After 100 years of copper mining, parts of Tasmania’s King River are "biologically dead."
As the demand for minerals for EVs and AI surges, these rivers serve as a stark warning: the cost of mining lasts centuries.
@slovgren.bsky.social reports for #Mongabay.
Cubaris isopod (sp. Cherry blossom, pink panda king) with cherry blossoms Some isopods curl their bodies into a ball to mimic flowers, and some others are decorated with little flowers. Pastel colors convey a soft spring atmosphere.
🌸 Cherry blossom isopod
the length of the table of contents in "united states involvement in regime change"
I invite applications for a PhD position. Join our team exploring how rapid evolution in communities allows maintenance of genetic variation and species diversity! Application deadline is 7th May 2026. See lab.hrcek.net
Driven by the U.S.-China tariff war, soy production is hitting records in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Logistics projects like the Ferrogrão railroad now threaten to scale up deforestation and encroach on Tirecatinga Indigenous Land.
Learn more in this report by @kevindamasio.com for #Mongabay.
Butterfly Conservation's Butterflies and Moths to see in April: Holly Blue, Emperor moth, Orange-tip, Ruby Tiger, Brimstone, Streamer, Speckled Wood, Purple Thorn, Peacock
April has us all aflutter with more beautiful butterflies and moths to look for in our gardens and green spaces 🌷🦋
What have you seen recently?
3-year Independent Post-doc in Animal Behavior based at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama!
Three positions, each including salary & a research budget.
Applications due April, 15th.
DM if you are interesting in developing a project with us!
stri.si.edu/academic-pro...
Hexapodcast - Dr. Amy Trowbridge is our guest on the first of a 2-part series, discussing bark beetle ecology, pine volatiles, and how pines die. youtu.be/Wz0ZyGjBLkM
The sequel, something to listen to on the long drive back from spring break or a no-kings event.... Why do beetle-hosting pine trees die (is it Joe Biden's fault)? And... are bark beetles cute?? With the great Amy Trowbridge! youtu.be/rpH9ZYlWxH0?...
There is an organisation that is popping out in Panama, that is kinda auction naming rights (highest donor) and I don't know how I feel about that...
side view of a male baridine weevil with two enormous, pointed, tusk-like spines arising from his prosternum.
my favorite figure from Eberhard and Garcia's 2000 paper on this behavior. It is captioned "Dorsal view of a horn-locking fight. The upper male has been tilted and his left rear and middle legs wave powerlessly in the air."
a little treat from the weevil mines, one of those baridine species where males have huge chest spines for "ritual jousting"
do not ask yourself whether or art is good instead ask is it sincere was it cathartic was it fun to make is it made by me and don’t forget to stay silly
Statistical Rethinking 2026 is done: 20 new lectures emphasizing logical and critical statistical workflow, from basics of probability theory to causal inference to reliable computation to sensitivity. It's all free, made just for you. Lecture list and links: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
Panamenian bureaucracy will be the end of me
What is the go to Butterfly identification book in the UK?
There seems to be a lot of resources, so I would really appreciate recommendations!
Great to finally pay a visit to the legendary Wytham Woods at Oxford!
If you don't have it in your itinerary, going to Mount Totumas for a few days is totally worth it for the insects alone.
Have you had a look at MEEs new article type, Workflows?
Workflow articles will describe the design, testing, and analysis of the performance of complex workflows.
Find out more in the links below.
Blog post 👉 buff.ly/1sSmEtp
Editorial 👉 buff.ly/bbbAZSk
Author guidelines 👉 buff.ly/bbbAZSk
🌳 Do you want to contribute to research on how humans perceive forests? Take this quick, anonymous 10-min survey 🌲
👉 www.biodiful.org#/forest
This will help us explore how people experience forest biodiversity!
Please share on 🦋 & tag @biodiful.bsky.social to reach more participants 🙏💚
🌐🌍🦤🦑🪴🍁🧪
Finally seeing some insects!!
“OA has already reduced participation by researchers from many middle-income countries. This model imposes a growing bias in scientific publishing, with clear consequences for the inclusiveness, fairness & global representativeness of fields like #ecology”
#RealTalk #OpenAccess
A cartoon by Ron Cobb (1975), showing a shadow of US B-52 bomber above cratered landscape. Two people who look like Vietnamese peasants look up; one says “they’re having problems with their economy again.”
This is from 1975.
Here’s a great PhD opportunity in the crossover between humanities and natural history- please repost 🙏 www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/initiatives/...
Interactive XKCD 🔗
editor.p5js.org/isohedral/fu...
New Zealand’s critically endangered kākāpō is seeing one of its most successful breeding seasons in years, with 59 healthy chicks hatched to date.
While the total adult population has grown from a low of 51 in the 1990s to 236 today, low reproduction rates remain a hurdle.
CONSIDERING
I have the seating board of a broken chair i could paint on and make this sign of 🪑 (the back bit is not a trellis for cucumbers)
New paper out in ecology letters! with @andylee.bsky.social @allydefduf.bsky.social
We synthesized the active debate on how scientists define sex, including limitations and assumptions. We believe this discussion will lead to more accurate science.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Nature research paper: Limited thermal tolerance in tropical insects and its genomic signature
go.nature.com/4ua5R82
2 PhD & 1 postdoc available at BioM in Oslo
www.uio.no/english/rese... Interdisciplinary methods to model and govern biodiversity under uncertainty. Re-post widely! Work with statistical ecologists Olav Skarpaas (Natural History Museum Oslo @uio.no) @t-ergon.bsky.social
Excited to share our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com We synthesize causal discovery & inference approaches across traditions (regression adjustment, quasi-expts, SEMs, Granger causality, convergent cross-mapping, and more) into a unified workflow for ecologists. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
