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Over the Easter break, I had a really engaging conversation with Jessica Lueders-Dumont , Senior Research Associate at Boston College , for the latest Atomic Ecology Meets . Jessica uses stable isotope ecology to explore how ecosystems function — and how that function changes over time. In a recent paper in Nature , she demonstrates how nitrogen isotope analysis of fish otoliths can reveal shifts in reef ecosystem function over thousands of years. What makes this work especia

Atomic Ecology Meets is back with a new webinar, and this time I had the genuine pleasure of sitting down with an old friend and long-time colleague, Kurt Samways. Kurt and I go back a long way to our time in Atlantic Canada, and if you know him, you’ll understand why I was really looking forward to this chat. If you don’t know him yet, you’re about to spend the next hour in very good company. In this webinar, Kurt walks through some outstanding examples of applied stable is

Something a bit different for this week's blog at Atomic Ecology. I'm excited to launch a new series for 2026, Atomic Ecology meets. These sessions combine a typical , but condensed, research seminar with a discussion about the story before the research and some insights on what its like to be an isotope ecologist! For the first of these, I'm delighted to be joined by Dr. Sora Kim, who leads a dynamic and wide ranging research program at the the University of California Merce

Ever wondered how a salmon remembers its way home? Or how scientists can tell where a mammoth wandered thousands of years ago—without needing a GPS collar the size of a small car? Welcome to the world of migration from isotopes , where atoms become storytellers. This week at Atomic Ecology, I have been preparing lectures for my new online course. I took a deep dive into how isotopic chemistry can trace the movement of animals, from salmon in Scottish loughs to monarch butter