Male White rhinoceros walking in the Kalahari Desert of Namibia Photo by Giles Laurent
🚨FUNDED PHD🚨'Economic carrying capacity & the future of rhinos in privately governed OECMs' @dice-kent.bsky.social, UK & International applications welcome - closing date 14th May🦏 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
I think the fact that @sicilyfiennes.bsky.social etc latest paper has the phrase "a more than human political ecology" in its title neatly demonstrates the shift towards interdisciplinary in @conbiology.bsky.social in recent years.
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
In episode 7 of our podcast, 'Edges of Exinction' @jdroberts.bsky.social talks to @sicilyfiennes.bsky.social about the complex and ambiguous 'wicked problem' of bird trade in Indonesia, and how to create just outcomes for humans and birds alike extinctionstudiesleeds.podbean.com/e/edges-of-e...
I found this book disappointing. The author didn’t really have a good grasp on their subject
SCB's Art, Science + Conservation WG is seeking members!
We bring together artists, researchers + conservation practitioners to explore how creative arts can support biodiversity conservation.
forms.gle/af6xkoosh7Yn...
A project on rodents of unusual size? Inconceivable!
Excellent thread by @toriherridge.bsky.social . As well as criticising the tech bro hype and dodgy agendas, I'm yet to hear anyone in mainstream conservation (e.g. IUCN) talking about this kind of de-extinction. The real discussions are about ecological replacement, assisted colonisation etc
I reviewed @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social most recent book, about how extinction is represented in museums, and I liked it a lot.
It is also about the IUCN Red List status of the Guanaco, and who gets to submit data and make the decision. A reminder that seemingly technical, scientific decisions are deeply political at heart. And that some organisations have WAY more influence on what stories are heard in the global media
This NGO and their partner NGOs have a somewhat 'complicated' and often very antagonistic relationship with researchers and others. They have been fine with me, but I've seen others affected. The issue here is bizarrely partly about the language used re. ecological replacement / taxon substitutes!
This instance hasn't been discussed much in the European sphere, but it is pretty wild - a group of scientists write a unassuming exploration of some issues around rewilding in Argentina, and get sued by a very large and influential NGO. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Very excited to announce that we are hiring for three faculty positions at @universityofleeds.bsky.social in @bioscienceleeds.bsky.social: A/Prof Plant Science, A/Prof Animal Biology and Lecturer in Ecology, Zoology, Biodiversity or Ecosystem Management. Please do get in touch to chat. Links below:
1/ Calling all ECRs - we have 4x3 year post docs on Multispecies Mutualisms working with us at Sheffield.
Don't want to read through all the stuff to work out if its right for you? Here is a short video explainer 🎥
digitalmedia.sheffield.ac.uk/media/Multis...
Our research group looks at a broad range of topics, is fairly diverse in terms of views, approaches and demographic characteristics. But we will continue to strictly enforce our "no Nazis" rule.
Was kinda cool to go back to my old building @globaldevinst.bsky.social and see how much and how little has changed. Not least the fact that many of my old PhD colleagues are now staff there, yet haven't aged a day. The fountain of youth must be located in the coffee area on the first floor....
Congratulations to Dr @natalie-york.bsky.social for passing her PhD with an awesome viva. Really interesting work on politics of biocultural conservation in northern Kenya. Check out her paper in @conbiology.bsky.social
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
We are recruiting a new head of school! This is an exciting opportunity to join us at University of Leeds in @earthandenvleeds.bsky.social - please check out the advert and get in touch if you are interested! jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
Another classic meeting of the England Species Reintroduction Taskforce, part of which involved looking for Natterjack Toads in some surprisingly sunny and warm Surrey wetlands.
Do you work for a conservation organisation? Take part in this global survey of conservation labour - on who does what in conservation, where, and how: www.cmi.no/projects/292...
Significant exponential growth of POLLEN since the early days in the 2000s. If we carry on this trajectory, POLLEN 2040 will have over 1 million parallel sessions. Who says that infinite exponential growth isn’t sustainable?
The geography department is as wonderful as ever - great to see some of my old lecturers still there, and even better to see people that I first met as students now staff members themselves. I am now accepting of my status as a middle-aged academic.
What hasn't are things than simultaneously help and hinder translocations - land ownership/tenure is a slow changing business, despite some legal and political changes. The 'Balmoralised', Edwin Landseer vision of Scotland's landscape is constantly reinforced.
Scotland now has significant and expanding beaver populations, when in 2000 it had none. Reintroductions are a 'thing', as are other words starting with 're', part of mainstream conservation and popular discourse. Many reintroductions have happened, mostly of inverts, plants, small things.
Rather lovely to go back to @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social geography department, a quarter century after it all started there for me, to talk about the future of species reintroduction in Scotland. Since my student days in, ahem, 2000-5, much has changed for reintroduction in Scotland, and much hasn't.
This is the latest salvo in what I'm calling The Great British Herpetological Hoo-Hah - disagreements on what amphibians and reptiles should be 're'-introduced to Britain, where, and how. Lots of fascinating details. Worthy of a PhD study or a 4-part BBC1 drama
www.arc-trust.org/lost-frogs-r...
CFP 📢 Join us for a panel on conservation histories for the European Congress of Conservation Biology in Leiden @eccb26leiden.bsky.social If you're interested, email @georgeholmes.bsky.social or me with an abstract by Feb 9.
#envhist #histsci #animalhist
#conservationhumanities
Want to join our panel @eccb26leiden.bsky.social on "Conservation Histories and Humanities: Understanding the Present, Unearthing the Past"? We are looking for presentations exploring the histories of conservation. Email me (g.holmes@leeds.ac.uk) with an abstract by 9th Feb.
A PhD opportunity involving several of my favourite things - Scotland, tricky debates about land management and ideas of landscape, and Phil Stephens. Deadline is end of month.
the particularly cool thing about this study is that it takes an idea from humanities based on archival research - the history of ecology, the invention of 'native' species concepts, their place in conservation science - and empirically maps this in contemporary society using social science methods
