Kirsty MacLeod
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kjmacleod.bsky.social
Kirsty MacLeod
@kjmacleod.bsky.social
2.4K followers 2.2K following 86 posts
Behavioural and evolutionary ecologist, lecturer in Bangor, Wales - sociality, stress, mostly in reptiles macleodlab.weebly.com
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Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
jonathanpdrury.bsky.social
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!
The Durham cathedral A male smoky rubyspot damselfly
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
miaryras.bsky.social
🎉 Exciting milestone … my first PhD paper has been accepted in the Journal of Experimental Biology! 🥳
Not all winter warming is equal: steady, mild winters increase activity and can cause molecular damage, but short, warm spells have little effect on wall lizards 🦎
November 10, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
katelaskowski.bsky.social
Our new paper offers an explanation for the universal law that "under carefully controlled conditions.... an animal behaves as it damn well pleases." We explore how stochastic mechanisms may play an underappreciated role in generating individuality. (1/7 🧵)

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Playing dice with behavior: drivers of stochastic individuality
Animal behavior is often viewed as stemming from predictable genetic and environmental factors. However, despite our best attempts to control genetic …
www.sciencedirect.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
kjmacleod.bsky.social
Accepted manuscript now online! The first paper from @miaryras.bsky.social's exciting PhD work on the consequences of warming winters for lizard physiology and behaviour, in collab w/ @wolfgangwuster.bsky.social, @arc-trust.bsky.social, & others:
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
Sleeping beauty awakened: Experimental winter warming increases activity with signs of potential DNA damage in common wall lizards
Winter is warming faster than summer, posing substantial threat to hibernating ectotherms, whose physiology depends directly on environmental conditions. While the effects of active season warming are...
doi.org
November 10, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
euantheyoung.bsky.social
1/13 New paper out! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Historical records across thousands of women showed that mothers with more children had shorter lifespans during a famine, fitting an evolutionary explanation for why we age
@hannahdugdale.bsky.social
@lummaalab.bsky.social
@erikpostma.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
cyanistesnord.bsky.social
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
November 5, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
inesfuertbauer.bsky.social
PhD studentship on antimicrobial resistance in wild baboons! Fully-funded by @swbiodtp.bsky.social Application deadline: Wed 3 Dec 2025. More details: bpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristo.... Apply here: www.swbio.ac.uk/programme/ho...
@inesfuertbauer.bsky.social @xavh.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
hannahthomasy.bsky.social
“You’re the kind of girl people write books about”
November 4, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
jutfelt.bsky.social
Interested in thermal biology? Please join our new and growing grass roots initiative, the Thermal Ecology Alliance, initiated by @patricepottier.bsky.social. 🧪🐟🦑🌡️

Sign up here: www.thermalecologyalliance.org#participation

Check who already signed up:
www.thermalecologyalliance.org#community
Fish embryos under the microscope
November 3, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
sebiology.bsky.social
⏰ Deadline today!

Nominate an outstanding scientist for the SEB Plenary Lecture Award, to be presented at the 2026 Annual Conference in Florence 🇮🇹.

Submit here:
www.sebiology.org/grants/award-listing/seb-plenary-lecture-award.html
October 31, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
jappliedecology.bsky.social
🎃 How are you celebrating spooky season? Help usher in Halloween with this blog post of some of our spookiest publications this year... If you dare! 👻🧪

🏰 Read the blog here: appliedecologistsblog.com/2025/10/30/2...
To help usher in Halloween, let’s take a look at some recent articles from Journal of Applied Ecology that explore different spooky animals and their environments! Bats are probably the first creat…
appliedecologistsblog.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
bou.org.uk
📢 JOB VACANCY

Marine Ornithologist - Scottish Government

Application deadline: 7 Nov

shorturl.at/tXeHn

#ornithology
Marine Ornithologist
Do you want to use your scientific and research expertise to play an important role in decisions made on the sustainable delivery of marine renewables and the marine environment?
shorturl.at
October 29, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
drjoehanson.bsky.social
When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same.

Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.

academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning
Abstract. The effects of using large language models (LLMs) versus traditional web search on depth of learning are explored. A theory is proposed that when
academic.oup.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
cornishjackdaws.bsky.social
I'm very excited to go back to Oxford, where I did my undergrad, to talk about the group's recent work on jackdaws and what it tells us about the evolution of sociality and cognition!
egioxford.bsky.social Edward Grey Institute @egioxford.bsky.social · 15d
Now that we're properly moved in & set up in the new Life & Mind Building, we're pleased to restart our tradition of Friday afternoon seminar speakers, kicking off with Alex Thornton of @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social at 3.30pm on 31 Oct. Also live streamed: see below for details. Corvid-themed for 🎃
October 28, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
beps-bangor.bsky.social
We had a great session today led by our new MscRes students who introduced the work they plan to do over the next year+. Brilliant to hear about their research plans! Exciting stuff to come! (Didn’t manage to get a pic of everyone)
Student presenting their work Student presenting their work Student presenting their work Student presenting their work
October 28, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
floragraham.bsky.social
Anyone interested in learning about why journals make a proactive effort to increase women's participation in the peer review process should take the time look at some actual evidence about why this is needed. Ditto journalists covering such a story. Do some reporting! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Women are credited less in science than men - Nature
The difference between the number of men and women listed as authors on scientific papers and inventors on patents is at least partly attributable to unacknowledged contributions by women scientists.
www.nature.com
October 28, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
gfalbery.bsky.social
I'm v excited to be recruiting a PhD student to work on badger behaviour and ecology! Starting date is March 2026; see the ad here, or message me for more details: www.gregalbery.me/s/March-2026...
October 3, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
bpucker.bsky.social
We are looking for curious undergrads to join our research team next summer!

If you study in the UK, USA, or Canada, you might be eligible for the DAAD-RISE program 🇩🇪🧬

Learn more 👉 www.izmb.uni-bonn.de/en/pbb/news#DR
Come do science in Bonn next summer!
@puckerlab.bsky.social @unibonn.bsky.social
Graphical overview of PuckerLab’s 2026 DAAD-RISE research projects: exploring gene duplications, harnessing aquatic plants for biotechnology, producing dark plant pigments, and studying the evolution of plant coloration. More details at https://www.izmb.uni-bonn.de/en/pbb/news#DR
October 26, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
cgonzagaj.bsky.social
"...researchers who invest time in their students tend to lead more-productive, more-collaborative groups and attract stronger future students than those who do not." "Time spent with the next generation of scientists is an investment."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What makes PhD students happy? Good supervision
Supervisors who invest in positive mentoring relationships with their PhD candidates also reap the benefits for their own research.
www.nature.com
October 24, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
yukihaba.bsky.social
How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities?

Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation.

🧵(1/n)
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515
Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquito
Understanding how life is adapting to urban environments represents an important challenge in evolutionary biology. In this work, we investigate a widely cited example of urban adaptation, Culex pipie...
www.science.org
October 25, 2025 at 4:46 AM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
jacquelyngill.bsky.social
Is there any data from academia illustrating how short deadlines for things like awards or funding opportunities disadvantage people from groups who tend to take on or are assigned more thankless labor (women), and advantage those who focus more on the work that benefits them (men)?
October 24, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
ljnbrent.bsky.social
the IUCN have passed the Longevity Conservation motion put forward to them by @kellerfish.bsky.social and @pili-scotland.bsky.social and based on the paper we wrote on the value of older individuals in animal societies.
www.cdu.edu.au/news/global-...
Global body adopts policy to protect Earth’s old, wise and large animals | Charles Darwin University
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has recognised Charles Darwin University-led research into the Earth’s oldest animals with the adoption of the ‘Longevity Conservation’ global...
www.cdu.edu.au
October 24, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
co-breed.bsky.social
1/6 The Cooperative-Breeding Database (Co-BreeD) is alive! Co-BreeD covers key biological parameters relevant to cooperative breeding research in birds and mammals. Get your copy of this updateable & open-access database: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@animalecology.bsky.social
An integrative, peer‐reviewed and open‐source cooperative‐breeding database (Co‐BreeD)
Co-BreeD is the first updatable and open-source database dedicated to cooperative breeding. It enables continuous, non-binary measurement of cooperative breeding, transforming how we study breeding s....
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 24, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
americanbeetles.bsky.social
odonates, mosquitoes, craneflies, and selected turtles have entered the chat
October 23, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Kirsty MacLeod
jexpbiol.bsky.social
The next deadline for ECRs, within 5 years of their first faculty position, to apply for JEB's next round of Kickstart Travel Grants and ECR Visiting Fellowships is 28 November, so don't miss the chance to apply for helpful funding

biologists.com/grants/#jeb
Social media postcard that says: Are you an early-career researcher within five years of your first appointment to a faculty position? You could be eligible for our new grants for junior faculty staff. The Journal of Experimental Biology logo is in the bottom left corner. The Kickstart grant logo, two hands shaking, is in the bottom right corner.
October 17, 2025 at 10:03 AM