Mridul K. Thomas
@mridulkthomas.bsky.social
ecology, temperature, multiple drivers, plankton, experimental design, statistics | www.mridulkthomas.com | University of Geneva
Pinned
Limnoseries: How to Design Better Experiments
YouTube video by GLEONetwork
www.youtube.com
Our experimental design workshop had ~40 participants from >15 countries!
@raviranjan.bsky.social and I focused on refining ideas, estimating parameters precisely, leverage in linear & nonlinear regression, and using simulations to compare designs.
Presentation & R scripts in next post:
@raviranjan.bsky.social and I focused on refining ideas, estimating parameters precisely, leverage in linear & nonlinear regression, and using simulations to compare designs.
Presentation & R scripts in next post:
Reposted by Mridul K. Thomas
Thank you @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social's Theoretical Ecology Section for the Best Theory paper award for our @science.org paper on eco-evo emergence of macroecological scaling!
esa.org/theory/award...
esa.org/theory/award...
November 3, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Thank you @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social's Theoretical Ecology Section for the Best Theory paper award for our @science.org paper on eco-evo emergence of macroecological scaling!
esa.org/theory/award...
esa.org/theory/award...
Need to think more about the headline claim, but this proposes a very nice new thermal performance curve (TPC) function with appealing properties.
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
A universal thermal performance curve arises in biology and ecology | PNAS
Temperature has strong impacts on all biological and ecological processes, and thermal
performance curves (TPCs) have been employed recurrently to ...
www.pnas.org
October 24, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Need to think more about the headline claim, but this proposes a very nice new thermal performance curve (TPC) function with appealing properties.
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Mridul K. Thomas
🌊 New paper out today: Assessing the interaction between ocean alkalinity enhancement 🚢 and phytoplankton🦠 in an Earth System Model 🌐
#mCDR #OAE #ESM
bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/...
#mCDR #OAE #ESM
bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/...
Interactions between ocean alkalinity enhancement and phytoplankton in an Earth system model
Abstract. The functioning and efficiency of ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) as a CO2 removal strategy is well investigated in model studies, but risks for the ecosystem are presently not considered...
bg.copernicus.org
October 22, 2025 at 3:06 PM
🌊 New paper out today: Assessing the interaction between ocean alkalinity enhancement 🚢 and phytoplankton🦠 in an Earth System Model 🌐
#mCDR #OAE #ESM
bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/...
#mCDR #OAE #ESM
bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/...
Reposted by Mridul K. Thomas
Interested in resource competition theory, mutualism, spatial patterns or temporal dynamics? I'll be giving a talk in the IITE online seminar series tomorrow summarizing our recent work on microbial cross-feeding that includes all these ingredients.
📣Tomorrow our next series of online seminars restarts: Chris Klausmeier (MSU) will present:
⭐Microbial cross-feeding: coexistence and collapse, spatial patterns and population cycles⭐
Free and open to all:
Zoom link: iite.info/seminar/
Global Times: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/f...
⭐Microbial cross-feeding: coexistence and collapse, spatial patterns and population cycles⭐
Free and open to all:
Zoom link: iite.info/seminar/
Global Times: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/f...
October 20, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Interested in resource competition theory, mutualism, spatial patterns or temporal dynamics? I'll be giving a talk in the IITE online seminar series tomorrow summarizing our recent work on microbial cross-feeding that includes all these ingredients.
Our experimental design workshop had ~40 participants from >15 countries!
@raviranjan.bsky.social and I focused on refining ideas, estimating parameters precisely, leverage in linear & nonlinear regression, and using simulations to compare designs.
Presentation & R scripts in next post:
@raviranjan.bsky.social and I focused on refining ideas, estimating parameters precisely, leverage in linear & nonlinear regression, and using simulations to compare designs.
Presentation & R scripts in next post:
Limnoseries: How to Design Better Experiments
YouTube video by GLEONetwork
www.youtube.com
October 15, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Our experimental design workshop had ~40 participants from >15 countries!
@raviranjan.bsky.social and I focused on refining ideas, estimating parameters precisely, leverage in linear & nonlinear regression, and using simulations to compare designs.
Presentation & R scripts in next post:
@raviranjan.bsky.social and I focused on refining ideas, estimating parameters precisely, leverage in linear & nonlinear regression, and using simulations to compare designs.
Presentation & R scripts in next post:
Reposted by Mridul K. Thomas
I'm developing a grad course on experimental design (study design generally) & data analysis in biology. What topics, papers, etc. do you think are most important? If you teach something similar, I would love to hear what/how you teach (if you are willing to share a syllabus that would amazing!).
September 26, 2025 at 12:28 PM
I'm developing a grad course on experimental design (study design generally) & data analysis in biology. What topics, papers, etc. do you think are most important? If you teach something similar, I would love to hear what/how you teach (if you are willing to share a syllabus that would amazing!).
@raviranjan.bsky.social & I are teaching a free online workshop with on experimental design for environmental scientists on the 23rd.
We'll focus on using simulations to evaluate how well different experimental designs help achieve your goals.
Please sign up & share! forms.gle/MZTxeQs4UpMr...
We'll focus on using simulations to evaluate how well different experimental designs help achieve your goals.
Please sign up & share! forms.gle/MZTxeQs4UpMr...
September 15, 2025 at 11:20 AM
@raviranjan.bsky.social & I are teaching a free online workshop with on experimental design for environmental scientists on the 23rd.
We'll focus on using simulations to evaluate how well different experimental designs help achieve your goals.
Please sign up & share! forms.gle/MZTxeQs4UpMr...
We'll focus on using simulations to evaluate how well different experimental designs help achieve your goals.
Please sign up & share! forms.gle/MZTxeQs4UpMr...
September 10, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Discovered that SAR11 has proteorhodopsin and wanted to declare it an honorary phytoplankton. It produces ATP in light! But this only slows death in the absence of carbon and does not increase growth otherwise.
Is it a photoheterotroph? Chemoheterotroph? Is photomixotroph a word? I'm baffled.
Is it a photoheterotroph? Chemoheterotroph? Is photomixotroph a word? I'm baffled.
September 10, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Discovered that SAR11 has proteorhodopsin and wanted to declare it an honorary phytoplankton. It produces ATP in light! But this only slows death in the absence of carbon and does not increase growth otherwise.
Is it a photoheterotroph? Chemoheterotroph? Is photomixotroph a word? I'm baffled.
Is it a photoheterotroph? Chemoheterotroph? Is photomixotroph a word? I'm baffled.
Lunar eclipse over the waters
September 8, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Lunar eclipse over the waters
I don't really understand this yet but it's some of the most interesting and bizarre biology I've ever encountered.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother
Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.
www.nature.com
September 4, 2025 at 3:19 PM
I don't really understand this yet but it's some of the most interesting and bizarre biology I've ever encountered.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Mridul K. Thomas
The call for our 2026 Postdoc Cohort is now open. We offer 4 full-time positions. Apply until August 24th. hifmb.de/jobs
Please spread the word.
#postdoc #jobsinscience #marinebiodiversity #antarctica
@awi.de @hillebr1.bsky.social @ibaums.bsky.social @thilogross.bsky.social @merenbey.bsky.social 🦑
Please spread the word.
#postdoc #jobsinscience #marinebiodiversity #antarctica
@awi.de @hillebr1.bsky.social @ibaums.bsky.social @thilogross.bsky.social @merenbey.bsky.social 🦑
June 23, 2025 at 10:36 AM
The call for our 2026 Postdoc Cohort is now open. We offer 4 full-time positions. Apply until August 24th. hifmb.de/jobs
Please spread the word.
#postdoc #jobsinscience #marinebiodiversity #antarctica
@awi.de @hillebr1.bsky.social @ibaums.bsky.social @thilogross.bsky.social @merenbey.bsky.social 🦑
Please spread the word.
#postdoc #jobsinscience #marinebiodiversity #antarctica
@awi.de @hillebr1.bsky.social @ibaums.bsky.social @thilogross.bsky.social @merenbey.bsky.social 🦑
My first Amanita muscaria! Spotted this weekend by @joelyndelima.bsky.social
August 4, 2025 at 2:34 PM
My first Amanita muscaria! Spotted this weekend by @joelyndelima.bsky.social
A good day to celebrate the bitingly hilarious lyrical genius of Tom Lehrer.
Retired from his relatively short musical career...to teach maths at Harvard, MIT, and UCSC. Worked briefly at Los Alamos and the NSA. And mercilessly satirised every system he encountered.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhY...
Retired from his relatively short musical career...to teach maths at Harvard, MIT, and UCSC. Worked briefly at Los Alamos and the NSA. And mercilessly satirised every system he encountered.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhY...
Tom Lehrer - The Vatican Rag - fabulous version - LIVE FILM From Copenhagen in 1967
YouTube video by The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel
www.youtube.com
July 28, 2025 at 9:05 AM
A good day to celebrate the bitingly hilarious lyrical genius of Tom Lehrer.
Retired from his relatively short musical career...to teach maths at Harvard, MIT, and UCSC. Worked briefly at Los Alamos and the NSA. And mercilessly satirised every system he encountered.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhY...
Retired from his relatively short musical career...to teach maths at Harvard, MIT, and UCSC. Worked briefly at Los Alamos and the NSA. And mercilessly satirised every system he encountered.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhY...
I will never understand how this became so influential. Instead of using either evidence-based teaching or tried-and-tested methods (both defensible), we somehow ended up with fad-based education.
![https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_language
Whole language is a philosophy of reading and a discredited[8] educational method originally developed for teaching literacy in English to young children. The method became a major model for education in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK in the 1980s and 1990s,[7] despite there being no scientific support for the method's effectiveness.[9] It is based on the premise that learning to read English comes naturally to humans, especially young children, in the same way that learning to speak develops naturally.[10][11][12]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4g4sdwgumcmp7elol6b2rsc6/bafkreibwpp4gaujrvqv4ozqao2xvczk4djfbd6vbxbmkva2ocuv2bldzdq@jpeg)
July 18, 2025 at 3:34 PM
I will never understand how this became so influential. Instead of using either evidence-based teaching or tried-and-tested methods (both defensible), we somehow ended up with fad-based education.
Just learned about the existence of shape-constrained GAMs and they seem rather useful!
In species distribution modelling: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Code: fundacion-azti.github.io/gam-niche/sh...
Original paper: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
In species distribution modelling: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Code: fundacion-azti.github.io/gam-niche/sh...
Original paper: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Modelling species presence–absence in the ecological niche theory framework using shape-constrained generalized additive models
According to ecological niche theory, species response curves are unimodal with respect to environmental gradients. A variety of statistical methods h…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 16, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Just learned about the existence of shape-constrained GAMs and they seem rather useful!
In species distribution modelling: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Code: fundacion-azti.github.io/gam-niche/sh...
Original paper: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
In species distribution modelling: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Code: fundacion-azti.github.io/gam-niche/sh...
Original paper: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
A couple of forthcoming workshops on experimental design and data analysis, taught by @christinamcgraw.bsky.social, Peter Dillingham, @sineadcollins.bsky.social, Sam Dupont, and me.
We will be teaching two free training courses at the BECoME-2025 conference in Hong Kong next month🌊
Course 1: Designing Multiple-Driver Experiments
Course 2: Data Analysis for Multiple-Driver Experiments
Join us! Apply through the conference website:
www.become2025.com/registration
Course 1: Designing Multiple-Driver Experiments
Course 2: Data Analysis for Multiple-Driver Experiments
Join us! Apply through the conference website:
www.become2025.com/registration
July 15, 2025 at 10:36 AM
A couple of forthcoming workshops on experimental design and data analysis, taught by @christinamcgraw.bsky.social, Peter Dillingham, @sineadcollins.bsky.social, Sam Dupont, and me.
Reposted by Mridul K. Thomas
Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) is a marine CO2 removal method that uses alkaline material to increase the storage capacity for anthropogenic CO2 in seawater.
Kiyas investigated how hydroxide (NaOH) induces taxonomic shifts in plankton. She found: 👇 🌊
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Kiyas investigated how hydroxide (NaOH) induces taxonomic shifts in plankton. She found: 👇 🌊
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Winners and losers under hydroxide‐based ocean alkalinity enhancement in a Tasmanian plankton community
Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) is an emerging carbon dioxide CO2 removal approach for climate change mitigation and can be implemented with various alkaline materials that convert dissolved CO2 i...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
July 1, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) is a marine CO2 removal method that uses alkaline material to increase the storage capacity for anthropogenic CO2 in seawater.
Kiyas investigated how hydroxide (NaOH) induces taxonomic shifts in plankton. She found: 👇 🌊
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Kiyas investigated how hydroxide (NaOH) induces taxonomic shifts in plankton. She found: 👇 🌊
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
For what it's worth, I've added myself to this list for now.
In part because I'd need a visa and I'm not sure I'd be granted one. It's a complicated story related to having short-term contracts and work permits.
In part because I'd need a visa and I'm not sure I'd be granted one. It's a complicated story related to having short-term contracts and work permits.
Scientists: are you considering NOT travelling to the US for conferences/meetings?
Aside from foreign policy, I've seen a couple of stories* about scientists having phones/laptops searched and then being turned around. I am curious if any of this is shaping your plans.
*not claiming this is common
Aside from foreign policy, I've seen a couple of stories* about scientists having phones/laptops searched and then being turned around. I am curious if any of this is shaping your plans.
*not claiming this is common
May 27, 2025 at 12:04 PM
For what it's worth, I've added myself to this list for now.
In part because I'd need a visa and I'm not sure I'd be granted one. It's a complicated story related to having short-term contracts and work permits.
In part because I'd need a visa and I'm not sure I'd be granted one. It's a complicated story related to having short-term contracts and work permits.
I've been working on ecological responses to environmental change for a long time, so I enjoyed putting down my thoughts (and code!) on how best to go about analysing response curve/reaction norm experiments.
I think you'll find it useful if you do these kinds of experiments (and maybe otherwise!)
I think you'll find it useful if you do these kinds of experiments (and maybe otherwise!)
5. Single-driver response curves, by @mridulkthomas.bsky.social and @sineadcollins.bsky.social
Learn how to fit a temperature response curve to a simulated phytoplankton growth rate experiment. Then use the curve to learn about how the species performs across space & time.
nzoac.nz/s/Single_dri...
Learn how to fit a temperature response curve to a simulated phytoplankton growth rate experiment. Then use the curve to learn about how the species performs across space & time.
nzoac.nz/s/Single_dri...
Fitting a response curve (reaction norm) to data from single-driver experiments
nzoac.nz
May 6, 2025 at 1:12 PM
I've been working on ecological responses to environmental change for a long time, so I enjoyed putting down my thoughts (and code!) on how best to go about analysing response curve/reaction norm experiments.
I think you'll find it useful if you do these kinds of experiments (and maybe otherwise!)
I think you'll find it useful if you do these kinds of experiments (and maybe otherwise!)
Reposted by Mridul K. Thomas
Ever wondered how to analyse your experimental data? 🌊🧪🌍
We’ve developed a series of tutorials in R to guide you through analysing & visualising data from single & multiple driver experiments.
Beginners and experts, we've got something for all of you.
Please share!
meddle-scor149.org/vignettes/
We’ve developed a series of tutorials in R to guide you through analysing & visualising data from single & multiple driver experiments.
Beginners and experts, we've got something for all of you.
Please share!
meddle-scor149.org/vignettes/
Vignettes - Meddle
The MEDDLE data analysis tutorials illustrate statistical approaches for single and multiple driver experiments. The tutorials are not meant as an exhaustive list, nor do they replace formal statistic...
meddle-scor149.org
April 28, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Ever wondered how to analyse your experimental data? 🌊🧪🌍
We’ve developed a series of tutorials in R to guide you through analysing & visualising data from single & multiple driver experiments.
Beginners and experts, we've got something for all of you.
Please share!
meddle-scor149.org/vignettes/
We’ve developed a series of tutorials in R to guide you through analysing & visualising data from single & multiple driver experiments.
Beginners and experts, we've got something for all of you.
Please share!
meddle-scor149.org/vignettes/
If you study #trait -based ecology, do you think that calling this a dire wolf is justified?
Let's set aside the issue of whether they have captured enough of the differences in genetics and maternal environment. Things will no doubt improve on that front.
time.com/7274542/colo...
Let's set aside the issue of whether they have captured enough of the differences in genetics and maternal environment. Things will no doubt improve on that front.
time.com/7274542/colo...
The Return of the Dire Wolf
Colossal Biosciences has genetically engineered the first dire wolf to live in over 10,000 years. Here's what that means for other extinct species.
time.com
April 9, 2025 at 9:46 AM
If you study #trait -based ecology, do you think that calling this a dire wolf is justified?
Let's set aside the issue of whether they have captured enough of the differences in genetics and maternal environment. Things will no doubt improve on that front.
time.com/7274542/colo...
Let's set aside the issue of whether they have captured enough of the differences in genetics and maternal environment. Things will no doubt improve on that front.
time.com/7274542/colo...
Rather pleased that my posts on stats.stackexchange.com have been viewed a million times. I've learnt so much from the community there, it's nice to have helped out as well.
April 7, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Rather pleased that my posts on stats.stackexchange.com have been viewed a million times. I've learnt so much from the community there, it's nice to have helped out as well.