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pietropollo.bsky.social
Pietro Pollo
@pietropollo.bsky.social
340 followers 85 following 13 posts
UoNewcastle | UNSW | he/him 🏳️‍🌈
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Reposted by Pietro Pollo
ecoevorxiv.bsky.social
"The statistical fragility of animal cognition findings: a meta-meta-analytic reappraisal"
doi.org/10.32942/X2Z...
Statistical performance of animal cognition meta-analyses at the primary-study and meta-analysis levels. (a) Statistical power: Median power to detect the (true or bias-corrected) meta-analytic effect size; darker red bars indicate lower power. (b) Type M error: Median exaggeration ratio between estimated and true effect sizes; darker blue indicates stronger overestimation (values > 20 shown as “20+”). (c) Type S error: Median probability of obtaining a significant effect in the wrong direction; darker yellow-green indicates higher Type S error. Violin plots above each panel summarise distributions across meta-analyses. Each point represents one meta-analysis (matching a row in the bar plots), and the horizontal line denotes the overall mean.
November 10, 2025 at 7:00 AM
pietropollo.bsky.social
Do you get confused when reading meta-analyses? Our new paper offers a practical guide to help researchers understand, interpret, and use them properly. We also show that the insights meta-analyses provide are often overlooked by those who cite them.
royalsocietypublishing.org Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 22d
New research from #RSOS: Harnessing meta-analyses' insights in ecology and evolution research buff.ly/KgahjlP | #Ecology #Evolution #ImpactFactor
October 21, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
saskajanet.bsky.social
UPDATE: I saw it happen! At the Birds Canada research station at the tip of Long Point I watched an expert ever-so-gently and carefully put one of these tiny tags on a monarch. Let me walk you through the steps (1/4)
saskajanet.bsky.social Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · Sep 20
So cool to visit the Motus workshop at Birds Canada headquarters. The Motus community is studying the movement of birds, bats and insects. This tiny radio telemetry device will fit on a Monarch butterfly 😲 #invertebrates #birds 🌿 www.birdscanada.org/bird-science...
Brown wood-sided building with a wi Dow and a door. Sign above the door says, “Motus Workshop and Research Laboratory”. Tiny antenna with a rectangular box on the end. The whole thing is on an open hand and is about 5cm long. Orange and black butterfly on purple flowers.
September 26, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
jevbio.bsky.social
Size does matter for mating success in two species of seed bugs in the wild. #sexualselection #lygaeidae #mating #naturalselection #malematechoice #sicily

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

@opheliasfritsch.bsky.social and Shuker
Sexual selection in wild populations of seed bugs: the role of size in pre-copulatory mate choice by females and males
Abstract. Although sexual selection is a well-established part of evolutionary biology, controversies remain about the roles of males and females. For inst
doi.org
October 1, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
franzanth.bsky.social
Absolutely nobody asked for this but I reformatted my animal yeetability thread into printable poster & zine files.

Introducing, the "Pocket Guide to Responsible & Sustainable Animal YEETING" featuring a revamped rating system. Download links below.
Poster showing various animals and their yeetability rating. For full rating, see the link in the reply. Intro text reads: POCKET GUIDE TO RESPONSIBLE & SUSTAINABLE ANIMAL YEETING by franzanth In this context, YEETING is defined as the act of throwing a “projectile” at a slightly upward angle with low initial velocity. The goal here is relocation, not destruction. Therefore, YEETING is ideally performed toward soft surfaces like leaves to minimize downward acceleration that might result in said projectile's discomfort.
February 29, 2024 at 8:17 PM
pietropollo.bsky.social
I wish there were more posts like this
mhedin.bsky.social Marshal Hedin @mhedin.bsky.social · Sep 23
let me share a little story about a remarkable wasp that I encountered yesterday in our local deserts

I stumbled across her, and scrambled to get a few crappy photos .... but then realized that she had a burrow, perhaps a better photo op was possible ??

here she is at her burrow entrance.
September 23, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
scinews.bsky.social
Insect populations are rapidly declining even in relatively undisturbed landscapes, raising concerns about the health of ecosystems that depend on them.

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
September 7, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
brunobuzatto.bsky.social
Following funnel-web spiders — amazing work by Caitlin Creak:

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Study initially by @braxtonjones.bsky.social, Danilo Harms and I (funded by NatGeo and AusGeo), taken up by Caitlin with Russell Bonduriansky and Mike Kasumovic. Congrats all, especially Caitlin! :)
August 20, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
cataranea.bsky.social
🕷️#Arachnews alert! 🦂
New Foelix (the definitive reference for general spider biology, a must-have for every arachnologist & arachnophile) just dropped.

Now called Spider Biology, this is an completely rewritten & updated version of the Biology of Spiders (2011).
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Spider Biology
This attractive book covers all aspects of spider biology and will appeal to general readers interested in spiders as well as specialists (arachnologists).
link.springer.com
August 18, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
vamrhein.bsky.social
Sabine Hossenfelder: "Scientific research is broken. This has been going on for decades, and the situation is not improving. It's getting worse."
youtu.be/9yPy3DeMUyI?...
Scientific research has big problems, and it's getting worse
YouTube video by Sabine Hossenfelder
youtu.be
August 17, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
avehtari.bsky.social
All three books I've co-authored are freely available online for non-commercial use:

- #Bayesian Data Analysis, 3rd ed (aka BDA3) at stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/book/

- #Regression and Other Stories at avehtari.github.io/ROS-Examples/

- Active Statistics at avehtari.github.io/ActiveStatis...
The cover of Bayesian Data Analysis book The cover of Regression and Other Stories book The cover of Active Statistics book
August 2, 2024 at 1:35 PM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
pammsantana.bsky.social
Our study, conducted with great care and attention, is out! It went through a meticulous community peer-review process under open science practices, and I’m proud to be part of it. The results may not be what we hoped for, but they are what we need to move toward real inclusivity in science. 💜
August 9, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
inaturalist.bsky.social
No one does fancy appendages quite like treehoppers. Here's a particularly spectacular one, likely in the Genus Hypsauchenia.

📷 sukal on iNaturalist
📍 Thailand
🔗: www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#ObservationOfTheDay
A black insect with a long curved appendage coming out of it at the top rests on a leaf.
July 18, 2025 at 5:17 PM
pietropollo.bsky.social
The behavioural research literature is concentrated on certain taxa. Last chance to help us find out why by participating in a survey that takes only 5-10 min: unsw.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_.... Participation is voluntary and there are no negative consequences for choosing not to participate!
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.
unsw.au1.qualtrics.com
July 15, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
alexwild.bsky.social
The thing about entomology is, there are always weirder bugs than anything you could imagine on your own.

Here's Cysteodemus wislizeni, a blister beetle from west Texas.
Photograph of a metallic blue/green beetle with a very spider-like body, a huge fake "abdomen" that is swollen and dented with even pits over its bulbous surface. It is otherwise ant-like, standing on a pure white stylized background.
July 9, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
ecoevorxiv.bsky.social
"Ungeneralizable generalizations? A meta-meta-analysis of the influence of taxonomic bias on the study of behavior." - doi.org/10.32942/X2X...
July 4, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
arc-tracker.bsky.social
"Productivity reform starts with public science" by Nathan Garland @n8sci.bsky.social has some worthy suggestions for improving productivity.

In news we all know – but the Government seems to like ignoring – it'll help to fund more basic science research!

nathangarland.substack.com/p/productivi...
Graph of R&D spending (% of GDP) versus Year, with coloured dots joined by lines showing different countries (shown in the key at the bottom of the graph) taken from Nathan Garland's article here: https://nathangarland.substack.com/p/productivity-reform-starts-with-public Black text on white background. List of "concrete and tangible actions" for increasing productivity. Screenshot from Nathan Garland's article: https://nathangarland.substack.com/p/productivity-reform-starts-with-public
July 1, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
animbehav.bsky.social
Are you a behavioural researcher?

Participate this survey from the University of New South Wales.
The research aims to learn more about why researchers choose organisms for research.

For more information, please contact p.pollo@unsw.edu.au
#science #ecology
unsw.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.
unsw.au1.qualtrics.com
June 26, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
tedpavlic.bsky.social
Reminder: Nobel-prize winning PCR (1983), used in basically all genetic tech today, was only possible because of extremophile bacterium discovered in 1964 in Yellowstone funded by a small ~$80k NSF grant with no obvious application at the time. #science 🧪
www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...
How a discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR - Richmond Scientific
A discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR, the gold-standard COVID-19 tests used to fight the global pandemic.
www.richmondscientific.com
June 8, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
science.org
#NextGenSci asked young scientists to write a rule that all principal investigators should be required to follow to improve the experience of young scientists in their lab.

Check out their answers on #NationalHigherEducationDay: scim.ag/45zsFEr
Illustration of two people, one holding a large pencil, the other walking along a path of diverging arrows. Hedline is "Rules all PIs should follow."
June 6, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
ecoevorxiv.bsky.social
Systematic mapping and bibliometric analysis of meta-analyses on animal cognition doi.org/10.32942/X2X...
Diagram showing the reporting and analysis inclusion of study subjects sex and life stage information in meta-analytical studies, separated by research aim.
June 5, 2025 at 1:18 PM
pietropollo.bsky.social
Help us find out the potential factors behind the choice of research organisms by ethologists and behavioural ecologists by participating in this quick survey (5-10 min): tinyurl.com/xbnu254h. Participation is voluntary and there are no negative consequences for choosing not to participate!
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.
unsw.au1.qualtrics.com
May 27, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
eivimeycook.bsky.social
Massive piece of work by @pietropollo.bsky.social and colleagues!

Really encouraging paper showing that many EcoEvo meta-analyses are largely reproducible and replicable!

doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
Reliability of meta-analyses in ecology and evolution: (mostly) good news from a case study on sexual signals | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Meta-analyses are powerful synthesis tools that are popular in ecology and evolution owing to the rapidly growing literature of this field. Although the usefulness of meta-analyses depends on their reliability, such as the precision of individual and mean ...
doi.org
May 21, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
shikharabhat.bsky.social
Since we've moved platforms, I thought I'd make a new explainer thread for our (Aamir Sadiq, @vishuguttal.bsky.social, Rohini Balakrishnan, and I) recent paper on tree crickets.

Meet Oecanthus henryi. Like in many cricket species, O. henryi males call to attract mates.

#science #evobio 🌍 🧬
Picture of male Oecanthus henryi Picture of male Oecanthus henryi
April 17, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Pietro Pollo
artologica.net
Happy Easter from Chemistry Cat 🧪
Cat with glasses and bow tie. Caption of course He is risen. Helium is lighter than air
April 20, 2025 at 3:28 PM