Sian Henley and I have just had a NERC grant funded, looking at variation in Souther Ocean diatom traits under fluctuating light regimes. If you are a fearless experimentalist interested in working with us as a postdoc on this 3 year project, come chat with me at Ocean Sciences in Glasgow next week!

#ProtistsOnSky no 'swimming' by 𝘝𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘺𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢, definitively no 'staying still'. just a relaxed walk towards the lunch...

eLife@elife.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Do microbes get more food by swimming or staying still? Turns out both work, and cilia help them pull in nutrients no matter the strategy. buff.ly/vK3GmK5

A study in subarctic Iceland finds microbes hoard nitrogen under higher temperatures, with effects on the whole ecosystem.

As Some Soils Warm, Microbes Stockpile Essential Nutrients - Eos

A study in Iceland found that microbes are hoarding more nitrogen for themselves, altering nutrient cycling and leaving less for plants.

eos.org

New preprint out with @martinafarese.bsky.social ! Lifestyle impacts the oral microbiome of Classical and Post-classical societies in Italy www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Phytoplankton empiricists: anyone have a good protocol (or reference) for treating fungal contamination in stock cultures without re-isolating? 2026 continues bringing all the icks...

🌊 Funded PhD: Advancing Plankton Imaging & Machine Learning to Transform Marine Biodiversity Monitoring 🔬🌍 @plymuni.bsky.social Bring together AI-powered image analysis, innovative sensors, and real-world policy frameworks. Two funding options: 1. lnkd.in/e566f8RR 2. lnkd.in/eKPRGhsP

Seasonal decline in mitochondrial plasticity in the three-spined stickleback royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article... | #BiologyLetters #Biochemistry #CellularBology #EnvironmentalScience

Did all of science peak in 2021 and is yet to recover from the pandemic? Jeremy Fox has a new post about this. I know my own productivity didn’t go up (altho citations did!) even in the 1st year of covid (existential fights for tenure can do that) & I’ve continued to struggle with motivation since.

Science (all of it) peaked in 2021

An ecologist friend* noticed that the annual number of times he’s been cited grew throughout his career up until 2021, when it peaked. It then declined for a couple of years straight. Then it…

dynamicecology.wordpress.com

I'm excited to share that our preprint is now available on bioRxiv! Our study challenges the widespread use of molecular genetic diversity as a predictor adaptive potential, with important implications for how genetic data is used to inform conservation decisions. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Nucleotide diversity is a poor predictor of short-term adaptive potential

A capacity to adapt is essential for a population to avoid extinction in a changing world and is recognised as a global conservation priority. Adaptation requires additive (heritable) genetic variatio...

biorxiv.org

Excited to share my first first-author paper from my master’s work at @carleton.ca , with @andrew-m-simons.bsky.social and Myron Smith! We explored how constraints on adaptation can aid the persistence of bet-hedging traits in the short term. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Avoiding dead ends: the experimental evolution of constraint as adaptation to environmental variation

Abstract. Environmental unpredictability can result in the evolution of bet-hedging traits, which maximize long-term fitness but are, by definition, subopt

royalsocietypublishing.org