Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
@sbassing.bsky.social
Assistant Prof. of Applied Quantitative Ecology, Montana State University | Species interactions, carnivore behavior, wildlife conservation | Camera trap & scat enthusiast | She - her - hers
https://www.bassinglabecology.org/
https://www.bassinglabecology.org/
Pinned
Mammalian predator co‐occurrence affected by prey and habitat more than competitor presence at multiple time scales
The behavior and abundance of sympatric predators can be affected by a complex dominance hierarchy. The strength of antagonistic interactions in predator communities is difficult to study and remains...
dx.doi.org
First paper from my postdoc is out in #EcologicalMonographs w/ @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social! We looked at patterns of summer co-occurrence among 5 predators at 3 time scales to assess how competition, prey, & habitat affected predator distributions in north Idaho, USA. dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecm....
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
🐺 Advantageous snow conditions – in terms of snow depth and density – are among the most important features of the winter landscape for two apex predators, regardless of hunting strategy.
Read the full paper here ➡️ buff.ly/pXSMNRK
Read the full paper here ➡️ buff.ly/pXSMNRK
November 7, 2025 at 1:01 PM
🐺 Advantageous snow conditions – in terms of snow depth and density – are among the most important features of the winter landscape for two apex predators, regardless of hunting strategy.
Read the full paper here ➡️ buff.ly/pXSMNRK
Read the full paper here ➡️ buff.ly/pXSMNRK
Aurora borealis over Bozeman! Amazing!
November 12, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Aurora borealis over Bozeman! Amazing!
My students chose to stay an extra 10 minutes past the end of class so we could finish going over how to fit linear models in R today. One even said they thought it was fun. 🥹 Makes all the work of lesson planning worth it.
November 10, 2025 at 9:21 PM
My students chose to stay an extra 10 minutes past the end of class so we could finish going over how to fit linear models in R today. One even said they thought it was fun. 🥹 Makes all the work of lesson planning worth it.
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
Monty Python understood p-hacking
October 23, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Monty Python understood p-hacking
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
The #NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program #GRFP solicitation is coming soon!
The due date for Life Sciences proposals is 27 October 2025.
For more info: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
The due date for Life Sciences proposals is 27 October 2025.
For more info: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
www.nsf.gov
September 10, 2025 at 7:10 PM
The #NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program #GRFP solicitation is coming soon!
The due date for Life Sciences proposals is 27 October 2025.
For more info: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
The due date for Life Sciences proposals is 27 October 2025.
For more info: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
The GRFP lives!! (due end of October)
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
www.nsf.gov
September 8, 2025 at 6:23 PM
The GRFP lives!! (due end of October)
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
Looking forward to reading this!
The latest paper from the DISCAR synthesis group is out at Ecology Letters! We discuss the key approaches to predicting human impacts on wildlife populations, highlighting avenues for incorporating indirect effects, such as energetic modelling. doi.org/10.1111/ele....
August 23, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Looking forward to reading this!
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
Read it here: open.substack.com/pub/kareemca...
August 19, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Read it here: open.substack.com/pub/kareemca...
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
Thinking about applying for the Smith Fellowship? Watch the recording of our FAQ Webinar for answers to common questions and insights to strengthen your application here: vimeo.com/1111487510?s...
Applicant FAQ Webinar 2026
An overview of the fellowship, application process, and selection process, followed by common questions and answers, and an open Q&A session hosted by Smith…
vimeo.com
August 19, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Thinking about applying for the Smith Fellowship? Watch the recording of our FAQ Webinar for answers to common questions and insights to strengthen your application here: vimeo.com/1111487510?s...
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
One last outing this field season with my incoming graduate student. We collected genetic samples from wolf scat and hiked through some beautiful country. Looking forward to the start of the semester and getting this project officially started!
August 16, 2025 at 2:08 PM
One last outing this field season with my incoming graduate student. We collected genetic samples from wolf scat and hiked through some beautiful country. Looking forward to the start of the semester and getting this project officially started!
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
📝 Are you using multispecies occupancy models to investigate interactions in species occupancy (i.e. co-occurrence)? 🦁🦓
Check out our new paper for advice on the number of sites you need to reliably detect interactions under different scenarios ⬇️
Check out our new paper for advice on the number of sites you need to reliably detect interactions under different scenarios ⬇️
Sample size considerations for species co‐occurrence models
Multispecies occupancy models are widely applied to infer interactions in the occurrence of different species, but convergence and estimation issues under realistic sample sizes are common. We conduc...
doi.org
August 8, 2025 at 10:12 AM
📝 Are you using multispecies occupancy models to investigate interactions in species occupancy (i.e. co-occurrence)? 🦁🦓
Check out our new paper for advice on the number of sites you need to reliably detect interactions under different scenarios ⬇️
Check out our new paper for advice on the number of sites you need to reliably detect interactions under different scenarios ⬇️
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
Are you an early-career biologist or ecologist who would benefit from an invited seminar? Would you like to come to UMaine next fall or spring to give a talk? Leave a brief comment with some info about what you do. I'm co-hosting our seminar series again, and am filling out our rosters.
July 30, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Are you an early-career biologist or ecologist who would benefit from an invited seminar? Would you like to come to UMaine next fall or spring to give a talk? Leave a brief comment with some info about what you do. I'm co-hosting our seminar series again, and am filling out our rosters.
I’m honored and excited to be presenting in the “Quantitative Methods for Predator-Prey Interactions” section of this conference. The GRCs are small and have a unique format that makes them something truly special. Check out the link below for more details and to register.
Registration now open for the 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Predator-Prey Interactions. The conference will be held in Lucca, Italy from January 25 - 30, 2026. I am co-Chair of the conference with Kaitlyn Gaynor. Please send me any questions.
www.grc.org/predator-pre...
www.grc.org/predator-pre...
2026 Predator-Prey Interactions Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Predator-Prey Interactions will be held in Lucca (Barga), Lucca Italy. Apply today to reserve your spot.
www.grc.org
July 29, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I’m honored and excited to be presenting in the “Quantitative Methods for Predator-Prey Interactions” section of this conference. The GRCs are small and have a unique format that makes them something truly special. Check out the link below for more details and to register.
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
With many postdoc grants like the NSF PRFB, Ford Fellowship, and Hanna H. Gray fellowships disappearing, I am currently looking for grants that could fund incoming postdoctoral scholars. Here is a thread of some of them 🧵
July 24, 2025 at 7:26 PM
With many postdoc grants like the NSF PRFB, Ford Fellowship, and Hanna H. Gray fellowships disappearing, I am currently looking for grants that could fund incoming postdoctoral scholars. Here is a thread of some of them 🧵
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
I am making a Starter Pack for people who are looking for PHD STUDENT POSITIONS in the biological sciences! If you wish to be added, please respond directly to this post saying you want to be added. I need at least 5 people to create the pack. Please share widely!
July 16, 2025 at 2:43 PM
I am making a Starter Pack for people who are looking for PHD STUDENT POSITIONS in the biological sciences! If you wish to be added, please respond directly to this post saying you want to be added. I need at least 5 people to create the pack. Please share widely!
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
I really appreciate being given the opportunity to contribute to this Nature article on best practices for versioning shared data! 🫱📂🫲
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Need to update your data? Follow these five tips
Researchers engaged in long-term projects often need to update their data sets over time. Here’s how to do it while maintaining reproducibility.
www.nature.com
July 14, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I really appreciate being given the opportunity to contribute to this Nature article on best practices for versioning shared data! 🫱📂🫲
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Nice collection of articles about AI and the many challenges it presents.
I did this before in German but I guess today is a good day to compile English resources on why AI isn‘t actually intelligent and also a real danger: 🧵
July 9, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Nice collection of articles about AI and the many challenges it presents.
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
I've been interested in uncertainty visualization for a long time, yet somehow it took forever to come across this 2018 paper on ‘value-suppressed uncertainty palettes’.
A neat and intuitive alternative to the clunky ‘unsuppressed’ bivariate palette approach:
doi.org/10.1145/3173... 🧪 #dataviz
A neat and intuitive alternative to the clunky ‘unsuppressed’ bivariate palette approach:
doi.org/10.1145/3173... 🧪 #dataviz
July 4, 2025 at 7:59 AM
I've been interested in uncertainty visualization for a long time, yet somehow it took forever to come across this 2018 paper on ‘value-suppressed uncertainty palettes’.
A neat and intuitive alternative to the clunky ‘unsuppressed’ bivariate palette approach:
doi.org/10.1145/3173... 🧪 #dataviz
A neat and intuitive alternative to the clunky ‘unsuppressed’ bivariate palette approach:
doi.org/10.1145/3173... 🧪 #dataviz
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
#bioacoustics community: do you know any online platforms for volunteers to join an acoustics project, validate and label acoustic data (e.g. birdnet detections, false negatives), filter for specific species etc? I asked this a few yrs ago but nothing of the sort existed...
July 3, 2025 at 4:58 AM
#bioacoustics community: do you know any online platforms for volunteers to join an acoustics project, validate and label acoustic data (e.g. birdnet detections, false negatives), filter for specific species etc? I asked this a few yrs ago but nothing of the sort existed...
‼️New 🐺 paper‼️We developed models to predict highly suitable den & rendezvous site habitat for Mexican wolves in AZ & NM. These models will be used to guide future monitoring as the population continues to grow. #OpenAccess #JournalOfWildlifeManagement wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
TWS Journals
We developed predictive models of pup-rearing habitat (i.e., den and rendezvous sites) that could help guide future population monitoring efforts of Mexican wolves. Mexican wolves selected den sites ...
wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
June 27, 2025 at 3:59 PM
‼️New 🐺 paper‼️We developed models to predict highly suitable den & rendezvous site habitat for Mexican wolves in AZ & NM. These models will be used to guide future monitoring as the population continues to grow. #OpenAccess #JournalOfWildlifeManagement wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Very cool conservation science here. Congrats on the publication, Lisanne!
🐺🐺🐺 NEW PAPER! 🐺🐺🐺
Recovering wolves in WA tolerate threats except high harvest, high lethal removals, and lack of immigration
With @labgardner.bsky.social, Sarah Converse, & Ben Maletzke
zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Recovering wolves in WA tolerate threats except high harvest, high lethal removals, and lack of immigration
With @labgardner.bsky.social, Sarah Converse, & Ben Maletzke
zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Forecasting Dynamics of a Recolonizing Wolf Population Under Different Management Strategies
We use a novel spatially explicit projection model to evaluate how different management strategies and system uncertainties affect the recolonization dynamics of wolves. We found that scenarios relat....
zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
June 26, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Very cool conservation science here. Congrats on the publication, Lisanne!
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
🆕 & #OpenAccess in "Ecology": A meta study of 1,000+ ungulate tracking studies shows how the number of predator species shapes patterns of predation
📄Interspecific carnivore competition and ungulate predation correlate with predator species richness
doi.org/10.1002/ecy....
📄Interspecific carnivore competition and ungulate predation correlate with predator species richness
doi.org/10.1002/ecy....
June 23, 2025 at 3:25 PM
🆕 & #OpenAccess in "Ecology": A meta study of 1,000+ ungulate tracking studies shows how the number of predator species shapes patterns of predation
📄Interspecific carnivore competition and ungulate predation correlate with predator species richness
doi.org/10.1002/ecy....
📄Interspecific carnivore competition and ungulate predation correlate with predator species richness
doi.org/10.1002/ecy....
Reposted by Sarah B. Bassing, PhD
Have you ever cited or come across a mention of the 'human shield hypothesis' and wondered: what is the evidence for this hypothesis, and what is the quality of that evidence? Wonder no more!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The Human Shield Hypothesis: Does Predator Avoidance of Humans Create Refuges for Prey?
The human shield hypothesis posits that predators avoid areas of human disturbance due to perceived risk from humans, and prey therefore seeks refuge in these areas of perceived safety. Our systemati....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
June 17, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Have you ever cited or come across a mention of the 'human shield hypothesis' and wondered: what is the evidence for this hypothesis, and what is the quality of that evidence? Wonder no more!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The gray wolf research group is back in the field this summer, conducting howl surveys & collecting non-invasive genetic samples to study wolves in Idaho. I’m grateful to continue being a part of this long-term study & so excited that my first graduate student is now part of it as well.
June 16, 2025 at 2:29 PM
The gray wolf research group is back in the field this summer, conducting howl surveys & collecting non-invasive genetic samples to study wolves in Idaho. I’m grateful to continue being a part of this long-term study & so excited that my first graduate student is now part of it as well.