate, and respond to their environment, yet these fundamental processes are increasingly threatened by environmental pollutants. Neuroactive pharmaceuticals are now routinely detected in aquatic ecosystems, raising concern about their potential to disrupt key cognitive functions in wildlife. Here, we tested whether exposure to the antidepressant amitriptyline, a widespread pharmaceutical pollutant, impairs spatial learning in wild-caught guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Using a repeated-trial maze assay, we quantified learning performance across 12 trials following an 11-d exposure to either a freshwater control (0 ng/L) or ecologically relevant low (52 ng/L) or high (496 ng/L) concentrations of amitriptyline. We found strong evidence of spatial learning across all treatment groups, with maze solve times and navigational errors declining over trials. However, males exposed to low and high concentrations of amitriptyline made 26% and 34% more errors, respectively, compared to control males. Female learning, by contrast, was unaffected by amitriptyline exposure, revealing sex-specific cognitive effects. Control males were more accurate than females, yet this advantage was lost under exposure and ultimately reversed at high concentrations, where males performed worse than females. These results emphasize the need to consider sex differences in cognitive responses when assessing the ecological impacts of environmental contaminants.

Congrats to @jackmanera.bsky.social on his PhD paper investigating impacts of neuroactive pollution on cognition in fish.

Open access here: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

How to build an AI scientist: first peer-reviewed paper spills the secrets AI Scientist, an autonomous research tool, first released in 2024, has now undergone peer review, highlighting its strengths and limitations.

Hard to put in to words how uninteresting this all is

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Increasing temperature reduces decision accuracy by shifting speed–accuracy trade-offs in slower individuals Abstract. Cognitive responses are linked to consistent individual behavioural variation, but the potential impact of warming on this relationship remains u

Excited to share our new paper @royalsocietypublishing.org This one took what felt like endless maze trials.

We found that even modest warming (~1°C) changed an ectotherm's behaviour such that it affected cognitive performance. Speeding them up and reducing decision accuracy.

For millions of years the traits of predators and prey have dictated their interactions. In the Anthropocene, humans are altering these traits. In @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social, we explore how human-induced traits shifts reshape predator-prey interactions.

tinyurl.com/TREEshifts

Perfect

Resource variability shapes the ecology of social information and collective sensing Social information expands individual sensing of resources in dynamic ecosystems, yet why social strategies evolve in resource pursuit remains unsettled. We posit that resource variability along three...

New paper in TREE co-led w @jennakohles.bsky.social: We explore how resource variability shapes the value of social information for maximizing resource gain & minimizing variance. This eco-evolutionary lens helps us explain why collective sensing emerges in dynamic ecosystems!
🧪 tinyurl.com/2rurcry7

Thinking like a mountain in the age of AI Click on the article title to read more.

In a sea of opinions about the role of LLMs in academics I offer my own.

Apart from being harmful, exploitive plagiarism machines, LLMs rob us of the opportunity to experience the gift of friction in writing, which changes how we think.

We must not give away that gift.

doi.org/10.1002/fee....

Why I may ‘hire’ AI instead of a graduate student “It can competently perform a lot of the work I need immediately,” this professor writes

“In our culture, preferring an algorithm to a trainee feels like a betrayal of the academic mission.”

That’s because it is.

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

Predator–prey interactions as drivers of cognitive evolution Nature Reviews Biodiversity, Published online: 26 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s44358-026-00141-5The drivers of cognitive variation remain elusive. In this Perspective, Wooster et al. propose the predatory intelligence hypothesis, positing that the complex interactions between predator and prey promote cognitive variation on individual, developmental and evolutionary levels.

ICYMI: New online! Predator–prey interactions as drivers of cognitive evolution

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) nesting on a small pond island in one of Prague’s largest parks, Czechia (photo credit: Peter Mikula; 24 April 2021)

Anthropogenic change is causing behavioral traits to converge across individuals, populations, and species, often in urban environments. @birder158.bsky.social &co describe these changes and discusses their ecological and evolutionary consequences.
🧪 #EcoSky #GlobalChangeBiology
plos.io/4b6FcRb

Socially learnt predator recognition in nestling jackdaws Abstract. Recognizing whether other species pose a threat is critical to survival. Learning from others avoids the need for dangerous encounters, so it can

Jackdaws on the Biology Letters cover! Our new paper, led by brilliant MbyRes student Hannah Broad, shows that nestlings listen to adults’ responses to learn about novel predators. Pic: Céline Giorgetti. tinyurl.com/mwd8n2jh @guillmcivor.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org

Reflecting on a wonderful week at the Predator-prey Interactions Gordon Research Conference in Lucca, Italy. Thanks to the @gulbali-institute.bsky.social Kickstarter Collaboration Fund for funding!

Thanks for the input : )

Predator–prey interactions as drivers of cognitive evolution Nature Reviews Biodiversity, Published online: 26 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s44358-026-00141-5The drivers of cognitive variation remain elusive. In this Perspective, Wooster et al. propose the predatory intelligence hypothesis, positing that the complex interactions between predator and prey promote cognitive variation on individual, developmental and evolutionary levels.

New online! Predator–prey interactions as drivers of cognitive evolution

Thanks for sharing : )

A really fun collaboration with @lizardlab.bsky.social, @biodiversityguy.bsky.social, @ferransayol.bsky.social, @biologynerd.bsky.social, Lauren Stanton and Ben Ashton.

How and why does cognition vary so greatly between individuals and species? In @natrevbiodiv.nature.com, we propose the "Predatory Intelligence Hypothesis" which posits that the cognitive challenges associated with predator–prey interactions drive a cognitive co-evolutionary arms race

rdcu.be/e5KIj

🚨 #DiscoveryProjects EOI #DPEI27 announcement:

❗️Outcomes for Expressions of Interest should now be available in your RMS account ▶️ rms.arc.gov.xn--au-lmy

ARC should also email Lead CIs with their outcomes (may take a while & be staggered).

Full apps open 2 Mar, due 22 Apr.

Social and ecological factors associated with innovation in urban sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) Cities are challenging places for wildlife, but some species, like sulfur-crested cockatoos, adapt by finding new ways to feed and solve problems. We studi

New paper alert! 🦜

We gave wild cockatoos puzzle boxes across Canberra’s urban gradient. The finding? Urban birds approach faster, but are not better solvers.

Our results suggest that urbanization shapes neophobia independently from cognitive performance. Read it here:

doi.org/10.1093/behe...

Don’t deprioritize curiosity-driven research Around the world, governments are demanding that research funding follow broader political priorities. They should be careful what they wish for.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The value of close replications and how to get more of them: interview with Kate Laskowski Welcome to our latest interview with the author of a recent interesting paper. Today’s interview was conducted by email with behavioral ecologist Kate Laskowski, first author ofLaskowski et a…

Stoked about the new Replication Studies section in Behavioral Ecology? Me too!

Jeremy Fox over at Dynamic Ecology interviewed me about our recent commentary on this topic and I'd love to hear the community's thoughts!

dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2026/02/17/t...

Humans alter the daily timing of animal activity, potentially reshaping predator–prey interactions. This meta-analysis reveals that large predators overlap less with their prey, and large prey overlap more with their predators.

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

Replication studies: a win-win for early-career training and behavioral ecology Replicating previous research builds confidence that results are real and meaningful. But close replications are rare due to limitations in resources and d

How do we know our research results are REAL? We replicate them! Most folks agree but lament on how hard it is to publish these replications.

My dearest gentle reader, lament no more! Delighted to unveil: Replication Studies, a new section of Behavioral Ecology 1/

academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...

Birds That Don't Exist: Niche Pre‐Emption as a Constraint on Morphological Evolution in the Passeroidea We use topological data analysis to reveal a persistent morphological gap in a major group of songbirds (superfamily Passeroidea). The gap remained unoccupied for millions of years, even though nearb...

Birds That Don't Exist: Niche Pre‐Emption as a Constraint on Morphological Evolution in the Passeroidea - Chia - 2026 - Ecology Letters - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

That being, that in areas of high human disturbance, large predators overlap LESS with their prey and large prey overlap MORE with their predators.

The "in press" version of the manuscript is currently live. Email or DM me for a version with figures in line.

Does human disturbance disrupt predator-prey temporal niche partitioning? Today in @natcomms.nature.com
we show that while there is no overall effect, the larger species of the dyad "loses" the temporal response race to humans.

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

Work is a pretty liberal term for typing prompts into the slop engine

Go work with Shinichi and his wonderful team : )