New Issues of Freshwater Crayfish is out. Has an article by yours truly and B. Schryer on the invasive WRCrays.

Interested in the marbled crayfish (Procambarus virginalis) and its invasion potential?
Have a look at our recently published biological synopsis, led by @vanmierlo.bsky.social
Link: waves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/library-bibl...
#marmorkrebs #bioinvasions

Will you incorporate LLMs and AI prompting into the course in the future? No. Why won’t you incorporate LLMs and AI prompting into the course? These tools are useful for coding (see this for my personal take on this). However, they’re only useful if you know what you’re doing first. If you skip the learning-the-process-of-writing-code step and just copy/paste output from ChatGPT, you will not learn. You cannot learn. You cannot improve. You will not understand the code.

In that post, it warns that you cannot use it as a beginner: …to use Databot effectively and safely, you still need the skills of a data scientist: background and domain knowledge, data analysis expertise, and coding ability. There is no LLM-based shortcut to those skills. You cannot LLM your way into domain knowledge, data analysis expertise, or coding ability. The only way to gain domain knowledge, data analysis expertise, and coding ability is to struggle. To get errors. To google those errors. To look over the documentation. To copy/paste your own code and adapt it for different purposes. To explore messy datasets. To struggle to clean those datasets. To spend an hour looking for a missing comma. This isn’t a form of programming hazing, like “I had to walk to school uphill both ways in the snow and now you must too.” It’s the actual process of learning and growing and developing and improving. You’ve gotta struggle.

This Tumblr post puts it well (it’s about art specifically, but it applies to coding and data analysis too): Contrary to popular belief the biggest beginner’s roadblock to art isn’t even technical skill it’s frustration tolerance, especially in the age of social media. It hurts and the frustration is endless but you must build the frustration tolerance equivalent to a roach’s capacity to survive a nuclear explosion. That’s how you build on the technical skill. Throw that “won’t even start because I’m afraid it won’t be perfect” shit out the window. Just do it. Just start. Good luck. (The original post has disappeared, but here’s a reblog.) It’s hard, but struggling is the only way to learn anything.

You might not enjoy code as much as Williams does (or I do), but there’s still value in maintaining codings skills as you improve and learn more. You don’t want your skills to atrophy. As I discuss here, when I do use LLMs for coding-related tasks, I purposely throw as much friction into the process as possible: To avoid falling into over-reliance on LLM-assisted code help, I add as much friction into my workflow as possible. I only use GitHub Copilot and Claude in the browser, not through the chat sidebar in Positron or Visual Studio Code. I treat the code it generates like random answers from StackOverflow or blog posts and generally rewrite it completely. I disable the inline LLM-based auto complete in text editors. For routine tasks like generating {roxygen2} documentation scaffolding for functions, I use the {chores} package, which requires a bunch of pointing and clicking to use. Even though I use Positron, I purposely do not use either Positron Assistant or Databot. I have them disabled. So in the end, for pedagogical reasons, I don’t foresee me incorporating LLMs into this class. I’m pedagogically opposed to it. I’m facing all sorts of external pressure to do it, but I’m resisting. You’ve got to learn first.

Some closing thoughts for my students this semester on LLMs and learning #rstats datavizf25.classes.andrewheiss.com/news/2025-12...

A comprehensive global assessment of the status & trends of alien species for major taxonomic groups. This is an outstanding product of the 2023 IPBES assessment on invasive species.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

‘Cuts would directly impact freshwater restoration’: Leaked texts hint that Carney’s cuts will target water protection agency ‘Cuts would directly impact freshwater restoration’: Leaked texts hint that Carney’s cuts will target water protection agency.

Another excellent, in-depth article by @anushkayadav.bsky.social covering the concerns surrounding further cuts to federal environment departments such as the Canada Water Agency. thepointer.com/article/2025...

Ecologists’ endless quest for automatic inference
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/05/28/e...

Comparing the writing styles of highly and rarely cited papers in conservation biology For the everyday scientist, being published – and henceforth cited – is a major enterprise. An understanding of the components associated with highly-…

Really interesting analysis on how to make sure your papers are highly cited - www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

tl;dr: "include broad titles, use motivational language, use conceptual images, and included clear explanations of the broader context and relevance of their research"

Employment - Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Employment - Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

The University of Toronto's Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department invites postdoc applications. Salary: $70K; start: July–Dec 2025. Deadline: April 25, 2025. More: https://eeb.utoronto.ca/employment-2/ #postdoc

A bighorn ewe. Pic Benjamin Larue

Main lifetime cotrajectories of 343 female bighorn sheep of (A) body mass, (B) cumulative number of weaned lambs, (C) reproduction probability the following year, and (D) probability of survival to the following year at Ram Mountain, AB, Canada, 1973-2020. This figure highlights life history trade-offs, such as Cluster 1 exhibiting a trade-off between growth (A) and both reproduction (B and C) and survival (D). Lines represent model predictions and shaded areas represent 95% CI. The clusters were estimated from a joint finite mixture model with clustering at the individual level with age as the sole fixed effect variable. Each cluster (color) represents one of four alternative life-history trajectories. Curves end at the age when fewer than five individuals survive in each cluster. The model associated 143, 41, 83, and 76 individuals with Clusters 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively

Larue: joint mixture models reveal 4 clusters of bighorn sheep ♀️life-history trajectories. One is a 'silver spoon', two show trade-offs between growth and reproduction and one starts and ends badly, mostly dead by 6 yrs. A promising technique for long-term studies. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

‘The Interview’: Ed Yong Wants to Show You the Hidden Reality of the World The Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer talks about burnout from covering the pandemic and how bird-watching gave him a new sense of hope.

On the cutting room floor is the bit where the host introduced their interview series, The Interview, and I asked how long it took to come up with the name. Anyway, here’s me talking about birds and science and burnout and moving through the world. The photo’s nice! www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/m...

Amphibian Declines Increase Malaria In Costa Rica And Panama New studies quantify how intact ecosystems improve human health

Thanks to @jdrakephd.bsky.social for highlighting the importance of #amphibians in the services they provide to humans www.forbes.com/sites/johndr... #malaria #disease #frogs #tropical 🐸🧪🌎🦟

Very interesting article about a new take on the Type I functional response by Mark Novak, @kecoblentz.bsky.social and John DeLong, with excellent @peercommunityin.bsky.social Ecology editorial work and recommendation by @fredbarraquand.bsky.social
ecology.peercommunityin.org/articles/rec...

Frontiers | Empirical evidence of type III functional responses and why it remains rare More than 70 years after its introduction, the framework of resource density-dependent consumption rates, also known as predator-prey functional responses, r...

Note that in around 20% of the analyzed datasets from the FoRAGE database, Holling's type III was the best-performing model. Not that rare after all, @gkalinkat.bsky.social !

Fixing Roadside Curbs to Help Reptiles & Amphibians Survive To lessen the impact of human-built structures on the movement of wildlife, we need to start with smart design.

"How fixing roadside curbs can help reptiles and amphibians survive" by Brianna Grant in @rewildingmag.bsky.social

www.rewildingmag.com/how-fixing-r...

The article features curb modifications implemented by @trentuniversity.bsky.social to support our #salamander populations on campus

"Alligators ameliorate dry-season stress by engineering deep-water habitats and altering food-web dynamics. This study proposes that the stress gradient hypothesis may be a special case of the intermediate disturbance hypothesis..."🐊
https://buff.ly/3Q2ODXt
@pjfloodecology

Understanding the importance of surprise in antipredator defence Olivier Penacchio, Liisa Hämäläinen, Bibiana Rojas, Kyle Summers, Justin Yeager, Thomas N. Sherratt, Alice Exnerova This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology review article which can…

📰Published📰 Understanding the importance of surprise in antipredator defence

https://buff.ly/3EnXbpb

🧪🌍

Role of low‐impact‐factor journals in conservation implementation Academic review, promotion, and tenure processes place a premium on frequent publication in high-impact factor (IF) journals. However, conservation often relies on species-specific information that i...

Link to the publication:
"Role of low-impact-factor journals in conservation implementation" conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Want to get a species protected? Publish in a small, niche journal nature.com/articles/d4158… #conservation #Research

Image of Canada Post souvenir sheet featuring a stamp with an illustration of an Oregon spotted frog, a stamp with an illustration of a Fowler's toad, and an illustration of a Oregon spotted frog's head poking up from the surface of a pond covered in duckweed. © Canada Post

A 2024 professional highlight for me: Canada Post stamps featuring a Fowler's toad & Oregon spotted frog. Working w/ designer Jocelyne Saulnier, I illustrated the postage stamps, souvenir sheet, OFDC, booklet, & cancellation mark. See them here: www.emilydamstra.com/canada-post-...
#sciart #frogs

"Fieldwork-based research and education in ecology are under multiple threats and are progressively declining."

This issue is linked to the erosion of natural history training in general.

A large group of people from nature united standing on a grassy area with a beach and ocean behind them.

Fellow Canadians, Nature United (The Nature Conservancy in Canada) is looking for a new Director of Conservation! This is a great opportunity to help inform and direct applied science to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises. More info here:
careers.nature.org/psp/tnccaree...

A poster describing the same details of the post, but with a photo showing salt on a roadway.

Conservation Cafe happening this Tuesday, January 7th, at The Publican in Peterborough, 7:30 pm. Stephanie Melles on salinization of freshwater ecosystems.

Loss of dominant caterpillar genera in a protected tropical forest - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Loss of dominant caterpillar genera in a protected tropical forest

Everything has changed very dramatically in 35 years. Here's a top 5: 1. More severe and frequent floods and droughts; 2. More dramatic tree blow-downs; 3. More road noise and more people; 4. Loss of diversity; 5. And this very sad paper says it all, really: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Opportunities New opportunities Undergraduate opportunities Postdoctoral Research New opportunities Postdoctoral Researcher in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology on Colour Polymorphism We are seeking a passionate …

Still time to apply! My lab has a postdoc position open! Helsinki is great and working environment is fantastic! join us!
#colours #polymorphism #behavior #experiments #lepidoptera
predatorpreyinteractions.com/opportunities/

Great Lakes coastal wetland plant biodiversity increases following the manual removal of invasive Phragmites australis - Wetlands Ecology and Management Invasive Phragmites australis australis is invading and homogenizing Great Lakes coastal wetlands at an alarming rate. Phragmites australis is thought to reduce wetland biodiversity both directly and ...

New wetland conservation research from @meglovesbugs.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

We have a starter pack for people studying predator-prey interactions, dynamics, consequences, ect. Please reply or DM if you want to be added. Also keep an eye out for the Gordon Research Conference on Predator-Prey interactions that will be held in early 2026 in Italy.

go.bsky.app/PACvzLU

Effective, efficient, and fair peer reviewing 2023 Effective, efficient, and fair peer reviewing Ben Bond-Lamberty Based on a presentation at the AGU Early Career Scientist Workshop, 2019 1

Scientists are expected to do peer reviewing but no one tells you HOW. After talking with several folks about this today at #AGU24 , it seems a good time to link to this presentation I made several years ago -- feel free to use/share! docs.google.com/presentation...

Principles of experimental design for ecology and evolution Here I argue that we do not discuss experimental design, often until it is too late. This editorial seeks to begin a conversation about how and where to replicate appropriately.

I wrote (ranted) on experimental design as I was frustrated as an editor at how little guidance students were getting. I underestimated the interest in the issue: it has been downloaded 10,000+ times! Clearly it’s something we need to be talking about more. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....