Science funding needs fixing - but not through chaotic reforms.
15.02.2026 07:34
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Very happy to share this new article on Andes-Amazon tree diversity change. We found that over the last 4 decades, tree richness changed differently across the Andes-Amazon regions. Thanks to the many researchers across the world who made this possible!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Keep reading!
Come and join us! Plants, mountains and the Tropics!
A black-shouldered Kite sites in a thorn tree in front of an otherworldly orange background. It is a stunning white, gret and black bird that looks SO FIERCE. A gooed axample of a nomaid bird species too...
Last chance to apply for this ACCE+ DPT PhD project on nomadic birds in East Africa: www.findaphd.com/phds/project... deadline is tomorrow, so still time to draft soemthing good! It will be a great project with @funkyant.bsky.social too, so please apply!
Our @bes-cascade.bsky.social survey of ecologists asked which socio-political changes might be most effective in the biodiversity & climate crises
Broad-scale transformative changes were most selected
Biodiversity or carbon credits, use of AI, & de-extinction were each selected in <1% of responses
"Bond’s work leaves behind an inconvenient lesson for an era of climate urgency: that speed is not a substitute for understanding, and that good intentions, applied without care, can erase ancient worlds as efficiently as neglect." A beautiful tribute to William Bond. Forever missed by many.
Hendrik Mesdag's sunset (1887) looks simple: sea and the sky, which a low horizon divides into unequal parts, a few sails in the distance, on the left, enliven the rather severe construction. But look at the multiplicity of tones and the complexity of this work sinks in.
Our research group has an open PhD position! Please share widely!
Possible topics include:
Determinants of range limits
Assembly of ecological networks (eg,
plant-pollinator)
The role of soil arthropods (eg, ants) in carbon storage
Details:
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
This paper has been on the way for just about a decade: the 1st draft was written 8 years ago - some great pesistence by the fab T. Michael Anderson! Lots of fun to have been working on it wth the likes of @funkyant.bsky.social y.social, @sallyarchibald.bsky.social & @carlastaver.bsky.social etc!
Very social! It’s Ivette Perfecto
#Mirmeco2025 community!
BrilliANT time at #Mirmeco2025 in Recife. A meeting full of enthusiasm & passion for #ants. Fabulous to see all my Brazilian and other ant friends again ❤️
Shiny new PhD being advertised with me and @cmbeale.bsky.social !!
Ed Luce watching democracy die in the United States of America
When I was a teenager there was a bus direct from my hometown in Germany to London - we had a British army base, and this direct bus connection was one of the benefits of that. One summer I went on that bus to go volunteer in an old people's home in Southend-on-Sea. I had just turned 18 and was... 🧵
Great to discuss the flagrant disinformation peddled at the Reform conference by Malhotra with @garethiacobucci.bsky.social
As @LawrenceYoung11 et al agree, the 💩 re mRNA vax and "turbo cancer" (anyone taking that name seriously?!🤦♂️) is pure, insidious fiction designed to ⏫️ hesitancy.
We have a new paper developing methods for looking at bird-fire macroecology. What’s most fascinating to me is that the magnitude *and* direction of fire effects can vary enormously across a species range. Stationarity is dead!! Long live non-stationarity!!
doi.org/10.1002/fee....
woah this is genuinely, utterly WILD
Ant queens of one species produce males of another species, so she can then mate with them and produce hybrid workers!
This is so gloriously weird I can't quite compute it 🤯🧪🐜
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Join us!
Unraveling the arc of vaccine progress www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Myrmecia ant carrying an Isopod, photo: François Brassard
Hot off the press: Metabolic traits are shaped by phylogenetic conservatism and environment, not just body size
Our article in PNAS explores several controversies in metabolic theory in a macroscale study of 🐜 #aridity #temp #SMR #DGC 📸:François Brassard
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501541122
Awesome to see our paper exploring competing hypotheses in macro/metabolic ecology out in PNAS.
Led by the all star @lilyleahy.bsky.social with a range of amazing folks including @funkyant.bsky.social @natejsanders.bsky.social @ianjwright.bsky.social.
Check it out!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
You look like real scientist now!
Also sounds like it can’t be on the same topic (broad aims/ higher level objectives need to be different). Its madness.
I’d like to know what proportion of grants are won second time around. Same as you, I won my current NERC one that way.
Really disappointing new policy from NERC banning resubmissions of grant applications
Many of us, including me, have won grants on resubmission,
using the reviews to improve the application
This is is neither fair nor productive
www.ukri.org/councils/ner...
That must feel very disappointing- don’t give up!
Hiring a marine biology lecturer at @universityofessex.bsky.social! Permanent position. Deadline to apply= 20 Aug. We have aquaria, lots of mass specs/genomic facilities, field trips to Crotia, Indonesia, Scotland and a super collegial department. Pls share!
vacancies.essex.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...
The Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium is today! Join us in person or online to hear from some truly fantastic speakers. Online via teams
Meeting ID: 374 127 860 994 5
Passcode: Yq3je9Jo
or in person at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 9:30-4:30
@royalsoced.bsky.social
🌐🌏 #ecology #savanna
