iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

This paper is a cautionary tale for spatial modelling for data compilations - just because the output looks to have spatial variation does not mean true spatial effects have been resolved if there is spatial structure in sampling and hence other non-spatial variables!

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This means that despite heirarchical model structures, true spatial effects could not be disentangled from other sources of variation.

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This is due to a mismatch between the expected spatial gradients in isotopic variation and the spatial structure of the opportunistic data. Importantly, non-spatial sources of variation, such as ecological processes (e.g taxa), were themselves spatially structured!

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This has been a common approach in marine isoscape construction where sample collection is logistically challenging. But despite using advanced Bayesian models and thousands of data points, reasonable isoscapes could not be resolved...

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Mat Cobain @cobainmat.eurosky.social · 24/07/2026

New paper alert!!! 🚨📃🚨 Led by the awesome Sarah Magozzi and with @clivetrue.bsky.social and many other data contributors, we test isoscape construction in the Med using extensive compiled opportunistic data (1000's of measurments) doi.org/10.1016/j.po...

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These samples will be used to understand how changing environmental conditions of lakes (warming and eutrophication) impact the production of long chain PUFAs in zooplankton and fish as algal communties shift towards low quality cyanobacteria

Mat Cobain @cobainmat.eurosky.social · 24/07/2026

Big shout out to Lammi biological station of @helsinki.fi, @luke.fi, and Aatu Turunen for helping with the fieldwork so far! Still more fish sampling to go!!!

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Mat Cobain @cobainmat.eurosky.social · 24/07/2026

It is our last day of field work for 2026 for the ZooPUFA project @uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social We have been taking water samples, productivity incubations, phyto/zooplankton samples, and perch tissue samples from 25 lakes across the southern half of Finland!

Nadescha Zwerschke @nadescha.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Reposted by Mat Cobain

Such a pleasure to work with @cobainmat.eurosky.social on this paper. We combined #SIA samples, #imagery analysis and #foodweb models to look how #iceberg disturbance affects complexity in #antarctic benthic foodwebs. @bas.ac.uk @glasgow.ac.uk 🌎🧪🦞🦑

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Also it is hard to take decent photos of fish in tanks 😅

But i must admit, perch husbandry from wild eggs is turning out to be quite tricky, with high larval mortality and low swim bladder inflation rates 😬

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#ZooPUFA update here at @uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social, our perch are growing up fast! 🐟 They are now split into experiment tanks, being fed live artemia (commonly called sea monkeys) 🦐 with different fatty acid profiles as a pilot study to see how LC-PUFA sysnthesis expresses isotopically!

Two small perch, just starting to show stripes, are resting on the bottom of the tank

Two perch are swimming in a tank, a larger, and more bold individual in the foreground

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Jason Newton @jasonisotopes.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

New paper alert 🚨 led by the awesome @nadescha.bsky.social examining Antarctic food web recovery post disturbance by combining food web models with stable isotopes! Check it out in Marine Environmental Research at www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Graphical abstract of paper showing how frequency of disturbance (ice berg scouring) correlates with food web metrics and changes in structure during recovery period.

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Reposted by Mat Cobain

(1/3) UK-based ecologists interested in #stableisotopeecology applications to the @isotopesuk.bsky.social — now is a good time to start shaping your ideas. Next application deadline: 7 October 2026. More info: www.isotopesuk.org/apply.html (Panel B)

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Reposted by Mat Cobain

Jan Geert Hiddink @jangeerthiddink.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

🦞 Great postdoc opportunity for a benthic ecologist with an interest in bioturbation on the important topic of trawling impacts on seabed carbon stocks.

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Reposted by Mat Cobain

Benjamin Jarrett @bjmjarrett.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

I am hiring a postdoc for a project on herbivory of Rhododendron by insects in North Wales! Genomics expertise required, field experience preferred. Hoping to hire quickly! Bangor is awesome! Get in touch if you want any more details! jobs.bangor.ac.uk/details.php....

jobs.bangor.ac.uk

Job Details | Bangor University Jobs

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Reposted by Mat Cobain

ICES - International Council for the Exploration of the Sea @icesmarine.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

🌐Looking for your next career move? 📍Join ICES Secretariat, Copenhagen, Denmark as a Data Officer ⏰Apply soon - Sunday 17 May is the deadline! ℹ️ Apply here www.ices.dk/about-ICES/Jobs-in-ICES…

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Reposted by Mat Cobain

Nicholas Per Huffeldt @nphuffeldt.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Postdoc available in herbivores and vegetation mapping, focusing on reindeer and muskoxen. Collab between Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Cambridge Uni, and the Scott Polar Research Institute. More details, naalakkersuisut.emply.net/recruitment/... 🧪 🌍 #PhDSky #AcademicSky

naalakkersuisut.emply.net

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Mat Cobain @cobainmat.eurosky.social · 29/04/2026

These perch eggs (hopefully soon fry 🤞) will form a crucial part of #ZooPUFA project experiments examining bioconversion of polyunsaturated fatty acids in lake ecosystems!

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Mat Cobain @cobainmat.eurosky.social · 29/04/2026

It is all go here in the #ZooPUFA project here at @uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social now that spring has hit Finland so soon! The early ice melt meant early spawning for perch which means i got these cuties arriving a bit earlier than planned! 😅

Dr John Clarke @jclarkepaleo.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Reposted by Mat Cobain

~5 days left to apply

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Thanks Matt! I have been ill the past few days and perhaps housebound a bit too much 😂

Anyways, funders please get behind more basic (actually not-so basic) research and happy weekend everyone 😅 n/n

But it seems so short-sighted because, given AI-technologies, data scraping will outpace data generation and then what? 11/n

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Anyway, I am left wondering what value is genuinely given to empirical data generation in science, especially when competing for scientific funding. It is usually expensive compared to data-scraping methods and will then be swallowed into something else anyway. 10/n

(PDF) Progress and Direction in the Use of Stable Isotopes to Understand Complex Coral Reef Ecosystems: A Review

But side-note, not all journals - a few years ago I was part of review & meta-analysis of stable isotopes on coral reefs. We referenced 387 works in total in the main manuscript, including all 238 articles extracted as part of the meta-analysis! See link here: 9/n

researchgate.net

PDF | Coral reef ecosystems are exceptionally complex with a myriad of trophic pathways and consumer relationships. The application of stable isotopes... | Find, read and cite all the research you nee...

A huge stumbling block here is that journals often, for one reason or another, have limitations of the number of works that can be referenced. Seeing as almost all publications are digital only these days, I struggle to see why 8/n

And from then on, someone else is likely getting recognition (citations) from the original authors' works and research funding. 7/n

Their work probably isn't cited in the main article, but relegated to a supplementary list (if they are lucky) meaning that there is limited recognition of their work at all in our metric-based system. Is this fair? Especially for ECRs who need the recognition for funding & career progression 6/n

However many compilation studies today extract data from published articles and repackage it into some form of review, meta-analysis and so on. Sometimes the authors of the original data are not even made aware of (let alone invited to) this work 5/n

All data was made available in a repository, which explicitly denotes who has ownership of each individual datapoint of the many thousands included. As everyone has authorship, everyone gains credit when this data is used (if people cannot be bothered to go to the original article that is) 4/n

Although it was difficult at times, it was great to have the insights of all those who contributed data as they know best the ins and outs of their systems, measurements and so on. All received credit via authorship. 3/n

For context, I led on a recently published paper combining the data and research efforts of 20 other (mostly senior) scientists working on salmonids in Fennoscandia (doi.org/10.1002/lno....). All were included on the paper, even posthumously - I'm grateful the L&O journal had no issues with this 2/n

doi.org