The science at #scar2026 starts with a whole session dedicated to the impacts of HPAI (bird flu) on Antarctic wildlife @scar-antarctic.bsky.social
Dr Luis Huckstadt
@luishuckstadt.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer, @exetercec.bsky.social. Ecophysiology of marine top predators (🦭, 🐋, 🐧). Pinnipedologist. He/Him #immigrantscientist #PinnipedFacts 🇨🇱➡️ 🇬🇧 https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/ecodap/
And we are off! After a weekend of business meetings, the #scar2026 Open Science conference starts today! A whole week of learning and sharing Antarctic science. @scar-antarctic.bsky.social
Interviewed by CNN and Financial Times today, about the new record set for ocean temperatures.... concerning times! www.ft.com/content/857d... edition.cnn.com/2026/07/01/c... @bas.ac.uk @attractamooney.bsky.social @laurapaddison.bsky.social
Global oceans break June temperature record with fears they’re headed into ‘uncharted territory’ | CNN
The planet’s oceans are at unprecedented temperatures for this time of year, breaking the June temperature record, according to new data, with alarming implications for global weather and marine life.
edition.cnn.com
That's great, although 17 academics in the Institute have this week been put at risk of redundancy, along with several others from environment facing depts. I do hope we can continue to contribute to Exeter's great track record on sustainability in the future.
Please sign and share the petition below to stand with Exeter staff against these unjustified redundancies. Thank you 🙏 www.change.org/p/stop-redun...
Sign the Petition
Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter
change.org
I'm astounded at the lack of consideration shown by #SCAR2026 to the efforts of many Antarctic scientists, mostly ECR and from developing countries, who submitted abstracts and were forced into the obscure category of 'digital posters', which won't even be presented during the conference.
This is a good "chaotic" situation to have 🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳 www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
'It's so chaotic': Humpback whales are forming super-groups
On a misty morning in December, two photographers captured the images of 304 individual humpbacks – the highest number of large whales ever identified in a single day.
bbc.co.uk
Emperor Penguins Are Now Endangered, a New Assessment Finds www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/c... Antarctic fur seals and southern elephant seals have also been downgraded due to marked declines due to climate change and avian influenza 🦭🌍🧪
Emperor Penguins Are Now Endangered, a New Assessment Finds
nytimes.com
If you are pursuing a career in marine ecology and conservation, come join us at @exeter.ac.uk in Cornwall!
Exeter Marine@exetermarine.bsky.social · 5mo agoWe're ranked 28th globally for Earth & Marine Science in the 2026 QS subject rankings! 🏆 Our ranking is a significant achievement and reward marking the hard work and success of all of our staff and students. 🌟 @exeter.ac.uk @exetergses.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social 🏆🦑🧪🌐🌊
🚨New Paper Alert 🚨 This study is the first paper out of our #NSF #NERC @ukri.org project on Antarctic crabeater seals 🦭. It provides a new approach to detect seals and reports an alarming drop in seal density zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Semi‐automated seal detection on the Western Antarctic Peninsula: an unsupervised machine learning approach for detecting ice seals in aerial survey data
This study presents a semi-automated, rule-based image analysis pipeline to detect ice seals in aerial surveys of the Western Antarctic Peninsula during an unusually low sea ice year. By using simple...
zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Our BehaveAI paper has just come out! Easy & effective tracking & behavioural classification, even with tiny (2px), fast moving, camouflaged objects. Paper: doi.org/10.1371/jour... Download: github.com/troscianko/B... @uniexecec.bsky.social @kevinjgaston.bsky.social @jimamclgalloway.bsky.social
A bit late as traffic was bad but I made it to the @marinemammalogy.bsky.social UK and Ireland Student Chapter meeting and I am ready to start my talk @ukirsc.bsky.social
Happy (belated) #AntarcticaDay! This continent and associated marine environment are critical for the entire planet. And human activities are already causing major shifts in this remote region of the world.
**PhD opportunity @uniexecec.bsky.social** How is immunogenetic variation maintained in the wild? Why are alleles that increase disease susceptibility maintained in populations, when natural selection should eliminate them?
Bird Flu Ravaged the World’s Largest Elephant Seal Population, Study Finds www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/s...
Bird Flu Ravaged the World’s Largest Elephant Seal Population, Study Finds
nytimes.com
Our new paper, estimating the impact of the bird flu on elephant seals in South Georgia, came out today. The virus caused a decline of 47% of the adult female population 🦭🦑🌎🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Viruses (HPAIV) Associated with Major Southern Elephant Seal Decline at South Georgia - Communications Biology
Arrival of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) at the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia in 2023 has triggered dramatic declines in attendance of female southern elephant seals during the 2024...
nature.com
Almost every time I have worn my @ologies.bsky.social hoodie in Sitka I get comments about how amazing the podcast is by random people… and they don’t even know that I was on an episode! I got two people telling me it was their favorite podcast yesterday at the airport! #pinnipedologist
We saw brown bears! 🐻 A mom and two cubs 🥰 - this field course is setting the bar high for the future trips!
Second day was dedicated to learning about ecological succession in the boreal forest, the effect of wild fires and the challenges that #ClimateChange poses to this fragile and important ecosystem - the moss beds were literally like walking on clouds @uniexecec.bsky.social
A good start to our field course! A red fox 🦊 is hanging out just outside the MacBride museum in Whitehorse, where we are meeting students for the first time before heading out to Kluane Lake Research Station @uniexecec.bsky.social
Let's hear it for #MultipleSclerosis doc & medical hero, Dr. Aaron Boster! Send his vids to those affected by MS: www.youtube.com/c/AaronBoste... follow him at @aaronbostermd.bsky.social and listen to his Ologies ep here: www.alieward.com/ologies/neur... This ep help you? Would love to hear.
youtube.com
Aaron Boster MD@aaronbostermd.bsky.social · 12mo agoHeading to the Yukon to teach our @uniexecec.bsky.social field course! Flying over Greenland never gets old but it’s also a clear reminder of how fast our planet is warming up #climatechange 🌎
The rate of #Antarctic sea ice extent growth has increased over the last few weeks as we approach this year's annual maximum (austral winter). No new records will be set this year, thought current ice concentration remains quite low in several regions. + More at zacklabe.com/antarctic-se...
Today is the 20th anniversary of the day I left Chile to start my PhD… Lots has changed. Lots to reflect. Lots to remember. Lots still to learn #immigrantscientist
Back to the basics… teaching biological oceanography feels like coming back home @exetermarine.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social #NewAcademicYear #MarineEcology
www.butlernature.com/2025/08/20/j... 🦭
Jim Estes, biologist who revealed how sea otters shape entire ecosystems, died on May 20, aged 79
When Jim Estes first arrived in the Aleutian Islands in 1970, he expected a routine wildlife survey. What he found was the outline of a scientific revelation. In places where sea otters thrived, the o...
butlernature.com