Sign in

Joel Pick

@joelpick.bsky.social
1K followers 516 following 85 posts

Evolutionary ecologist and open science advocate. Interested in social evolution, population dynamics, statistics, and open science. Parent x2. Incompetent but enthusiastic naturalist

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Joel Pick
Pierre de Villemereuil @pdevillemereuil.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
With fieldwork, I didn't get to advertise our (not so now) new paper on the quantitative genetics of growth in the 🦎 in @journal-evo.bsky.social: dx.doi.org/10.1093/evol... It's an exciting paper paper in which we disentangle what it means to treat the whole growth curve as a function-valued trait!
dx.doi.org
Quantitative genetics of lifetime growth curves in a lizard
Abstract. Body size is an iconic trait in quantitative genetics. For species with indeterminate growth however, growth curve, a function-valued trait, is t
23520
Reposted by Joel Pick
Edward R. Ivimey-Cook @eivimeycook.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A reminder to sign up to the @sortee.bsky.social conference: 13-14th October sortee.org/upcoming/! The advocacy committee will be running a hackathon (second event) looking at EcoEvo society journal policies and data/code availability/quality.
sortee.org
Upcoming SORTEE conference
Upcoming conference by the Society for Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary biology (SORTEE)
125
Reposted by Joel Pick
Methods in Ecology and Evolution @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
📖 Published📖 This perspective argues that reframing persistent challenges as interconnected problems of implementation, rather than aspiration, will help in overcoming a century of inertia in quantitative ecology education 📚️ 📈 🎒 🔎 buff.ly/EdhVNrV
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/2041-210x.70405
041
Reposted by Joel Pick
Ruben C. Arslan @ruben.the100.ci · 11/09/2026
An interesting thing is happening to me at the moment. I have a standing bug bounty policy for my first authored scientific work. That means, I've committed to pay people who report bugs in my code, up to 750€ for severe errors. Since GPT-6 Astra came out, I'm now getting several bug reports daily.
39233
Reposted by Joel Pick
Corey Callaghan @coreytcallaghan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Do you use #iNaturalist data in research—or advise students who do? We put together a practical guide to using iNaturalist data in scientific research, covering how to access, acquire, analyze, and attribute the data, with examples in R and Python. Paper: doi.org/10.1093/bios... #ecology
410373
Reposted by Joel Pick
Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 22/09/2026
Tyrannosaurus xkcd.com/3300/
Comic. [Person with long hair pointing to diagram with Tyrannosaurus Rex standing next to a person.] PERSON: We now believe the primary prey of Tyrannosaurus Rex was these humans who kept standing next to it for scale.
91121062094
Reposted by Joel Pick
Dan Quintana @dsquintana.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
New preprint! 🎉 I analysed 1660 papers from 4 psychology journals and found materials sharing went from 9% of papers in 2015 to 82% in 2025, and these materials *do* get downloaded — a median of 135 times each. BUT shared code is often hard to run. doi.org/10.31234/osf... Let's walk through it 🧵
Two-panel figure. Panel a is a flow diagram tracking 1,611 empirical psychology articles from publication year (545 in 2015, 552 in 2020, 514 in 2025) to repository-link type: 785 link an OSF project, 85 link another platform, and 741 link no repository. Of those with an OSF link, download counts were retrieved for 670 and not retrieved for 115. Panel b is a line chart of the share of empirical papers linking OSF across 2015, 2020 and 2025. The overall rate, shown as a dashed black line, rises from 9% to 57% to 82%. All four journals rise steeply and end close together: Psychological Science 92%, JESP 89%, JML 83%, Cognition 76%, with Psychological Science highest throughout.Three-panel figure. Panel a: ridgeline plot of downloads per file by material type on a log scale, with the percentage never downloaded labelled for each — archive 16% of 545 files, documents 20% of 2,970, code 12% of 3,471, other 17% of 1,646, data 21% of 10,051, media 35% of 2,120, images 35% of 4,102. Most files cluster between 1 and 10 downloads, with long right tails past 100. Panel b: ridgeline plot of downloads per paper by journal, log scale, with dashed median lines; Psychological Science is highest, then JESP, JML and Cognition. Panel c: stacked bars showing, for documents, data and code separately, the share of papers by download band (0, 1–10, 11–100, more than 100) in 2015, 2020 and 2025. The share exceeding 100 downloads falls sharply over time in all three types, from roughly two-thirds in 2015 to a quarter or less in 2025, as the 1–10 band grows.Four-panel figure. Panel a: statistical languages detected among 333 papers with retrievable code — R 88%, SPSS 12%, Stata 4%, SAS 1%. Panel b: code red flags among those 333 papers — 34% hard-code an absolute path, 40% reference a missing file — above documentation among 672 OSF-linked papers — 21% have a README, 30% are documented by README, description or wiki. Panel c: among 562 Elsevier papers with no repository link, 44% (245) host at least one journal supplementary file but only 14% (77) host data, code or an archive. Panel d: composition of those 448 hosted files — documents 52%, data 21%, media 9%, other 7%, archive 6%, code 3%, images 1%. The code panels are green, the journal-supplement panels blue.Coefficient plot (download predictors)

Dot-and-whisker plot of three standardised predictors of OSF download volume, each with a 95% confidence interval. Repository size (number of files) has the largest effect at about 0.76, citations about 0.38, and altmetric attention about 0.12. All three intervals sit entirely above zero, so each predicts more downloads, with repository size roughly twice the effect of citations and six times that of attention. X-axis: standardised effect, −0.2 to 1.0.
4264111
Reposted by Joel Pick
Kate Laskowski @katelaskowski.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
If you know me, you know that Am Nat 🐌 is one of my fav journals. So I am delighted (and a little terrified) to say I've recently accepted a role as one of its Senior Editors! Be sure to keep us in mind as home for your favorite work (including behavior) 😉! @asn-amnat.bsky.social
Screenshot of masthead for the journal The American Naturalist - lists Volker Rudolk as EiC and my name has been added as one of the Senior Editors (along with Jill Anderson and Sebastien Lion).
511416
Reposted by Joel Pick
Martin A. Nuñez @martin-nunez.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Before writing an introduction, make a one-line roadmap for each paragraph. Then read only those lines. Do they form a logical argument? If not, reorganize the roadmap before polishing the text. 🌐🧪
description of a outline of a scientific paper
1124
Reposted by Joel Pick
Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"Is plastic pollution getting worse?" It's the question we get asked more than any other. After 15 years of data from Lord Howe Island, we finally have a straight answer. 🧵 🔗 agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
A hand holding a plastic fork piece in the foreground. In the background, another hand lays out plastics on a sheet of paper towel. The plastic was in a shearwater chick's stomach.
18358
Reposted by Joel Pick
Journal of Evolutionary Biology @jevbio.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
@prof-tregoning.bsky.social argues that scientific paper format does not reflect how we do science: 🤥are we telling a false story? 💡are we dismissing the central role of creativity in science? What do you think? Let us know in the comments... journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
085
Reposted by Joel Pick
Daily Spurious Correlation 🤖 @dailycorrelation.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The distance between Uranus and Earth correlates with Asthma prevalence in American children (r=0.932)
032
Reposted by Joel Pick
Barbara Class, Ph.D. (she/her) @barbaraclass.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Tired of reviewing for for-profit academic publishing? How about reviewing for diamond open-access journals instead? Sign the Diamond reviewer pledge and spread the word! forrt.org/diamond-revi...
forrt.org
Diamond Reviewer Pledge
Signatories of the Diamond Reviewer Pledge commit to reviewing at least one article in the next 12 months for a diamond open access journal.
022
Reposted by Joel Pick
Laura Ross @laurarossevo.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
My lab @ Edinburgh university is recruiting a postdoc to work on the weird and wonderful germline-specific chromosomes of flies. elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid... collaboration with @germline.bsky.social and yukiko yamashita funded by @novonordisk.bsky.social please repost!
16665
Reposted by Joel Pick
In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
For once, I actually agree with Steve's advice. Being silly is good for the soul.
A close-up, photo-realistic image of Steve the otter poking his wet snout and whiskered face out of shallow water, looking curiously at the viewer.  
Text on image: “WE MUST REMAIN SILLY”
4717163
Reposted by Joel Pick
In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Hope you get the job, Steve! (He won't)
A black-and-white cartoon illustration with a bright green background shows an otter named Steve nervously sitting behind an office desk being interviewed by two other otters.

Baked-in text:
“At the interview Steve is asked if he can perform under pressure.  
Steve is not 100% sure he knows all the lyrics…  
but he’s about to try his best.”

On Steve’s name tag: “steve”  
On his mug: “I ♥ FISH”  
Bottom left corner: “inotternews.co.uk”  
Bottom right corner: “In Ötter News ©”
522429
Reposted by Joel Pick
In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Thanks for that, Steve...
A photograph of a brown otter named Steve standing on its hind legs and leaning against a tree trunk in a softly lit forest clearing.  
Baked-in text:  
“The past tense of William Shakespeare would be Wouldiwas Shookspeared.”  
“#SteveThoughts”
220624
Reposted by Joel Pick
Templeton World Charity Foundation @templetonworld.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Congratulations to Dr @katelaskowski.bsky.social for receiving the 2026 Ctrl-Z award by the Center for Scientific Integrity. The award celebrates scientists who discover errors in their work and take the necessary steps to correct the record. 👉 Learn more about the prize: bit.ly/4hSKk0b
Image of Kate Laskowski, a young woman with medium auburn hair looking at the camera. Text reads: "Kate Laskowski, Ph.D is recognized with 2026 Ctrl-Z Award. Organised by the Center for Scientific Integrity, it celebrates scientists’ courage in retracting their own work"
05310
Reposted by Joel Pick
Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez @frodsan.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Great collection of Shiny apps (and R package) for #teaching #ecology. Apps come in different languages (including Spanish) ecoevoapps.gitlab.io
Partial list of Shiny apps designed for teaching ecology, hosted at https://ecoevoapps.gitlab.io/
02418
Reposted by Joel Pick
Eric Schares @eschares.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
🚨Update: Our analysis of global APC expenditure has now been expanded to cover more publishers (7 -> 14) and more years (2019-2025). We estimate $15B in APCs paid over seven years, $3.7B in 2025 alone. Elsevier crosses the $1B threshold by itself in 2025. arxiv.org/abs/2608.16322 #ScholComm
Line chart showing 5 biggest publishers from 2019-2025
6179147
Reposted by Joel Pick
In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Good philosophy when you think about it.
A warm, lighthearted photo of two otters with their eyes closed in a tender embrace.  
Text on image: “Snuggles, not struggles.” (top) and “In Öter News” (bottom right)
447484
Reposted by Joel Pick
SORTEE @sortee.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
⏰ Final call: Nominations for the 2026 SORTEE Commendation Awards close in one week! Know a project promoting Open Science in ecology & evolution? Projects of any scale are welcome. Submit now: sortee.org/awards/ #OpenScience #EcoEvo #SORTEE
0109
Reposted by Joel Pick
Lukas Röseler @aufdroeseler.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I meant to post that #FLoRA now has over 2,500 replications and reproductions - but we are already at >2,600! This is only possible due to our team of >200 researchers submitting + validating entries, approving them, and maintaining the search pipeline and validation app. forrt.org/flora-explor...
1106
Reposted by Joel Pick
In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Stop thinking so hard, Steve. It's a fruitless endeavor. #SteveThoughts
1435249
Reposted by Joel Pick
Kate Laskowski @katelaskowski.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Attention: dream job alert!! 🚨 This is *my* home department, which I unabashedly love! We're a super collegial group (that really protects & supports junior faculty 💪) and Davis is a great place to live. Happy to chat more about what it's like to be a faculty here
03432
Reposted by Joel Pick
Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
On the off chance you're relying on OSF to store your data; put copies of it somewhere safe ASAP. I like to think they've got the runway to keep storing things like they suggest, but it wouldn't be the first time something like this went dark on the internet. www.cos.io/osf-changes
cos.io
OSF Changes | Center for Open Science
We are preparing substantial changes to OSF that will reduce its functionality, focus OSF on its unique strengths, and move toward an integrated model with complementary services. As part of that shif...
54834
Reposted by Joel Pick
Russ Poldrack @russpoldrack.org · 11/08/2026
Many of you will have seen the recent post about changes at OSF. If you'd like to learn more about how to use other services (particularly Zenodo) to share data and code, see my book chapter on resource sharing. bettercode-book.org/book-sharing...
bettercode-book.org
12  Sharing Research Objects – Better Code, Better Science
317883
Reposted by Joel Pick
Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Question: do I know anyone near Nantes who would be willing to pick up a dead gull-billed tern and its logger? L49 has sadly been killed near a road. I’d be very grateful for a picture and the logger and would of course reimburse postage.
553100
Reposted by Joel Pick
Marco Festa-Bianchet 🇨🇦 @marcofesta.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Reviewing manuscripts is a service, not a power trip.
082
Reposted by Joel Pick
In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
...Has anyone seen Brad?
Short description: A pencil-sketch cartoon shows Steve the otter tucked up in a bed with patterned blankets, looking pensively toward the viewer.  

Image text:  
“What if the meatballs at Ikea are made from customers that never found the exit?”  

Logo in lower left: “n ÖYTER NEWS”
1432448
Reposted by Joel Pick
Marcelo Lima @marcelocegonha.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Costa Rica has approved a law requiring wildlife crossings in public road infrastructure where ecological connectivity is affected—bringing connectivity conservation directly into infrastructure planning and policy. delfino.cr/2026/08/asam... @fletcherecology.bsky.social
delfino.cr
Asamblea aprueba ley que obliga a incluir pasos de fauna en la infraestructura pública del país
Iniciativa aprobada por unanimidad indica que MOPT, municipalidades y otras entidades públicas deberán coordinar con el Sinac para estudiar la necesidad o no de estas estructuras en nuevas obras viale...
087
Reposted by Joel Pick
In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
#SteveTHoughts
A color photograph of Steve the otter leaning on a mossy rock by a pond, paws clasped and gazing thoughtfully.  
Text in image: “If the earth IS flat then maybe dinosaurs live on the other side, and we keep digging up their dead and buried.  
#SteveThoughts”
835744
Reposted by Joel Pick
Daniel de Kadt @dandekadt.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Remember: whether a claim is causal or descriptive is a property of your *question* (and implied theory), not your *analysis*
1446
Reposted by Joel Pick
Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Yay for @katelaskowski.bsky.social !!! A well deserved award.
151
Reposted by Joel Pick
In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Wise words from Steve...
Short description: A sketch-style illustration of an anthropomorphic otter named Steve standing behind a cluttered news desk, holding a steaming mug of coffee against a pale blue background.

Baked-in text:  
Name tag on the otter’s chest: “Steve”  
Logo in the corner: “in Ötter News”  

Caption:  
“Do not seize the day. That only startles it, and nobody wants to deal with an aggressive day before coffee.

Approach it slowly. Avoid eye contact. Maybe offer a polite nod. Act casual.

If the day growls, starts making demands, or mentions shenanigans back away quietly and return to bed.”
629876
Reposted by Joel Pick
SORTEE @sortee.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
🌟 Final month to nominate projects for the 2026 SORTEE Commendation Awards! Know a project promoting Open Science in ecology & evolution, such as workshops, tools, repositories, outreach & more? Projects can be local or global, team-based or individual. sortee.org/awards/
01118
Reposted by Joel Pick
Sabhrina Aninta @sagitaninta.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
"Drawing on an analysis of over 100000 articles in ecology-related disciplines [...], we show that the shift to pay-to-publish OA has already reduced participation by researchers from many middle-income countries." nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Payment‐based open access is biasing scientific participation from the Global South in ecology
Opening access to the products of scientific research is widely considered a key step toward both fairness and better science worldwide. Since the 1990s, different forms of open access (OA) to journa...
34342
Reposted by Joel Pick
Jon Aguiñaga @jon-aguinaga.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
🚨 Behavioral ecologists 🚨 I am about ready to submit a review paper on animal contest behavior. If you have any high quality photos of your study system engaging in a dyadic interaction (fight), DM me. I am revising a figure that has photos of different study systems. Photo creds will be provided!
2912
Reposted by Joel Pick
Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
10282992981
Reposted by Joel Pick
Ruben C. Arslan @ruben.the100.ci · 01/08/2026
my kid likes making stop motion movies. the apps I found cost money, had ads or were not very child-friendly, so I had claude fable one-shot a cross-platform PWA rubenarslan.github.io/trickfilm/ works a charm :-) and completely local
rubenarslan.github.io
Trickfilm
1203
Reposted by Joel Pick
In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Thanks for that, Steve...
A realistic otter named Steve leaning against a tree trunk by a pond in a nature setting presented in a motivational poster style.
838366
Reposted by Joel Pick
Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 30/07/2026
New blog post! Odds ratios are...a bit weird. Here I explain two problems (interpretation, non-collapsibility) and provide some simple recommendations for improved reporting. www.the100.ci/2026/07/30/r...
the100.ci
Reviewer notes: Odds ratios are really odd
When psychological researchers investigate binary outcomes, they routinely report odds ratios to quantify the strength of an effect or an association. This is quite understandable given that psycholog...
2428779
Reposted by Joel Pick
In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
#SteveThoughts
A grayscale cartoon of Steve the otter in a tie sitting behind a cluttered news desk in an office setting.
1032361
Reposted by Joel Pick
PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 29/07/2026
#Preregistration supports #OpenScience, but is uncommon in animal research. This Meta-Research study by @hannowuerbel.bsky.social reveals that despite known benefits, perceived bureaucracy, time costs and inflexibility hinder adoption. 🧪#AcademicSky @unibe.ch @swissrn.bsky.social plos.io/4pL0tXq
Two graphs the worries of participants about preregistration from those who never preregistered, as well as the problems encountered by those who did preregister. Worries were more prevalent than actual problems, although both graphs show highlight the prevalence of responses related to high time costs and bureaucratic burden.
0149
Reposted by Joel Pick
Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I am beyond excited to share that our paper, "Neurodivergent Perceptions, Experiences, and Perspectives in Academic Biological Sciences Spaces" has been published! A 🧵incoming because this paper is so special to me and the co-authors. doi.org/10.1093/icb/...
doi.org
Neurodivergent Perceptions, Experiences, and Perspectives in Academic Biological Sciences Spaces
Abstract. Neurodiversity has received considerable attention recently from the general population and academic researchers, coinciding with an increase in
517861
Reposted by Joel Pick
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
What are the conferences/meetings that plant evolutionary ecologists in the UK attend? It seems silly for us to be siloed by taxonomy, so I’m keen to explore how we can encourage greater discourse. Please RT.
008
Reposted by Joel Pick
Peter Tennant @pwgtennant.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Peter's Law of Chatbot Accuracy*: "everything you read that's produced by an LLM is absolutely true, except for the rare output about which you happen have expert knowledge". *Remixed from Knoll's Law of Media Accuracy, where the exact same rules apply!
77726
Reposted by Joel Pick
Barbara Tschirren @btschirren.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
🌟🌟 Postdoc position in Disease Ecology & Nature-Based Solutions 🌟🌟 We are looking for a creative and highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher to join the UKRI @netpositivecentre.bsky.social and the @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful Cornwall, UK. careers.exeter.ac.uk/vacancies/11... 🦠🌳🏙️🌍🗺️🐝 🦌🕷️
careers.exeter.ac.uk
Postdoctoral Research Associate / Fellow in Cornwall | University of Exeter
View details and apply for this Postdoctoral Research Associate / Fellow vacancy in Cornwall. Postdoctoral Research Associate / Fellow This UKRI funded full-time post is available from 01/1...
12625
Reposted by Joel Pick
In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Sometimes you just need a basket full of baby otters to make your day complete. Oh, look what I found! You can thank me later...
Four baby otters, including Steve, peek over the edge of a wicker basket held by a hand in a softly lit indoor scene.
1158589
Reposted by Joel Pick
dr-skitch.bsky.social @dr-skitch.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
My lab at @stonybrooku.bsky.social Dept of Ecology & Evolution is recruiting a 2-year Postdoc! They will split time between genomics and symbiosis dynamics of cnidarians 🪸, and the development of STAGdb. Start date as early as Sept 2026. Please share this post with anyone who might be a great fit!
stonybrooku.taleo.net
Postdoctoral Associate
Click the link provided to see the complete job description.
12841