Catherine Sheard
@sheardcat.bsky.social
Fellow @ University of Aberdeen. Professionally: macroevolution, especially birds & languages. Personally: drinks too much coffee, plays too much D&D.
she/her
she/her
Pinned
Catherine Sheard
@sheardcat.bsky.social
· Jun 25
New pinned intro time:
Hi! I'm Catherine, a PI (fellow/lecturer) at the University of Aberdeen. My lab works on trait macroevolution, particularly the causes/consequences of behavioural innovations. I'm a senior editor at GEB, co-chair of BES Macro, and have zero chill about the northern lights.
Hi! I'm Catherine, a PI (fellow/lecturer) at the University of Aberdeen. My lab works on trait macroevolution, particularly the causes/consequences of behavioural innovations. I'm a senior editor at GEB, co-chair of BES Macro, and have zero chill about the northern lights.
Not to be crowd-sourcing basic life tasks, but does anyone have any insight into how to buy a decent vacuum cleaner?
The one I currently own was chosen because it was dirt cheap (ha); I need to level up my vacuuming game; and it turns out decent vacuums are *really* expensive.
The one I currently own was chosen because it was dirt cheap (ha); I need to level up my vacuuming game; and it turns out decent vacuums are *really* expensive.
November 10, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Not to be crowd-sourcing basic life tasks, but does anyone have any insight into how to buy a decent vacuum cleaner?
The one I currently own was chosen because it was dirt cheap (ha); I need to level up my vacuuming game; and it turns out decent vacuums are *really* expensive.
The one I currently own was chosen because it was dirt cheap (ha); I need to level up my vacuuming game; and it turns out decent vacuums are *really* expensive.
If you're looking for a PhD and happen to like flies (who doesn't?!), Ellie Bath at Durham is offering a project on the evolution of aggression.
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
What drives aggression? Linking Ecology, Evolution, and Genes
iapetus.ac.uk
November 10, 2025 at 10:36 PM
If you're looking for a PhD and happen to like flies (who doesn't?!), Ellie Bath at Durham is offering a project on the evolution of aggression.
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Jonathan's one of the coolest people I know, and Durham's lovely. Go do a PhD with his group!
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Get in touch if you want to chat!
November 10, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Jonathan's one of the coolest people I know, and Durham's lovely. Go do a PhD with his group!
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
An amazing success story: the recovery of humpback whales 50-60 years after we stopped whaling on them.
Another species no longer on the global Endangered list:
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.
a man with a mustache says there be whales here in a dark room
Alt: Scotty from Star Trek Original Series (played by Jimmy Doohan) says there be whales here in a Klingon vessel's cargo hold.
media.tenor.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:11 AM
An amazing success story: the recovery of humpback whales 50-60 years after we stopped whaling on them.
Me: hello terrible new Wiley system, I would like to invite a reviewer
ReX, the terrible new Wiley system: you cannot. indeed, you must invite -1 more reviewers before proceeding
Me: ...
ReX, the terrible new Wiley system: you cannot. indeed, you must invite -1 more reviewers before proceeding
Me: ...
November 10, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Me: hello terrible new Wiley system, I would like to invite a reviewer
ReX, the terrible new Wiley system: you cannot. indeed, you must invite -1 more reviewers before proceeding
Me: ...
ReX, the terrible new Wiley system: you cannot. indeed, you must invite -1 more reviewers before proceeding
Me: ...
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
ON THURSDAY I'll be at @linneansociety.bsky.social to chat about whether natural history #museums really represent nature, how they talk about their own [sometimes troubling] histories, & how they help save the world: the 3 themes of my book #NaturesMemory. Come!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/natures-me...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/natures-me...
Nature’s Memory | Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums
Get an insider guide to the secrets of natural history museums, as we consider how they shape our society and relationship with nature.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 12:30 PM
ON THURSDAY I'll be at @linneansociety.bsky.social to chat about whether natural history #museums really represent nature, how they talk about their own [sometimes troubling] histories, & how they help save the world: the 3 themes of my book #NaturesMemory. Come!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/natures-me...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/natures-me...
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
November 9, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
The path toward a unified trait space: synthesizing plant functional diversity - Carmona - 2025 - New Phytologist - Wiley Online Library nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The path toward a unified trait space: synthesizing plant functional diversity
Plant traits capture the remarkable diversity of ecological strategies, yet synthesizing this complexity into coherent frameworks remains challenging. Trait spaces have significantly advanced this ef....
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 AM
The path toward a unified trait space: synthesizing plant functional diversity - Carmona - 2025 - New Phytologist - Wiley Online Library nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
Happy 423 years of us! 🎉 📚
The Bodleian Libraries opened for the first time on 8 November 1602...
This means, we're older than the refracting telescope (1608), the publication of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1623) and Sir Isaac Newton's apple (1666)! 😅
The Bodleian Libraries opened for the first time on 8 November 1602...
This means, we're older than the refracting telescope (1608), the publication of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1623) and Sir Isaac Newton's apple (1666)! 😅
November 8, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Happy 423 years of us! 🎉 📚
The Bodleian Libraries opened for the first time on 8 November 1602...
This means, we're older than the refracting telescope (1608), the publication of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1623) and Sir Isaac Newton's apple (1666)! 😅
The Bodleian Libraries opened for the first time on 8 November 1602...
This means, we're older than the refracting telescope (1608), the publication of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1623) and Sir Isaac Newton's apple (1666)! 😅
I truly adore this 😂
Do you teach #rstats? Do your students complain about how lame and old-fashioned dplyr is? Don't worry: I have the solution for you: github.com/hadley/genzp....
genzplyr is dplyr, but bussin fr fr no cap.
genzplyr is dplyr, but bussin fr fr no cap.
GitHub - hadley/genzplyr: dplyr but make it bussin fr fr no cap
dplyr but make it bussin fr fr no cap. Contribute to hadley/genzplyr development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:32 PM
I truly adore this 😂
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
Weathering the storm: We've compiled information into a new web hub to share what the AOS is doing in response to recent political decisions & to help our members navigate disruptive policy changes.
More: americanornithology.org/professional...
#AOSmembers #ornithology
More: americanornithology.org/professional...
#AOSmembers #ornithology
November 7, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Weathering the storm: We've compiled information into a new web hub to share what the AOS is doing in response to recent political decisions & to help our members navigate disruptive policy changes.
More: americanornithology.org/professional...
#AOSmembers #ornithology
More: americanornithology.org/professional...
#AOSmembers #ornithology
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
Always here for a giant spider web story www.livescience.com/animals/spid...
World's biggest spiderweb discovered inside 'Sulfur Cave' with 111,000 arachnids living in pitch black
A giant colonial spiderweb in a sulfuric cave on the border between Greece and Albania may be the largest ever found — and it was built by spiders we didn't know liked the company of others.
www.livescience.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Always here for a giant spider web story www.livescience.com/animals/spid...
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
Master's degree position at Towson University with Daniel Caetano on macroevolutionary and phylogenetic comparative methods! Daniel is an awesome human and a great mentor, share with your students!
caetanods.weebly.com/join-the-lab...
caetanods.weebly.com/join-the-lab...
Join the lab
The Caetano lab at Towson University (Maryland, USA) is seeking a Master's degree student to start in Fall 2026. A Research Assistant (RA) position is available to the student during part (or all) of....
caetanods.weebly.com
October 2, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Master's degree position at Towson University with Daniel Caetano on macroevolutionary and phylogenetic comparative methods! Daniel is an awesome human and a great mentor, share with your students!
caetanods.weebly.com/join-the-lab...
caetanods.weebly.com/join-the-lab...
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
Love to see job postings like this!
The Dept of Biology at Loyola University. Chicago has an open lecturer position in Gender, Sexuality, and the Biology of Sex. The successful candidate will have a 50% affiliation with the Women's Studies and Gender Studies program and 50% Dept of Biology.
www.careers.luc.edu/postings/34131
www.careers.luc.edu/postings/34131
Biology and Women’s Studies and Gender Studies, Lecturer (Gender, Sexuality, and the Biology of Sex ), Non-Tenure track
Salary Range: $65,000 - $75,000Benefits Information: https://www.luc.edu/hr/benefits/The Department of Biology and the Women’s Studies and Gender Studies (WSGS) Program in the College of Arts and Scie...
www.careers.luc.edu
November 7, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Love to see job postings like this!
The haar has been a LOT this week.
(The sun doesn't set for another hour! It should be reasonably daylight right now! This is not reasonable daylight, friends.)
(The sun doesn't set for another hour! It should be reasonably daylight right now! This is not reasonable daylight, friends.)
November 7, 2025 at 3:20 PM
The haar has been a LOT this week.
(The sun doesn't set for another hour! It should be reasonably daylight right now! This is not reasonable daylight, friends.)
(The sun doesn't set for another hour! It should be reasonably daylight right now! This is not reasonable daylight, friends.)
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
Phylogeny of tinamous based on whole-genomes and fossils: academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan... 🪶🧪 (📷Musher et al.)
November 7, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Phylogeny of tinamous based on whole-genomes and fossils: academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan... 🪶🧪 (📷Musher et al.)
Oi, stickleback researchers!
One of my PhD students is on a quest for lateral-view photographs of sticklebacks (like the one below, obvs not a stickleback). Any population/species, so long as the location and date of collection are known.
Does anyone know where we might find data like this?
One of my PhD students is on a quest for lateral-view photographs of sticklebacks (like the one below, obvs not a stickleback). Any population/species, so long as the location and date of collection are known.
Does anyone know where we might find data like this?
November 7, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Oi, stickleback researchers!
One of my PhD students is on a quest for lateral-view photographs of sticklebacks (like the one below, obvs not a stickleback). Any population/species, so long as the location and date of collection are known.
Does anyone know where we might find data like this?
One of my PhD students is on a quest for lateral-view photographs of sticklebacks (like the one below, obvs not a stickleback). Any population/species, so long as the location and date of collection are known.
Does anyone know where we might find data like this?
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
Hundreds of thousands of people, dead because of a decision made by the world's richest man
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Hundreds of thousands of people, dead because of a decision made by the world's richest man
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
🦜 New PhD project with @ACCE_DTP and project partners Macaw Recovery Network and Longleat — using bioacoustics data to help conserve one of the Neotropics’ most charismatic parrots, the Critically Endangered Great Green Macaw.
Find out more about ACCE+ DLA and how to apply 👉 accedtp.ac.uk
Find out more about ACCE+ DLA and how to apply 👉 accedtp.ac.uk
ACCE+ DLA programme: Landscape-scale drivers and limits of endangered species spatial and temporal distribution at University of Sheffield on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - ACCE+ DLA programme: Landscape-scale drivers and limits of endangered species spatial and temporal distribution at University of Sheffield, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:56 AM
🦜 New PhD project with @ACCE_DTP and project partners Macaw Recovery Network and Longleat — using bioacoustics data to help conserve one of the Neotropics’ most charismatic parrots, the Critically Endangered Great Green Macaw.
Find out more about ACCE+ DLA and how to apply 👉 accedtp.ac.uk
Find out more about ACCE+ DLA and how to apply 👉 accedtp.ac.uk
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
Could be a spicy evening!
Aurora forecast for 11/6/2025 showing possibility for active aurora.
#Astronomy #NMWx 🔭 #nature #aurora
Aurora forecast for 11/6/2025 showing possibility for active aurora.
#Astronomy #NMWx 🔭 #nature #aurora
November 5, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Could be a spicy evening!
Aurora forecast for 11/6/2025 showing possibility for active aurora.
#Astronomy #NMWx 🔭 #nature #aurora
Aurora forecast for 11/6/2025 showing possibility for active aurora.
#Astronomy #NMWx 🔭 #nature #aurora
I love the emails you get as an academic.
Uni admin: Do you use poliovirus in your research? If so, could you please fill out this form?
Me: Extremely safe to say that I do not.
(Shout-out to the time that my workplace was briefly shut because some yellow fever virus had been misplaced...)
Uni admin: Do you use poliovirus in your research? If so, could you please fill out this form?
Me: Extremely safe to say that I do not.
(Shout-out to the time that my workplace was briefly shut because some yellow fever virus had been misplaced...)
November 5, 2025 at 9:58 PM
I love the emails you get as an academic.
Uni admin: Do you use poliovirus in your research? If so, could you please fill out this form?
Me: Extremely safe to say that I do not.
(Shout-out to the time that my workplace was briefly shut because some yellow fever virus had been misplaced...)
Uni admin: Do you use poliovirus in your research? If so, could you please fill out this form?
Me: Extremely safe to say that I do not.
(Shout-out to the time that my workplace was briefly shut because some yellow fever virus had been misplaced...)
Today's Dynamic Ecology post has made me remember a faculty first-round interview that I flubbed SO BADLY and still to this day cringe about. It was truly an incredible car crash.
I don't think anyone on that call follows me here, so I shall just apologise to the universe years later 😂.
I don't think anyone on that call follows me here, so I shall just apologise to the universe years later 😂.
November 5, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Today's Dynamic Ecology post has made me remember a faculty first-round interview that I flubbed SO BADLY and still to this day cringe about. It was truly an incredible car crash.
I don't think anyone on that call follows me here, so I shall just apologise to the universe years later 😂.
I don't think anyone on that call follows me here, so I shall just apologise to the universe years later 😂.
Reposted by Catherine Sheard
I am recruting a #postdoc for a project investigating the evolution of avian heat tolerance in @erc.europa.eu project #HotLife. Fieldwork over broad latitudinal gradients, common-garden experiments, and more. Read more and apply👇
shorturl.at/WA1Qa
Would appreciate a re-post!
@evoldir.bsky.social
shorturl.at/WA1Qa
Would appreciate a re-post!
@evoldir.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 8:38 AM
I am recruting a #postdoc for a project investigating the evolution of avian heat tolerance in @erc.europa.eu project #HotLife. Fieldwork over broad latitudinal gradients, common-garden experiments, and more. Read more and apply👇
shorturl.at/WA1Qa
Would appreciate a re-post!
@evoldir.bsky.social
shorturl.at/WA1Qa
Would appreciate a re-post!
@evoldir.bsky.social