Category Archives: Research Blogging

Simple models can lead to generality in ecology

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Bob O'H

It’s always nice to read a paper that is obviously wrong, but where you have to think about why it is wrong. Because it makes you, well, think. And sometimes learn something new. So when I see a paper in … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Research Blogging | 11 Comments

Fossils, Fun, and Frailities. And Statistics #isec2012

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Bob O'H

If I’ve done everything correctly, then at almost the moment this post appears, I will start talking about some fossils. Not, it’s not a eulogy about defenders of the 4-4-2 formation, but it’s about a bit of work I’ve been … Continue reading →

Posted in Research Blogging, Statistics | Comments Off on Fossils, Fun, and Frailities. And Statistics #isec2012

Doing stuff with Ecological Networks

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Bob O'H

A few months ago one of my former post-docs mentioned that he had been thinking about ecological networks. One common type of network is a bipartite network, for example a plant-frugivore network, where members of one group (e.g. frugivores) may … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Research Blogging, Statistics | Comments Off on Doing stuff with Ecological Networks

BaSTA – More fun than a Swedish sauna

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Bob O'H

One day, a few years ago, I was drinking with some fellow biologists in “Seminar Room A” opposite the Natural History Museum in Helsinki. The Sibelius Academy is next door to the museum, so we shared the bar with musicians. … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Research Blogging, Statistics | 2 Comments

Species-area relationships don’t overestimate extinction rates from habitat loss

Posted on May 31, 2011 by rpg

Today at work we had a journal club about a recent paper in Nature that had caused a bit of a stir. It had suggested that the reason we don’t see as many extinctions due to habitat loss as we’d … Continue reading →

Posted in Research Blogging, Science Blogging | 8 Comments

Escaping the poverty trap

Posted on May 24, 2011 by rpg

(I conned GrrlScientist into posting this on her Guardian blog) Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (1936) Image: Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) Common domain. As an old fashioned liberal, I want us all to be happy, and for the State to play a … Continue reading →

Posted in Research Blogging | 1 Comment

On the analysis of proportions in ecology, on a Friday

Posted on April 8, 2011 by rpg

Last year I published a paper with my friend Johan on the evils of log transformations in the analysis of count data. We went for the subtle title “Do not log-transform count data“. Now, I was aware that this wasn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Research Blogging, Silliness | 8 Comments

Blame the system!

Posted on December 7, 2010 by rpg

Sometimes the system you’re working on just doesn’t work the way you hope. So what do you do? Write a paper in PNAS blaming the system? Well, a paper has just appeared in PNAS with the title “Bimodal gene expression … Continue reading →

Posted in Research Blogging, Silliness | 3 Comments

The Original Red Queen’s Hypothesis

Posted on November 30, 2010 by rpg

Leigh Van Valen (who died last month) is well known for being an original thinker. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that the only way he could publish his most famous idea was to start a journal to print it … Continue reading →

Posted in Research Blogging | 2 Comments

Am I wasting my time?

Posted on October 1, 2010 by rpg

Physicists have it easy. When they’re not talking about stuffing their hands into their equipment, they’re measuring their fundamental constants to 38 significant figures. Chemists too have a simple time – they get to make stinks and bangs with expensive … Continue reading →

Posted in Research Blogging | 6 Comments