African swine fever, the book!

Not long ago I mentioned there was an upcoming book resulting from the network established thanks to the ASF-stop COST Action. Well, it’s finally out! Wageningen Academic Publishers released it today! If you have questions about this virus or the disease it causes, if you want to know more about the progress on developing a vaccine or simply you want to learn what you can do to prevent the spread of the disease, both in pig sector and the wild boar population, you might find them in this book! The electronic version is free of charge and, if you are only interested in a specific aspect, you can download just that chapter.

If your interest is in stopping the spread of this disease and increasing awareness on this topic, I recommend the ASFstop Dissemination section and the excellent awareness campaign by OIE. In the end, the disease does not affect humans, but we are the ones that keep introducing it to new areas…

Upcoming book

Once again, I got a book craving. As a reader this happens more or less periodically, but this time is different! With the inspiring team of the ASF-stop COST Action, I’ve been editing a book on African swine fever and I’m really looking forward to seeing it published! The interest in African swine fever has started many years ago, but I only started working on it during my Marie Curie project. At that time I joined the ASF-stop team hoping to network and gain new knowledge, little I knew it would become such a life changing experience that opened up the doors to science communication and a continent wide network. Now, the final product of this journey is soon to be published, hard copies will be available for purchase and the electronic version will be open access. So expect more news soon!

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Postdoc and PhD positions opening

For those of you in search of the next opportunity, have you seen the latest post on the amazing Dynamic Ecology blog? If not, you’d better know there are job openings in two ecology labs (here the details). I warmly recommend following the blog though, since they have weekly posts about a number of topics. Although their relevance might vary depending on your career stage, most often than not, I found them really interesting.

Is Open Access meeting society and researchers needs?

I want to share with you another great post by Dynamic Ecology. This time they address, data at hand, the priorities of researchers when choosing where to publish. What they observe is a not surprising picture.

“priority list of authors is:

1. Publish in the highest impact factor I can
2. Publish in journals my colleagues read
3. Publish cheaply
4. Be altruistic (which includes free to read among the mix).”

What I wander is, with decreasing financial support in many fields and the need to bridge the gap between rich and developing countries (with all the internal differences of this definition), is Open Access the answer? Is it fair to ask researchers to subtract money from research to pay for OA or should we look for a different solution?

Seagulling, ego itching powder, supporting one another, and happiness | Dynamic Ecology

I really like this post by Dinamic Ecology and I wanted to share it with you. Although I’m well aware that financial resources and positions are limited resources, I agree with the cited graduate student: “others’ success would not prevent her own. She noted that success is not finite, and the ability of those around you to succeed does not detract from your own progress. She suggested that we should take heart in that fact and support one another. “

There is increasing research on this aspect and results are quite concordant in saying that kindness and support can be important factors in our academic success and, even more importantly, in our own wellbeing, mental health and happyness. So, let’s try to be less grumpy and more constructive. Criticism is important for growth, but there is no need “seagulling” students or colleagues, we can still point out the weak aspects of a research or project in a kinder way. It will support their growth and we’ll be better and happier people.

Book craving

I am a reader, I’ve always been, books have been a constant in my life. I’m sure the fellow bookworms here will understand that book craving when you hear your favourite author is soon going to publish a new book. Well, this time I’m feeling it not for a novel or an essay, but for book linked to my professional activity. April this year the Cambridge University Press will publish a book titled “Human-wildlife interactions. Turning conflict into coexistence” and I’m really looking forward reading it! Working with wildlife I know how local communities and human perception can influence the outcome of any conservation or management plan. I hope this book will bring new insight and tools to develop, not without effort (I’m not that naive), strategies where humans, their activities and wildlife will coexist and bring each other benefit.

What a start of 2019!

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2018 was a productive year, with many collaborations that led to accepted publications. While some of them I shared through 2018, some others remained in the “in press” limbo. This week 3 of them got officially published. You can find them in my Scientific Publications tab and in the journals web pages (Mammal Review – Hybridization in ungulates, Mammal Research – extinct Steppe bison, Global Ecology and Conservation – Rewilding and Conservation Genomics). Let’s hope more papers will see the light in 2019

The importance of the behind the scenes network

Once again @dynamicecology post resonates within me. Our support network, both within and outside academia, is fundamental in supporting us and helping us grow. Finding “your people” can do a huge difference!! Thank you “my people” out there, across the globe!

Pre-print in science

I recently read this interesting post by @DynamicEcology and it thought you might like it too. It addresses pre-print and if journals should invite for submission pre-print manuscripts that they think might be relevant for their audience and match well their scope. I think we should all reflect on the whole pre-print system, how it is going to impact the established publication process and the change (if any) we would like to see in the near future. In my opinion @DynamicEcology post is a good start for this reflection, go and read it for yourself 🙂

Hotspots of hybridization in wild boar across Europe

Following my previous post, here I am again to talk about hybridization. This time it’s not a review but original research I carried out together with colleagues from many institutions across Europe. We found there is hybridization between wild boar and domestic pigs, not unexpectedly, but we also detected different levels of hybridization among countries. On average admixed individuals are less than 12% on average, but in some countries they are extremely common, reaching peaks of nearly 90%. This is a relevant information for the development of management policies and for containment plans for disease transmission, especially in the light of the African Swine Fever epidemics affecting Europe. For more details please visit the Scientific Reports for the full paper.