Paige Byerly, PhD
LightNews LightNews
banner
paigebyerly.bsky.social
Paige Byerly, PhD
@paigebyerly.bsky.social
1.4K followers 810 following 210 posts
Postdoc at Senckenberg @sgn.one | research associate at Smithsonian NZCBI | conservation and museum genomics, seabirds, conservation biology | managing editor @waterbirdsociety.bsky.social

she/her
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
paigebyerly.bsky.social
Paige Byerly, PhD @paigebyerly.bsky.social · Nov 18
new account 🚨! hi everyone I'm Paige Byerly, a postdoc researcher from the US living in Germany. I work on conservation #genetics of a lot of species, including the endangered Great Bustard I'm holding, but my true love is #seabirds. I'm excited to rebuild a community of scientists on here ❤️‍
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
scottishgreens.org
Scotland could support around 400 wild lynx, helping to restore our world renowned nature and biodiversity.

They were once native here before being driven to extinction.

We're bringing their reintroduction to a vote in the Scottish Parliament. 🐈
Lynx reintroduction 'crucial' to restoring Scotland's biodiversity, say Greens
REINTRODUCING Lynx would be a crucial step in restoring Scotland’s world-renowned nature and biodiversity, the Scottish Greens have said.
www.thenational.scot
November 14, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
marmole6.bsky.social
🦣🧬🦣🤯💥We are pleased to share our new paper about ancient RNA expression profiles from the Woolly Mammoth, now published in Cell @cellpress.bsky.social

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

If you want to know more, read the 🧵 below:
November 14, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
ntherk.bsky.social
Excited to recruit a new PhD student for Fall 2026 in my lab at Cornell! Looking for someone interested in evolutionary genomics + fisheries/conservation applications. Quick timeline this year—reach out soon. More details: www.therkildsenlab.org/join-us.html
Join Us
The lab of Nina Overgaard Therkildsen in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at Cornell University invites applications for a PhD position starting in Fall 2026. Our group works...
www.therkildsenlab.org
November 14, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
commonternproject.bsky.social
There’s one month left to apply for the PhD position on interactions between contaminants and parasites in common terns, co-supervised by @alicecarravieri.bsky.social, Bernd Sures from @unidue.bsky.social and myself. You can do so here: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/380142
November 12, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
amcell.bsky.social
🔽 I don’t - they are mostly trash. Advice: ignore, block, don’t review - it will probably not count anyway due to speed, don’t cite etc. 🙏
mfair.bsky.social Malcolm Fairbrother @mfair.bsky.social · 3d
Academics: How do you relate to MDPI journals? I know they (at least some) publish real research. People I know have papers in them.

But given the aggressive e-mails they regularly send me, pressuring me to edit special issues, I consider them semi-predatory.

So I act like they don't exist.

Fair?
November 12, 2025 at 8:37 AM
paigebyerly.bsky.social
lmaoooo

edition.cnn.com/2025/11/12/p...
Screenshot of a CNN headline titled "A rare sight in Washington: The House of Representatives is getting down to work" with an image of house speaker Mike Johnson climbing some stairs with a weird expression on his face
November 12, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
jastrow75.bsky.social
In France (at least), our Carrion Crows are actually cleverly disguised Hoodies onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reconciling Gene Tree Discordance and Biogeography in European Crows
Reconstructing the evolutionary history of young lineages diverging with gene flow is challenging due to factors like incomplete lineage sorting, introgression, and selection causing gene tree discor...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:56 AM
paigebyerly.bsky.social
always devastated to live just outside of the Hooded Crow's range, they are such stunning birds
range map of the hooded crow, with most of the range centered in eastern Europe and Italy, and with Germany bisected in half by the range
November 12, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
lauraakelley.bsky.social
Turns out gulls don't like being shouted at (or stared at!) New paper led by excellent masters students @uniexecec.bsky.social with @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
theguardian.com The Guardian @theguardian.com · 3d
Worth a shout? Yelling is best way to deter gulls, UK study suggests
Worth a shout? Yelling is best way to deter gulls, UK study suggests
Animal behaviourists tested 61 gulls in Cornwall to find most effective method of countering feathery threat Some people respond to the unwanted attentions of a gull eyeing up a bag of chips or a Cornish pasty by frantically flapping their hands at the hungry bird while others beat a rapid retreat into the nearest seaside shelter. But researchers have found that a no-nonsense yell – even a relatively quiet one – may be the best way to get rid of a pesky herring gull. Animal behaviourists from the University of Exeter tried to establish the most effective method of countering a feathery threat by placing a portion of chips in a place where gulls were bound to find them. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
The most perfect miniature man (Naphrys xerophila) you'll ever see 🧡
#EmotionalSupportSpood
Stubby little grey jumping spider with an orange top of his head, on a dry pine needle peering to left of frame. He has big floofy palps Top view of the little man on the pine needle, his booty is black on top with 2 white spots like weird, with a half stripe
November 11, 2025 at 5:26 AM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
colincarlson.bsky.social
In September, we had an event where we brought in nine international participants. Out of nine total, one was detained in a back room without explanation. I don’t think people here realize what a dice roll it is, but people outside the U.S. certainly do
donmoyn.bsky.social Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 6d
I have had other colleagues from Europe tell me they simply will not attend conferences in the US for the foreseeable future because they no longer feel welcome. They have seen the stories of travelers detained and don't want to hand their social media over to the current administration for approval
November 9, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
nuiipointer.bsky.social
Fully formed they look really neat.
#slimemold #myxomycetes #fungifriends
Metatrichia floriformis on wood. They look like shiny black pins.
November 5, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
popgroup2026.bsky.social
Hi Folks !

Just a few more days to register for the POPGROUP meeting (deadline = this Monday 10/11/2025).

Join us in the beautiful city of #Lille just across the Channel for three exciting days of science and more !

www.hautsdefrancetourism.com/destinations...

--> populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk
November 5, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
colincarlson.bsky.social
Dick Cheney won’t see your little jokes today, but your friends who have the blood of millions on their hands will 😤
November 4, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
airamrodriguez.bsky.social
Are you looking for a #postdoc? with #seabirds or #raptors? at the @mncn-csic.bsky.social & @csic.es? Please send me an email and consider applying for a #JldC fellowship
#ornithology
Requirements: completed PhD within the last 2 years & competitive CV.
www.infosubvenciones.es/bdnstrans/GE...
Gannet entangled in a fishing line. Photo: Beneharo Rodríguez More info at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.07.003
November 4, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
nuiipointer.bsky.social
Violet webcap. Purple giant with a velvet top.
#fungifriends
A large purple mushroom between beech leaves in the forest. It has a thick stem and a think round cap covered with purple velvet.
November 3, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
amtlabbe.bsky.social
Spots the crested tern chicks!
#seabirds
Close up of crested terns laying low on the sand and plants sheltering their fluffy chicks under their wings and beneath their bodies.
November 3, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
consbiog.bsky.social
New paper by @entropie-marinelab.bsky.social and @iomarinescience.bsky.social is out! 🐦🌊

#Genomics uncovers striking genetic #differentiation and taxonomic uncertainties in a tropical #seabird across the Western Indian Ocean. 🧬

Learn more 👉 doi.org/10.1111/ddi....
©️Photo by Quentin d’Orchymont
November 1, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
crypticcroc.bsky.social
Great Auk

a piece I thought would be perfect for halloween, art of my favorite extinct bird.

🪶🦉 #wildlifeillustration #bird #birb #digitalillustration #greatauk #extinctbird #paleoart
Great Auk adult with chick beside it, below them is what the great auk's egg looked like along with the year the last great auk was seen 1852
November 1, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
lukaslarge.bsky.social
Clathrus ruber - Red Cage fungus, first time finding this species in Birmingham #FungiFriends @ecorecord.bsky.social @bbcwildlifetrust.bsky.social
October 30, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
mfnberlin.bsky.social
(Not so) Happy Halloween! 🦇🐀🎃

Researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin documented brown rats catching #bats in mid-air at Segeberger Kalkberg, Northern Germany. A rare look at invasive species impacting urban wildlife. 🌍 @berlinbatlab.bsky.social

🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...
October 31, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
famousceleb.co
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works and let me know if you have any questions! 🤗
October 29, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Reposted by Paige Byerly, PhD
blackinx.bsky.social
#scicomm #sciencejournalism #workshop #BlackSky #Allies #STEM
October 29, 2025 at 8:54 PM
paigebyerly.bsky.social
birds' nests and chantrelles--a good day in the woods #fungifriends #fungi
small round fungi with round white structures inside that resemble bird eggs in a bird nest a golden mushroom grows out of green moss
October 28, 2025 at 3:36 PM