Rob Knell
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robknell.bsky.social
Rob Knell
@robknell.bsky.social
Evolutionary ecologist working on, amongst other things, mating systems and adaptation. Knows enough stats to be dangerous and inflicts R on the innocent. Takes photos of animals. Also running/triathlon/technical diving.
Pinned
#Biostatistics R package: interactive learnr tutorials on statistics ranging from frequency distributions to model selection. Videos, text explanations, quizzes and coding exercises. cran.r-project.org/web/packages...
Biostatistics vignette
cran.r-project.org
Reposted by Rob Knell
As an early Christmas gift, @journal-evo.bsky.social accepted @kenstoyama.bsky.social and my paper on macroevolutionary patterns of ornament evolution in birds of paradise! 🦚

Check it out here:
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Allometry, sexual dimorphism, and sexual trait elaboration in the birds of paradise
Abstract. Sexually selected traits include not only some of the most elaborate phenotypes in nature, but also some of the most diverse and sexually dimorph
academic.oup.com
December 23, 2025 at 6:44 PM
I took a lot of photos in 2025. I tried to get it down to a top 10 but that was a bit too difficult so I have a top 25. All taken in the UK or South Africa. #wildlife #wildlifephotgraphy #birds #ukbirds 1) Some birds from Tophill Low
December 27, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Rob Knell
Come and join me and my colleagues at the Department of Biology, #LundUniversity in #sweden! We have am open position as Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Biodiversity.

Apply here no later than February 11 2026:

https://lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:848749/type:job/where:4/apply:1
Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Biodiversity
The Department of Biology was established in 2010 through the merger of the Departments of Ecology, Cell and Organism Biology, Biological Undergraduate Education, and the Biological Museums. The depar
lu.varbi.com
December 20, 2025 at 3:58 PM
@qmul.bsky.social I know I’ve previously said I’m grateful for all the times the college has done something egregiously nasty and made me glad I decided to leave, but it’s been a few years now. You can stop, I’ll be fine.
The Principal has been walking around tearing down Palestine posters and has been instructing managers & security to do so when he can't go on his little tour of campus himself.

This is chilling and discriminatory and must be challenged. Full motion: qmucu.org/2025/12/17/c... 🇵🇸
December 17, 2025 at 12:52 PM
One of the techniques the students learn to use on our #Wildlife #Conservation #MSc field course in #SouthAfrica is camera trapping to estimate mammal biodiversity. Sometimes the videos are more interesting than other times #leopard @uniofhull.bsky.social
December 15, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Students on our ur #MSc #Wildlife #Conservation fieldcourse in the #KrugerNationalPark met these two fine fellows within about 10 minutes of each other @uniofhull.bsky.social #Wilddog #Lion #WildlifePhotography
December 13, 2025 at 4:49 AM
A bit of scorpion hunting with a UV torch is always a good way to spend an evening. #HullWildlifeConservation #MSc #Wildlife #Conservation #Arachnid
December 13, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Onthophagus rangifer, one of the most extraordinary horned dung beetles you might ever see. From a baited pitfall trap near Skukuza on our #MSc #Wildlife #Conservation field course in the #Kruger park. #HullWildlifeConservation #insects #coleoptera #wildlifephotography @uniofhull.bsky.social
December 10, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Students on our #Msc #Wildlife #Conservation learning how elephants alter biodiversity and tree cover in the #krugernationalpark #HullWildlifeConservation. Exclusion experiments tell us how herbivores affect ecological comunities. When the herbivores are 🐘 you need serious gear to keep 'em out.
December 9, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Just spent a significant amount of time walking through the bush in the Kruger Park, accompanied by a man with a rifle, searching for enough fresh elephant poo to fill a bucket. Yes this is my job. Yes they pay me to do this.🧪
December 5, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Rob Knell
WCS Celebrates Historic and Sweeping Trade Protections for Sharks and Rays Adopted at CITES CoP20 > Newsroom | All CITES shark and ray proposals pass – marking the most comprehensive advance in global shark conservation in CITES history.
WCS Celebrates Historic and Sweeping Trade Protections for Sharks and Rays Adopted at CITES CoP20
Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Nov. 28, 2025 – The following statement was issued today from CITES CoP20, celebrating the adoption of sweeping and historic adoption of new international trade protections for…
newsroom.wcs.org
November 28, 2025 at 2:13 PM
She’s back! Wisdom is now at least 75 years old. Wonderful.
#Wisdom is back!
The world’s oldest known living banded bird, Mōlī (Laysan albatross) queen, has returned to Kuailhelani (Midway Atoll). #Birds
November 28, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Reposted by Rob Knell
What do you think the primary goal of applied ecological/conservation research is?

1️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/PuXpIV/1" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">Diagnose threats and impacts
2️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/PuXpIV/2" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">Understand ecological processes
3️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/PuXpIV/3" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">Inform management or policy
4️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/PuXpIV/4" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">Something else (comment below)

📊 Show results
November 26, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Black cat in front of a hot fire through a thermal scope.
November 27, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Funded PhD studentship available on the way that mating system affects coevolutionary processes with natural enemies. #ecoevo #sexualselection looking for a great candidate spread the word! www.findaphd.com/phds/project... 🧪
Mating systems, coevolution and resistance evolution. at University of Hull on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Mating systems, coevolution and resistance evolution. at University of Hull, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:25 PM
This is fascism.
November 21, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Bedtime for democracy...
We gotta start close-reading Dead Kennedys album artwork like it’s the writings of Nostradamus
Real tweets from the White House are indistinguishable from anti-Trump AI slop.

Or, in this case, 1990s Adbusters parodies.
November 17, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Reposted by Rob Knell
Reposted by Rob Knell
Join us! 🧬🪰🎉🔬

We are currently advertising two #PhD projects to study the #evolution, #development and #genomics of sexual traits in stalk-eyed flies.

Deadline for applying is Wednesday, January 7, 2026. Get in touch for more info!
November 17, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Rob Knell
I've been avoiding reading articles on the death of James Watson, co-discoverer of #DNA's structure.

That is, until I saw that @statnews.com published one by Sharon Begley, a renowned science writer who passed in 2021.

Yes, you read that right.

www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/j...

🧪 (1/5)
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Quote from the late and unlamented James Watson: “Anyone who would hire an ecologist is out of his mind”. I find myself proud to be a member of a group that he disliked. 🧪
November 8, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Rob Knell
Human Geography at Leicester is facing closure. Staff contracts are to end in June 2026; students are to be relocated to other universities, or taught out by a maximum of two (!) teaching-only staff. Other departments and subjects are facing closure, too. Please join the demo!
November 6, 2025 at 9:26 AM
So given recent news I’ve been doing a bit of reading on James Watson. It’s hard to find anything positive to say about this sexist and racist bigot who happened to get in on the scientific discovery of the century. 🧪
November 8, 2025 at 1:11 AM