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Natalie Cooper

@nhcooper123.bsky.social
4.8K followers 1.1K following 682 posts

Scientist @ Natural History Museum London. Senior Editor Methods Ecology & Evolution. Biodiversity, macroecology/evolution, R, PCMs, comedy, theatre, books, fun animal facts. she/her m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6w4ih…

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Natalie Cooper @nhcooper123.bsky.social · 17h
Very proud of the salamander baby I made to accompany my Captain Janeway costume for a party last night. Funniest part was taking the tube and going to an engagement party beforehand in costume! 😂
Bright pink axolotl toy in a paper yellow baby bag with a tiny start trek communicator badge.
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shauna @goldengateblond.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
thank you to @mgiraldi.bsky.social, who pointed me to the insta acct for the photographer (www.instagram.com/kevinlohmanp...). the story and the other two photos are 24k gold.
kevinlohmanphotography
Santa Cruz, California
Are You Kidding Me?
Can this Great Horned Owl's eyes get any bigger?
I'm excited that my photo "Are You Kidding Me?" was selected as one of just 43 finalists in the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, from more than 10,000 entries representing 112 countries!
The story behind it is just as crazy. I was photographing this seven-week-old owlet when a squirrel suddenly launched from a nearby branch and landed directly on its head, knocking both of them out of the tree.
And believe it or not, a squirrel knocked this same owlet out of the tree THREE TIMES that morning! Fortunately, the owlet was fine and eventually settled down next to its mother.

(photo depicts a squirrel in mid-flight from a tree branch, apparently about to attack an owl who has the most "are you fucking KIDDING me" look in history)second photo showing the squirrel in question making contact with the owl like the lil furry-tailed (if short-sighted) badass he isthird photo showing the squirrel in question making contact with the owl like the lil furry-tailed (if short-sighted) badass he is
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Mike Keesey @tmkeesey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
PhyloPic is having an October fundraiser. The goal is to raise enough money to cover web hosting for the past six months. Please share the link, and chip in a bit if you can! www.phylopic.org
phylopic.org
PhyloPic
PhyloPic is an open database of free silhouette images of animals, plants, and other life forms, available for reuse under Creative Commons licenses. Download silhouettes for use in educational materi...
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Benjamin @benjaminschneider.ch · 30/09/2026
Werner Herzog will be the last human being whose next word no language model can predict
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Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
it’s against my principles to drink with the man I’ve diddled
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Rob Barber @ra-barber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Hi all, I've revived my BlueSky account to share info about our ecological monitoring survey (more below). I don't have many followers, but I'm hoping our survey could be really useful for the UK monitoring community. So please pass on to anyone that might find it interesting! arcg.is/1mn48e5
arcg.is
UK Terrestrial and Freshwater Monitoring Survey
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Ana Serra Silva @anaserrasilva.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Want to learn more about 'mysterious' limbless amphibians? Did you miss Mark's outgoing President's Lecture in (counts fingers) 2019 but are still dying to know more about caecilians? Then join us at the Linnean Society, 6PM on October 8th! (It's free! But do please register.)
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Robin Hayward 🌳 🏳️‍⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 25/09/2026
We're publishing new guidance to support trans people who do fieldwork (any work outside the office)! Now we need your help to get them seen so please share! inclusivefieldwork.leeds.ac.uk/trans/
a cartoon of three fieldworkers. One has a small trans flag. The logos of the university of leeds, research england, and canopy robin are shown, as well as the URL: InclusiveFieldwork (dot) Leeds (dot) AC (dot) UK (slash) trans
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Natalie Cooper @nhcooper123.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Are you are in charge of a UK monitoring project? This survey arcg.is/1mn48e5 is aimed at understanding which ecological monitoring data are collected across the UK, how much is shared, and how easy it is to discover & potentially re-use. Please fill it in if you can! See survey for more details.
arcg.is
UK Terrestrial and Freshwater Monitoring Survey
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Sonja Vernes @sonjavernes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
🦇 Bat1K's biggest paper yet is out. Largest bat genome + fossil study ever: 103 genomes, 44 fossils, 137 researchers. We rewrote the bat family tree! Bats likely originated in Europe ~65 million years ago, not Asia, Africa or Americas. @bat1kgenomes.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11007-3
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Catherine Sheard @sheardcat.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I cannot even begin to stress how important mentors have been for my career thus far, especially informal and/or peer mentorship. Sometimes mentoring is from your supervisor, or a formal programme, but more often it's a diffuse network of people in your corner. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Successful early-career scientists rely on network of mentors
Large networks are particularly beneficial to researchers in under-represented groups.
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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
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Natalie Cooper @nhcooper123.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Our update to the BES Data Management Guide is now live! assets.britishecologicalsociety.org/2026/09/2110... Huge thanks to the incredibly talented ECRs who contributed sections. It's an excellent resource that I've already used with my PhD students. ❤️
Cover image of the Data Management guide. Blue cover with a puffin on it! Also features the BES logo, Better Science Guides and our mission Through science we can.
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Mike Fowler @theorecol.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Very excited to announce applications now open for @redileep.bsky.social PhD position with me, Dan Eastwood & Dan Jones. "Response Diversity in the pre- and post-management ecological restoration of co-invading alien plant species in post-industrial landscapes" 🧪🌍 www.swansea.ac.uk/jobs-at-swan...
swansea.ac.uk
MSCA PhD: Response Diversity in the pre- and post-management ecological restoration of co-invading alien plant species in post-industrial landscapes
Recruiting a PhD candidate as part of the international ReDiLeep Doctoral Network, investigating co-invasion of non-native plant species
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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🚨We're hiring a new Curator of Mammals!!🚨 🦍🐕🦝🐅🦓🦌🐃🐖🐏🐫🐘🦏🦛🐿️🦔🦇🦥🦦🦨🦘🦡🐋🦭🦒🧸 Come join the Vertebrate Unit at @nhmdk.bsky.social—a fantastic team in the heart of Denmark's beautiful capital! Amazing collections, incredible history. Please share widely! 🧪🏛️ candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
candidate.hr-manager.net
Tenure Track Assistant Professor or Associate Professor and Curator of Mammals
Tenure Track Assistant Professor / Associate Professor, and Curator of Mammals at Natural History Museum Denmark The Natural History Museum Denmark wishes to ap
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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
[banging on table] FAT BEAR WEEK FAT BEAR WEEK FAT BEAR WEEK FAT BEAR WEEK www.popsci.com/environment/...
popsci.com
The Fat Bear Week 2026 bracket is here and chunkier than ever
Voting starts September 22 with a final winner crowned on September 29.
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Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Two people I knew took their own lives last week - we still view mental health with too much cynicism and not enough compassion - remember @samaritans.bsky.social and @calmzone.bsky.social - it is not weak to share how you feel #mentalhealth #depression #suicideawareness
Samaritans 116 123
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✮ 𝒥𝒶𝓃𝑒 ✮ @janesgallery.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
#BirdOfTheDay Theme @helenbennett.bsky.social #CaptionThatBird “I’m telling ya, the worm was this big!” #BirdPhotography #Birds #Nature #birdwatching #ECK
Two starlings squabbling with flared wings on a garden bird feeder
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Ana Serra Silva @anaserrasilva.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
We are a friendly bunch, who like hearing about anything systematics-related (methods included!) and about any taxon! If you're a student (or recent graduate) working on any aspect of systematics, taxonomy and phylogenetics send your abstract along! (Preferably well in advance of October 24!!!)
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Stephen Montgomery @ebablab.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Are you a #NewPI in Ecology & Evolution? Would you like to meet with peers to chat about work, the future and life as a new PI? 🍪☕️ Then I have the form for you! 📋 Help us gauge interest in a new network/event by filling in this short survey: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/K4wUiuLuFn Please RT! 🙏
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Sal Keith (she/her) @salkeith.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Last 2 days! Join our team!
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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
great photo from Mike Quinn on bugguide, really captures the pants situation:
truly glorious BG photo of the Glorious Squash Vine Borer, feathery chaps on FULL display
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Dr James Rule @palaeo-jrule.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
New paper lead by Siobhan Pearson, exploring morphological differences between fur seal and sea lion crania 🦭 We found that allometry explains most differences between the two groups. This project originated as Siobhan's Masters project at @nhm-london.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/mms....
doi.org
Quantifying the Morphological Differences Between Fur Seals and Sea Lions
The eared seals (family Otariidae) are divided into fur seals and sea lions, despite a lack of cladistic support for these groups. The division is primarily based on hair morphology, and it is unknow...
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Methods in Ecology and Evolution @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
We're hiring Code Integrity and Accessibility editors at MEE! Ideal for people experienced in testing and validating code, and confidence working with at least one language - open to all career stages. Deadline 25th September ⏰️ Read the role description and apply👇 buff.ly/UaSg5au
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Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
A little post Monkey Cage news
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Natalie Cooper @nhcooper123.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Happy Star Trek day! I’ve tried to post several times but there’s clearly a tribble infestation in my tech today! Turns out I work in the Beta Quadrant. Teenage me would be delighted. 🤩
Sign at South Kensington tube station with a picture of Worf that reads Klingon to the HandrailA pile of hairy balls (tribbles)Starfleet command patch with Star Trek 60 branding Sign at South Kensington tube station that says Welcome to the Beta Quadrant
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German Society for Mammalian Biology @mammalbiology.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
🐾 Mammal Monday: The Alpine marmot 🏔️ Meet the Alpine marmot (Marmota marmota)! Despite its rather hefty appearance, this mountain-dwelling mammal belongs to the family Sciuridae – like squirrels. 🐿️ Photos: Elias, © Christian Widmann 🧪 🦊 🦤 🌍
Photo: Elias, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/179010621, Public Domain, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/© Christian Widmann, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/334706749, CC-BY-NC, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Morning
Amazon advert for cat bed shows white cat lying in a hammock-style bed in a frame, plus the wonderfully grammatical text: “Brand: JUNSPOW
JUNSPOW Cat Bed Dog Bed Pet Hammock Bed FreeStanding Cat Sleeping Cat Bed Cat Supplies Pet Supplies Whole Wash Stable Structure Detachable Excellent Breathability Easy Assembly Indoors Outdoors
Amazon's Choice for "raised cat bed"Three star review posted by ‘babyswirly’: “My cat is special. The product itself is fine and I assume works as it’s designed to if your cat actually gets in it.” Plus an image of a generously proportioned cat sat underneath the bed, with the hammock fabric seeming to form a tent over the cat, whose face we cannot see
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Alexis Barr @alexisbarr.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Great line noted while reading Middlemarch (George Eliot) on my commute this morning. True of many academics?
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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Big day for those interested in AI dystopia and for anyone called Sarah Connor...
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Natalie Cooper @nhcooper123.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Tim Curry right after Dolly hits hard. He scared the beejesus out of me in IT, opened doors to how I think about gender and sexuality in Rocky Horror, and starred in two of my favourite films Muppet Treasure Island and Clue. RIP and thank you.
static.klipy.com
Tim Curry Laughing as Pirate Captain
Alt: Tim Curry Laughing as Pirate Long John Silver
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Natalie Cooper @nhcooper123.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Just realised it's a bank (public) holiday here on Monday! Extra time to party! And by "party" I mean reading several books and eating some cake.
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Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Should be a new Blooming Buzzing Confusion up tonight about weird art that has delighted me of late - here is one with me talking about the story behind the new Andrew Scott movie , Elsinore (and talking of much more) www.patreon.com/RobinInce/po...
patreon.com
Blooming Buzzing Confusion pilot | Robin Ince
I talk about my favourite art exhibition of the year so far, Peter Cushing, synchronicity or coincidence, Dungeness and atoms, Caroline Aher
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Natalie Cooper @nhcooper123.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Are you passionate about code integrity and accessibility? Do you have skills in R, Python or Julia? Why not apply to be one of our new Code Integrity and Accessibility AEs? Open to any career stage. Details here: apply.workable.com/britishecolo... (sadly not paid, but comes with nice perks)
apply.workable.com
Associate Editor (Code Integrity and Accessibility) - British Ecological Society
Volunteer role: Associate Editor (Code Integrity and Accessibility) Organisation: British Ecological Society – Methods in Ecology and Evolution Term: 3 years Closing date: 25th Sept 17.00 BST Location...
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Methods in Ecology and Evolution @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Sign up for our new MEE live! In this free webinar, Antica Čulina willintroduce the concept of Risk of Bias (RoB), and discusses why RoB assessment matters for producing reliable systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Find out more and register👇 buff.ly/0zFxUZ8
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kate bush’s husband @airbagged.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
RIP TO ONE OF THE GREATEST TO EVER DO IT
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JacquiWine @jacquiwine.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
If you love cinema, please sign this petition. The future of the wonderful Prince Charles Cinema in London’s West End is still under serious threat. #FilmSky
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Ash Whiffin @ashwhiffin.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
We currently have TWO collections-based vacancies at National Museums Scotland! As part of the upcoming DiSSCo UK program, we’re seeking a Digitiser and Senior digitiser to work with our insect collection: careers.nms.ac.uk/vacancies (Apply by 31st August) #Digitisation #Insects #MuseumJobs
An multi-camera imaging set-up at NMSPreserved bumblebee specimens with data labels below each individual
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Judith A.H. Smit @judithsmit.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Caterpillars eat plants, right? 🌿 Not always, some are carnivorous! 🥩🐛 Our new paper documents the life history, behavior, and vibrations of Juditha odites. It feeds on treehoppers, then moves into ant nests to consume ant brood! 🐜🐛🦋 link.springer.com/article/10.1... @insectessociaux.bsky.social
link.springer.com
An insect-eating caterpillar associated with arboreal ants: life cycle, diet, social integration and substrate-borne vibrations - Insectes Sociaux
Herbivory is the predominant feeding strategy in Lepidoptera, whereas carnivory has evolved rarely. The life cycles of carnivorous species, however, remain poorly documented. Here, we confirm that Jud...
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 24/08/2026
This piece is great and I wish to staple it to several scientists' foreheads. And while it's about the creation of text, I think it also applies to writing codes, since many (for example, cosmological) codes are publicly available, which means LLMs have vacuumed them up.
carlsonlab.bio
The only reason you’ll ever need not to write with AI — The Carlson Lab
Over the last year, our lab has been developing a policy on AI use. To do this, we did three main things: We read a lot of academic publications and tech news. We set up an #ai channel on our la...
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franz @franzanth.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
#InverteFest begins at midnight your local time. Post your invertebrate art, join the community art book, go find critters in the wild, celebrate with us using the hashtag!
A poster showing 14 crabs of various shapes and colors. some are spiky, others have suspiciously long limbs, serrated claws, paddle legs, hairy shell, triangular body, and so on.
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Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
#WomensHistory - yes there's a lot to get even from the male-dominated Bayeux tapestry theconversation.com/what-three-f...
theconversation.com
What three female figures in the Bayeux tapestry reveal about medieval women
The women of the Bayeux tapestry tell a story as compelling and important as the main depiction of the battle.
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Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
A good moment to recommend Angela Saini‘s Superior, which traces back the history of “race science” and shows the institutions that sustain this pseudo-research until today. These pursuits have nothing in common with the principles of academic inquiry www.angelasaini.co.uk/superior
angelasaini.co.uk
Angela Saini | Award-winning Science Journalist and Author
The website of British independent science journalist, author and broadcaster, Angela Saini. Her most recent book is Superior: The Return of Race Science.
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Corentin Jouault @cocomacro.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
~35 Myr ago, a female pseudoscorpion grabbed a fly's hind leg and got caught in resin, with a brood sac of 12 eggs still attached. µCT let us count every one. 🦂 ✍️ Earliest fossil evidence of parental care and phoresy together, in iScience (open access): doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
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Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · 21/08/2026
you can find your MPs email address by searching for your postcode here: members.parliament.uk/members/Comm...
members.parliament.uk
Find MPs - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament
Find your MP and learn more about them, including details of their parliamentary career and contact information. Find them by name/location, party, gender and current/former status.
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Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · 21/08/2026
you can email the mayor on mayor@london.gov.uk or send city hall a message through the form on their website: www.london.gov.uk/contact-or-v...
london.gov.uk
Contact City Hall or the Mayor
How to get in touch with City Hall and the Mayor.
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Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · 21/08/2026
anyone I know who lives in London needs to email their MP and the London Mayor the stats on this thing are genuinely appalling, and goes directly against the Mayor's commitment "for London to be net zero carbon by 2030" www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Proposed London datacentre will have annual carbon footprint of 27,000 flights to New York
Exclusive: Planning documents show datacentre in North Ockendon would be incompatible with UK net zero targets
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Natalie Cooper @nhcooper123.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Took my friend's teen to WWT Barnes today for a bit of birding 101, assuming we'd see nothing of interest and spotted TWO bitterns and FOUR hobbies (adults hunting with juveniles taking notes)! I have been trying and failing to see bitterns there for about 10 years 😂
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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Ecololgists!! This fall, the LEGO league's theme for their annual competition is ecosystems/biodiversity themed. We are going to need *a lot* of ecologists to help meet the demand. If you are willing to have a conversation with k-8 students about ecology, pls sign up here forms.gle/NbxitaXamK7B...
A teacher who is a fish has his fin on his hip and another pointing to the chalkbaord that says "Calling all ecologists skype a scientist needs you!" and a shrimp says "lego league jis coming" and a snail thinks "HELP!" and a seahorse says "This year's theme is ecosystems" and hot fish teacher says "Volunteer to speak with classrooms"
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Sal Keith (she/her) @salkeith.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
2 #postdoc positions now live! 🐠🐡🐟 (1) #AI for #Ecology, (2) #Marine Field Ecology for AI-Enabled Behavioural Monitoring, & v soon (3) AI-Enabled #BehaviouralEcology for #Conservation Join our team, unlock #AnimalBehaviour as an early warning system. #Jobs @lec-reefs.bsky.social Links 👇
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