Amber Cowans (she/her)
@ambercowans.bsky.social
PhD researcher at University of St Andrews 🏴 Using remote sensing and AI to study the effects of human recreation on ecological communities 🦊🦡🪶🐦⬛
(recreation ecology, statistical ecology, human-wildlife interaction, bioacoustics, camera traps, AI)
(recreation ecology, statistical ecology, human-wildlife interaction, bioacoustics, camera traps, AI)
Pinned
Improving the integration of artificial intelligence into existing ecological inference workflows
Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionised the process of identifying species and individuals in audio recordings and camera trap images. However, despite developments in sensor technology, m...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
New paper alert ⚠️ Using #AI tools like #megadetector and #birdNET to process camera trap images or audio recordings?
Read our perspective piece for some considerations and guidance on
📊 working with 0-1 confidence scores
🤔 making thresholding decisions
🧑💻 and navigating AI-labelling errors
Read our perspective piece for some considerations and guidance on
📊 working with 0-1 confidence scores
🤔 making thresholding decisions
🧑💻 and navigating AI-labelling errors
Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)
A new #OpenAccess Statistical Report in "Ecology"!👀
📝 Are you using multispecies occupancy models to investigate interactions in species occupancy (i.e. co-occurrence)? 🦁🦓
Check out our new paper for advice on the number of sites you need to reliably detect interactions under different scenarios ⬇️
Check out our new paper for advice on the number of sites you need to reliably detect interactions under different scenarios ⬇️
Sample size considerations for species co‐occurrence models
Multispecies occupancy models are widely applied to infer interactions in the occurrence of different species, but convergence and estimation issues under realistic sample sizes are common. We conduc...
doi.org
August 14, 2025 at 3:51 PM
A new #OpenAccess Statistical Report in "Ecology"!👀
📝 Are you using multispecies occupancy models to investigate interactions in species occupancy (i.e. co-occurrence)? 🦁🦓
Check out our new paper for advice on the number of sites you need to reliably detect interactions under different scenarios ⬇️
Check out our new paper for advice on the number of sites you need to reliably detect interactions under different scenarios ⬇️
Sample size considerations for species co‐occurrence models
Multispecies occupancy models are widely applied to infer interactions in the occurrence of different species, but convergence and estimation issues under realistic sample sizes are common. We conduc...
doi.org
August 8, 2025 at 10:12 AM
📝 Are you using multispecies occupancy models to investigate interactions in species occupancy (i.e. co-occurrence)? 🦁🦓
Check out our new paper for advice on the number of sites you need to reliably detect interactions under different scenarios ⬇️
Check out our new paper for advice on the number of sites you need to reliably detect interactions under different scenarios ⬇️
New paper alert ⚠️ Using #AI tools like #megadetector and #birdNET to process camera trap images or audio recordings?
Read our perspective piece for some considerations and guidance on
📊 working with 0-1 confidence scores
🤔 making thresholding decisions
🧑💻 and navigating AI-labelling errors
Read our perspective piece for some considerations and guidance on
📊 working with 0-1 confidence scores
🤔 making thresholding decisions
🧑💻 and navigating AI-labelling errors
Improving the integration of artificial intelligence into existing ecological inference workflows
Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionised the process of identifying species and individuals in audio recordings and camera trap images. However, despite developments in sensor technology, m...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
April 14, 2025 at 4:15 PM
New paper alert ⚠️ Using #AI tools like #megadetector and #birdNET to process camera trap images or audio recordings?
Read our perspective piece for some considerations and guidance on
📊 working with 0-1 confidence scores
🤔 making thresholding decisions
🧑💻 and navigating AI-labelling errors
Read our perspective piece for some considerations and guidance on
📊 working with 0-1 confidence scores
🤔 making thresholding decisions
🧑💻 and navigating AI-labelling errors
I'll be talking at the @pintofscience.uk festival in St Andrews on May 19! Come along to learn about how AI works, how it's revolutionising ecology and what it's costing the earth 🌍 pintofscience.co.uk/event/ale-go...
April 14, 2025 at 4:06 PM
I'll be talking at the @pintofscience.uk festival in St Andrews on May 19! Come along to learn about how AI works, how it's revolutionising ecology and what it's costing the earth 🌍 pintofscience.co.uk/event/ale-go...
Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)
Now accepting applicants for 25-26 intake of our #StatisticalEcology MSc: bit.ly/3ooHNyc. A unique opportunity to develop skills at the interface of #statistics and #ecology (some partial scholarships available too). Please help me share!
January 29, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Now accepting applicants for 25-26 intake of our #StatisticalEcology MSc: bit.ly/3ooHNyc. A unique opportunity to develop skills at the interface of #statistics and #ecology (some partial scholarships available too). Please help me share!
Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)
The Los Angeles wildfires are climate disasters compounded, writes @ericholthaus.com
- the conditions for a January LA firestorm have never existed until now
#climatecrisis #LAfires
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
- the conditions for a January LA firestorm have never existed until now
#climatecrisis #LAfires
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
The Los Angeles wildfires are climate disasters compounded
Conditions for a January firestorm in Los Angeles like this have not existed before now, writes a meteorologist and climate journalist
www.theguardian.com
January 9, 2025 at 11:58 AM
The Los Angeles wildfires are climate disasters compounded, writes @ericholthaus.com
- the conditions for a January LA firestorm have never existed until now
#climatecrisis #LAfires
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
- the conditions for a January LA firestorm have never existed until now
#climatecrisis #LAfires
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)
We just posted our first round of fully funded interdisciplinary challege-led projects!
netgain.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/phd-projects/
PhDs available at: @aberdeenunilib.bsky.social, @durhamuniversity.bsky.social, @glasgowunisrc.bsky.social, @uniofstandrews.bsky.social, @ukri.org
netgain.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/phd-projects/
PhDs available at: @aberdeenunilib.bsky.social, @durhamuniversity.bsky.social, @glasgowunisrc.bsky.social, @uniofstandrews.bsky.social, @ukri.org
December 19, 2024 at 10:07 PM
We just posted our first round of fully funded interdisciplinary challege-led projects!
netgain.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/phd-projects/
PhDs available at: @aberdeenunilib.bsky.social, @durhamuniversity.bsky.social, @glasgowunisrc.bsky.social, @uniofstandrews.bsky.social, @ukri.org
netgain.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/phd-projects/
PhDs available at: @aberdeenunilib.bsky.social, @durhamuniversity.bsky.social, @glasgowunisrc.bsky.social, @uniofstandrews.bsky.social, @ukri.org
Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)
I am advertising a *fully funded* and genuinely interdisciplinary PhD looking at integrating ecology, statistics and environmental ethics. The project is part of the amazing @netgain.bsky.social. Please get in touch and share with anyone who might be interested! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Bridging Philosophy and Ecology: Ethical Decision-Making in Wild Salmonid Conservation at University of St Andrews on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Bridging Philosophy and Ecology: Ethical Decision-Making in Wild Salmonid Conservation at University of St Andrews, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
December 23, 2024 at 10:49 AM
I am advertising a *fully funded* and genuinely interdisciplinary PhD looking at integrating ecology, statistics and environmental ethics. The project is part of the amazing @netgain.bsky.social. Please get in touch and share with anyone who might be interested! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)
The value of simulation before analysis: @chrissuthy.bsky.social talks through work led by @ambercowans.bsky.social, yielding some cautionary lessons for users of species co-occurrence models.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#BES2024
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#BES2024
December 13, 2024 at 2:16 PM
The value of simulation before analysis: @chrissuthy.bsky.social talks through work led by @ambercowans.bsky.social, yielding some cautionary lessons for users of species co-occurrence models.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#BES2024
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#BES2024
Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)
Wow! Amazing opportunity here for South Africa based 🇿🇦 researchers to develop their quantitative skills! 🤩💻
Two workshops:
• An intro to stats in R
• Applied hierarchical modelling
The course is FREE! These opportunities rarely come about in 🇿🇦, so share widely & sign up!
#conservationscience 🌍
Two workshops:
• An intro to stats in R
• Applied hierarchical modelling
The course is FREE! These opportunities rarely come about in 🇿🇦, so share widely & sign up!
#conservationscience 🌍
December 10, 2024 at 6:56 AM
Wow! Amazing opportunity here for South Africa based 🇿🇦 researchers to develop their quantitative skills! 🤩💻
Two workshops:
• An intro to stats in R
• Applied hierarchical modelling
The course is FREE! These opportunities rarely come about in 🇿🇦, so share widely & sign up!
#conservationscience 🌍
Two workshops:
• An intro to stats in R
• Applied hierarchical modelling
The course is FREE! These opportunities rarely come about in 🇿🇦, so share widely & sign up!
#conservationscience 🌍
Reposted by Amber Cowans (she/her)
Huge congrats to @ambercowans.bsky.social on the acceptance of her first PhD chapter in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social:
'Improving the integration of AI into existing ecological inference workflows'
It's a perspective piece, but if you cant wait, the preprint is here:
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
'Improving the integration of AI into existing ecological inference workflows'
It's a perspective piece, but if you cant wait, the preprint is here:
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
a group of people standing next to each other with the words right perspective on the bottom right
ALT: a group of people standing next to each other with the words right perspective on the bottom right
media.tenor.com
December 8, 2024 at 6:47 AM
Huge congrats to @ambercowans.bsky.social on the acceptance of her first PhD chapter in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social:
'Improving the integration of AI into existing ecological inference workflows'
It's a perspective piece, but if you cant wait, the preprint is here:
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
'Improving the integration of AI into existing ecological inference workflows'
It's a perspective piece, but if you cant wait, the preprint is here:
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...