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...
So I guess we do have the same names in mind here, but when I'm talking to NE, Defra, etc., I'm not usually seeing all that much policy influence from them - except as regards the broad public agenda. The names I hear in those circles are, in general, the more evidence-focussed academics.
Yes, that seems a well balanced review, and it was certainly in the space of rewilding that I had found it easiest to imagine who @jmbecologist.bsky.social might be thinking of. Also, I think, in the world of conservaiton law enforcement...
We clearly need to get together over a beer and discuss names! I do suspect that as the biodiversity crisis has risen in prominence a larger community has grown, & within that wider community there some who have only a very superficial understanding who have gained quite a following.
Is it not ever the case that academic thought, analysis & evidence is (mis)translated & popularised by a different set of public faces who rely on narrative & personal anecdote to sell things? Accuracy & nuance matter, but narratives do too. Are you seeing this differently today than previosuly?
I'm intrigued. I can think of people who popularise public discussion in specific areas like rewilding for whom this is true, but the people I'd view as conservation gurus (those who lead thought in multiple areas) are all evidence people. & I see NE & Defra taking those views seriously.
Pen and watercolour illustrations of waders/shorebirds from the Hartlepool/Teesmouth area of northeast England
A not-completely-exhaustive illustration of our winter shorebirds, but these are the species that you’re most likely to see during winter around Teesmouth (northeast England).
🐡🪶
#birdingNortheast
Love these pictures. Is the elephant set backwards? The images seem sequences from right to left, unlike the bird and horse. Unless I'm being dim?
That does look like a 1st year bird as the tertials are really sharp too. Check www.researchgate.net/publication/... for the latest info including some confusing tails! Good luck!
They're often hard to age, so maybe? But if you're confident of age then not ours. Hope you can complete the photo set and work it out!
There's a chance this is one of ours: we ring most passerines with rings this way up (easier to read in the hand & photos easier to turn around!) & have used rings beginning BKA. The second pic might show a number ending 6? If so, we have 2 possibles, but both ringed 2023 & Uni of York or nearby.
And, no, I have no idea why I look so startled in that pic!
Some fantastic reflections on attending #IPBES12 from ECRs at @anthropocenebio.bsky.social here, including thanks to the @ipbes.net experts & exec for taking timeto explain the details of the process. I'd love to hear other reflections from folk who came to the @cascade-hei.bsky.social pre-briefing!
Some very productive times at #IPBES12 for the @cascade-hei.bsky.social team! There are so many needs identified by IPBES experts & members that #UKHEI can support. It's also been great to help so many ECRs navigate their way through these events - the future of science-policy engagement looks good!
Great to have some fanstastic @york.ac.uk colleagues along for discussions at #IPBES12 at the moment. @charlielem.bsky.social @proflinds.bsky.social and loads more! Also fun to catch up with colleagues from across the world to discuss these important topics.
This was a great workshop, and I'm also excited about what comes from the work of CASCADE over the past 2 years. Watch this space!
Ouch. Just hoping that same individual isn't also one of my applications I'm shortlisting this week! Quite baffling.
invasive species are probably not what you want to focus on to achieve this - focus on rare species. But this research (and others we're doing) makes me question whether it is a conservation priority at all. Should we manage for beta diversity / to reduce homenisation? I suspect not...
The homogenisation literature seems to view homogenisation as a bad thing & suggests that yes, we should care about the emergent property of communities that is beta divesity itself - increasing this should be an objective of conservation. Our results suggest if you subscribe to that view, then
I suspect if we actually calculated contributions separately introduced species would be increasing overall beta diversity in most of our examples. The key question, therefore, is do we want to conserve beta diversity for the sake of beta diversity itself, or is that not a priority?
I think a key point I'm making is perhaps slightly hidden here - it is that if (and potentially only if) you care about beta diversity, then you should care more about rare specise than widespread introduced ones.
I mean, look at this cute floofball! Isn't it adorable? So floofy grey below and pinky dumpy above. Just a ball with a silly tail attached.
so they can avoid mating with very close relatives www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... but we also know quality differences usually show up in breeding success, as well as longer-term recuitment success, so it's not clear what the mechanism is for this benefit to dispersal in these very cute birds! 6/6
EVEN MORE LONG_TAILED TITS! There's no end to the cuteness
either the ♀️♀️ that move further are intrinsically better quality birds, or moving further means these ♀️♀️can escape any inbreeding costs from breeding with more closely related ♂️♂️ . We know inbreeding costs are big, but we we also know long-tailed tits detect relatedness from call similarity 5/
A graph from https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1815873115 showing that the proportion of fledglings that make it to breed is massively higher for the females that move ~2km compared to thsoe staying within 500m of their nest.
But in long-tailed tits we see a remarkably strong increase in the numbers of offspring that subsequently recruit into the breeding population for females that disperse further. They don't have bigger broods or fledge more, but they yound survive better. 2 plausible reasons why this is: 4/
Closer up of three - they're so teeny and cute! Long graduated black with thite-finged tailed better on show here as they use their tiny conical beaks to shred the fat balls.
Most of what we know about this comes from Ben Hatchwell's group www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/.... They've shown that it's usually ♂️♂️ that help, while ♀️♀️ move off. Dispersal is risky: you have to move somewhere new, where you don't know where food is or predators lurk, so the benefits must be high. 3/4
Here they are again - so many tails all sticking out!
Like most birds, ♀️ long-tailed tits disperse further than ♂️♂️ (this is the opposite to what is seen in mammals, & no-one knows why they differ!). Long-tailed tits are also cooperative breeders: some young from a 1st brood stay & help rear the next brood, and 2nd broods are therefore bigger. 2/N
7 long-tailed tits crowding onto fat balls. They are themselves floofballs, with a slightly pinkish white underside, blank wings with a white stripe, pink back and cute black eyebrow over beady black eyes as well a tail amost twice the length of their body. Very VERY cute.
Just recieved news from @btobirds.bsky.social that one of our campus Long-tailed Tits had been found over the weekend all of 7km east of where we ringed it as a baby in the summer. A flock in the garden this morning gives an opportunity to share a little story about dispersal in this cute bird! 1/N🦉
Congrats due mainly to @jackhhatfield.bsky.social I promise you, but thanks!
Posing male elephant, looking might strong with some pretty hefty tusks too.
This was another really great bit of work by @molly-rc-brown.bsky.social & it was great to work with @professorpub.bsky.social & Shuo Gao on this. Thanks too to @leverhulme.ac.uk for funding through @anthropocenebio.bsky.social ! May there be every more 🐘🐘🐘! 6/6
