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Friday links: regime shift liveblogging, RIP Jim Simons, and more | Dynamic Ecology
Also this week: against Mother Trees, for magic money trees, working class academics, peer review vs. scientific misconduct (but not in the way you're thinking), it's the end of the internet as we know it (again), and more. From Jeremy: Jim Simons has passed away. Readers of this blog are most likely to know of…
Why doesn’t Hollywood make more mass extinction films? Is that the right question to ask? And are we sure we’ll like the answer? | Dynamic Ecology
Hoisted from the comments: Gregor Kalinkat points us to this blog post asking why doesn't Hollywood make more mass extinction films? As opposed to more numerous climate change films like Don't Look Up and The Day After Tomorrow. My first reaction to the linked piece is that I'm not quite sure what the author means…
How, and why, to list preprints on your cv as a faculty job applicant | Dynamic Ecology
Back in 2016, Meghan wrote a comprehensive post on how to format your cv for a faculty job application. Everything she said remains great advice today. But one thing she didn't cover was preprints, because back in 2016 preprints weren't yet much of a thing in ecology. Now they're much more of a thing. So,…
In class debates: looking for thoughts on topics & structure! | Dynamic Ecology
In the fall, I will be teaching my department’s graduate ecology course – a shift from my normal Intro Bio routine! I taught a section of the grad ecology course this past fall, but this coming fall will be my first time doing the whole thing. One thing I’ve been wondering about is whether to…
Friday links: RIP Diana Wall, late bloomers, and more | Dynamic Ecology
Also this week: taking McGill private (?), climate change vs. biodiversity loss (but not in the way you're thinking), Francesca Gino vs. Data Colada, a theory of social collapse, ESA and CSEE award winners, and more From Jeremy: Sad news: Diana Wall has passed away. She started her career at a time when ecology was…
Guest post: one local’s suggestions on where to eat and drink in Vancouver for the 2024 CSEE meeting | Dynamic Ecology
Note from Jeremy: This is a guest post from my friend, UBC prof and food lover Rachel Germain. I asked her to suggest some of her favorite places for CSEE meeting attendees to eat and drink, and she came through in spades. Thanks Rachel! I added some hyperlinks and did some light editing. Beer nerd…
Friday links: RIP John Damuth, Gates Foundation vs. article processing charges, and more (UPDATED) | Dynamic Ecology
Also this week: our commenters are the best (part MCCXIV), Darwin vs. Dickinson, scientist-politicians, Vinge's Fork vs. Vico's Singularity, mystery box seminar, and more. From Jeremy: Sad news: John Damuth passed away last month. He was a major figure in macroevolution and macroecology. He was best known for Damuth's Law (population density scales with body…
How many papers do you typically need to receive an NSERC CGS, PGS, or post-doctoral fellowship? Here’s the data. | Dynamic Ecology
Earlier this week, I procrastinated by compiling a bit of data that I hope will be useful to Canadian graduate students and postdocs in ecology. As an ecologist, how many publications do you typically need to have to receive a major federal graduate scholarship (NSERC CGS or PGS), or an NSERC post-doctoral fellowship (PDF)? To…
The state of academic publishing in 3 graphs, 6 trends, and 4 thoughts | Dynamic Ecology
Eleven years ago I shared a fairly heavily researched summary of the state of academic publishing. I mostly argued that OA (aka author pays) was a red herring and that we should really pay attention to the profit motives (or not) of the publisher. I would argue that analysis mostly still holds, but a lot…
Friday links: RIP Daniel Dennett, rewilding the internet, and more | Dynamic Ecology
Also this week: reviving cybernetics, Spinoza vs. Meghan, no one buys books (because they don't want to), no one buys future onions (because they're not allowed to), McSweeney's makes fun of Jeremy, and much, much more. Oh, and 1957 called, it wants its panic about public trust in science back. From Jeremy: Public trust in…
On the joy of field work–and lab work | Dynamic Ecology
Chris Mantegna has a nice piece in Nature on the joys of field work, and the importance giving students from historically underrepresented groups opportunities to experience field work themselves. The piece resonates with the growing literature on positive field experiences as key to attracting and retaining students from historically underrepresented groups into ecology (e.g., Race…
Live peer review, leadership roles, and handling hard better | Dynamic Ecology
Last week, I had a post about the nuts and bolts (and emotions!) of responding to reviewers. In it, I talk about how my initial reaction to constructive criticism of my manuscripts is for my brain to fall out, leaving me unable to process anything for a while. I still think of myself as someone…
The nuts and bolts (and emotions!) of responding to reviewers | Dynamic Ecology
Almost 10 years ago, I wrote a post about writing a response to reviewer comments. It focused on the overall structure of a response to reviewers, with suggestions on what to include and how to address things like if reviewers disagree. That post – which I think is still relevant – focused on the response…
A very brief interview with ecoevojobs.net organizer Anonymous Potato | Dynamic Ecology
ecoevojobs.net is the crowdsourced jobs board for faculty positions (and some other positions, such as postdocs) in ecology and evolution. It's a Google Sheet with various tabs. It's nearly comprehensive in its coverage of EEB faculty job listings in the US and Canada, and has many listings in other countries too. It's also a popular…
Friday links: Remembering Frans de Waal, replicating hot dogs, and more | Dynamic Ecology
Also this week: Leibniz vs. public health, fake superconductivity, Jeremy's favorite eclipse image, and more. From Jeremy: Primatologist Frans de Waal, who emphasized continuities in intelligence and behavior between human and non-human primates, has passed away. Link goes to an obituary in Nature. Here's Nature's news article, summarizing the confidential University of Rochester report on…
Highlights from recent comment threads | Dynamic Ecology
Even our regular readers often don't read the comments on our posts. But if you don't read the comments, you're really missing out. Not just on insightful discussions of the posts, but also on interesting side conversations, funny jokes, and more. Our commenters are the best! So, to encourage you to read the comments, here's…
Poll results: contrary to what most of our readers think, sample sizes in ecology have not increased over time | Dynamic Ecology
Recently, I polled y'all on whether ecological studies have improved over time in one specific, quite basic respect: sample size. Here are the poll results, along with the answer. Both of which are given away in the post title: most poll respondents think that sample sizes have increased over time in ecology. Most poll respondents…
How rigorous are the arguments in favor of “rigor-enhancing” scientific practices? | Dynamic Ecology
This was going to be a linkfest item, but I decided to turn it into a mini-post. Here's Jessica Hullman on whether "rigor-enhancing practices" (e.g., preregistration, large sample sizes, open data) are a distraction--or at least, an ineffective gateway--to thinking hard about tougher problems like "what are you even measuring, really?" Includes a link to…
Does publication of a meta-analysis (or other review paper) encourage or discourage publication of further studies? The cases of local-regional richness relationships and metacommunity variance partitioning. | Dynamic Ecology
Shorter title, that contravenes Betteridge's Law: Is spurring research interest in topic X like Daffy Duck's magic trick? Yes, of course you're going to have to read on to find out what I mean by that! :-) *** A few years ago, I asked whether publication of a meta-analysis (or really, any review paper) encourages…
Friday links: evolutionary biology startup, the problem with specialized researchers, World Wide Web time capsule, and more | Dynamic Ecology
Also this week: remembering Estella Bergere Leopold, testing for editor bias at EEB journals, how to be more like Keynes, the most powerful source of energy in the universe, inevasive species, what Jeremy wants for his birthday, and more. From Jeremy: Pioneering paleobotanist Estella Bergere Leopold has passed away. She was 97. Link goes to…
Poll results on sending thank you notes after a campus interview for a faculty position (plus a brief navel-gazing postscript on the influence of this blog) | Dynamic Ecology
Recently, we polled y'all on sending thank you notes after a campus interview for a faculty position. Perhaps because this is not a very important issue in the grand scheme of things, it seems to attract a lot of anxious discussion among faculty job seekers. (Have a browse through ecoevojobs.net if you don't believe me...)…
Should publishers flag replication failures in the same way they flag retractions? | Dynamic Ecology
In psychology, published replication attempts have no detectable effect on the rate at which the original paper is cited, whether or not the original result replicated. That's at least in part because the replications themselves are hardly cited. Andrew Gelman discusses this result, and similar results in other fields. Including discussion of a radical proposal:…
Friday links: presentation exchange, things unexpectedly named after people, and more | Dynamic Ecology
Also this week: interviewing your undergraduate students, the latest on serial fraudsters in EEB, the coming enshittification of Canadian universities, combatting perfectionism and imposter syndrome, and more. From Jeremy: Another Expression of Concern for former marine ecologist Danielle Dixson, who faked the data in multiple high-profile papers. My understanding is that the University of Delaware…
Elevator (and Boat Launch!) Pitches Revisited | Dynamic Ecology
One of the things we’re planning on doing with Dynamic Ecology 2.0 is revisiting some old posts that are still relevant, but possibly with some updating. This is one of those posts! The original post was a guest post by Catherine Searle, who at the time was just finishing up a postdoc and moving to…
Are there big ideas or new big questions in ecology any more? | Dynamic Ecology
Jeremy made a compelling case that the typical scientist produces modest contributions to the field but that is enough (it is still leaving the world better than we found it). But several commentors, while acknowledging that in a field with thousands of scientists most of us aren't going to do more than Bill Murray in…
Scientists who were also great novelists | Dynamic Ecology
Recently, statistician Andrew Gelman discussed Norman Mailer's remark that: Not once in the twentieth century . . . has a single politician, actor, athlete, or surgeon emerged as a first-rate novelist, despite the dismayingly huge breadth of experience each profession affords. Which got me wondering: who are the scientists who were/are also great novelists? Presumably,…
Friday links: Priyanga Amarasekare interview, ChatGPT vs. peer review, and more (UPDATED) | Dynamic Ecology
Also this week: AWOL from academics, finance vs. carbon emissions, the end of science (?), and more. From Jeremy: Leading theoretical ecologist Priyanga Amarasekare has given an interview to the Chronicle of Higher Education. It's her first on-the-record interview since UCLA suspended her in 2022. Following up on a recent link: the full IUGS, following…
Poll: have sample sizes increased over time in ecology? | Dynamic Ecology
One very basic way to improve any empirical study is to increase the sample size. All else being equal, larger samples are better. They lead to more precise (i.e. repeatable) estimates of population parameters. And we'd all like to think, or hope, that scientific studies get better over time. That we're doing better ecology now…
Please share your favorite examples of ecologists selecting (or failing to select) among the available questions, methods, research approaches, and results! | Dynamic Ecology
As some of you know, I’m writing a book about ecology, aimed at researchers and grad students. It's about how to harness diversity of ideas, goals, and research approaches in ecology. Once again, I'm asking you to share your favorite examples, so as to overcome my own limitations as an example compiler. Today, I'm looking…
Friday links: fruitful scientific controversies, the power of bored undergraduates, and more (UPDATED) | Dynamic Ecology
Also this week: Abraham Lincoln vs. confidence intervals, remembering Richard Owen, a modest proposal, quit trying to build AI that can't be misused, proof that Jeremy should've been a Hollywood producer, and more. Lots of good stuff this week! From Jeremy: update: I found this just after this post originally went up: Harvard Business School's…
Poll: As a faculty job applicant, do you send thank you notes after a campus interview? As a search committee member, do you expect to receive them? | Dynamic Ecology
Continuing our little series of posts on Topics On Which Academics Have Incredibly Strong And Contrasting Opinions, Relative To The Objective Importance Of Those Topics...Today, we will settle once and for all poll on whether faculty job applicants should send thank-you notes after campus interviews! Ok, look, I think even people with strong views on…
Poll results: should the Introduction section of a scientific paper end with a statement of the main results? | Dynamic Ecology
Recently we polled y'all on the question in the post title. Here are the results! tl;dr: THIS IS THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE IN SCIENCE!!!!11!!1! Interlude: My extremely serious, highly rigorous, definitely correct Theory of Controversy I expected this to be a controversial topic, just based on my own anecdotal impressions. But I also expected it…
Spread Sunshine | Dynamic Ecology
In a recent Friday linkfest, I shared a NY Times interview with Tara VanDerveer. There were a lot of things I loved about it, one of which came at the end: We draw inspiration from those who play (and work) for us. Tell us about some players who inspired you. Angela Taylor was on the…
Friday links: Son of the Return of the Ecology Blogosphere, mapping college closures, and more (updated) | Dynamic Ecology
Also this week: the Anthropocene is not a thing (yet, anyway), Canada vs. LLMs, amazing advice compilations, and more. From Jeremy: Ecology blogosphere revival continues: Southern Fried Science is back! A subcomission of the International Commission on Stratigraphy voted 12-4 with 2 abstentions against a proposal that we've been living in the Anthropocene since 1950.…
Please share your favorite examples of complementary studies or research approaches in ecology! | Dynamic Ecology
As some of you know, I'm writing a book about ecology, aimed at researchers and grad students. I don't want to give too much away. The elevator pitch is that it's about how to harness diversity of ideas, goals, and research approaches in ecology. The other elevator pitch is: a book that's like this blog,…
Poll: should the Introduction section of a scientific paper end with a statement of the main results? | Dynamic Ecology
Recently, Stephen Heard said he prefers that the Introduction section of a scientific paper end with a statement of the main results. Stephen feels it makes the paper clearer and easier to read. As he put it, it's a scientific paper, not a mystery novel; the reader shouldn't be kept in suspense. (Though he also…
Convey the key message of your figure in the first sentence of the legend | Dynamic Ecology
During DE 1.0, I had a series of posts that related to conveying the key message of a study. I’m going to briefly revisit a few of those here, plus add one specific suggestion: whenever possible, convey the key message of a figure in the first sentence of the legend. But, before you read any…
Friday links: the latest on Dan Ariely, love vs. your job, and more | Dynamic Ecology
Also this week: Ludwig Wittgenstein vs. the London Underground, and more. From Jeremy: Lots of good lines in this post from Dan Davies. Here are three, to encourage you to click through and read the whole thing: [I am] pretty sure that if you taught most people better quantitative reasoning techniques, they would mainly use…
Pseudoreplication vs. publication bias? | Dynamic Ecology
A new preprint from economist Patrick Vu argues that there's a tension between correcting for pseudoreplication (i.e. non-independence of observations), and publication bias. Estimating standard error in a such a way as to allow for non-independent observations--which economists call "clustered" standard errors--widens the error bars. As it should--when your observations aren't independent of one another,…
As a researcher, you’re Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. Embrace it. | Dynamic Ecology
In his recent post on the 13 emotional stages of being an academic, Brian noted that many senior academics feel like this: Producing papers starts to become rote. You start to wonder whether the world is really improved very much by yet another paper from you or another graduate student trained by you? Is it…