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Dustin Marshall

@djmmeeg.bsky.social
2.2K followers 1.1K following 123 posts

Biologist at Monash University interested in size, energy and life history

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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
School of Biological Sciences, Monash @MonashBiol @monashbiol.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Are you a potential Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Ecology or Evolutionary Biology? The School of Biological Sciences at Monash University is recruiting careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
ARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Some substantial changes announced by ARC for next (supposedly final) rounds of some schemes, esp. Discovery Projects👇 🔹CIs can only be on one DP28 app 🔹CIs on successful DP26 or DP27 apps cannot apply 🔹Rejoinder process “has been removed and replaced with more detailed feedback to applicants” ⁉️
arc.gov.au
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Bob Wong @bbmwong.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Are you an ecologist/evolutionary biologist looking for an ongoing academic position? Monash University’s School of Biological Sciences is hiring! Come join us in Melbourne, Australia! Details here: careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
School of Biological Sciences, Monash @MonashBiol @monashbiol.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
How does the probability of survival and fertility change with age and early-life experience? In a rare field test Will Morgan Hayley Cameron and @djmmeeg.bsky.social found that adult bryozoans that experienced greater early-life stress had lower fitness overall academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
academic.oup.com
Early-life stress reduces senescence in the field for an indeterminately growing ectotherm
Abstract. Theory predicts that aged-related declines in performance (senescence) depend on experiences during early life. Experimental field tests of this
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
What if your own theory was tricking you? What if the theory your research was based on was just a “Clever Hans”? Out today in TREE, we explore this problem and more. In this 🧵 I will elaborate the Clever Hans problem in biological theory.
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Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
What if your own theory was tricking you? What if the theory your research was based on was just a “Clever Hans”? Out today in TREE, we explore this problem and more. In this 🧵 I will elaborate the Clever Hans problem in biological theory.
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
When cells are in more realistic regimes, resource fluxes actually scale with radius rather surface area. And things get even more complicated when cells swim….the point here is that all three scalings are ”first principles approaches” but they are not all equally applicable
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Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
For example, how do resource fluxes scale with cell size? most people would guess 2/3’s because of simple intuition about surface volume ratios but that only works under unrealistic conditions of stationary cells and saturating resources.
static.klipy.com
Princess Bride: Classic Blunders!
ALT: Princess Bride: Classic Blunders!
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Out today in @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social our paper “Second Thoughts about First Principles in Biology.” www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... . We are in favour of first principles approaches in biology but we think that we need to do better in how we use them.
cell.com
Second thoughts about first principles in biology
First-principles approaches, based on physics or chemistry, are key pillars of biological theory. Despite their value, there are recurrent problems with many first-principles approaches in biology: th...
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Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Out today in @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social our paper “Second Thoughts about First Principles in Biology.” www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... . We are in favour of first principles approaches in biology but we think that we need to do better in how we use them.
cell.com
Second thoughts about first principles in biology
First-principles approaches, based on physics or chemistry, are key pillars of biological theory. Despite their value, there are recurrent problems with many first-principles approaches in biology: th...
24418
Reposted by Dustin Marshall
School of Biological Sciences, Monash @MonashBiol @monashbiol.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Does it matter if single celled organisms are getting smaller as the world gets hotter? @djmmeeg.bsky.social and colleagues found that size-function relationships have been mis-estimated with worrying consequences for global carbon pumps. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42087558/
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
ARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Nothing in the Budget last night for the ARC. Despite review after review recommending ARC funding be increased, nothing. Year on year, the same thing, no matter who's in Government.
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Metabolic scaling is thought to scale very steeply with size in unicells but what if that steepness is simply an artefact? Out today in Ecology Letters, we show that metabolic scaling is not superlinear in unicells but instead scales at ~0.86 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Drivers and Consequences of Size Declines in Unicells
Reader environment loaded
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Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
”Metabolic scaling is thought to scale steeply”….? Maybe I shouldn’t write these things before I’ve had coffee. it should be “Metabolism is though to scale steeply…..”
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Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Metabolic scaling is thought to scale very steeply with size in unicells but what if that steepness is simply an artefact? Out today in Ecology Letters, we show that metabolic scaling is not superlinear in unicells but instead scales at ~0.86 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Drivers and Consequences of Size Declines in Unicells
Reader environment loaded
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
I recently re-read Richard Hofstadter’s Anti-Intellectualism in American Life and now every time a Silicon Valley billionaire opens his mouth, I think about it. So I wrote about it for The Nation: www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
The Anti-Intellectualism of the Silicon Valley Elite
How the self-styled know-it-alls atop the knowledge economy want to dismantle the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
School of Biological Sciences, Monash @MonashBiol @monashbiol.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
How will evolution affect survival and yields of common fisheries species? A recent study by Jan Kozlowski, @djmmeeg.bsky.social @craig-white.bsky.social found that fish will evolve to survive warmer temperatures AND smaller sizes, reducing fisheries yields by ~50% www.science.org/doi/full/10....
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Fish will have to adapt to a warming world, what will that adaptation do to fisheries yields? We answer that question today in Science. I’ll summarise our findings very briefly in this thread www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....
science.org
Evolutionary adaptation to global change reduces sustainable fisheries yields
Global warming is altering the fisheries that underpin food security, but projections of these impacts generally exclude evolutionary processes. We describe a model that forecasts how fish will adapt ...
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Out today in @science.org our paper on how evolutionary adaptation to warming will reduce fisheries yields. Please let me know if you need me to send you a copy. Summary of the paper coming soon. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Evolutionary adaptation to global change reduces sustainable fisheries yields
Global warming is altering the fisheries that underpin food security, but projections of these impacts generally exclude evolutionary processes. We describe a model that forecasts how fish will adapt ...
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Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Fish will have to adapt to a warming world, what will that adaptation do to fisheries yields? We answer that question today in Science. I’ll summarise our findings very briefly in this thread www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....
science.org
Evolutionary adaptation to global change reduces sustainable fisheries yields
Global warming is altering the fisheries that underpin food security, but projections of these impacts generally exclude evolutionary processes. We describe a model that forecasts how fish will adapt ...
35633
Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Out today in @science.org our paper on how evolutionary adaptation to warming will reduce fisheries yields. Please let me know if you need me to send you a copy. Summary of the paper coming soon. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Evolutionary adaptation to global change reduces sustainable fisheries yields
Global warming is altering the fisheries that underpin food security, but projections of these impacts generally exclude evolutionary processes. We describe a model that forecasts how fish will adapt ...
06030
Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
The principles of experimental design in ecology and evolution has 20k downloads, but unfortunately I still have to reject ~20% of papers without review because they lack replication at the right level. More discussion among mentors and mentees please. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Principles of experimental design for ecology and evolution
Here I argue that we do not discuss experimental design, often until it is too late. This editorial seeks to begin a conversation about how and where to replicate appropriately.
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Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
The principles of experimental design in ecology and evolution has 20k downloads, but unfortunately I still have to reject ~20% of papers without review because they lack replication at the right level. More discussion among mentors and mentees please. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Principles of experimental design for ecology and evolution
Here I argue that we do not discuss experimental design, often until it is too late. This editorial seeks to begin a conversation about how and where to replicate appropriately.
13515
Reposted by Dustin Marshall
ARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Just noting that ARC is still on X/Twitter. Despite it now being clear that that platform produces child exploitation materials, they remain active there. If you interact with ARC staff, I really think they need to answer this question. It's moved being simply "disconnected from researchers" to … 🤢
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School of Biological Sciences, Monash @MonashBiol @monashbiol.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Is hermaphrodism less common in animals because it is energetically more costly? George Jarvis and @djmmeeg.bsky.social have analysed 536 species of marine invertebrates and found that hermaphrodites require approximately 27% less energy than gonochores on average. doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Andrew Barnes @barnesecodiv.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
❗New paper alert❗ The 2nd publication from Poppy Romera's Masters is just out in @natcomms.nature.com We find that adherence of 180 soil food webs to the energy equivalence rule strongly depends on the measure of energy use, trophic level, and food web structure. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Hypothesised scaling relationships between body size and population density and energy use (metabolism and energy flux) for predators and secondary consumers
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George Jarvis @gc-jarvis.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Excited to share our study testing competing theories on the energy dynamics of hermaphroditism! Grateful to @djmmeeg.bsky.social for guidance, to Thomas Brey for metabolic rate data, and to Deborah Charlesworth for feedback. Thanks also to the editors and reviewers at Proc B. @royalsociety.org
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Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Re-upping for a different timezone
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Darwin speculated that it was energetically costly to be an hermaphrodite. He thought that might explain why they were relatively rare in animals. Our paper out today tested this conjecture for the first time. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
royalsocietypublishing.org
Hermaphrodites have lower metabolic rates than gonochores
Abstract. Hermaphroditism, where an individual can reproduce as both male and female, offers some clear reproductive advantages. Simultaneous hermaphroditi
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Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Darwin speculated that it was energetically costly to be an hermaphrodite. He thought that might explain why they were relatively rare in animals. Our paper out today tested this conjecture for the first time. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
royalsocietypublishing.org
Hermaphrodites have lower metabolic rates than gonochores
Abstract. Hermaphroditism, where an individual can reproduce as both male and female, offers some clear reproductive advantages. Simultaneous hermaphroditi
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Catherine Sheard @sheardcat.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Anyone looking for a Australia-based postdoc? Like animal behaviour / coding / birds? My fantastic collaborator, Iliana Medina, is advertising a position researching bird nests: unimelb.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/UoM_Ex...
unimelb.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com
Research Fellow in Behaviour and Ecology
Role type: Full Time; Fixed Term for 2 years Faculty: Faculty of Science Department/ School: School of Biosciences Salary: Level A: $87,266 - $118,416 (PhD Entry Level - $110,319) plus 17% super Colla...
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Amanda Alker @atp-alker.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Apply and come be my colleague!
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Lars Gamfeldt @gamfeldt.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Opportunity! Anybody knows of young marine ecologists (within 7 years from earned PhD) that would like to come to Gothenburg, Sweden, for a nationally funded Assistant Professorship? It is highly competitive but well funded. (1) of (3)
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Katie Field @katiefield4.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
🌿🍄‍🟫🌱🍄We’re recruiting!!🌿🍄‍🟫🌱🍄 I’m looking for two postdocs and a technician to join my group @sheffielduni.bsky.social @sheffieldpps.bsky.social to work with me on my exciting @royalsociety.org Faraday Discovery Fellowship project, details for each post as follows:
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Dylan Childs @dzchilds.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
🦜 New PhD project with @ACCE_DTP and project partners Macaw Recovery Network and Longleat — using bioacoustics data to help conserve one of the Neotropics’ most charismatic parrots, the Critically Endangered Great Green Macaw. Find out more about ACCE+ DLA and how to apply 👉 accedtp.ac.uk
findaphd.com
ACCE+ DLA programme: Landscape-scale drivers and limits of endangered species spatial and temporal distribution at University of Sheffield on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - ACCE+ DLA programme: Landscape-scale drivers and limits of endangered species spatial and temporal distribution at University of Sheffield, listed on FindAPhD.com
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The Company of Biologists @biologists.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Thank you to everyone for their support over the past 100 years, and for helping us celebrate this year. You can catch up with all our 100-year content on our special anniversary page bit.ly/4naj8Jr
The Company of Biologists 100-year anniversary logo
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Corey Holt @coreyholt.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Such a great resource!
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José Cerca @naturalselection.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
The 2025-26 Eco-Evo job list is out. Good luck to those applying! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
docs.google.com
ecoevojobs.net 2025-26
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Professor Euan Ritchie FAMS @euanritchie.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
"Australia has the second-lowest public expenditure on tertiary education institutions in the OECD…This has resulted in an endless chase for dollars (international students & “the next big thing”) rather than thinking about what an educated Australia should look like” www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...
smh.com.au
Universities such as mine are making poor decisions, and we’re not allowed to know why
UTS has announced a “pause” on enrolments in 100 courses. Vacating these critically important areas diminishes not only the brand of UTS but the state it was designed to benefit.
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Chris Catano @chriscatano.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
I use your paper in a grad course on experimetal design and analysis. The students find it super helpful!
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Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Aha, here it is: bsky.app/profile/djmm...
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Craig White @craig-white.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Two (!) ongoing Academic (Research and Teaching) positions in Ecology, here at Monash University in Melbourne. Closing in a little over a week! Please share widely! Both at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer level (similar to Assistant Professor) careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com
Job Search
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Craig White @craig-white.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
An ongoing Academic (Research and Teaching) position in Genomics, here at Monash University in Melbourne. Closing in a little over a week! Please share widely! Lecturer/Senior Lecturer level (similar to Assistant Professor). careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com
Job Search
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Bob Wong @bbmwong.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
The three academic positions (Lecturer/Senior Lecturer) in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University are now advertised. Details here: Ecology: careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo... Genomics: careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com
Job Search
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Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Our “Why are cells the size they are?” workshop was an inspiring delight. Thanks to all the participants and @biologists.bsky.social, I’m so grateful to everyone.
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Reposted by Dustin Marshall
Daniel Padfield @padpadpadpad.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
The Why Are Cells The Size They Are workshop by @biologists.bsky.social was superb. The attendee list was exceptional and whole thing was inspiring. Chose a special conference to be my first for nearly three years.
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The Company of Biologists @biologists.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
The Company of Biologists Workshop: Why Are Cells the Size They Are? Thank you to Workshop organisers Dustin Marshall and Craig White. #Workshop #Biology #CellBiology #Cells #Community #Collaboration #Research #Researchers #Academia #Academics
Workshop attendees standing on the steps in front of the event venue. The individuals are dressed in casual to semi-formal attire.

Image text: Why Are Cells the Size They Are?
Buxted Park, East Sussex, UK
13-16 July 2025
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Craig White @craig-white.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
In about a week we (Biological Sciences @ Monash Uni in Melbourne, Australia) will be opening a search for 3 (!!!) permanent academic positions (40% research, 40% teaching, 20% service) at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. 1 Genomics, 2 Ecology. Please share, email me, DM, follow, send carrier pigeons…
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Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Why throwing all potential predictors into your model and letting it decide has, and always will, be bad for inference.
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Dustin Marshall @djmmeeg.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
Voting in Oz, <15 mins from arriving to democracy sausage
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