Auriel Fournier
@rallidaerule.bsky.social
Forbes Bio Station Director
Wetland Bird/Waterfowl @ Illinois Natural Hist Survey
Posts do not represent my employer
President @wilsonornithsoc.bsky.social
Gardening
she/her
aurielfournier.github.io
forbes-bio-station.inhs.illinois.edu
Wetland Bird/Waterfowl @ Illinois Natural Hist Survey
Posts do not represent my employer
President @wilsonornithsoc.bsky.social
Gardening
she/her
aurielfournier.github.io
forbes-bio-station.inhs.illinois.edu
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
the discourse on what jobs are acceptable to replace with generative AI reveals a lot about what we think of other people's jobs
January 9, 2026 at 6:48 AM
the discourse on what jobs are acceptable to replace with generative AI reveals a lot about what we think of other people's jobs
I think this is an incredibly important point
this doesn't mean that you have to keep doing the exact kind of work you did as a student/postdoc for the rest of your career
but it does mean you have to keep learning, pushing through the discomfort of not being good at something right away
this doesn't mean that you have to keep doing the exact kind of work you did as a student/postdoc for the rest of your career
but it does mean you have to keep learning, pushing through the discomfort of not being good at something right away
Last spring, I was asked to give carreer advice to grad students. And the one thing I told them was: our best skill is our ability to learn difficult things -- it's also the first skill you will lose unless you intentionally don't let yourselves go.
January 8, 2026 at 2:45 PM
I think this is an incredibly important point
this doesn't mean that you have to keep doing the exact kind of work you did as a student/postdoc for the rest of your career
but it does mean you have to keep learning, pushing through the discomfort of not being good at something right away
this doesn't mean that you have to keep doing the exact kind of work you did as a student/postdoc for the rest of your career
but it does mean you have to keep learning, pushing through the discomfort of not being good at something right away
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
The de-skilled leading the unskilled is not what academia should be about.
January 8, 2026 at 1:21 PM
The de-skilled leading the unskilled is not what academia should be about.
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
I suspect that one of the reasons behind the widespread adoption of generative AI by faculty is that it gives people the illusion that they can still do the things they knew how to do as a postdoc. Gen AI is used as a poor substitute to maintaining core skills.
January 8, 2026 at 1:10 PM
I suspect that one of the reasons behind the widespread adoption of generative AI by faculty is that it gives people the illusion that they can still do the things they knew how to do as a postdoc. Gen AI is used as a poor substitute to maintaining core skills.
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
Last spring, I was asked to give carreer advice to grad students. And the one thing I told them was: our best skill is our ability to learn difficult things -- it's also the first skill you will lose unless you intentionally don't let yourselves go.
January 8, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Last spring, I was asked to give carreer advice to grad students. And the one thing I told them was: our best skill is our ability to learn difficult things -- it's also the first skill you will lose unless you intentionally don't let yourselves go.
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
But now, when I hear "well, I use chatgpt because I can code in R / analyse my data / do literature review again", my answer is systematically: no, you cannot.
I think the loss of technical skills is dangerous for research, because it prevents a sound understanding of feasibility.
I think the loss of technical skills is dangerous for research, because it prevents a sound understanding of feasibility.
January 8, 2026 at 1:15 PM
But now, when I hear "well, I use chatgpt because I can code in R / analyse my data / do literature review again", my answer is systematically: no, you cannot.
I think the loss of technical skills is dangerous for research, because it prevents a sound understanding of feasibility.
I think the loss of technical skills is dangerous for research, because it prevents a sound understanding of feasibility.
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
Out of curiosity, I tried to use ChatGPT to make R code a few times.
Once it worked great, solving the problem with more elegant code than I’d have used.
Twice it worked fine, clunky but it got there.
Twice it generated cuckoo-bananapants nonsense- but I’d only know that if I knew how to code.
Once it worked great, solving the problem with more elegant code than I’d have used.
Twice it worked fine, clunky but it got there.
Twice it generated cuckoo-bananapants nonsense- but I’d only know that if I knew how to code.
But now, when I hear "well, I use chatgpt because I can code in R / analyse my data / do literature review again", my answer is systematically: no, you cannot.
I think the loss of technical skills is dangerous for research, because it prevents a sound understanding of feasibility.
I think the loss of technical skills is dangerous for research, because it prevents a sound understanding of feasibility.
January 8, 2026 at 1:26 PM
Out of curiosity, I tried to use ChatGPT to make R code a few times.
Once it worked great, solving the problem with more elegant code than I’d have used.
Twice it worked fine, clunky but it got there.
Twice it generated cuckoo-bananapants nonsense- but I’d only know that if I knew how to code.
Once it worked great, solving the problem with more elegant code than I’d have used.
Twice it worked fine, clunky but it got there.
Twice it generated cuckoo-bananapants nonsense- but I’d only know that if I knew how to code.
I'm hiring a postdoc to work with myself, Dr Jim Lyons and the entire NOAA Firebird team on the adaptive management part of our larger project focused on the impacts of prescribed fire on Gulf Coast wetlands
Accepting applications until Feb 15th
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7426/19...
Accepting applications until Feb 15th
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7426/19...
Postdoctoral Research Associate - NOAA Firebird - Illinois Natural History Survey/PRI - Application Deadline: February 15, 2026
blogs.illinois.edu
January 7, 2026 at 4:28 PM
I'm hiring a postdoc to work with myself, Dr Jim Lyons and the entire NOAA Firebird team on the adaptive management part of our larger project focused on the impacts of prescribed fire on Gulf Coast wetlands
Accepting applications until Feb 15th
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7426/19...
Accepting applications until Feb 15th
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7426/19...
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
I'm hiring a postdoc to work with myself, Dr Jim Lyons and the entire NOAA Firebird team on the adaptive management part of our larger project focused on the impacts of prescribed fire on Gulf Coast wetlands
Accepting applications until Feb 15th
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7426/19...
Accepting applications until Feb 15th
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7426/19...
Postdoctoral Research Associate - NOAA Firebird - Illinois Natural History Survey/PRI - Application Deadline: February 15, 2026
blogs.illinois.edu
January 6, 2026 at 1:29 PM
I'm hiring a postdoc to work with myself, Dr Jim Lyons and the entire NOAA Firebird team on the adaptive management part of our larger project focused on the impacts of prescribed fire on Gulf Coast wetlands
Accepting applications until Feb 15th
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7426/19...
Accepting applications until Feb 15th
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7426/19...
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
Always use the mic at a conference even if you’re loud. People who can’t hear you *can’t hear you * when you ask if you can hear them in the back. Some of us went to one too many hardcore shows in our youth without ear plugs and our hearing ain’t what it used to be 🥺
#SICB2026
#SICB2026
January 4, 2026 at 6:42 PM
Always use the mic at a conference even if you’re loud. People who can’t hear you *can’t hear you * when you ask if you can hear them in the back. Some of us went to one too many hardcore shows in our youth without ear plugs and our hearing ain’t what it used to be 🥺
#SICB2026
#SICB2026
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
Hey #ornithology Bluesky! Is there an ornithologist out there who'd be up for being interviewed for a piece on how people can help birds that nest in their yards? Dos and don'ts for providing nest boxes, providing nesting material, ensuring safety from predators, etc?
January 6, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Hey #ornithology Bluesky! Is there an ornithologist out there who'd be up for being interviewed for a piece on how people can help birds that nest in their yards? Dos and don'ts for providing nest boxes, providing nesting material, ensuring safety from predators, etc?
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
Timeline cleanse: dogs in snow
January 6, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Timeline cleanse: dogs in snow
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
who says we can't have nice things? I ask for coot feet, someone delivers me coot feet, and now we all have COOT FEET. My day is now 4,000 percent better.
I completely agree. Coot feet are quite the - um - 'feat' of evolution! Neither webbed nor not. Feedback noted regarding future Coot pictures 🫡
January 6, 2026 at 2:32 PM
who says we can't have nice things? I ask for coot feet, someone delivers me coot feet, and now we all have COOT FEET. My day is now 4,000 percent better.
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
Latest articles from the WJO: Physiological impacts of sublethal Cyathocotyle bushiensis and Sphaeridiotrema pseudoglobulus infections in captive Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis). #ornithology doi.org/10.1080/1559...
January 6, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Latest articles from the WJO: Physiological impacts of sublethal Cyathocotyle bushiensis and Sphaeridiotrema pseudoglobulus infections in captive Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis). #ornithology doi.org/10.1080/1559...
I'm hiring a postdoc to work with myself, Dr Jim Lyons and the entire NOAA Firebird team on the adaptive management part of our larger project focused on the impacts of prescribed fire on Gulf Coast wetlands
Accepting applications until Feb 15th
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7426/19...
Accepting applications until Feb 15th
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7426/19...
Postdoctoral Research Associate - NOAA Firebird - Illinois Natural History Survey/PRI - Application Deadline: February 15, 2026
blogs.illinois.edu
January 6, 2026 at 1:29 PM
I'm hiring a postdoc to work with myself, Dr Jim Lyons and the entire NOAA Firebird team on the adaptive management part of our larger project focused on the impacts of prescribed fire on Gulf Coast wetlands
Accepting applications until Feb 15th
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7426/19...
Accepting applications until Feb 15th
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7426/19...
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
I'm starting to get the emails. Reporters: please see my comments below.
It's the most magical time of the year — when estimates of last year's global average temperature anomaly come out. Time to dust off my "last year was hot" auto-response.
January 5, 2026 at 6:20 PM
I'm starting to get the emails. Reporters: please see my comments below.
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
Wildlife disease data, especially negative data, are one of the last types of data that ecologists just... don't share. We built a place for them to archive it - and now, journals are encouraging people to use it! Big congrats to @danjbecker.bsky.social on this push ❤️
Exciting news to start 2026: for the first time ever, the PHAROS repository for wildlife disease surveillance is a journal-recommended home for your archived data!
Thanks to Integrative and Comparative Biology for taking the leap with us 🦠🔢➡️🌎💻💫 academic.oup.com/icb/pages/Ge...
Thanks to Integrative and Comparative Biology for taking the leap with us 🦠🔢➡️🌎💻💫 academic.oup.com/icb/pages/Ge...
General_Instructions
Instructions for Authors
Authors who publish their papers under our open access model or who are NIH-funded will have their paper automatically depos
academic.oup.com
January 5, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Wildlife disease data, especially negative data, are one of the last types of data that ecologists just... don't share. We built a place for them to archive it - and now, journals are encouraging people to use it! Big congrats to @danjbecker.bsky.social on this push ❤️
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
It’s official: I’m joining the School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability at the University of Iowa as an assistant prof starting Fall 2026!
I’ll be recruiting multiple grad students and postdocs to join my lab, so if you’re into disturbance ecology and conservation science… watch this space!
I’ll be recruiting multiple grad students and postdocs to join my lab, so if you’re into disturbance ecology and conservation science… watch this space!
January 3, 2026 at 3:36 PM
It’s official: I’m joining the School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability at the University of Iowa as an assistant prof starting Fall 2026!
I’ll be recruiting multiple grad students and postdocs to join my lab, so if you’re into disturbance ecology and conservation science… watch this space!
I’ll be recruiting multiple grad students and postdocs to join my lab, so if you’re into disturbance ecology and conservation science… watch this space!
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
Scribbly drawings - from the not deep CLM Archives ... 🪶
January 5, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Scribbly drawings - from the not deep CLM Archives ... 🪶
Starting out the new year with a newly published paper.
Led by Forbes Biological Station MS Student Cheyenne Beach and published in my favorite society journal :)
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Led by Forbes Biological Station MS Student Cheyenne Beach and published in my favorite society journal :)
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Physiological impacts of sublethal Cyathocotyle bushiensis and Sphaeridiotrema pseudoglobulus infections in captive Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)
Thousands of Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) die annually in the Upper Mississippi River System, USA, from intestinal infections after birds consume exotic faucet snails, Bithynia tentaculata, infect...
www.tandfonline.com
January 5, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Starting out the new year with a newly published paper.
Led by Forbes Biological Station MS Student Cheyenne Beach and published in my favorite society journal :)
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Led by Forbes Biological Station MS Student Cheyenne Beach and published in my favorite society journal :)
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
Not enough people have been posting ducks on ice.
We can't fix all the problems in the world in 2026, but we can fix this. 🪶
We can't fix all the problems in the world in 2026, but we can fix this. 🪶
January 4, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Not enough people have been posting ducks on ice.
We can't fix all the problems in the world in 2026, but we can fix this. 🪶
We can't fix all the problems in the world in 2026, but we can fix this. 🪶
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
A restoration success story; the sort of internet content that I like best. 🌰 🌍
www.goodnewsnetwork.org/missing-for-...
www.goodnewsnetwork.org/missing-for-...
Missing for 200 Years, the Galapagos Rail Reappears Following Floreana Island Restoration
It's as if the restoration of the balance of nature on the island led to its spontaneous resurrection.
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
January 5, 2026 at 3:44 PM
A restoration success story; the sort of internet content that I like best. 🌰 🌍
www.goodnewsnetwork.org/missing-for-...
www.goodnewsnetwork.org/missing-for-...
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
The first two hours this morning
January 5, 2026 at 11:21 AM
The first two hours this morning
Reposted by Auriel Fournier
Well, the pursuit of knowledge had a nice little run there
Grading and googling hallucinated citations, as one does nowadays, and now that LLMs have been around for a while, I've discovered new horrors: hallucinated journals are now appearing in Google Scholar with dozens of citations bc so many people are citing these fake things
December 15, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Well, the pursuit of knowledge had a nice little run there