Dave Lovelace
@paleobadger.bsky.social
A Late Triassic vertebrate paleontologist in stratigraphers clothing (he/him), dad, partner, neurodivergent, with a love for woodworking and bluegrass. And cats. I also like cats.
Hi paleo pals, I have a CT dataset where each of the bones has numerous cracks such that the bone is in a very slight 'exploded diagram' like displacement.
Question: should I reconstruct the specimens by moving each isolated fragment digitally to remove as much of the space as possible? (1 of 2)
Question: should I reconstruct the specimens by moving each isolated fragment digitally to remove as much of the space as possible? (1 of 2)
August 28, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Hi paleo pals, I have a CT dataset where each of the bones has numerous cracks such that the bone is in a very slight 'exploded diagram' like displacement.
Question: should I reconstruct the specimens by moving each isolated fragment digitally to remove as much of the space as possible? (1 of 2)
Question: should I reconstruct the specimens by moving each isolated fragment digitally to remove as much of the space as possible? (1 of 2)
Take a look at this wonderful piece featuring Ahvaytum! Be sure to check out the other works by @stavrossk.bsky.social
August 25, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Take a look at this wonderful piece featuring Ahvaytum! Be sure to check out the other works by @stavrossk.bsky.social
Really great story by Taylar Stagner (Grist) @siisiiko.bsky.social on restoration of buffalo as an integral part of the ecosystem and the Eastern Shoshone' vote to classify buffalo as wildlife. Important read. apnews.com/article/wyom...
In Wyoming, the Eastern Shoshone tribe decided to classify buffalo as wildlife. Here is why
Earlier this month, the Eastern Shoshone voted to classify buffalo as wildlife instead of livestock.
apnews.com
April 22, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Really great story by Taylar Stagner (Grist) @siisiiko.bsky.social on restoration of buffalo as an integral part of the ecosystem and the Eastern Shoshone' vote to classify buffalo as wildlife. Important read. apnews.com/article/wyom...
pretty amazing work by @akufner.bsky.social (and others) on the #taphonomy of a metoposaurid mass mortality assemblage from the Late Triassic Popo Agie Fm.
New publication! My first dissertation chapter is now published in @plosone.org with @paleobadger.bsky.social, @calamanderso.bsky.social, Hannah Miller, Max Deckman, and Brandon Price. Any images not credited below are from this paper.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
@uwmadscience.bsky.social
1/16
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
@uwmadscience.bsky.social
1/16
doi.org
April 2, 2025 at 8:51 PM
pretty amazing work by @akufner.bsky.social (and others) on the #taphonomy of a metoposaurid mass mortality assemblage from the Late Triassic Popo Agie Fm.
This is an awesome group of people doing some really good work in sci-comm and beyond! Follow them and see what kind of shenanigans we get up to!
We are The Action Potential, a non-partisan think tank that informs the public about the science behind the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world. Our membership includes hundreds of people from science, to the performing arts, and everything between and beyond.
February 18, 2025 at 3:03 PM
This is an awesome group of people doing some really good work in sci-comm and beyond! Follow them and see what kind of shenanigans we get up to!
Another fun paper on deep(er) time mechanistic ecological modeling by Deak and co-authors!
Words cannot describe how excited I am to announce the publication of my first peer-reviewed paper published in the Journal of Mammalian Evolution! Here's a big, fancy thread summarizing everything: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Metabolic skinflint or spendthrift? Insights into ground sloth integument and thermophysiology revealed by biophysical modeling and clumped isotope paleothermometry - Journal of Mammalian Evolution
Remains of megatheres have been known since the 18th -century and were among the first megafaunal vertebrates to be studied. While several examples of preserved integument show a thick coverage of fur...
link.springer.com
January 14, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Another fun paper on deep(er) time mechanistic ecological modeling by Deak and co-authors!
Reposted by Dave Lovelace
Also true in palaeontology. In the UK, there is a risk averse approach to funding fieldwork by funding panels: as a result, field-based palaeontological work is in steep decline (along with taxonomy and systematics). Where will we end up if no-one is generating primary data anymore?
Where are all the field studies?
This ⬇️ important but rather depressing paper describes how conducting, & crucially initiating, field studies is becoming harder & rarer.
A short 🧵 (and a call for more fieldwork)
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
This ⬇️ important but rather depressing paper describes how conducting, & crucially initiating, field studies is becoming harder & rarer.
A short 🧵 (and a call for more fieldwork)
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
Extinction of experience among ecologists
Fieldwork-based research and education in ecology are under multiple threats and are progressively declining. We call for greater attention to this ongoing loss of direct field experience within the ecology community, as it could have widespread consequences for science and education, ultimately hindering efforts to address the ongoing biodiversity crisis.
www.cell.com
January 11, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Also true in palaeontology. In the UK, there is a risk averse approach to funding fieldwork by funding panels: as a result, field-based palaeontological work is in steep decline (along with taxonomy and systematics). Where will we end up if no-one is generating primary data anymore?
and another great study. can't wait to see this incorporated in very paleo!
Ever wondered how birds stand up? Our paper explores how emus use their muscles to stand up. We found that these large, flightless birds use large muscle fibre length changes, activations and forces. My 1st PhD chapter, out now in @jexpbiol.bsky.social!
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
Hindlimb kinematics, kinetics and muscle dynamics during sit-to-stand and sit-to-walk transitions in emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae)
Summary: The dynamics, biomechanical constraints and musculotendinous coordination strategies during the sit-to-stand/walk transitions for a large bipedal bird – the emu – inform morphology, evolution...
journals.biologists.com
January 9, 2025 at 2:50 AM
and another great study. can't wait to see this incorporated in very paleo!
ok, this is just straight up badass.
🎉 We're excited to share our new research in @nature.com ! We reveal that crocodile head scales self-organize through compressive folding of the skin - a mechanical twist on their development & evolution!
Please read & share 🐊🔬 @genevunige.bsky.social
Please read & share 🐊🔬 @genevunige.bsky.social
Self-organized patterning of crocodile head scales by compressive folding - Nature
Crocodile head scales self-organize through purely mechanical compressive skin folding rather than a patterning process controlled by gene interactions.
www.nature.com
January 9, 2025 at 2:46 AM
ok, this is just straight up badass.
I am incredibly excited to share our new Open Access publication in the @zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social that was released today. Please welcome *Ahvaytum bahndooiveche*, a new species of sauropodomorph(?) dinosaur from the Popo Agie Formation, WY, USA. tinyurl.com/3zx7s3mx (1/x)
January 8, 2025 at 3:38 AM
I am incredibly excited to share our new Open Access publication in the @zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social that was released today. Please welcome *Ahvaytum bahndooiveche*, a new species of sauropodomorph(?) dinosaur from the Popo Agie Formation, WY, USA. tinyurl.com/3zx7s3mx (1/x)
Reposted by Dave Lovelace
Acidification of the oceans as shown by the saturation state of aragonite (Ωarag), the free proton concentration ([H+]), pH on the total scale (pHT), and the anthropogenic carbon concentration. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 30, 2024 at 1:17 AM
Acidification of the oceans as shown by the saturation state of aragonite (Ωarag), the free proton concentration ([H+]), pH on the total scale (pHT), and the anthropogenic carbon concentration. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Thanks for sharing the story of this fossil and the partnership it helped to form!
Honored to connect w/Reba Teran, @paleobadger.bsky.social Cal So, Amanda LeClair-Diaz & @ichnologist.bsky.social about a new burrowing temnospondyl named in collaboration w/Eastern Shoshone People. Thank you, Michael Roston. 🧪⚒️
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/28/s...
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/28/s...
A Fossil Gets Its Name From the Eastern Shoshone Language
After scientists found an extinct burrowing amphibian on Eastern Shoshone land, members of the tribe gave it a name in their language.
www.nytimes.com
November 28, 2024 at 4:24 PM
Thanks for sharing the story of this fossil and the partnership it helped to form!
Can't wait to try this on some of our datasets!
New paper! For all of you working with 3d scans (e.g. micro-CT, MRI), check out SPROUT, a rapid open-source tool for generating segmented and parcellated data, meaning your scans are separated into the individual elements without any manual labelling or training. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 24, 2024 at 2:59 PM
Can't wait to try this on some of our datasets!
Reposted by Dave Lovelace
November 17, 2024 at 6:39 AM
Ok BSKY friends... I've been absent from socials for a few years - i used to post family stuff (kids/etc) on FB/insta and used X for more professional stuff. What are folks doing? keeping you account Professional, personal, mix of both... or (1/2)
November 17, 2024 at 4:44 PM
Ok BSKY friends... I've been absent from socials for a few years - i used to post family stuff (kids/etc) on FB/insta and used X for more professional stuff. What are folks doing? keeping you account Professional, personal, mix of both... or (1/2)
Post a picture you took (no description) to bring some zen to the timeline.
November 17, 2024 at 3:06 AM
Post a picture you took (no description) to bring some zen to the timeline.
Kindness, hard work, professionalism, and a passion for preserving the history of life for everyone was honored today with the naming of *Waukeshaaspis eatonae* after UW Geology Museum Curator, Carrie Eaton @carriethecurator.bsky.social
And in other weird news, I now have a fossil species named after me which is perhaps only marginal proof that this account is real 😂
November 16, 2024 at 5:36 PM
Kindness, hard work, professionalism, and a passion for preserving the history of life for everyone was honored today with the naming of *Waukeshaaspis eatonae* after UW Geology Museum Curator, Carrie Eaton @carriethecurator.bsky.social
I wanted to share this image of the type specimen of *Ninumbeehan dookoodukah* @calamanderso.bsky.social (bit.ly/3YTFep4) Prep was done by myself, and lab volunteer Brandon Price (a co-author on the paper). Note the tiny arm (posterior and ventral of the mandible)! #paleontology #geology #fossils
November 15, 2024 at 4:04 PM
I wanted to share this image of the type specimen of *Ninumbeehan dookoodukah* @calamanderso.bsky.social (bit.ly/3YTFep4) Prep was done by myself, and lab volunteer Brandon Price (a co-author on the paper). Note the tiny arm (posterior and ventral of the mandible)! #paleontology #geology #fossils
Reposted by Dave Lovelace
Time for the @bsky.app community to see one of my favorite visualizations of climate change...
"Shifting Distribution of Land Temperature Anomalies" by svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5211/ ⚒️🧪
"Shifting Distribution of Land Temperature Anomalies" by svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5211/ ⚒️🧪
November 14, 2024 at 12:59 AM
Time for the @bsky.app community to see one of my favorite visualizations of climate change...
"Shifting Distribution of Land Temperature Anomalies" by svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5211/ ⚒️🧪
"Shifting Distribution of Land Temperature Anomalies" by svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5211/ ⚒️🧪
I had to have a❤️to❤️ with my oldest child about this. First I caught them doing scratch tests (mohstly harmless). Then they're drawing equilibria diagrams (i thought it was just a phase). But texting BBS (=bone-bearing strata)? Too much!! Seen from afar, this #geology poison is rifting us apart.
Is your child texting about #geology? Talk to them before it's too late!
OMG = old mafic gneiss
STFU = samples taken from unconformity
WTF = where's the feldspar
BRB = big round boulder
SMH = so many hotsprings
LOL = lovely old lithologies
ROFL = really old foraminifera limestone
#GeologistProblems
OMG = old mafic gneiss
STFU = samples taken from unconformity
WTF = where's the feldspar
BRB = big round boulder
SMH = so many hotsprings
LOL = lovely old lithologies
ROFL = really old foraminifera limestone
#GeologistProblems
November 13, 2024 at 4:16 AM
I had to have a❤️to❤️ with my oldest child about this. First I caught them doing scratch tests (mohstly harmless). Then they're drawing equilibria diagrams (i thought it was just a phase). But texting BBS (=bone-bearing strata)? Too much!! Seen from afar, this #geology poison is rifting us apart.
Reposted by Dave Lovelace
I’m currently recruiting earth/life sciences undergrads, grad students, postdocs, & professional educators for 2025 instructor & TA jobs in Sternberg Museum Science Camps! Info & application form here 👉 forms.gle/5EGnpKMhHRj9...
Please share! ~40+ slots this summer!
#paleontology #geology #biology
Please share! ~40+ slots this summer!
#paleontology #geology #biology
November 12, 2024 at 9:47 PM
I’m currently recruiting earth/life sciences undergrads, grad students, postdocs, & professional educators for 2025 instructor & TA jobs in Sternberg Museum Science Camps! Info & application form here 👉 forms.gle/5EGnpKMhHRj9...
Please share! ~40+ slots this summer!
#paleontology #geology #biology
Please share! ~40+ slots this summer!
#paleontology #geology #biology
Reposted by Dave Lovelace
New at Tetrapod Zoology: Post-Truthism, Brian J Ford's Aquatic Dinosaurs, and the Fate of 'Too Big To Walk' .... tetzoo.com/blog/2024/11... #dinosaurs #books
Post-Truthism, Brian J Ford’s Aquatic Dinosaurs, and the Fate of ‘Too Big To Walk’ — Tetrapod Zoology
Late in the afternoon of Friday November 8th, my paper ‘The response to and rejection of Brian Ford’s Too Big to Walk , a 21st century effort to reinstate the aquatic dinosaur hypothesis’ saw digital...
tetzoo.com
November 11, 2024 at 6:15 PM
New at Tetrapod Zoology: Post-Truthism, Brian J Ford's Aquatic Dinosaurs, and the Fate of 'Too Big To Walk' .... tetzoo.com/blog/2024/11... #dinosaurs #books
I love these pieces by @emmalerae.bsky.social. I had to restock at SVP as well. My kiddos love the smaller prints and helped adorn my partner's vehicle with them. ❤️ Mine already had one 😉
I started out just wanting to make a transgender stegosaurus for myself...
3 years later I have 23 different designs and counting.
www.emmalerae.com/store.html
If you don't see your preferred flag I'm more than happy to add more designs to the rainbow herd. Just let me know.
3 years later I have 23 different designs and counting.
www.emmalerae.com/store.html
If you don't see your preferred flag I'm more than happy to add more designs to the rainbow herd. Just let me know.
November 11, 2024 at 11:24 PM
I love these pieces by @emmalerae.bsky.social. I had to restock at SVP as well. My kiddos love the smaller prints and helped adorn my partner's vehicle with them. ❤️ Mine already had one 😉
The trailer for our What's in a Name documentary (WIND) is out in the wild! We are still working on the release date, but ultimately it will be OA once it is. The first taxon was published last week - Ninumberhan dookoodukah - and a second is in press (keep a 👀 out)! youtu.be/pEsWbRrJWSQ
What's in a Name? (Official Trailer)
YouTube video by Wispering River Media (Ethan Parrish)
youtu.be
November 11, 2024 at 1:56 AM
The trailer for our What's in a Name documentary (WIND) is out in the wild! We are still working on the release date, but ultimately it will be OA once it is. The first taxon was published last week - Ninumberhan dookoodukah - and a second is in press (keep a 👀 out)! youtu.be/pEsWbRrJWSQ