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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

People and Nature @peopleandnature.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

🚶‍♀️‍➡️ Signs of compliance: Message framing influences outdoor recreationists' responses to conservation requests 📖 buff.ly/vqeVwW1

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

People and Nature @peopleandnature.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

🪶 How does recreational activity affect wildlife? New article led by Amber Cowans links habitat selection theory with a social-ecological systems perspective to show how recreationists and wildlife influence one another #RecreationEcology 📖 Read the full paper here ➡️ buff.ly/IPnVJk3

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

RSPB @rspb.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Which is why the habitats they fight to return to must be protected. Weakening protections for key sites for nature would push our already struggling wildlife closer to collapse. Yet the UK Government is considering doing just that. Tell your MP to stop this: action.rspb.org.uk/page/186397/... ‼️

An Atlantic Puffin stands on a narrow, rocky cliff ledge streaked with lichen and tufts of grass. Its black back and white chest contrast with the pale stone, and its bright orange bill catches the light. The blurred backdrop of steep coastal rock faces hints at a rugged seabird colony, one of the special coastal habitats that provide vital nesting sites for wildlife.

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

Methods in Ecology and Evolution @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

The first issue of 2026 is now out! 🚨 This issue contains our new special feature 'Conservation, ecology and artificial intelligence: Advances and symbiotic solutions'. 🌍 🧪 Read the whole issue here 👇 buff.ly/AmWPK0C

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

Germán Bonilla-Rosso @germusthermophilus.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

🌍🌱🧪🔬🦠🧫📈🧬🖥 Scary how many #MicrobiomeSky studies ignore this "Ecological data are inherently noisy and sparse [...] As such, it is not unexpected that robust inference of complex ecological processes like species interactions necessitates large sample sizes." doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

doi.org

Sample size considerations for species co‐occurrence models

Multispecies occupancy models are widely applied to infer interactions in the occurrence of different species, but convergence and estimation issues under realistic sample sizes are common. We conduc...

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez @frodsan.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Sample size considerations for species co-occurrence models #ecopubs @esajournals.bsky.social 'While occupancy patterns are often robust to limited sample size, reliable inference about co-occurrence demands substantially larger datasets than many studies currently achieve' doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

In the simplest scenario, there is high bias in the interaction parameter (used for co-occurrence inference) with less than 100 sites at high detection, and 400–1000 sites at low detection, depending on interaction strength. Strong co-occurrence is detected consistently above 200 sites with high detection probabilities, but weak co-occurrence is never consistently detected even with 2980 sites. We demonstrate that the mean predictive ability of the co-occurrence model is less affected by sample size

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

Ecological Society of America @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

A new #OpenAccess Statistical Report in "Ecology"!👀

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Amber Cowans (she/her) @ambercowans.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

📝 Are you using multispecies occupancy models to investigate interactions in species occupancy (i.e. co-occurrence)? 🦁🦓 Check out our new paper for advice on the number of sites you need to reliably detect interactions under different scenarios ⬇️

doi.org

Sample size considerations for species co‐occurrence models

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Amber Cowans (she/her) @ambercowans.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

New paper alert ⚠️ Using #AI tools like #megadetector and #birdNET to process camera trap images or audio recordings? Read our perspective piece for some considerations and guidance on 📊 working with 0-1 confidence scores 🤔 making thresholding decisions 🧑‍💻 and navigating AI-labelling errors

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Improving the integration of artificial intelligence into existing ecological inference workflows

Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionised the process of identifying species and individuals in audio recordings and camera trap images. However, despite developments in sensor technology, m...

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Amber Cowans (she/her) @ambercowans.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

I'll be talking at the @pintofscience.uk festival in St Andrews on May 19! Come along to learn about how AI works, how it's revolutionising ecology and what it's costing the earth 🌍 pintofscience.co.uk/event/ale-go...

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

Chris Sutherland @chrissuthy.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Now accepting applicants for 25-26 intake of our #StatisticalEcology MSc: bit.ly/3ooHNyc. A unique opportunity to develop skills at the interface of #statistics and #ecology (some partial scholarships available too). Please help me share!

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

The Los Angeles wildfires are climate disasters compounded, writes @ericholthaus.com - the conditions for a January LA firestorm have never existed until now #climatecrisis #LAfires www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

theguardian.com

The Los Angeles wildfires are climate disasters compounded

Conditions for a January firestorm in Los Angeles like this have not existed before now, writes a meteorologist and climate journalist

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

NETGAIN @netgain.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

We just posted our first round of fully funded interdisciplinary challege-led projects! netgain.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/phd-projects/ PhDs available at: @aberdeenunilib.bsky.social, @durhamuniversity.bsky.social, @glasgowunisrc.bsky.social, @uniofstandrews.bsky.social, @ukri.org

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

Fergus Chadwick @fergusjchadwick.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

I am advertising a *fully funded* and genuinely interdisciplinary PhD looking at integrating ecology, statistics and environmental ethics. The project is part of the amazing @netgain.bsky.social. Please get in touch and share with anyone who might be interested! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

findaphd.com

Bridging Philosophy and Ecology: Ethical Decision-Making in Wild Salmonid Conservation at University of St Andrews on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Bridging Philosophy and Ecology: Ethical Decision-Making in Wild Salmonid Conservation at University of St Andrews, listed on FindAPhD.com

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

Philip Stephens @ps-wildlife-res.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

The value of simulation before analysis: @chrissuthy.bsky.social talks through work led by @ambercowans.bsky.social, yielding some cautionary lessons for users of species co-occurrence models. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #BES2024

Chris Sutherland describes simulations to assess the power of species co-occurrence models under a variety of conditions.

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

Rob Davis @robdavis1104.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Wow! Amazing opportunity here for South Africa based 🇿🇦 researchers to develop their quantitative skills! 🤩💻 Two workshops: • An intro to stats in R • Applied hierarchical modelling The course is FREE! These opportunities rarely come about in 🇿🇦, so share widely & sign up! #conservationscience 🌍

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Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)

Chris Sutherland @chrissuthy.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Huge congrats to @ambercowans.bsky.social on the acceptance of her first PhD chapter in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social: 'Improving the integration of AI into existing ecological inference workflows' It's a perspective piece, but if you cant wait, the preprint is here: biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

media.tenor.com

a group of people standing next to each other with the words right perspective on the bottom right

ALT: a group of people standing next to each other with the words right perspective on the bottom right

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