Gold Spot moth in the trap this morning 🦋 🦋💡🦋

Post-graduate studies, graduate studies, or post-graduation studies? E.B. Ford focusing on what matters in the preface to Ecological Genetics (1964, p. xiv)

@jamiecweir.bsky.social‬'s huge #phenology mismatch experiment from his PhD is now a preprint (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...). Quite a few surprising results that Jamie summarises in the thread below.

The impact of phenological mismatch varies across woodland food-web interactions

Climate warming is altering the timing of seasonal events across ecosystems, impacting the temporal synchrony of interactions among species (1, 2). For trophic interactions, the match-mismatch hypothe...

biorxiv.org

Jamie C. Weir@jamiecweir.bsky.social · last mo.

📣 New preprint with @allyphillimore.bsky.social, out now! As climate change shifts seasonal timing across food-webs, we present an experiment testing the impact of phenological mismatch in *48* plant-caterpillar 🌳→🐛 trophic interactions. Read it here: doi.org/10.64898/202... ...or scroll 🧵👇 1/7

📣 New preprint with @allyphillimore.bsky.social, out now! As climate change shifts seasonal timing across food-webs, we present an experiment testing the impact of phenological mismatch in *48* plant-caterpillar 🌳→🐛 trophic interactions. Read it here: doi.org/10.64898/202... ...or scroll 🧵👇 1/7

Pithy explanation of how (and why) natural selection works at the genetic level... From @rdawkins.bsky.social in 'The Selfish Gene'.

Aliens, AI, and WD Hamilton with a paperclip in his hair... Some highlights from a great Thursday evening with @rdawkins.bsky.social and Matt Ridley at Edinburgh's Usher Hall! Half a century from its publication, The Selfish Gene has aged remarkably well for a scientific book...

'The Selfish Gene is the culmination of a long scientific revolution that began with Darwin’s own book, On the Origin of Species, more than a century earlier' 📚 My reflections on the 50th anniversary of a scientific classic, in @thefreethinkermag.bsky.social ✍️🧬 freethinker.co.uk/2026/06/crys...

Crystallising Darwinism: 50 Years of ‘The Selfish Gene’ - The Freethinker

Half a century on, Richard Dawkins’s classic work 'The Selfish Gene' remains an essential explanation of the evolution of life.

freethinker.co.uk

📢 REMINDER: IBIS SPECIAL ISSUE Collections-Based Ornithological Research in a Changing World If you use avian natural history collections in your research, then this Special Issue is for you! onlinelibrary.wiley.... ⏰ Submission deadline: 30 June 2026 #ornithology

📣 New Preprint, out now on @ecoevorxiv.bsky.social... Resource abundance can buffer trophic mismatch in a caterpillar-passerine food-chain 🌳→🐛→🐦 w/ @kenandlindasmith.bsky.social, @piedflynet.bsky.social et al. Read it here: doi.org/10.32942/X2K... ...or scroll for some highlights 🧵👇 1/4

Thanks to everyone who came along at #BES2025 to chat about my work on phenological synchrony with @kenandlindasmith.bsky.social and @piedflynet.bsky.social Even for specialist species, mismatch may only matter in years where resources are scarce 🐦🐛 If I missed you at the conference, get in touch!

Jamie C. Weir@jamiecweir.bsky.social · 8mo ago

If you're at the @britishecologicalsociety.org #BES2025 in Edinburgh and interested in #phenology, come and find me for a chat about how resource abundance modulates the impacts of the trophic #mismatch. My poster is A17.21 in the Cromdale Hall, and I'll be there from 6pm this evening! 🌳 -> 🐛 -> 🐦

If you're at the @britishecologicalsociety.org #BES2025 in Edinburgh and interested in #phenology, come and find me for a chat about how resource abundance modulates the impacts of the trophic #mismatch. My poster is A17.21 in the Cromdale Hall, and I'll be there from 6pm this evening! 🌳 -> 🐛 -> 🐦

Very pleased to announce that my recent paper in Oecologia "Trophic generalism in the winter moth: a model species for phenological mismatch" won the journal's 2024 Ehleringer Prize for student research! 🏆 You can read more about the paper and the award below 👇 link.springer.com/journal/442/...

If you missed the @linneansociety.bsky.social's annual lecture in #Edinburgh last month, you can watch it now on YouTube! 👇 Hear Mark Blaxter (@sangerinstitute.bsky.social) give an inspiring overview of the Tree of Life Project! 🌳🦋🐒 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cca7...

Busy ‘bout the Tree of Life: genome sequencing of biodiversity

YouTube video by Linnean Society

youtube.com

Thank you to everyone who joined us in Edinburgh last night for our partnership lecture with @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social! Prof Mark Blaxter gave a brilliant talk on how genome sequencing is helping us understand and protect biodiversity. Recording will be posted soon. @sangerinstitute.bsky.social

I was quite impressed and humbled yesterday to give a talk at the @linneansociety.bsky.social, in front of this very portrait and plate!

1/2. In or around #Edinburgh?... 🏰 There's still time to sign up for our annual @linneansociety.bsky.social lecture, hosted by @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social. **Thurs 27th, 6-8pm** Sign up now, for free, in person or online! 👇 tinyurl.com/edin-linnsoc... ... or scroll for more info 🧵👇

Busy ‘bout the Tree of Life: genome sequencing of biodiversity

As extinction accelerates, scientists race to decode the DNA of life - unlocking secrets that could help save our planet’s biodiversity.

eventbrite.co.uk

Had a great time today presenting a poster about my PhD work 🐛 at the @linneansociety.bsky.social symposium on biological resilience. Some excellent talks in wonderful surroundings - so much food for thought with Darwin looking on - and all topped off with a fishy keynote @trishschulte.bsky.social 🐠

As extinction accelerates, scientists race to decode the DNA of life - unlocking secrets that could help save our planet’s biodiversity. Join Mark Blaxter, leader of the Sanger Institute’s Tree of Life programme, as he explains the genome sequencing of biodiversity. 📆 Nov 27 6pm buff.ly/nq2Gf04

Mammal colouration is typically drab, and iridescence virtually unheard of, except in the most unlikely place: blind, subterranean golden moles. Here, researchers quantitatively confirm iridescence in 14 mammal species: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #JRSocInterface #evolution

“Andrews adds that researchers adapting the task to other species would need to think carefully about what constitutes strong evidence: Dogs, for instance, might consider scent to be a stronger source of evidence than visual cues.” #scicomm www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪 🐵 🦊

New evidence? No problem. Chimps can weigh conflicting clues, just like humans

Study is first to suggest our closest relatives think about their own thoughts

science.org

In my **new paper**, out now in Folia Primatologica, I shed light on the nocturnal feeding habits of the Southern Lesser Bushbaby (Galago moholi), documenting observations and experiments made during fieldwork in South Africa. tinyurl.com/bushbaby-diet ...Scroll for more #bushbaby pics 👀👇 🧵 1/8

many thanks to @soerinegerlich.bsky.social for leading this study into phenological limits in Arctic communities. For me this collaboration was a real eye-opener into the potential for species to reach limits to their ability to respond plastically. Who knows what the consequences will be.

Toke Thomas Høye@tokehoye.bsky.social · last yr.

As #climatechange becomes more extreme, organisms may no longer keep track in their phenology or seasonal activity e.g flowering, swarming or egg laying. @soerinegerlich.bsky.social led our study showing this is real for highly sensitive #arctic #arthropods royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Hot on the heels of receiving the @linneansociety.bsky.social's Marsden Medal, very pleased to announce that my PhD thesis also came in as runner up for the @royentsoc.bsky.social's Alfred Russel Wallace Award! 🌿🐛 Thanks to @eastbio.bsky.social and my supervisor @allyphillimore.bsky.social 1/2 👇

Look who turned up in the moth trap this morning... We've been expecting a Jersey Tiger for a while, being located just north of its current range. What stunning moths they are! #mothsmatter #teammoth

3. Hear the fantastic talk from this year's John C. Marsden Medal Winner, @jamiecweir.bsky.social gave us on timing and spring-feeding caterpillars. #insectweek www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7mh...

Is Timing Everything and How Can Spring-feeding Caterpillars Get it Right? | Jamie Weir

YouTube video by Linnean Society

youtube.com

It was a real delight to go down to Burlington House the other week, to tour the @linneansociety.bsky.social collections and receive this year's John C. Marsden medal, for the best biology PhD thesis in the UK. It was, and remains, a tremendous honour. Interested in my thesis? 👇

Employing one of my lesser-used mugs today! Lord Palmerston not looking impressed by my work... History enthusiasts: any thoughts on who might be the most important British prime minister of the nineteenth century?

Some highlights from the last few warm nights here in the central belt of Scotland... A pair of puss moths, ermines, and several poplar hawks. Poplars sit with hindwings resting *in front* of the forewings, breaking up the classic moth outline and giving them a more ragged, leaf-life appearance 🦋🌿

Although species vary in their #phenological response to #climate change, some food-chains and webs are surprisingly resilient... On the anniversary of my @globalchangebio.bsky.social paper with @allyphillimore.bsky.social, I wanted to revisit some of the key ideas 👇 tinyurl.com/BufferCater 🧵1/6

Birch twigs adorned with colourful feathers are a traditional Swedish Easter decoration, brightening up the dinner table. Illustration by J. Terrier from 'Faune de la Senegambie' by Alphonse Trémeau de Rochebrune, 1883-1884. www.magnoliabox.com/...