Please vote for this funky bivalve species to be the Mollusc of the Year 🥳. It's among a super-rich yet much understudied clade, Galeommatida, showing repeated evolution of parasitism (or free-livings 🤔) - a perfect system for understanding the ecology and evolution of symbiosis/parasitism 🤓.

Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance (SOSA)@oceanspecies.bsky.social · 5mo ago

🌙 Mysterious Moon clam for #IMOY 𝙀𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙖 𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙖 traded traditional shells for crescent-shaped "wings." It lives inside sponge galleries and shrimp burrows. Vote for the moon clam for International Mollusc of the Year: sgn.one/moty2026 @gotoryu.bsky.social @msshanhuang.bsky.social @sgn.one

🌙 Mysterious Moon clam for #IMOY 𝙀𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙖 𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙖 traded traditional shells for crescent-shaped "wings." It lives inside sponge galleries and shrimp burrows. Vote for the moon clam for International Mollusc of the Year: sgn.one/moty2026 @gotoryu.bsky.social @msshanhuang.bsky.social @sgn.one

Galeommatoids are one of the most diverse and yet least known groups of clams. They can be free-living, commensal or parasitic, they can filter feed and some are carnivores that suck the bodily fluids of their prey! Many are brightly coloured and very active, like little nudibranchs

Katie Collins@spissatella.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Hey folks! Mollusc of the Year just opened up! I'm part of a working group from around the world studying the mysterious and beautiful galeommatoids, and one of our beasties is up for the MOTY! Help us out and VOTE EPHIPPODONTA!! @oceanspecies.bsky.social www.unitasmalacologica.org/ephippodonta...

New paper out with a combo of empirical patterns and theoretical models to propose a new ecological mechanism undelying body size evolution rdcu.be/e06Vt

Diverging selection on body size in specialist terrestrial mammals

Nature Ecology & Evolution - A comparative analysis of trait data combined with a mathematical model suggests that dietary specialization drives selection towards the smallest and largest body...

rdcu.be

We'll be hosting a joint Crossing the Palaeontological–Ecological Gap (CPEG) meeting & Conservation Paleobiology Symposium @ucl.ac.uk in London in August 2027, which aims to bridge spatial and temporal gradients between palaeontology, ecology, and conservation: www.ucl.ac.uk/mathematical...

I'll be at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's annual meeting in Birmingham (UK) next week. 🦖 We have an exciting itinerary planned including several Meet the Editor sessions. Come say hi and bring your questions to any of our editors at our booth! 🤝 #SVP2025 #2025SVP #paleontology

🔹 Post-doctoral Researcher (3 years): to lead interdisciplinary work integrating paleontology, geology, geochemistry and modelling. Application deadline: 12 Nov 2025. • Post-doctoral: oulunyliopisto.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Postdoctoral Researcher in Paleobiology, Faculty of Humanities

We are now seeking to recruit a Postdoctoral Researcher in Mammal Paleobiology / Earth System Evolution to join the Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu. The posi

oulunyliopisto.varbi.com

Such an interesting (though also hard) project led by Andrew (Thank you!) - specialisation/generalisation trade-offs are really fun to think about in general, and parasites just provide a very good lens to potential mechanisms.

Andrew Park@andrew-w-park.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Really enjoyed linking parasite phylogenetic specialism to metrics of adaptation. Principal hosts of specialists have higher population density, prevalence & intensity. Auxiliary quality hosts of specialists are relatives, whereas for generalists they overlap in space & diet doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

A PhD opportunity to work with me, @spissatella.bsky.social and our friends through CENTA - biogeography and vulnerability of exploited bivalves, with possible spin-offs about fishery sustainability and environmental economics: centa.ac.uk/studentship/...

Super excited to see the #SVP2025 #2025SVP abstract book out! Remember that all abstracts are under embargo ahead of the meeting.

🎓 Fully funded PhD in Earth & Environmental Sciences starting Autumn 2026! CENTA Scholarships for Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) UK applicants now open. Stipend, fees & research support included. Apply now 👉 centa.ac.uk/apply/ #PhD #Scholarship #EnvironmentalScience

🎓 Looking for a fully funded PhD in Earth & Environmental Sciences starting Autumn 2026? CENTA DTP has projects across the NERC remit, with stipend, fees & research support. Explore projects and apply now: centa.ac.uk/apply/ #PhD #EnvironmentalScience #CENTA

‪[1/n] New paper co-lead by @emmadnn.bsky.social‬ @macroecoevoale.bsky.social‬ and I: we combined fossil occurrences, biogeography and climate modelling to investigate the origins and early evolution of pterosaurs 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

📚 Also on The Conversation for a #scicomm breakdown: theconversation.com/how-pterosau...

How pterosaurs learned to fly: scientists have been looking in the wrong place to solve this mystery

New findings may have solved the debate around why scientists have never found the missing link between dinosaurs and pterosaurs.

theconversation.com

🚨🚨🚨!Post doc opportunity! 🚨🚨🚨 35 month post doc on niche modelling of migratory whales in my lab with Katrina Jones. Job advert below: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... Please get in touch with questions!

YouTube: m.youtube.com/watch?v=yGcF... Note we were still faffing with the cameras in this one, it gets better I think…

Josh has questions about waxy whale earplugs... | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep1

YouTube video by Natural History Museum

m.youtube.com

Excited to see this inspiring work (by @spissatella.bsky.social and others) on the ecological consequences of (end-Cretaceous) mass extinction, also highlighting an excellent model system: doi.org/10.1126/scia...

The end-Cretaceous mass extinction restructured functional diversity but failed to configure the modern marine biota

The end-Cretaceous mass extinction permanently disrupted the distribution of biodiversity among ecological functions.

doi.org

🌍 Happy World #BiodiversityDay! What better way to celebrate than by exploring biodiversity through data? 📊 Join our course "Biodiversity in Time and Space Using R" this June with @msshanhuang.bsky.social & @joeflansan.bsky.social www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...

Analysing Biodiversity through Time and Space Using R

ONLINE, 9-13 June 2025

physalia-courses.org

Physalia-courses@ONLINE@physaliacourses.bsky.social · 2y ago

Join our upcoming course: Analysing Biodiversity through Time and Space Using R📊 You will learn how to: 🗺️ Quantify biodiversity across space & time 🔬 Link sampling with observed diversity 🌎 Analyse biodiversity patterns through time www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...

Public (hybrid) lecture on fossil insights of climate impact on biodiversity (please register here: billetto.co.uk/e/climate-an...)

For anyone looking for PhDs in the UK starting October 2025 in ecology, evolution, environment etc. The new Doctoral Landscape Awards (DLAs) recently got announced so lots of people will be adverting PhDs with January deadlines. Check out findaphd.com to search for ones that interest you!

PhD Programmes, Research Projects & Studentships in the UK & Europe

FindAPhD is a comprehensive guide to PhD studentships and postgraduate research degrees

findaphd.com

I have a 6-mo postdoc position open, which has to end by July 31st. The specific project could be determined by shared interests (macroevolution, biogeography, biodiversity dynamics in space and time) and I'm seeking further funding to extend the position. edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Research Fellow - School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences - 104815 - Grade 7

To contribute to the research on biodiversity in space and time by analysing large, interdisciplinary datasets of fossil and modern biodiversity in relation to environmental changes within the broad r...

edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com

I will be discussing some interesting patterns (e.g. LDG, extinction, etc.) and popular theories as motivations for the practicals, which will be full of elegant tricks for data analyses thanks to Joe!

Physalia-courses@ONLINE@physaliacourses.bsky.social · 3y ago

🚨Registrations are now open for the course "Analysing Biodiversity Through Time and Space using R" with @JoeFlanSan and @msshanhuang.bsky.social 🚀For more info: www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...

(Prepping) teaching is humbling. However, confidence was boosted 100% by Wordle 992 2/6 🤣 🟩⬛🟨⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I plan to submit something, not that I could say anything as grand as the session title 😅

Seth Finnegan@sethf.bsky.social · 3y ago

Pleased to announce that we are organizing a session at the upcoming 2024 NAPC to celebrate the scientific legacy of the late Jim Valentine —if you plan to attend the meeting and do research in one of the many areas influenced by Jim's work, please consider submitting an abstract!

Already overwhelmed by social media AND a conference app before the conference starts 😳