Michael Catchen | Lightnews

michael catchen

@mdcatchen.bsky.social

postdoc in the Poisot Computational Ecology Research Group at Université de Montréal

species distribution models, optimal biodiversity monitoring, and network science using machine learning and hierarchical bayes

he/him

gottacatchenall.github.io .. more

Videos

Environmental science 57%

Agriculture 17%

Posts Replies Media Videos

michael catchen @mdcatchen.bsky.social · 2d

nolanlawson.com/2026/02/07/w...

We mourn our craft

I didn’t ask for this and neither did you. I didn’t ask for a robot to consume every blog post and piece of code I ever wrote and parrot it back so that some hack could make money off o…

nolanlawson.com

michael catchen @mdcatchen.bsky.social · 5d

need to focus on exploration more. with the right approach that downside could easily be 99.9%+

michael catchen @mdcatchen.bsky.social · 6d

thanks! @ctrlalttim.com can speak to the reasons Literate was initially chosen more, but I use it because I write the standalone .jl script to implement a given doc page's code first, and then go back and write the explanations. I find it more convenient than annotated codeblocks in markdown

michael catchen @mdcatchen.bsky.social · 6d

For SpeciesDistributionToolkit we use Literate to DocumenterVitepress with some (a bit hacky) tricks to make code for figures collapsable github.com/PoisotLab/Sp.... I've adopted the same setup for other projects too

GitHub - PoisotLab/SpeciesDistributionToolkit.jl: Work with species distributions in Julia

Work with species distributions in Julia. Contribute to PoisotLab/SpeciesDistributionToolkit.jl development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Reposted by Evan Roberts, Michael Catchen

David Berman Bot @davidbermanbot.bsky.social · 6d

The alleys are the footnotes of the avenues

michael catchen @mdcatchen.bsky.social · Dec 15

Read it here: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

A protocol for biodiversity-informed wildlife disease surveillance

ecoevorxiv.org

michael catchen @mdcatchen.bsky.social · Dec 15

🚨🐭🦠 New preprint!

Monitoring wildlife disease is expensive, so we need to be smart about where we sample to get as much useful info as possible.

We show how SDMs can guide adaptive sampling for zoonotic disease surveillance, using case studies in rodents.

A conceptual figure outlining a protocol for using species distribution models to prioritize sampling for pathogens in wildlife

A scientific figure showing a case study of the protocol applied to Arenaviridae in rodents in India

Reposted by Michael Catchen

Timothée Poisot @ctrlalttim.com · Dec 15

This is, not a joke, one of my favourite papers in a long time. Absolutely stellar co-authors, but also a straight line from "nitpicky little nerds obsessing over sampling" to "translational research with clear implications for management". Go read all about it here: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

Reposted by Michael Catchen

ÉPICBiodiversity @epic-biodiversity.org · Dec 15

🧪 New @mdcatchen.bsky.social preprint!

Here's how we can decide where to look for wildlife disease, based on combinations of biodiversity, uncertainty, and prevalence data. This is a really cool paper, that is pushing the boundaries of what we can do with sampling and monitoring techniques.

Effective sampling of wildlife disease from biodiversity data | ÉPICBiodiversity

epic-biodiversity.org

Reposted by Michael Catchen

Jelena Pantel @jhpantel.bsky.social · Dec 13

I'm just worried. Even pre-AI, it was really pulling teeth to get some (not all) PhD students to take the time to look up the formula the R package used, make sure its what they actually want to calculate, and validate what R spits out (note: I don't take students like this anymore)

Reposted by Michael Catchen

ÉPICBiodiversity @epic-biodiversity.org · Dec 11

We have added support for ESRI administrative areas to our species distribution #JuliaLang package — a lot more stable than GADM (although limited to level 1 divisions).

📗 Read more: poisotlab.github.io/SpeciesDistr...

GBIF occurrences of Mastomys natalensis in Tanzania

using SpeciesDistributionToolkit
const SDT = SpeciesDistributionToolkit
using CairoMakie

# Get the data
const DATA_DOI = "10.15468/dl.7ddsb7"
presences = GBIF.download(DATA_DOI)

# Get the country-level data
borders = getpolygon(PolygonData(ESRI, Places))["Country" => "Tanzania"]

# Make a plot
poly(borders, color=:grey95)
lines!(borders, color=:grey40, linewidth=0.5)
scatter!(presences, color=:white, strokecolor=:forestgreen, strokewidth=1)
current_figure()

Reposted by Michael Catchen

Nicholas Landry @nwlandry.bsky.social · Nov 25

One week left to apply to the UVA Biology PhD program! If you or someone you know are interested in contagion from a complex systems perspective, please reach out! I'm looking for a grad student! bio.as.virginia.edu/how-apply-gr...

How to Apply to the Graduate Program

bio.as.virginia.edu

michael catchen @mdcatchen.bsky.social · Nov 24

sometimes you write interesting sentences in ecology

the phrase "but we see a large increase in absolute loser bees" in an excerpt from a draft scientific manuscript

Reposted by Michael Catchen

Patrick Cosmos @veryimportant.lawyer · Nov 9

i do not care about "the future of the democratic party" as discussed by professional-class bozos who cannot see beyond their next client. i care about not living under a military occupation that is disappearing my neighbors

Reposted by Margot C. Finn, Michael Catchen

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · Nov 7

A week after the arXiv was forced to tighten down on submissions because of overwhelming volumes of AI slop, bioRxiv is throwing the doors wide open.

samuel mehr @mehr.nz · Nov 7

disappointed that @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social is implicitly endorsing the use of LLMs to replace scientific thought

@richardsever.bsky.social this is a short-sighted move and a net negative for science

Oded Rechavi @odedrechavi.bsky.social · Nov 6

IT'S HAPPENING! 💥 I'm psyched to launch the collaboration between @qedscience.bsky.social & @openrxiv.bsky.social @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social! Preprint + q.e.d = your science is out there, and anyone can appreciate it. Let's care about making discoveries, and not on “getting published” (1/3) 👇

Reposted by Michael Catchen

David Berman Bot @davidbermanbot.bsky.social · Nov 6

And like a brown bird nesting in a Texaco sign
I got a point of view

Reposted by Michael Catchen, Benjamin Wildermuth

Vadim Karatayev @lifenonlinear.bsky.social · Oct 30

Hi all! I am seeking an ecology or applied math PhD student interested in quantitative ecology, specifically ecological theory, food web modeling, or population dynamics. If you are interested, have a look at our lab website below and reach out to me.
resiliencelab.github.io/join/

Join Us

resiliencelab.github.io

Reposted by Michael Catchen

David Berman Bot @davidbermanbot.bsky.social · Oct 25

My friends, don’t you know
that I never want this minute to end?
And then it ends.

michael catchen @mdcatchen.bsky.social · Sep 18

Thanks Austin!

Reposted by Richard McElreath, Michael Catchen

Timothée Poisot @ctrlalttim.com · Sep 18

Our software paper on SpeciesDistributionToolkit.jl is now published in @peercomjournal.bsky.social - peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10....

A Julia toolkit for species distribution data

peercommunityjournal.org

Reposted by Michael Catchen

David Berman Bot @davidbermanbot.bsky.social · Sep 12

What kind of animal
Needs to smoke a cigarette?
Grass in the pasture
Is sharper than a bayonette

Sometimes a pony
Sometimes a pony
Sometimes a pony gets depressed

Reposted by Michael Catchen

David Berman Bot @davidbermanbot.bsky.social · Sep 7

When I go downtown, I always wear a corduroy suit,
’cause it’s made of a hundred gutters,
that the rain can run right through.

Reposted by Michael Catchen

Johan Ugander @jugander.bsky.social · Aug 24

A beautiful visualization of the state space of puzzles, 11 min of joy, h/t @danlarremore.bsky.social

Adventures in State Space

YouTube video by 2swap

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Alex Long, Michael Catchen

stuart @stuartp.bsky.social · Jul 1

you have been visited by "Le Boulanger Quebecois"
repost to receive his blessing

Reposted by Garry Peterson, Jesse M. Shapiro, Michael Catchen

Timothée Poisot @ctrlalttim.com · Jun 30

🦠🌿🐦🧪 How can biodiversity monitoring help global efforts in disease surveillance?

With ✨ fantastic ✨ colleagues from @viralemergence.org and the @geobon.org working group on One Health, we try to identify three key lessons for the future.

🧵 A short thread!

academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...