Dr. Bethany Allen
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bethanyjallen.bsky.social
Dr. Bethany Allen
@bethanyjallen.bsky.social
Palaeobiologist interested in biodiversity patterns over long timescales 📉
Postdoc at @gfz.bsky.social 🇩🇪
Co-chair of @besmacro.bsky.social, member of @paleodb.bsky.social committee and @palaeoverse.bsky.social dev team 👩‍💻
She/her
Pinned
Huge thanks to @palaeopercs.bsky.social for inviting and hosting me! If you missed my talk on Tuesday, you can now catch up via their YouTube channel 👇
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x19X...
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
Online now: Forecasting extinction risk for future-proof conservation decisions.

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

Should conservation focus on threatened species? Or should we be proactive and protect species before they become threatened? This paper explores how to get the balance right.
November 26, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
📣 Ecologists and evolutionary biologists! Have you ever wanted to be a journal editor? BES journals are having an open call for editors. Details: www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/appl... Happy to answer any Qs! Open to all nationalities. Applications from postdocs welcome :)
Apply to be a BES Associate Editor - British Ecological Society
Help advance outstanding ecological research by joining our Editorial Boards! Applications are now open across all seven BES journals.
www.britishecologicalsociety.org
November 27, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
Did you know that you may be able to publish your paper in MEE, or in our other open access journals at no cost?

We have outlined how you can use resources like funding, waivers and agreements – including our own BES waivers.

Find out more👇

buff.ly/4MH6Lkn
November 27, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
"Here we show substantial declines in the rates of collection of specimen data over recent decades, from analysis of over 150 million records from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) spanning more than two centuries"
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪 #Macroecology #EvoBio #Paleobio
November 25, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
💭Are you a researcher or practitioner with an interest in publishing?

We are looking for Associate Editors who can help advance outstanding ecological research by joining the Editorial Board for one of our seven Society-owned journals.
November 25, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
🌍📢 Postdoc alert | 3-yr starting early 2026

Please 🔁!

Understand how ecosystem stability is changing across space and through time using niche modelling, pinpoint at-risk species/regions, and build tools that drive conservation action🌿🧭📈

👉 tinyurl.com/2mafwru3

#Ecology #Jobs #Biodiversity
November 26, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
🎓 Looking for an exciting PhD project?
Check out some amazing opportunities on our page! 🌍🔬

👉 palass.org/phd-opportun...

Have a PhD opportunity to share?
You can easily add it using the “Add a PhD Opportunity” button! 📝✨

#phd #phdlife #advertising #palass
November 24, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
Paleo folks: Please recommend researchers (incl yourselves) interested in phylogenetic reconstruction in deep time, molecular clocks (discord w/ fossil clocks), foundational/methodological issues in phylo/paleo-reconstruction & who'd be interested in hanging w/ historians & philosophers of science ⚒️
November 24, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
Read the new article by Hannah Ritchie and Fiona Spooner, “Just ten species make up almost half the weight of all wild mammals on Earth”: ourworldindata.org/wild-mammal-...
Just ten species make up almost half the weight of all wild mammals on Earth
A small number of species dominate the distribution of wild mammal biomass.
ourworldindata.org
November 24, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
Study after study shows that using LLMs is bad for cognition, bad for learning, bad for understanding, bad for mental health. So why are our schools and universities still relentlessly pushing them?
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.

Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
Funded PhD opportunity!!🧪🌎

Wanna improve how biodiversity is monitored & protected?
Keen to work with large datasets & quantitative methods?

This PhD could be for you!

Fully-funded PhD at University of Reading with IoZ & UKCEH
(UK or settled status applicants)
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
CR2026_23: Monitoring and protecting biodiversity across all its dimensions – taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic at University of Reading on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - CR2026_23: Monitoring and protecting biodiversity across all its dimensions – taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic at University of Reading, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Are you a fan of Python, geological data and digital twins? 🐍🪨🌐
Apply to join us in the Earth Surface Process Modelling section at @gfz.bsky.social as a scientific programmer! Deadline is 14th December
Scientific programmer (f_m_x) - Integrating Databases into Digital Twin - GFZ Helmholtz-Zentrum für Geoforschung
GFZ Helmholtz-Zentrum für Geoforschung looks for Scientific programmer (f_m_x) - Integrating Databases into Digital Twin in Potsdam - apply now!
www.academics.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
The geology department at the University of Leicester, where myself and countless others did our palaeontology PhDs, is at serious risk of closure

Please show your support by signing the below!

c.org/KtYyZB8dHk
Save Geology at the University of Leicester
Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?
c.org
November 19, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
*Gain skills and training in journal publishing!* Open Palaeontology is looking for Managing Editors and Steering Committee members! Please consider helping to shape community open-access publishing in palaeontology, and spread the word!
openpalaeo.org
@openpalaeo.bsky.social
November 19, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
I’ve released a tool to sketch and edit phylogenetic trees!
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/

Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.
PhyloWeaver – Interactive phylogenetic tree editor
Edit and visualize phylogenetic trees directly in your browser. PhyloWeaver lets you interactively rearrange tree topologies and export high-quality figures for publications and presentations.
yawak.jp
November 18, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
ppgm: an R package for integrating neontological, palaeontological & climate data in a phylogenetic comparative framework onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #SVP2025 @alexh-palaeo.bsky.social @datadryad.bsky.social @tamueccb.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
Check out this new paper in Systematic Biology! Aside from the author list including leaders in the field who happen to be some of my favorite scientists, this paper discusses * both * phylogeny inference incorporating continuous characters AND dicynodont evolution. How cool is that? 🧪
Incorporating continuous characters in joint estimation of dicynodont phylogeny
Abstract. Continuous characters have received comparatively little attention in Bayesian phylogenetic estimation. This is predominantly because they cannot
academic.oup.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
We are hiring: 4 PhD Positions in Ecology / Data Science and one Ecological Data Scientist. For more information, see www.uni-regensburg.de/universitaet...
We are hiring: 4 PhD Positions in Ecology / Data Science and one Ecological Data Scientist
We are looking for 4 PhD Positions and one Scientific Programmer / Ecological Data Scientist to join the AG Hartig (Theoretical Ecology)
www.uni-regensburg.de
November 13, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
🚨Palaeoverse Lecture Series🚨
🗓️20th November 2025, 15:00 UTC🗓️

Join us next week to hear from Dr Carrie Tyler from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on “The high fidelity of trophic structure in ancient marine ecosystems: from functional diversity to food webs” 🎣

Register here: bit.ly/palaeoverse-...
November 13, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
Want to do a PhD linking palaeontology, ecological modelling and polar ecosystems? Look no further than this NERC GW4+ DLTP funded project with @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social at @bas.ac.uk & @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social and others (inc me).

www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...
www.bristol.ac.uk
November 12, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
Come and join us here in Cambridge! Applications open for a new faculty position, for a researcher in computational and/or theoretical biology, based jointly in Genetics and Mathematics. Happy to answer questions about research, teaching and working here.

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/faculty...
Faculty Position in Computational Biology
Applications are invited for an Assistant/ Associate Professorship in Computational Biology to commence on 1 April 2026 or shortly thereafter. This is a joint post between the Department of Applied
www.cam.ac.uk
November 11, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
NERC GW4+ PhD: Genome duplication, extinction and diversification in the evolution of flowering plants, supervised by Phil Donoghue, James Clark and Ilia Leitch. Deets soon but get in touch with @phil-donoghue.bsky.social if interested. Jan 8 application deadline @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 11:03 AM
I reviewed The Tree of Life by @maxjtelford.bsky.social for @natecoevo.nature.com 🌳
You can access my review for free here: rdcu.be/eOcYY
November 6, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
Neat paper: A Guided Tour of Phylogenetic Comparative Methods for Studying Trait Evolution
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
A Guided Tour of Phylogenetic Comparative Methods for Studying Trait Evolution
Phylogenetic comparative methods are important tools in biology, providing insights into the way traits evolve. There are many technical resources describing how these methods work. Our aim here is to...
www.annualreviews.org
November 4, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Reposted by Dr. Bethany Allen
New @nhm-london.bsky.social 5-day course on integrative biodiversity discovery! Learn how to collect specimens, obtain genomic data, and interpret biodiversity using cutting edge phylogenomic analysis. It's free, and aimed at early career researchers: www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...
Integrative biodiversity discovery | Natural History Museum
An introduction to field collection, laboratory analysis and phylogenomics.
www.nhm.ac.uk
November 4, 2025 at 3:25 PM