Prof Alex Dunhill
@profalexdunhill.bsky.social
father | husband | Yorkshireman | ⚽️goalkeeper/clubman/coach/referee | Associate Professor of Palaeobiology | extinction & macroecology | UP THE OWLS & UP THE MAIN! views my own (he/him)
https://amdunhill.co.uk/
https://amdunhill.co.uk/
Pinned
New R package 📦: pfwim reconstructs ancient food webs from traits + body size rules 🌿🐳🕸️
cran.r-project.org/web/packages...
by @tanyadoesscience.bsky.social @jackolivershaw.bsky.social @barankarapunar.bsky.social @beckerhopper.bsky.social with lots of help from @cemac.bsky.social
cran.r-project.org/web/packages...
by @tanyadoesscience.bsky.social @jackolivershaw.bsky.social @barankarapunar.bsky.social @beckerhopper.bsky.social with lots of help from @cemac.bsky.social
DeepBio@Leeds' @barankarapunar.bsky.social publishes cool science on new marine vertebrate fossils from the Dolomites indicate that apex predators reappeared rapidly after the P–Tr mass extinction, earlier than previously thought.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
@palaeoleeds.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
@palaeoleeds.bsky.social
New insights into the extinction and recovery of marine vertebrates across the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event in the Dolomites, Southern Alps, Italy
The impact of the Permian–Triassic mass extinction on marine vertebrates is incompletely understood due to their scarce fossil record. To better understand marine vertebrate extinction and recovery...
www.tandfonline.com
July 28, 2026 at 4:50 PM
DeepBio@Leeds' @barankarapunar.bsky.social publishes cool science on new marine vertebrate fossils from the Dolomites indicate that apex predators reappeared rapidly after the P–Tr mass extinction, earlier than previously thought.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
@palaeoleeds.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
@palaeoleeds.bsky.social
🎉Congratulations to Charlotte, Kate, Amy and Lydia - 4x members of DeepBio@Leeds who've fledged to new adventures!
Super proud of you all 🥰
Super proud of you all 🥰
July 28, 2026 at 4:47 PM
🎉Congratulations to Charlotte, Kate, Amy and Lydia - 4x members of DeepBio@Leeds who've fledged to new adventures!
Super proud of you all 🥰
Super proud of you all 🥰
Reposted by Prof Alex Dunhill
After 3 years of hard work, fantastic travels and ridiculous stress my PhD is done. Graduation was lovely and I am officially a Dr 🎉
Big shout out to my family and my wonderful supervisors for all their support !
@mariabeger.bsky.social
@profalexdunhill.bsky.social
@universityofleeds.bsky.social
Big shout out to my family and my wonderful supervisors for all their support !
@mariabeger.bsky.social
@profalexdunhill.bsky.social
@universityofleeds.bsky.social
July 15, 2026 at 5:51 PM
After 3 years of hard work, fantastic travels and ridiculous stress my PhD is done. Graduation was lovely and I am officially a Dr 🎉
Big shout out to my family and my wonderful supervisors for all their support !
@mariabeger.bsky.social
@profalexdunhill.bsky.social
@universityofleeds.bsky.social
Big shout out to my family and my wonderful supervisors for all their support !
@mariabeger.bsky.social
@profalexdunhill.bsky.social
@universityofleeds.bsky.social
Reposted by Prof Alex Dunhill
🚨📄 NEW PREPRINT ALERT 🚨📄
🌐 Are we mapping ecosystems… or just mapping models? 🤔
We took ONE Jurassic fossil community 🦑🐚🐟 and built food webs SIX different ways.
The result? 😳
The way you build the network can matter MORE than the change you're trying to study.
🔗 doi.org/10.32942/X2X...
👇
🌐 Are we mapping ecosystems… or just mapping models? 🤔
We took ONE Jurassic fossil community 🦑🐚🐟 and built food webs SIX different ways.
The result? 😳
The way you build the network can matter MORE than the change you're trying to study.
🔗 doi.org/10.32942/X2X...
👇
June 22, 2026 at 2:43 PM
🚨📄 NEW PREPRINT ALERT 🚨📄
🌐 Are we mapping ecosystems… or just mapping models? 🤔
We took ONE Jurassic fossil community 🦑🐚🐟 and built food webs SIX different ways.
The result? 😳
The way you build the network can matter MORE than the change you're trying to study.
🔗 doi.org/10.32942/X2X...
👇
🌐 Are we mapping ecosystems… or just mapping models? 🤔
We took ONE Jurassic fossil community 🦑🐚🐟 and built food webs SIX different ways.
The result? 😳
The way you build the network can matter MORE than the change you're trying to study.
🔗 doi.org/10.32942/X2X...
👇
New R package 📦: pfwim reconstructs ancient food webs from traits + body size rules 🌿🐳🕸️
cran.r-project.org/web/packages...
by @tanyadoesscience.bsky.social @jackolivershaw.bsky.social @barankarapunar.bsky.social @beckerhopper.bsky.social with lots of help from @cemac.bsky.social
cran.r-project.org/web/packages...
by @tanyadoesscience.bsky.social @jackolivershaw.bsky.social @barankarapunar.bsky.social @beckerhopper.bsky.social with lots of help from @cemac.bsky.social
May 22, 2026 at 1:33 PM
New R package 📦: pfwim reconstructs ancient food webs from traits + body size rules 🌿🐳🕸️
cran.r-project.org/web/packages...
by @tanyadoesscience.bsky.social @jackolivershaw.bsky.social @barankarapunar.bsky.social @beckerhopper.bsky.social with lots of help from @cemac.bsky.social
cran.r-project.org/web/packages...
by @tanyadoesscience.bsky.social @jackolivershaw.bsky.social @barankarapunar.bsky.social @beckerhopper.bsky.social with lots of help from @cemac.bsky.social
Reposted by Prof Alex Dunhill
🥳 Our new paper on the Permian-Triassic transition in Türkiye is published! 🎉 We have prepared a video abstract of the article:
youtu.be/nYMK-_n9l0Y?...
youtu.be/nYMK-_n9l0Y?...
April 20, 2026 at 3:11 PM
🥳 Our new paper on the Permian-Triassic transition in Türkiye is published! 🎉 We have prepared a video abstract of the article:
youtu.be/nYMK-_n9l0Y?...
youtu.be/nYMK-_n9l0Y?...
📣New paper from DeepBio@Leeds researcher @barankarapunar.bsky.social 📣
"The Permian-Triassic Transition in Türkiye: New Insights and 3D Outcrop Models for Accessible, Reproducible and Sustainable Fieldwork" in The Depositional Record
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
"The Permian-Triassic Transition in Türkiye: New Insights and 3D Outcrop Models for Accessible, Reproducible and Sustainable Fieldwork" in The Depositional Record
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
The Permian–Triassic transition in Türkiye: New insights and 3D outcrop models for accessible, reproducible and sustainable fieldwork
We studied the Permian–Triassic successions of south-western Türkiye at five locations, synthesised sedimentological and palaeontological data, putting it into a consistent stratigraphic framework an...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
April 20, 2026 at 2:04 PM
📣New paper from DeepBio@Leeds researcher @barankarapunar.bsky.social 📣
"The Permian-Triassic Transition in Türkiye: New Insights and 3D Outcrop Models for Accessible, Reproducible and Sustainable Fieldwork" in The Depositional Record
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
"The Permian-Triassic Transition in Türkiye: New Insights and 3D Outcrop Models for Accessible, Reproducible and Sustainable Fieldwork" in The Depositional Record
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Prof Alex Dunhill
The end-Permian extinction 252 million years ago wiped out over 80 per cent of marine species, but many ecosystems still had complex food webs despite the losses
Top predators still prowled the seas after the biggest mass extinction
The end-Permian extinction 252 million years ago wiped out over 80 per cent of marine species, but many ecosystems still had complex food webs despite the losses
www.newscientist.com
March 4, 2026 at 5:31 PM
The end-Permian extinction 252 million years ago wiped out over 80 per cent of marine species, but many ecosystems still had complex food webs despite the losses
Reposted by Prof Alex Dunhill
Deadline is this Sunday!
This #FossilFriday I am delighted to share a postdoctoral position that we @deeptimeecology.bsky.social @camzoology.bsky.social are advertising on early animal evolution in the #Ediacaran.
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...
February 27, 2026 at 10:33 AM
Deadline is this Sunday!
Reposted by Prof Alex Dunhill
Abstract submission for Life and Planet 2026 is open! Come explore the co-evolution of life and the Earth with us:
February 27, 2026 at 10:14 AM
Abstract submission for Life and Planet 2026 is open! Come explore the co-evolution of life and the Earth with us:
Reposted by Prof Alex Dunhill
Read this thread. @dralexdunhill.bsky.social at his finest, showcasing our @ukri.org funded work led by @barankarapunar.bsky.social with deep support from @tanyadoesscience.bsky.social. No global collapse of food webs across the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME)
🚨New preprint out @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social (under review elsewhere!) 🧵
No global collapse of food webs across the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
No global collapse of food webs across the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
February 27, 2026 at 2:37 AM
Read this thread. @dralexdunhill.bsky.social at his finest, showcasing our @ukri.org funded work led by @barankarapunar.bsky.social with deep support from @tanyadoesscience.bsky.social. No global collapse of food webs across the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME)
Reposted by Prof Alex Dunhill
🚨 NEW MUD DINOSAUR SCIENCE 🦕☄️
Obsessed with seeing networks being built, smashed and stress-tested with real data - not just debated from the sidelines 👀 (self-aware self-own 🙋).
🚀 Paleoecology leveled ⬆️.
Big questions + awesome squad → measurable, mind-blowning results 🤯
Here’s what went down 👇✨
Obsessed with seeing networks being built, smashed and stress-tested with real data - not just debated from the sidelines 👀 (self-aware self-own 🙋).
🚀 Paleoecology leveled ⬆️.
Big questions + awesome squad → measurable, mind-blowning results 🤯
Here’s what went down 👇✨
🚨New preprint out @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social (under review elsewhere!) 🧵
No global collapse of food webs across the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
No global collapse of food webs across the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
February 26, 2026 at 6:19 PM
🚨 NEW MUD DINOSAUR SCIENCE 🦕☄️
Obsessed with seeing networks being built, smashed and stress-tested with real data - not just debated from the sidelines 👀 (self-aware self-own 🙋).
🚀 Paleoecology leveled ⬆️.
Big questions + awesome squad → measurable, mind-blowning results 🤯
Here’s what went down 👇✨
Obsessed with seeing networks being built, smashed and stress-tested with real data - not just debated from the sidelines 👀 (self-aware self-own 🙋).
🚀 Paleoecology leveled ⬆️.
Big questions + awesome squad → measurable, mind-blowning results 🤯
Here’s what went down 👇✨
🚨New preprint out @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social (under review elsewhere!) 🧵
No global collapse of food webs across the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
No global collapse of food webs across the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
February 26, 2026 at 10:42 AM
🚨New preprint out @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social (under review elsewhere!) 🧵
No global collapse of food webs across the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
No global collapse of food webs across the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
📢 New Special Issue in Global and Planetary Change:
Paleozoic–Mesozoic Oceanic Anoxic Events & Biotic Crises
As modern oceans lose oxygen due to global warming, we look to the deep past... bringing together new research on ancient oceanic anoxic events & the biological crises that followed
Paleozoic–Mesozoic Oceanic Anoxic Events & Biotic Crises
As modern oceans lose oxygen due to global warming, we look to the deep past... bringing together new research on ancient oceanic anoxic events & the biological crises that followed
February 23, 2026 at 9:17 AM
📢 New Special Issue in Global and Planetary Change:
Paleozoic–Mesozoic Oceanic Anoxic Events & Biotic Crises
As modern oceans lose oxygen due to global warming, we look to the deep past... bringing together new research on ancient oceanic anoxic events & the biological crises that followed
Paleozoic–Mesozoic Oceanic Anoxic Events & Biotic Crises
As modern oceans lose oxygen due to global warming, we look to the deep past... bringing together new research on ancient oceanic anoxic events & the biological crises that followed
It's been a couple of months of turnover and change in the DeepBio@Leeds group - albeit a very positive and celebratory shift that we've all been celebrating!
Congratulations to Amy, Lydia, Charlotte and Kate... read more about their amazing work and success here:
amdunhill.co.uk/2026/02/10/f...
Congratulations to Amy, Lydia, Charlotte and Kate... read more about their amazing work and success here:
amdunhill.co.uk/2026/02/10/f...
Four Vivas, Four Triumphs: Celebrating Amy, Lydia, Charlotte and Kate
The past two months have been a whirlwind of vivas and celebrations. I could not be prouder to share that Amy Shipley, Lydia Woods, Charlotte Clay and Kate Simpson have all passed their PhD vivas w…
amdunhill.co.uk
February 10, 2026 at 6:50 PM
It's been a couple of months of turnover and change in the DeepBio@Leeds group - albeit a very positive and celebratory shift that we've all been celebrating!
Congratulations to Amy, Lydia, Charlotte and Kate... read more about their amazing work and success here:
amdunhill.co.uk/2026/02/10/f...
Congratulations to Amy, Lydia, Charlotte and Kate... read more about their amazing work and success here:
amdunhill.co.uk/2026/02/10/f...
Exciting news! Our invited perspectives in npj Biodiversity looks at how marine life bounced back after the worst mass extinction ever, the Permian‑Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME) ~252M years ago. Big questions: fast or slow? recovery or restructure?
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
The timing and nature of marine ecosystem recovery following the Permian-Triassic mass extinction - npj Biodiversity
npj Biodiversity - The timing and nature of marine ecosystem recovery following the Permian-Triassic mass extinction
www.nature.com
February 3, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Exciting news! Our invited perspectives in npj Biodiversity looks at how marine life bounced back after the worst mass extinction ever, the Permian‑Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME) ~252M years ago. Big questions: fast or slow? recovery or restructure?
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Congratulations to Dr Kate Simpson on passing her PhD viva with only editorial corrections & a commendation for research excellence! 🎉🍾🏅
Kate has been bridging the gulf between poetry & palaeontology for her PhD work & it's been so much fun working with her these past few years. So proud of her!
Kate has been bridging the gulf between poetry & palaeontology for her PhD work & it's been so much fun working with her these past few years. So proud of her!
January 30, 2026 at 9:34 AM
Congratulations to Dr Kate Simpson on passing her PhD viva with only editorial corrections & a commendation for research excellence! 🎉🍾🏅
Kate has been bridging the gulf between poetry & palaeontology for her PhD work & it's been so much fun working with her these past few years. So proud of her!
Kate has been bridging the gulf between poetry & palaeontology for her PhD work & it's been so much fun working with her these past few years. So proud of her!
Congratulations 🍾🎉 to Dr Lydia Woods who past her PhD viva yesterday! So proud of you!
Thanks to Simon Darroch and Paul Wignall for the examining - a great time was had by all.
@palaeoleeds.bsky.social
Thanks to Simon Darroch and Paul Wignall for the examining - a great time was had by all.
@palaeoleeds.bsky.social
January 23, 2026 at 11:02 AM
Congratulations 🍾🎉 to Dr Lydia Woods who past her PhD viva yesterday! So proud of you!
Thanks to Simon Darroch and Paul Wignall for the examining - a great time was had by all.
@palaeoleeds.bsky.social
Thanks to Simon Darroch and Paul Wignall for the examining - a great time was had by all.
@palaeoleeds.bsky.social
Reposted by Prof Alex Dunhill
Preprint alert 🚨 (yes, I still go online, shocker)
Scaling from Metawebs to Realised Webs: A Hierarchical Approach to Network Ecology
TL;DR: Networks are like… weirdly finicky and if you want your network analysis to not be a sad chaos, check this preprint: [https://doi.org/10.32942/X2JW8K] 🏠💻
Scaling from Metawebs to Realised Webs: A Hierarchical Approach to Network Ecology
TL;DR: Networks are like… weirdly finicky and if you want your network analysis to not be a sad chaos, check this preprint: [https://doi.org/10.32942/X2JW8K] 🏠💻
January 22, 2026 at 7:00 AM
Preprint alert 🚨 (yes, I still go online, shocker)
Scaling from Metawebs to Realised Webs: A Hierarchical Approach to Network Ecology
TL;DR: Networks are like… weirdly finicky and if you want your network analysis to not be a sad chaos, check this preprint: [https://doi.org/10.32942/X2JW8K] 🏠💻
Scaling from Metawebs to Realised Webs: A Hierarchical Approach to Network Ecology
TL;DR: Networks are like… weirdly finicky and if you want your network analysis to not be a sad chaos, check this preprint: [https://doi.org/10.32942/X2JW8K] 🏠💻
Congratulations to Dr Amy Shipley @sauropodlets.bsky.social
Passed her PhD viva with only a few editorial corrections - so very proud of her and all the amazing science she has done this past 4 years. Look out for papers soon!
Thanks to examiners @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social & Paul Wignall
Passed her PhD viva with only a few editorial corrections - so very proud of her and all the amazing science she has done this past 4 years. Look out for papers soon!
Thanks to examiners @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social & Paul Wignall
January 16, 2026 at 11:08 AM
Congratulations to Dr Amy Shipley @sauropodlets.bsky.social
Passed her PhD viva with only a few editorial corrections - so very proud of her and all the amazing science she has done this past 4 years. Look out for papers soon!
Thanks to examiners @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social & Paul Wignall
Passed her PhD viva with only a few editorial corrections - so very proud of her and all the amazing science she has done this past 4 years. Look out for papers soon!
Thanks to examiners @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social & Paul Wignall
Congratulations to Dr Charlotte Clay who has passed her viva with flying colours and very minor corrections!
🪸🎉
🪸🎉
December 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Congratulations to Dr Charlotte Clay who has passed her viva with flying colours and very minor corrections!
🪸🎉
🪸🎉
PGRs Amy Shipley (@sauropodlets.bsky.social) & Lydia Woods recently published a review in @globalchangebio.bsky.social showing that while today’s extinction rates aren't yet at "Big Five" mass extinction levels, they’re likely the highest seen in the last 66myrs.
amdunhill.co.uk/2025/11/17/n...
amdunhill.co.uk/2025/11/17/n...
New paper by Amy Shipley and Lydia Woods
DeepBio@Leeds PGRs Amy Shipley and Lydia have published a review on the sixth mass extinction, as part of a working group on Cenozoic extinctions led out of the Anthropocene Biodiversity Centre at …
amdunhill.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 1:46 PM
PGRs Amy Shipley (@sauropodlets.bsky.social) & Lydia Woods recently published a review in @globalchangebio.bsky.social showing that while today’s extinction rates aren't yet at "Big Five" mass extinction levels, they’re likely the highest seen in the last 66myrs.
amdunhill.co.uk/2025/11/17/n...
amdunhill.co.uk/2025/11/17/n...
What is Extinction Studies?
DeepBio@Leeds PGR Kate Simpson explains how her research brings together palaeontology and poetry to conceptualise mass extinction and geological timescales.
amdunhill.co.uk/2025/11/12/w...
DeepBio@Leeds PGR Kate Simpson explains how her research brings together palaeontology and poetry to conceptualise mass extinction and geological timescales.
amdunhill.co.uk/2025/11/12/w...
What is Extinction Studies?
DeepBio@Leeds PhD student Kate Simpson tells us how her research brings together palaeontology and poetry to conceptualise mass extinction and geological timescales.
amdunhill.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 3:49 PM
What is Extinction Studies?
DeepBio@Leeds PGR Kate Simpson explains how her research brings together palaeontology and poetry to conceptualise mass extinction and geological timescales.
amdunhill.co.uk/2025/11/12/w...
DeepBio@Leeds PGR Kate Simpson explains how her research brings together palaeontology and poetry to conceptualise mass extinction and geological timescales.
amdunhill.co.uk/2025/11/12/w...
Want to do a PhD linking palaeontology, ecological modelling and polar ecosystems? Look no further than this NERC GW4+ DLTP funded project with @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social at @bas.ac.uk & @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social and others (inc me).
www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...
www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...
www.bristol.ac.uk
November 12, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Want to do a PhD linking palaeontology, ecological modelling and polar ecosystems? Look no further than this NERC GW4+ DLTP funded project with @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social at @bas.ac.uk & @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social and others (inc me).
www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...
www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...
Reposted by Prof Alex Dunhill
What a great bunch of paleobiologists and soooo international!! the annual @paleosynth.bsky.social summer school. Such a pleasure to share methods with u all. Thanks @devapriya-chat.bsky.social @dralexdunhill.bsky.social @moriakiyasuhara.bsky.social & others for sending ur grad students over!
September 3, 2025 at 2:01 PM
What a great bunch of paleobiologists and soooo international!! the annual @paleosynth.bsky.social summer school. Such a pleasure to share methods with u all. Thanks @devapriya-chat.bsky.social @dralexdunhill.bsky.social @moriakiyasuhara.bsky.social & others for sending ur grad students over!