The DEBBIES project has been awarded 2nd place in the Newcastle University Open Research Awards 2025. This recognition means a lot because it is the collective outcome of eight years of student-led research, shared openly and built collaboratively. This blog post celebrates the students whose work built DEBBIES — and highlights the science that their…
Author: Isabel Smallegange
I am a Senior Lecturer in Population Biology at Newcastle University.
How sharks, skates and rays flex their life strategies when food supplies shift
What happens if a shark suddenly finds itself with an abundance of food? Does it grow more rapidly, produce more offspring, or become better equipped to handle environmental stress? These aren’t just intriguing questions; they are vital for conservation efforts. Our recent research reveals that elasmobranchs (the group that includes sharks, skates and rays) don’t…
DEBBIES Demographic Model Explorer
The DEBBIES Demographic Model Explorer (found here: DEBBIES Shiny App) is an interactive tool designed to investigate how biological traits influence population dynamics across ectothermic species. Built on dynamic energy budget theory and demographic modelling, the app allows users to select a species and simulate its life history traits under varying feeding conditions. Whether you’re…
Tiny tubeworms, big warnings: life-history clues in changing estuaries
If you want to know how an ecosystem is faring, look to its smallest residents. In estuarine and coastal habitats—those margins between land and sea where life can be tough—marine tubeworms are quietly revealing more than just their presence. They may be offering early warnings that a habitat is heading towards collapse. Shifting traits, hidden…
Shaping the pace-of-life: what’s the role of development in evolution?
Mainstream evolution theory suggests that genes and the environment shape how organisms look and behave, but how they grow up also matters. What is the gene-centred view of evolution? The gene-centric view of evolution assumes that genes in interaction with the environment determine how living organisms look and behave. This theory is also known as gene selection…
Behind the paper: The DEBBIES Dataset to study Life Histories across Ectotherms*
A story of how small student projects become more than the sum of their parts in the DEBBIES dataset of ectotherm life history traits. * Smallegange, I.M., Lucas, S. DEBBIES Dataset to study Life Histories across Ectotherms. Sci Data 11, 153 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-02986-x It is 2017 and I just got a paper accepted, in which we presented…
Conversations about whose priorities?
Newcastle University is implementing a new ‘Conversations and Priorities’ system to shift focus from performance assessment to staff development. Below I reflect on the opportunities it offers staff, but also discuss how focusing on priorities can be another form of performance management. Written by Isabel Smallegange, Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University. See here for her…
Emigrating for my work – but whose decision was it, people ask?
Decisions to relocate while negotiating work and family desires are complex. Below I reflect on my own experience and reactions from peers: “Are you sure you are not relocating for work just because of your partner?”. What?! Deciding whether or not to emigrate It is summer 2021. My grants have come to an end and…
Behind the paper: Integrating developmental plasticity into eco-evolutionary population dynamics *
A story that starts out claiming that alternative phenotypes are excellent to study eco-evolutionary feedbacks, but ditches this idea to end on the notion that eco-evolutionary change is centred around evolving developmental systems. It is a personal journey of stepping out of the comfort zone of mainstream eco-evolutionary thinking, and of formulating arguments to convince…
How do we predict marine megafauna populations to respond to environmental change?
A 15 min talk can be found here that explains why unusually paced life history strategies of marine megafauna drive atypical sensitivities to environmental change. The talk accompanies the following paper: Smallegange IM, Flotats Avilés M, Eustache K. 2020. Unusually paced life history strategies of marine megafauna drive atypical sensitivities to environmental variability. Frontiers in…
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