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Alex Slavenko

@alexsla.bsky.social
770 followers 605 following 126 posts

Zoologist & ecologist Obsessed with herps, birds, and PNG Doing ecological modelling for a living and still shocked by that

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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
A succinct summary of a fantastic study by my colleagues at Cesar Australia 🧪🌏
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
New paper alert! 🚨🌏🧪 We've just published a neat little study in Journal of Biogegraphy, looking at the climatic and habitat niches of ground parrots and how they've evolved. Let's dive in a bit deeper! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Breaking New Ground: Niche Divergence and Expansion in Ground Parrots (Pezoporini: Platycercinae)
Aim The two species of ground parrots (Pezoporus wallicus and P. flaviventris) are morphologically and behaviourally similar, yet geographically disjunct and genetically distinct. We investigated th.....
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
An excellent and thorough rebuttal of the extremely flawed paper by Wallach & Lundgren (2025). 🧪🌏
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Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Excited to announce that the 1st paper from my postdoc is now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social ! Using a large dataset of 3D preserved fossils, we explore the diversification of jaws in early bony fishes. 1/15 www.cell.com/current-biol...
cell.com
Macroevolutionary role reversals in the earliest radiation of bony fishes
Troyer et al. examine lower jaw evolution in Silurian-Devonian bony fishes and find substantial differences in patterns of morphological disparity, rates of shape evolution, and functional diversity b...
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
🌏
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
A recent paper claims, opposed to what conservation science has known for decades, that there is no evidence that foxes and cats were a major driver of Australia's mammal extinctions. Turns out there are quite a few issues here. Strap in for a looong thread 🧪 academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...
academic.oup.com
Review of evidence that foxes and cats cause extinctions of Australia's endemic mammals
Abstract. Over half of Australia's threatened and extinct endemic mammal species have been attributed to introduced red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and cats (Fel
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
New species alert! 🦎🧪 We (myself, Glenn Shea, Stephen Richards and Paul Oliver) just published a description of a fantastic new species of Prasinohaema from New Guinea. A short thread:
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Dr. July Pilowsky @pilowsky.me · 08/01/2025
I want to summarize the results of this preprint for the public because I think they're significant. Please keep in mind that the paper has not yet been through peer review. This is a genetic analysis H5N1 2.3.4.4b, the new bird flu strain everyone's talking about. 🧪🧵 1/6
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
🧪
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
I'm very happy to announce I just published a paper from my post doc with Gavin Thomas in @natureecoevo.bsky.social! So if you're interested in #macroevolution, #phylogenetics and sexual size dimorphism (SSD), strap in doi.org/10.1038/s415...
doi.org
Evolution of sexual size dimorphism in tetrapods is driven by varying patterns of sex-specific selection on size - Nature Ecology & Evolution
A phylogenetic comparative analysis of male and female body size across tetrapods globally shows that directional change in size is usually greater in males but reveals different underlying mechanisms...
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
@callanalexander.bsky.social on birds in vineyards - heaps of native birds present, and using a cool combination of supervised and unsupervised machine learning models to overcome false positive issues in AI detection of bird calls #ESAus2024
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Holly Kirk @hollykirk.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Now at #ESAus2024 Paul Sunnocks is reflecting on how ecology and genetics are closely entwined in #conservation🌏 science. Genetic traits drive demography of populations. Things that increase extinction risk: - inbreeding depression - loss of useful function - reduced adaptability
Genetics factors are major predictors species extinction!
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Penguins!! #ESAus2024
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Sea turtles!!! #ESAus2024
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Mike Kearney showing how to determine which koala traits are functional based on theory around heat exchange #ESAus2024
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Awesome research showing that employing "teacher toads" right before a cane toad invasion can teach taste aversion to goannas, allowing them to persist in the landscape once the actual invasion front arrives #ESAus2024
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
There are many ways to make your code reproducible! Here are some by @daxkellie.bsky.social that I wasn't aware of to keep track of package versions in your R project (yikes) #ESAus2024
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
@julesfarquhar.bsky.social getting an extraordinary amount of data from snake call outs, snake catchers sitting on heaps of high quality data #ESAus2024
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
The dire state of Australian frogs by Geoffrey Heard #ESAus2024
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Important reminder by @chapplelab.bsky.social - data deficient / not evaluated species should be treated the same as threatened, and they are more likely to be threatened than not #ESAus2024
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Loving the puns by @meg-shaw.bsky.social #ESAus2024
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
It's been a while since I've been active here, but what better way to return than with an awesome conference? Come find me next week at #ESAus2024 or stay tuned for my general impressions of the state of Australian ecology (probably very impressed)
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Ethan Kocak @ethankocak.com · 24/11/2024
These two pics were the most viral thing I ever posted to Twitter, so in the interest of reposting our bangers, here is my turtle Stu, whom I “rescued” from the local grocery store.
Chinese softshell turtle being held like a hamburger Chinese softshell turtle
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 08/08/2023
Proud member of squid cluster
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 04/08/2023
Five years ago I was in Hawaii with a good camera. Neither of these is true anymore, but I miss those days. So here's a photo of an 'I'iwi from back then, because these are amazing birds 🪶
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 27/07/2023
Adding some #herps to my feed, with this Manapany day gecko (Phelsuma inexpectata) from Réunion
Green gecko on leaf
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Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 27/07/2023
My first post on this app, so naturally reposting a lizard
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