Tessera

Dave Armitage

@darmitage.bsky.social

Assistant prof at OIST in 🇯🇵 Community ecology / evolutionary ecology / stats / weird plants Come visit us 🏝️⛵️ https://www.oist.jp/research/research-units/ice

34 Posts147 Follower 100 Folgt

Dave Armitage @darmitage.bsky.social · 2w ago

Our lab member Rahel gave a phenomenal thesis defense today! Turns out whether you’re a bat or a monkey, your choice of social circles and winter activities matter for your immune system.

PopBio on the Dark Side @pop-bio.bsky.social · 2w ago

The next PopBio seminar will be on Thursday 30 July. Chang-Yu Chang (Academia Sinica) @changyuchang.bsky.social will present: "Unravelling the emergent properties of plant-microbe symbiosis and community assembly" Sign up link: forms.gle/v5kRZKAdauG7...

SMTPB @smtpb.bsky.social · last mo.

The first articles for the new society-owned journal Population Biology Modeling & Theory are underway! We're accepting research articles and beyond - get in touch with us to discuss your ideas for submissions. pbmt.journals.sup.org/index.php/pbmt

PopBio on the Dark Side @pop-bio.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The next PopBio seminar will be next Thursday June 25. Masayuki Ushio (HKUST) @ong8181.bsky.social will present: "Understanding cetacean ecology from water samples: Cetacean environmental DNA studies in Hong Kong waters" Sign up link: forms.gle/JR8NkjgBBgwD...

Dave Armitage @darmitage.bsky.social · 2mo ago

New preprint led by Sam Ross on a response diversity experiment in freshwater plant communities

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Species responses to nutrient loading promote resistance but not temporal stability in floating macrophyte communities https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.10.731482v1

Dave Armitage @darmitage.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I'm looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join our group in Okinawa, Japan later this year/early next year. Area of research is wide open, and creative/unconventional projects are encouraged. Together, let's make ecology less of a mess! 📈📈📈 www.oist.jp/careers/okin... DM/email any questions!

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Postdoctoral Scholar, Integrative Community Ecology (Armitage) Unit

A postdoctoral position in ecology is available in David Armitage’s research group at OIST (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology) in Okinawa, Japan, with a flexible start date, ideally in early...

oist.jp

PopBio on the Dark Side @pop-bio.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Join us for the next PopBio seminar this Thursday 28 May! Samay Pande (Indian Institute of Science) @iamsamayp.bsky.social will present a talk titled "Microbial predation as a driver of antibiotic resistance in natural communities" Sign up link: forms.gle/2x8kmq44fpZb...

Dave Armitage @darmitage.bsky.social · 3mo ago

New paper where we found that flowers become smaller under simulated warming, messing up bumblebee pollination. Lots of footage of thick bees getting stuck in flowers.

Warming‐driven shifts in floral traits generate flower–pollinator size mismatch and decrease reproductive output

Reader environment loaded

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Dave Armitage @darmitage.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Now published! esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Dave Armitage@darmitage.bsky.social · 10mo ago

New preprint on reciprocal nutrient exchange between pitcher plants and their prey. Enjoy this video of wasps having a blast inside pitcher leaves 🍭🐝

PopBio on the Dark Side @pop-bio.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Join us online Thursday 26th March. Mayumi Seto will present a seminar titled: A reaction-centric perspective on microbial community networks and ecosystem functions Please share widely. Sign up here: forms.gle/3QTsPyuEnE72...

Dave Armitage @darmitage.bsky.social · 5mo ago

So proud for Nonno, the first PhD awarded in our lab! おめでとう!

PopBio on the Dark Side @pop-bio.bsky.social · 6mo ago

We are pleased to be back for another year! Join us next Thursday 1pm AEST. Deepa Agashe (NCBS) @deepaagashe.bsky.social will present a seminar titled: Founders, shapers: Colonizing individuals predict trait and population dynamics in new habitats Sign up form below ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Journal of Ecology @journalofecology.bsky.social · 7mo ago

🌱 Ignoring spatial heterogeneity biases estimates of competition & leads to incorrect predictions of competitive exclusion instead of species coexistence. 🔍 Read: buff.ly/Wnpb4DO

Dave Armitage @darmitage.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Multiple signalling increases both prey response and diversity in a carnivorous pitcher plant - Martin‐Eberhardt - Functional Ecology - Wiley Online Library besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Multiple signalling increases both prey response and diversity in a carnivorous pitcher plant

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 9mo ago

We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing: a 🧵 1/n Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...

A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below.

1. The four-fold drain
1.1 Money
Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for
whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who
created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis,
which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024
alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit
margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher
(Elsevier) always over 37%.
Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most
consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial
difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor &
Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American
researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The
Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3
billion in that year.

A figure detailing the drain on researcher time.

1. The four-fold drain

1.2 Time
The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce,
with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure
1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material
has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs,
grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for
profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time.
The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million
unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of
peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting
widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the
authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many
review demands.
Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of
scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in
‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow
progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to
volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier,
local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with
limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging
with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks
intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision.

A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below:

1. The four-fold drain
1.1 Money
Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for
whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who
created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis,
which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024
alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit
margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher
(Elsevier) always over 37%.
Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most
consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial
difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor &
Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American
researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The
Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3
billion in that year.

The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised
scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers
first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour
resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.

Sebastian Schreiber @sebastianschreiber.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Looking forward to the Modern Coexistence Theory workshop tomorrow. Please repost :)

Sebastian Schreiber @sebastianschreiber.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Join us for an @smtpb.bsky.social workshop on Modern Coexistence Theory. We'll cover mathematical foundations, the theory of partitioning, and data-based applications. Featuring @swatipatel.bsky.social, Nick Kortessis, & Lauren Shoemaker. Zoom link here: smtpb.org/event-6426026

PopBio on the Dark Side @pop-bio.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Join us this Thursday, Hiromi Uno (Tohoku University) will give our last seminar for the year: Insects, shrimps and fishes; river animal migrations and their ecological consequences Sign up to this google form to receive the zoom link and future seminar announcements forms.gle/H6YgMuAgDWYS...

ESA Journals @esajournals.bsky.social · 9mo ago

A 🆕 Contribution in the ESA Bulletin: Thinking about grad school? Here are 15 questions that can help you find the right lab fit — and avoid surprises along the way 📄Fifteen Questions to Ask Before Attending Graduate School doi.org/10.1002/bes2...

Fifteen Questions to Ask Before Attending Graduate School

Click on the article title to read more.

doi.org

Journal of Ecology @journalofecology.bsky.social · 9mo ago

🌿 As well as strong research studies, Journal of Ecology also publishes Reviews & Mini-Reviews that promote discussion & offer new ideas & directions in plant ecology! 🌷 You can read all of our high-quality reviews on our website 👇 buff.ly/tki7aJ2

Chikae Tatsumi @chikaetatsumi.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Finally settled in at OIST! Welcomed a wonderfully helpful lab technician and equally helpful administrative staff members, two enthusiastic rotation students (one of whom joined our unit as our first PhD student, yaaay!), a motivated internship student, and even a NEW BABY!!🙌✨

Simone Pigolotti @simonepigolotti.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Independent researcher fellowships (non-tenure track) at OIST, with a focus on broadly defined theory www.oist.jp/research/bur...

Buribushi Fellowship

oist.jp

Journal of Ecology @journalofecology.bsky.social · 9mo ago

🏔️ Using a novel source of abundance data, we forecast population spread across landscapes. Our results suggest that biotic processes likely play a critical, but often underappreciated role in driving range shifts over decadal time-scales🌏 📖 Read the article: buff.ly/Mf7sRRn

PopBio on the Dark Side @pop-bio.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Meghna Krishnadas will present the next PopBio seminar: The relative and interactive roles of abiotic and biotic drivers on demographic responses of plants Join us online, Thursday Oct 30 1pm AEST. Sign up to our mailing list to receive the zoom link: forms.gle/u7B1fyzRAwar...

Dave Armitage @darmitage.bsky.social · 10mo ago

New preprint on reciprocal nutrient exchange between pitcher plants and their prey. Enjoy this video of wasps having a blast inside pitcher leaves 🍭🐝

bioRxiv Ecology@biorxiv-ecology.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Mutualism in disguise? Isotopic evidence for nutrient transfer from a carnivorous pitcher plant to its insect prey https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.16.682955v1

Dave Armitage @darmitage.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Having too much fun making 3D scans of pitcher plants

Dave Armitage @darmitage.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Major congrats to our lab’s first PhD recipient, Nonno Hasegawa. Her work on the population genetics of Darlingtonia will help us better manage and protect the objectively coolest plant on earth

Dave Armitage @darmitage.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Full article: Leaf litter capture in the carnivorous pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea: a preliminary study www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Leaf litter capture in the carnivorous pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea: a preliminary study

Diet breadth is a key life-history trait influencing range size, evolutionary trajectories, and ecosystem functioning. While diet breadth studies have traditionally been confined to animals, carniv...

tandfonline.com

Dave Armitage @darmitage.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Linking Individual Performance to Density‐Dependent Population Dynamics to Understand Temperature‐Mediated Genotype Coexistence - Bruijning - 2025 - Ecology Letters - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Linking Individual Performance to Density‐Dependent Population Dynamics to Understand Temperature‐Mediated Genotype Coexistence

We use a demographic model to explicitly connect individual performance to population-level dynamics, parameterised using experimental data on competing Daphnia genotypes from two latitudes. We show ....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

PopBio on the Dark Side @pop-bio.bsky.social · 11mo ago

I-Ching Chen will present the next PopBio seminar: Revisiting the Vulnerability of Mountain Biota under Rapid Warming Join us online, Thursday Sep 25 1pm AEST. These seminars are open to all so please share widely. Sign up to our mailing list to receive the zoom link: forms.gle/kb6aHitUsL5f...