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Numbers and data are cool and all but let’s not forget that fossils are at the heart of palaeo research, so here are some fossil photos taken from PRI’ Sketchfab! #PalAss25 is happening now; I presented this work at PalAss24 last year & submitted the paper shortly after, nice to see it out now!

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Despite some possible effect of clustered and uneven sampling (read the paper) our results do not support gradual extinction patterns in the end-Cretaceous, and evidence of thriving life supports a single, catastrophic extinction even in the high latitudes!

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We found that KLB 7 (oldest) had nested clumped structures; KLB 8 hovered between quasi nested clumped and Clementsian, while KLB 9 (just prior to K-Pg) had complex Clementsian structures.

We then saw metacommunity complexity: testing whether spatial replacement of taxa occurs through space along some underlying environmental gradient as a consequence of biotic interactions or environmental filtering (complex Clementsian), or whether these is instead nested loss (nested clumped comms)

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Now the LBF is lithologically very homogeneous, as you can see in this photo by @jdwitts.bsky.social. So can we be certain in the field about the positions of the KLB boundaries? We tested how our results might change if the positional boundaries are affected, and found no effect on our results.

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We studied only the Molluscan Units (KLB 7-9). The K-Pg boundary is at the top of KLB 9. We found that significantly non-random pairwise associations between taxa increased consistently up-section, suggesting a thriving seafloor community with nothing to suggest gradual loss of biodiversity.

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These fossils were collected in the 1980s by Zinsmeister, Macellari and colleagues and are presently cared for at The Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca NY. The map below shows the sampling locations across the López de Bertodano Formation, which is subdivided informally into KLB 1 - 10.

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We (@rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social; @jdwitts.bsky.social; @huwiceandstuff.bsky.social ; @egmitchell.bsky.social and Andrea Manica) used ecosystem complexity (measured as non-random pairwise co-occurrences of taxa and metacommunity structure) as proxies to assess ecosystem health in latest Cretaceous.

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Dr. Ming Khan @ming-tfk27.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

New paper alert! 🚨 🐌 We studied historic Antarctic fossils from the Zinsmeister Collection to assess whether the K-Pg extinction, as recorded on Seymour Island, was sudden or gradual. We found that benthic life thrived in the 4 million years before the K-Pg. doi.org/10.1016/j.pa...

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Wayyyyyyy too long! Below is an example of the kind of complex imagery we annotated, which went on to become part of the training dataset for the Antarctic seafloor project!

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Dr. Ming Khan @ming-tfk27.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

“Why didn’t you use AI to get the data” was the question I was asked most during my PhD. There was no Antarctic dataset on which an AI model could learn. & it took me an average of 8 hours per photo to label everything. @camerontrotter.bsky.social’s new model can do it in a matter of seconds.

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Reposted by Dr. Ming Khan

Cameron Trotter @camerontrotter.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

🇦🇶 Our new paper detailing the automated detection of Antarctic benthic organisms using high-res in situ imagery has been accepted to the #ICCV2025 Joint Workshop on Marine Vision! 📄 Read the preprint now: arxiv.org/abs/2507.21665 🧵1/4

An example output from our framework. An image of the Antarctic seafloor, with hundreds of organisms on it. The organisms each have a bounding box around them, a class label, and a confidence score produced by our framework.

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Reposted by Dr. Ming Khan

Octism Queen @snowqueenofhoth.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

Photoshopping @lastweektonight.com John Oliver onto fossils until the Paleontological Research Institution secures their funding! Fossil shell of the ammonite Grossouvrites sp. from the Cretaceous Lopez de Bertodano Fmt of Seymour Isl, Antarctica (PRI 60629). Comedian is H. sapiens. Not to scale.

Comedian John Oliver is edited to appear as if he is peeking out from within an ammonoid fossil, angrily pointing a gun at the viewer

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Reposted by Dr. Ming Khan

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

I get annoyed at the narrative that all the awareness and work on climate change hasn't done anything. Yes, global CO₂ emissions indeed continue to climb, but we don't know the counterfactual. When I was in grad school, we were on track for 5°C of warming. Now it's below 3°C. That's progress.

A line chart titled “Annual CO₂ emissions” shows the global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and industry from 1950 to 2023. The y-axis represents emissions in billions of tonnes (t), ranging from 0 to 40 billion t. The x-axis covers the years from 1950 to 2023.

The chart presents a steady increase in emissions from approximately 5 billion tonnes in 1950 to over 36 billion tonnes in 2023. Key features include:

A consistent upward trend from 1950 through the early 1970s.

A brief plateau and dip around 1980–1983.

A strong growth trend resuming in the late 1980s.

A sharp increase during the 2000s.

A slight drop around 2008–2009, likely due to the global financial crisis.

A major dip in 2020, attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A rapid rebound in emissions after 2020, continuing the upward trend to a new high in 2023.

A blue line labeled “World” traces these changes over time.

Below the chart, the data source is listed as the Global Carbon Budget (2024), and the graphic is credited to OurWorldInData.org with a Creative Commons license (CC BY). A footnote explains that the data includes emissions from coal, oil, gas, flaring, cement, and steel, but excludes land-use changes such as deforestation.

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Reposted by Dr. Ming Khan

Thomas Bauska @tinyicybubbles.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Lots of Earth System Modelling (🌍ESM) jobs up for grabs at @bas.ac.uk! 🫧 ESM - Past Carbon Cycle (w/ me and Xu Zhang) 🇦🇶 ESM - Antarctic Sea Ice 🌡️ ESM - Past Extremes 🧊 UKESM Sea Ice Model Developer 💧Research Assistant: Palaeoclimate Meltwater Modelling www.bas.ac.uk/jobs/vacanci...

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Reposted by Dr. Ming Khan

Octism Queen @snowqueenofhoth.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Photoshopping John Oliver onto fossils until the Paleontological Research Institution secures their funding! Section of fossil tree fern, Tempskya wesselli, from the Cretaceous of Idaho. Comedian is H. sapiens. Not to scale.

Comedian John Oliver is edited to appear as if he is sitting on a fossilized fern tree with his legs crossed and smiling.

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However, the pink morph exhibits dispersal plasticity, and is able to increase its dispersal distances, when in competition with the pink morph in mixed communities, increasing alpha diversity. Coauthors Huw Griffiths, Nile Stephenson, Rowan Whittle, Autun Purser, Andrea Manica & Emily Mitchell.

Furthermore, we discovered that coexistence of the pink and orange morphs is due to inter-morph competition, with the orange morph emerging as the stronger competitor, maintaining its reproductive behaviour across all community types.

Using Spatial Point Process Analysis, a method borrowed from forest ecology, we discover that limited dispersal, rather than environment, structured the spatial arrangement of the cup corals. Dispersal limits of 6-10 cm suggests these cup corals are likely brooders, which produce crawl-away larvae.

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We ask two questions: what processes drive the spatial distribution of Antarctic epibenthic communities at centimeter scales, which has largely been put down to “unknown biological factors”? Second, how do two, apparently very ecologically similar morphs coexist on the Powell Basin?

In in-situ seabed photos, they are only distinguishable by the colour of their tentacles, so we term them the “pink” and “orange” morphs. The corals form mixed communities and single population dominant communities, where either morph is near-absent.

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Dr. Brendan Anderson @fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

New paper alert! 🚨 rdcu.be/entY4 In the second paper of my PhD, published today in Scientific Reports, we investigated the spatial ecology of two solitary scleractinian coral morphotoypes, which are likely Caryophyllia or Flabellum, from the Powell Basin slopes of Antarctica 🇦🇶 .

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Reposted by Dr. Ming Khan

Reminder the AWG Chrysalis scholarship applications are due May 31st ⚒️ The scholarship "provides degree-completion funding for women geoscientists whose education has been significantly interrupted by life circumstances" www.awg.org/page/Scholar...

awg.org

Scholarships and Awards

The AWG Professional Excellence Awards go to women who, throughout their careers, have made significant and distinguished contributions in the following three areas: government/regulatory; industry/consulting; and academia/research. Nominations are due June 15th of each year.

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Dr. Ming Khan @ming-tfk27.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

What a crazy last few days… passed my PhD viva on Friday, and just 20 mins ago, the second paper from my PhD just got accepted in Scientific Reports! Woohoo! 🥳

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Dr. Ming Khan @ming-tfk27.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Thank you so much for joining! And suggesting we facilitate Zoom attendance!

Dr. Ming Khan @ming-tfk27.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

PhDone!!! Passed my viva with minor corrections! Thanks to @egmitchell.bsky.social @huwiceandstuff.bsky.social @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social and Andrea Manica for supervising, and Prof Rob Fletcher and @dralexdunhill.bsky.social for examining!

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Dr. Ming Khan @ming-tfk27.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Great first day at my new postdoc: jumping off at the deep end with a workshop on AGELESS and BioDeepTime at FAU Palaeo. Will be presenting my PhD work tomorrow as part of the public talks for the meeting.

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Dr. Ming Khan @ming-tfk27.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

@fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social I will email you and friends once the viva date has been scheduled!

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Dr. Ming Khan @ming-tfk27.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

So we don’t typically have a public defense, just an oral exam with two examiners. The department encourages a pre-viva talk but it’s not usually done - I however, hope to do so! In which case I will opt for hybrid!

Dr. Ming Khan @ming-tfk27.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

My thesis was very kindly supervised by the wonderful @egmitchell.bsky.social , Andrea Manica, @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social and @huwiceandstuff.bsky.social , based out of @camzoology.bsky.social, the Museum of Zoology and the British Antarctic Survey!

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Dr. Ming Khan @ming-tfk27.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

I submitted my PhD! Titled “Quantitative ecology reveals scale-dependent structural processes of the Antarctic benthos through time” - in 3.5 years I have 1 paper out (benthic ecosystem function), 1 in 2nd round of review (on competition between coral morphs) and a 3rd in the 1st rounds of review.

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Dr. Ming Khan @ming-tfk27.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Greetings from the Maldives! Husband & I are on last day of honeymoon, we snorkeled with giant manta rays this morning & when we got back, I submitted the third paper from my PhD! Slightly ironic to submit an Antarctic paper from here but Cretaceous Antarctica was hot anyway, so maybe I’m on brand.

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Dr. Ming Khan @ming-tfk27.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

very cool, congratulations! Looking forward to reading it!