Tomos Potter
@tomospotter.bsky.social
Evolutionary ecologist in the Kokko lab, JGU Mainz. Recovering guppy-botherer, interested in eco-evolutionary processes that generate and maintain diversity. Models, stats, long-term studies.
🏴 in 🇩🇪
Also likes: food, landscapes, guitars
🏴 in 🇩🇪
Also likes: food, landscapes, guitars
Reposted by Tomos Potter
A young PI here in Mainz has a fabulous PhD position that will be filled soon! By you? Keywords: Social insects, ageing, gene expression. www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/fb10-evoluti...
Behavioural Ecology and Social Evolution
www.blogs.uni-mainz.de
October 29, 2025 at 8:36 AM
A young PI here in Mainz has a fabulous PhD position that will be filled soon! By you? Keywords: Social insects, ageing, gene expression. www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/fb10-evoluti...
“auspicious set seed values” @popgengoogling.bsky.social
We need to have a conversation about random seeds. Don't use 42.
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/if-your-ra...
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/if-your-ra...
If your random seed is 42 I will come to your office and set your computer on fire🔥
Figuratively. More likely you'll get a stern talking to.
blog.genesmindsmachines.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:42 AM
“auspicious set seed values” @popgengoogling.bsky.social
Do you like quantitative genetics, stats, experiments, and long-term studies? Check out this post doc opportunity with the wonderful Anja Felmy!
Exiting career-boosting opportunity for a a skilled and highly motivated postdoctoral researcher: We're hiring a Post-doctoral fellow in Evolutionary Biology!
Please apply no later than 31 October!
lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
Please apply no later than 31 October!
lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
October 22, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Do you like quantitative genetics, stats, experiments, and long-term studies? Check out this post doc opportunity with the wonderful Anja Felmy!
Reposted by Tomos Potter
🚨🚨Job! 🚨🚨Permanent (75% time) job! We are a pretty awesome research group & seek a manager who deals with everything: personnel tasks, organizing retreats, preparing code for teaching / data structures for research... Fluency in German & English essential. stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de#/jgu/job/51527
stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de
October 17, 2025 at 7:38 AM
🚨🚨Job! 🚨🚨Permanent (75% time) job! We are a pretty awesome research group & seek a manager who deals with everything: personnel tasks, organizing retreats, preparing code for teaching / data structures for research... Fluency in German & English essential. stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de#/jgu/job/51527
still need to finish this book
or when Judea Pearl said that every time he reads the Book of Why, he learns something new
October 15, 2025 at 11:38 PM
still need to finish this book
Reposted by Tomos Potter
Some nice timeline synchronicity for me today
October 14, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Some nice timeline synchronicity for me today
This post makes me think of when I was desperately trying to finish my thesis and found myself changing the font on my to-do list.
Fine-tuning a ggplot's aesthetic sensibilities is a time-honoured way to procrastinate from doing something you'd hate even more
October 10, 2025 at 8:41 PM
This post makes me think of when I was desperately trying to finish my thesis and found myself changing the font on my to-do list.
youtu.be/zl-wAqplQAo?...
Can confirm this is great. Like a skate/bmx/climbing road-trip film but about birding. Recommend.
Can confirm this is great. Like a skate/bmx/climbing road-trip film but about birding. Recommend.
LISTERS: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching
YouTube video by owen reiser
youtu.be
October 2, 2025 at 10:47 PM
youtu.be/zl-wAqplQAo?...
Can confirm this is great. Like a skate/bmx/climbing road-trip film but about birding. Recommend.
Can confirm this is great. Like a skate/bmx/climbing road-trip film but about birding. Recommend.
Reposted by Tomos Potter
Straight out of the Cambrian explosion
Meet the “squidworm” 🦑🪱
Discovered by WHOI biologist Larry Madin and colleagues, this 4-inch-long animal was just one of roughly 6,000 new species uncovered during the Census of Marine Life, a decade-long global effort involving more than 2,700 scientists to explore and document ocean life.
Discovered by WHOI biologist Larry Madin and colleagues, this 4-inch-long animal was just one of roughly 6,000 new species uncovered during the Census of Marine Life, a decade-long global effort involving more than 2,700 scientists to explore and document ocean life.
October 2, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Straight out of the Cambrian explosion
Reposted by Tomos Potter
In community ecology, this is called the "Appendix XVII of a Peter Abrams paper" effect
September 19, 2025 at 6:06 PM
In community ecology, this is called the "Appendix XVII of a Peter Abrams paper" effect
I have updated and improved the is.na() function in #Rstats.
You're welcome.
na.vibe.check <- function(x){
ifelse(table(is.na(x))["TRUE"]>0,
browseURL("https://tinyurl.com/muhjvec6"),
print("all good"))
}
You're welcome.
na.vibe.check <- function(x){
ifelse(table(is.na(x))["TRUE"]>0,
browseURL("https://tinyurl.com/muhjvec6"),
print("all good"))
}
September 20, 2025 at 5:16 PM
I have updated and improved the is.na() function in #Rstats.
You're welcome.
na.vibe.check <- function(x){
ifelse(table(is.na(x))["TRUE"]>0,
browseURL("https://tinyurl.com/muhjvec6"),
print("all good"))
}
You're welcome.
na.vibe.check <- function(x){
ifelse(table(is.na(x))["TRUE"]>0,
browseURL("https://tinyurl.com/muhjvec6"),
print("all good"))
}
New book arrived! Looking forward to learning more about the bonkers life of JBS Haldane. I also note that he sports the same hairstyle that is (sadly) traditional among men in my family. Seems like we will have that in common at least!
September 18, 2025 at 7:57 PM
New book arrived! Looking forward to learning more about the bonkers life of JBS Haldane. I also note that he sports the same hairstyle that is (sadly) traditional among men in my family. Seems like we will have that in common at least!
Reposted by Tomos Potter
I am recruiting graduate students to begin August 2026. Apply by Nov 15th!
August 21, 2025 at 3:40 PM
I am recruiting graduate students to begin August 2026. Apply by Nov 15th!
To truly understand Tinbergen's behaviour here, you have to address four questions, starting with (1) what is the function of him making his own fish food? (2) how did his fish food making evolve... etc, etc
Another fun Morris memory:
Tinbergen was annoyed when grad students bought fish food instead of making their own. To him, it lacked the dignity of labour.
Tinbergen was annoyed when grad students bought fish food instead of making their own. To him, it lacked the dignity of labour.
September 9, 2025 at 2:43 PM
To truly understand Tinbergen's behaviour here, you have to address four questions, starting with (1) what is the function of him making his own fish food? (2) how did his fish food making evolve... etc, etc
Reposted by Tomos Potter
Unfortunately, our invited speaker @colingarroway.bsky.social is stuck in Canada, but on the upside you will get to hear more about the work by Timothée Bonnet, who is taking over his slot, and from Lizy Mittell about her super relevant work on the invisible fraction! You won’t want to miss this!
If you are at #ESEB2025 and you are interested in predicting evolution 🧬📈 - retrospectively and into to the future - then you are in luck! Symposium 42 organised by @joelpick.bsky.social and Lizy Mittell is on today, and S24 by myself and @sevans.bsky.social tomorrow!
What do you think, can we forecast evolution❓
@sevans.bsky.social and I would love to hear your thoughts, so if you are going to #ESEB2025, submit a talk to our symposium (S24: Forecasting evolution in natural populations) and join @colingarroway.bsky.social and Patrik Nosil!
Deadline April 25.
@sevans.bsky.social and I would love to hear your thoughts, so if you are going to #ESEB2025, submit a talk to our symposium (S24: Forecasting evolution in natural populations) and join @colingarroway.bsky.social and Patrik Nosil!
Deadline April 25.
August 21, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Unfortunately, our invited speaker @colingarroway.bsky.social is stuck in Canada, but on the upside you will get to hear more about the work by Timothée Bonnet, who is taking over his slot, and from Lizy Mittell about her super relevant work on the invisible fraction! You won’t want to miss this!
Reposted by Tomos Potter
hello to everyone going to #ESEB2025! want to hear about the consequences of age-dependent plasticity in reproducing via sex vs. asex? I will give a talk at 11:15am on Thursday in S15.02. come for the pretty Hydra illustrations, stay for the novel evolutionary insights on facultative sex!
August 16, 2025 at 5:31 PM
hello to everyone going to #ESEB2025! want to hear about the consequences of age-dependent plasticity in reproducing via sex vs. asex? I will give a talk at 11:15am on Thursday in S15.02. come for the pretty Hydra illustrations, stay for the novel evolutionary insights on facultative sex!
Reposted by Tomos Potter
Eagerly awaiting possibly, the most eco-evo-packed experience of my scientific career so far, at #ESEB2025!! Come by to my Poster P01.216 on 18/08, if you want to know about some previous work about population genomic inference of life history traits (1/2)
August 17, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Eagerly awaiting possibly, the most eco-evo-packed experience of my scientific career so far, at #ESEB2025!! Come by to my Poster P01.216 on 18/08, if you want to know about some previous work about population genomic inference of life history traits (1/2)
#eseb2025 come see bob's talk!
hai eseb people ! come to my talk introducing the quantitative genetics of microbiome mediated traits :) 2:30-2:45 at S07.02
btw our ppr just got accepted at evolution ! amazing and challenging reviews ::)) revised pre-print here
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
btw our ppr just got accepted at evolution ! amazing and challenging reviews ::)) revised pre-print here
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Quantitative Genetics of Microbiome Mediated Traits
Multicellular organisms host a rich assemblage of associated microorganisms, collectively known as their “microbiomes”. Microbiomes have the capacity to influence their hosts’ fitnesses, but the condi...
www.biorxiv.org
August 17, 2025 at 2:42 PM
#eseb2025 come see bob's talk!
What if your family members turn out to be your worst enemies? Come see my talk at #eseb2025 on using pedigree and mark-recapture data to explore how relatedness structures competitive interactions, and whether this maintains variation! Thursday, 11am, S48.02, meeting room 122+123
August 17, 2025 at 2:35 PM
What if your family members turn out to be your worst enemies? Come see my talk at #eseb2025 on using pedigree and mark-recapture data to explore how relatedness structures competitive interactions, and whether this maintains variation! Thursday, 11am, S48.02, meeting room 122+123
Reposted by Tomos Potter
Hey #ESEB2025 folk! I'll be presenting my work on describing evolution in finite populations at 11:30 am on Tuesday in S-03. Drop by to learn how taking ecology and variable population size seriously changes classic pop gen descriptions like the Price eqn, revealing novel directional eco-evo forces.
August 16, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Hey #ESEB2025 folk! I'll be presenting my work on describing evolution in finite populations at 11:30 am on Tuesday in S-03. Drop by to learn how taking ecology and variable population size seriously changes classic pop gen descriptions like the Price eqn, revealing novel directional eco-evo forces.
I haven’t personally seen Wolf Hall, but my dad (who has) confirms the accuracy of Mark Rylance’s expression described as “that of a ferret saddened by developments in France”
I’ve written about TV’s best and worst historical epics
TV’s best (and worst) historical epics: from Wolf Hall to I, Claudius
July 29, 2025 at 9:25 PM
I haven’t personally seen Wolf Hall, but my dad (who has) confirms the accuracy of Mark Rylance’s expression described as “that of a ferret saddened by developments in France”
Reposted by Tomos Potter
Interested in host-symbiont interdependence, eukaryogenesis, and evolutionary transitions in individuality? my first paper just came out! With @gokhalecs.bsky.social and Pete Czuppon, we study when & how individuality emerges in a host-endosymbiont collective doi.org/10.1086/737588 a short thread🧵:
July 23, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Interested in host-symbiont interdependence, eukaryogenesis, and evolutionary transitions in individuality? my first paper just came out! With @gokhalecs.bsky.social and Pete Czuppon, we study when & how individuality emerges in a host-endosymbiont collective doi.org/10.1086/737588 a short thread🧵:
Reposted by Tomos Potter
Do you like to think about temporal niches and coexistence theory? Or perhaps you want to hear some really quirky natural history of marine insects & the moon? Or both? Read on: a mystery & its potential solution in two papers!
July 21, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Do you like to think about temporal niches and coexistence theory? Or perhaps you want to hear some really quirky natural history of marine insects & the moon? Or both? Read on: a mystery & its potential solution in two papers!
Reposted by Tomos Potter
Last fledge check of the season home in Norway today. Very low production this year, with most of the early broods failing. However, rather high density, with eggs in 137/186 boxes. Distribution:
Great tit 76
Blue tit 24
Pied flycatcher 27 (record high)
Coal tit 7
Nuthatch 2
Marsh tit 1
Great tit 76
Blue tit 24
Pied flycatcher 27 (record high)
Coal tit 7
Nuthatch 2
Marsh tit 1
July 19, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Last fledge check of the season home in Norway today. Very low production this year, with most of the early broods failing. However, rather high density, with eggs in 137/186 boxes. Distribution:
Great tit 76
Blue tit 24
Pied flycatcher 27 (record high)
Coal tit 7
Nuthatch 2
Marsh tit 1
Great tit 76
Blue tit 24
Pied flycatcher 27 (record high)
Coal tit 7
Nuthatch 2
Marsh tit 1