Shawn Dove: biodiversity scientist and suspense novelist
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Ecological Informatics
Scientist
Ecological Informatics & Biodiversity Science
Postdoctoral researcher at Justus Liebig University Giessen & Ph.D. from University College London (CBER / ZSL / RSPB). Creator of the b3gbi R package for GBIF biodiversity data cubes.
Novels and essays that engage both the intellect and the heart. Explore the suspense thriller Entering Darkness, short stories, and thought-provoking articles on science, faith, and human empathy.
Developing robust quantitative indicators and open-source software tools to track global biodiversity change—from deep-sea mesopelagic fish communities to continental occurrence data cubes and the Living Planet Index.
📍 Justus Liebig University Giessen🎓 Ph.D. University College London (CBER / ZSL / RSPB)🌊 M.Sc. Biological Oceanography (Uni Kiel / GEOMAR)
From Field Observations to Global Policy Indicators
Notice how the three silhouettes in the landing page artwork reflect the three scales of my scientific research.
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EU Horizon B-Cubed Project
Spatiotemporal Biodiversity Cubes
Transforming raw citizen-science and museum occurrence records from GBIF into standardized gridded data cubes to measure species richness, taxonomic distinctness, rarity, and Hill diversity across space and time.
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UCL • ZSL • RSPB
Global Vertebrate Monitoring & LPI
Investigating how data deficiency, patchy geographic sampling, and taxonomic bias affect headline policy metrics like the Living Planet Index (LPI), and designing sampled & diversity-weighted approaches.
Studying latitudinal transitions, spatial distribution, and larval fish assemblages of mesopelagic fishes across the eastern central Atlantic, linking oceanographic drivers to marine community structure.
b3gbi: General Biodiversity Indicators for Data Cubes
Authored and maintained by Shawn Dove. Published in the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS). Streamlines the calculation and spatial-temporal plotting of standardized biodiversity indicators from GBIF occurrence cubes.
* Statistical workflow feature: b3gbi also provides built-in non-parametric bootstrapping for estimating confidence intervals across spatial maps and temporal trend lines.
Three-Step R Workflow (Montenegro Bryophytes Cube)
# Install b3gbi from B-Cubed R-Universe
install.packages("b3gbi", repos = c("https://b-cubed-eu.r-universe.dev", "https://cloud.r-project.org"))
library(b3gbi)
# 1. Load & prepare the GBIF occurrence cube
cube_name <- system.file("extdata", "montenegro_bryophytes_cube_eea.csv", package = "b3gbi")
bryophyte_data <- process_cube(cube_name)
# 2. Calculate observed richness across 10km EEA grid cells
map_rich_bryo <- obs_richness_map(bryophyte_data, level = "country", region = "Montenegro", cell_size = 10)
# 3. Generate publication-ready spatial indicator plot
plot(map_rich_bryo, title = "Observed Species Richness: Bryophytes in Montenegro")
Peer-Reviewed Work
Selected Publications & Outputs
Academic Journey
Appointments & Degrees
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Justus Liebig University Giessen
Department of Animal Ecology & Systematics (Ecological Informatics Research Group). Developing standardized biodiversity indicators and modeling frameworks for spatiotemporal occurrence data cubes.
Ph.D. in Conservation Biology (2023)
University College London (UCL)
Doctoral researcher at the Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research (CBER), collaborating with ZSL & RSPB. Thesis: Improving the robustness and reliability of population-based global biodiversity indicators.
M.Sc. in Biological Oceanography
University of Kiel & GEOMAR
Researched the latitudinal transition, spatial distribution, and ecology of mesopelagic larval fish assemblages in the eastern central Atlantic.
Academic Profiles
Connect for Research & Policy
Interested in biodiversity indicators, GBIF occurrence cubes, ecological informatics, or macroecological modeling? Explore my academic profiles below or send a message.
Fiction Writer • Essayist • Philosopher of Science
Smart, Emotionally Engaging Suspense
Have you ever read a page-turner, engaged with the characters, and then put it down and forgot about it? I write novels and essays for readers who love exciting stories you can't put down—but want to be left with burning questions about life, the universe, and everything long after turning the final page.
What would happen if someone discovered scientific evidence of a higher being?
Why I Write
Bridging the Gap Between Page-Turning Thrillers & Deep Questions
I'm Shawn Dove, author of Entering Darkness. I like to read novels that engage me both intellectually and emotionally—novels that have something to say about the world and leave me feeling like my mind has new ideas on which to ruminate.
The Literary Dilemma
Literary fiction often offers beautiful prose and intellectual stimulation, yet the stories can feel distant, disjointed, or slow. You have to read between the lines to find the meaning.
The Thriller Dilemma
Popular fiction is exciting, tense, and emotional with likable characters and gripping plots—but how often does it leave you pondering life, faith, science, and human nature?
I'm sure many of you are just like me: you love to think deeply, but still prefer to read exciting books that you can't put down. I wrote Entering Darkness for people like us.
2/4 checked: You're in the right place! Explore my essays on science, philosophy, and empathy—or preview the opening chapters of Entering Darkness.
Note: There is currently no active newsletter or mailing list. Request sample chapter access directly via the contact form.
The Pitch • Philosophical Suspense Thriller
What would happen if someone discovered scientific evidence of a higher being?
Entering Darkness tells the story of an unassuming scientist and pacifist, James West, targeted by a brilliant and ruthless general who will stop at nothing to keep the evidence secret. But when the general kidnaps his beloved wife and kills his best friend, James begins to fight back.
His desperate quest to rescue his wife will take him to the edge of sanity and force him to question every belief he holds dear. The only way to succeed will be to enter the darkness he fears more than anything: that of his own soul.
James must not only fight for his life and his family, but come to terms with a world that is suddenly more complex than he imagined, and ultimately decide what, if anything, is worth fighting for.
Chapter 1
The Catalyst
One short, atmospheric scene that sets up the seismic events to follow before introducing the main cast.
Chapter 2
Doug's Revelation
Introduces narrator James West, his friend Doug's earth-shattering discovery, and sincere young soldier Lance Monroe.
Chapter 3
Stretching the Tension
Foreboding thickens as the conspiracy closes in—stretching the tension until everything James knows is ready to break.
Bonus Scenes #1 & #2
Det. Darren Cartwright & James's Past
Meet detective Darren Cartwright awakening from grief while investigating a disappearance, plus a formative memory that shaped James's pacifism.
Dr. James West
Scientist & Pacifist (Primary POV)
Quirky, imaginative, and deeply committed to non-violence—forced to confront his own capacity for darkness to save Sharon.
Lance Monroe
Young Soldier (POV #2)
A sincere operative who believes he is serving a righteous mission, unaware of how dark his own path will become.
Det. Darren Cartwright
Police Detective (POV #3)
Sleep-walking through life since his wife's death until investigating a baffling disappearance pulls him into a deeper, darker mystery.
"I was inspired to write Entering Darkness because I am fascinated by the strange and uneasy relationship between faith and science. I grew up attending a fundamentalist Christian church that taught Creationism as fact, and later left the church and became a biologist, so I've seen both sides. As I am neither religious nor an atheist, this was intended to be a thought experiment, not a propaganda piece."
Articles & Short Fiction
Essays on Science, Philosophy & Empathy
From Canada to Indonesia to Europe
About Shawn Dove
Hi, I'm Shawn Dove—writer, ecological informatician, and author of Entering Darkness. My aim, through both my books and my blog, is to entertain, inspire, and provoke thoughtful discussion about important and relevant topics. Although I study and work as a scientist, I remain a critic of dogma and partisanship in any field of thought, including science.
I've always enjoyed living vicariously through characters and their adventures—until I decided it might be more interesting to go and have adventures myself. So I went off to travel the world on my own, met the love of my life on a boat in Indonesia, moved halfway across the world (from Canada to Europe) to be with her, became a scientist, and started a family with two wonderful children.
