Exciting PhD opportunity advertised by superstar colleague Prof. Rachael Gallagher "Genomic and trait-based indicators of restoration success" (collaboration with Botanic Gardens of Sydney). See attached image. Contact Rachael directly for more information (email in advert). Closes 30th Nov.

Yesterday we were treated to an inspirational seminar from Dr Laura Williams from @westsyduhie.bsky.social all about the importance of tree diversity, novel ways to quantify it and its consequences for how forests function. Good luck with the richly-deserved DECRA Laura!!! Ping @bmedlyn.bsky.social

🔥🌱 From the upcoming #AJB Special Issue: “Understanding novel #fire regimes using plant trait‐based approaches" 🌱🔥 Toward a functional understanding of novel fire regimes in tropical #forests By David Pacuk, Peter van der Sleen, Frank Sterck & @masha-vandersande.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/ajb2...

Thrilled to see my Tansley insight review published in @newphyt.bsky.social! I provide an overview of recent advances in integrating plant traits into island ecology and highlight key opportunities for future research in island systems. nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Just heading back from a quick couple of days in the scrub at Yarraman with a wonderful crew including Dr Bill McDonald.

Tuned in yesterday for an impassioned plea and delightful talk by @john-m-dwyer.bsky.social on how dry rainforest trees, including our beloved vine thickets, could be used to revegetate Brisbane's streets in the lead up to the 2032 Olympics. Lots of neat data on temp. niches!

Check out our piece in @theconversation.com explaining how intraspecific trait coordination across climatic gradients helps to avoid heat stress in some (but not all) tropical tree species theconversation.com/some-tropica...

A new journal category: Reflections. We're inviting reviews authored by research field leaders to reflect on a topic of their choosing, exploring the history of and provide context for the current state of our discipline. Our first guest is Prof. Mark Westoby #openaccess

🚨New paper out in PNAS🚨 Soil eDNA reflects regionally dominant species rather than local composition of tropical tree communities 🧬🌿🌳🌺🧬 We asked about the spatial scale of biodiversity captured by samples of DNA from tropical soils #Luquillo #eDNA. A short 🧵.... www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

A big congratulations to William Farhan-Rios on this paper in @pnas.org, featuring a study of tropical-forest change over four decades along the Amazon-to-Andes elevational gradient in Bolivia and Peru 🌴 ⛰️ 🌐 @mobotgarden.bsky.social @livingearthcollab.bsky.social 1/3 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

How do tropical #trees deal with droughts? The answer is published today in @science.org Our pantropical #treering analysis revealed 2.5% growth reduction during #drought years. Yet, growth declined by >10% in 1/4 of 500 study sites, and in hotter & drier regions. doi.org/10.1126/scie... 🌍🍁🌐 (1/4)

Officially Dr Hoolian! Thanks JD for an incredible PhD and years of mentorship and friendship. It was great to share this experience with someone as obsessed with rainforest as I am. Can't wait for what's next!

New lab paper hot off the press in @globalchangebio.bsky.social by David Coleman and @westobymark.bsky.social Australia’s #islands may offer climate refuges, but ~40% of #plant populations—especially poorly dispersing species—will face hotter conditions beyond their current limits #ecology #nature

📰Published📰 Climate-induced shifts in long-term tropical tree reproductive phenology: insights from species dependent on and independent of biotic pollination🌼 buff.ly/FGwmHDe 🧪🌍

So proud of Beibei Zhang for leading this paper in @newphyt.bsky.social showing how soils & topography shape variation in canopy dynamics across tropical forest landscapes 🌳🔃🌐 Link to 📃: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... A short 🧵

🍃Recent study uncovers how phylogeny and climate shaped drought strategies in tropical African woody plants. It reveals strong phylogenetic signals in leaf habit and advances modeling leaf habit in relation to tree height and wood density🧪🌍 🔍 Article: buff.ly/FxBXjC0 🗞️ Blog: buff.ly/NikXrqs

(2 of 2) We shared the paper previously but here it is again as part of the latest issue: nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Congratulations to @jradford-smith.bsky.social for making the cover of @ecography.bsky.social with his stunning photo of subtropical #rainforest at Mt Glorious, less than an hour from Brisbane in beautiful Queensland (1 of 2).

So excited to finally share our new paper charting the global spectrum of tree crown architecture, out today at @natcomms.nature.com ‬🧪🌐 Paper link 🔗: www.nature.com/articles/s41... A brief thread of what we found 🧵

#oneforjournalclub Amazon rainforest adjusts to long-term experimental drought 🌐🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🌱Are the traits of seeds & seedlings linked? Evidence from multiple dryland species points to strong coordination in some cases – but not others. This could suggest complex, multidimensional variation in the recruitment strategies of co-occurring species 🧪🌏

We have updated our database of funding opportunities for Early-Career Researchers (private foundations, federal, international) We have 456 entries, for which we provide $ amount, deadline, eligibility criteria, etc. Download this massive database here for free: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...

I had serious FOMO over the long weekend when @lilydun.bsky.social and @jradford-smith.bsky.social headed north to collect more data in scanned forest plots. Thanks to our amazing collaborators ArborMeta for scanning in such awesome places! 🧵 #lidar #TLS #FunctionalTraits #rainforest

📢 New publication 'Do trait–growth relationships vary with plant age in fire-prone heathland #shrubs?' by Lily Dun, Elizabeth Wenk, Daniel Falster, Mark Westoby and Ian Wright in Journal of Ecology 🧪 doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Allowing forests to regrow and regenerate is a great way to restore habitat - new research from Hannah Thomas estimates the habitat values of regrowth for threatened species in Qld theconversation.com/allowing-for...

A beautiful day in Lamington National Park with @lilydun.bsky.social and Dr Bill McDonald (rainforest royalty) identifying trees in a scanned plot #TLS #lidar #Brachychiton

Our paper on the integration of biodiversity-disease and biodiversity-herbivore relationships is out now! Thanks to @idiv-research.bsky.social for supporting us through #sDiv working group funding to bring together two typically disparate fields in ecology! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Functional Diversity Explains Ecosystem Carbon Storage in Subtropical Forests 📄 buff.ly/dPaOH5p

📰Published📰 How do productivity & water-use strategies shape recovery in Caribbean Tropical Dry Forest Trees?🌳 buff.ly/DvLNPLF 🧪🌍

Drier, more seasonal climates strengthen coordination of hydraulic, leaf economic and reproductive strategies in subtropical forest tree communities vist.ly/3m23kct #LeafEconomicSpectrum #Rainforest #SeedSize

#DeadTreeDetective Last year it was Western Australia, this year South Australia is seeing canopy collapse from drought. If you're in SA, please help us figure out how widespread it is!

New Research in Ecology Letters led by David Coleman: Island Plant Species Distributions Contracted at the Cooler Edge Compared to Mainland Why? We're not entirely sure — we'd love to hear additional hypotheses beyond the ones we proposed in the paper. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Australia’s wildlife and environments are world renowned, but in deep, deep trouble. What’s urgently needed, and entirely possible, to begin turning things around? In the lead up to the federal election we discuss what Australia’s next government can and must do theconversation.com/australians-....

Convergent Strategies for Leaf Traits in Tree Species From Divergent Habitats 📄 buff.ly/GT9lMGV

I’m back in the beautiful Bunya Mountains, this time with @lilydun.bsky.social on the lookout for amazing #trees to capture with #lidar. The stylish ☂️ keeps your 2010 iPad dry @bapswijas.bsky.social 😭😭😭

@aunz.theconversation.com featured a new piece about our recent A-Island paper in @jvegsci.bsky.social Some more insights on the fun process of assembling such a dataset. Check it out here: theconversation.com/we-combed-th... #ecology #islands #plants #botany #Australia

The next exciting instalment from @jradford-smith.bsky.social on how climate filters rainforest tree strategies in the Australian subtropics. Now available in early view at @ecography.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/ecog...

Australia's first island plant database, A-Islands, is now out! It includes vegetation surveys from 800+ islands, with many repeated surveys. @biogeokreft.bsky.social @westobymark.bsky.social @ianjwright.bsky.social @iavs5.bsky.social @jvegsci.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

New paper! How does age affect plant trait-growth relationship? Does how you measure growth matter? 🌱📏Big thank you to @ianjwright.bsky.social for giving me the opportunity to lead this when I was just a research assistant. doi.org/10.1111/1365...

What determines the height of a forest? A study finds that soil properties, topography, and regional climate explain 75% of the variation in tropical forest canopy height. Dry season length and elevation were among the key variables. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Amazonian deforestation is making wet seasons wetter and dry seasons dryer, according to research in Nature. The analysis highlights the local and regional effects of removing trees from the tropical region. https://go.nature.com/41jCClO 🧪

Tropical forests are not all the same: they show many shades of geographical variation. Our new paper in Nature led by @jeaggu.bsky.social combines field and satellite data to make a first map the canopy functional traits of the world’s tropical forests: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Are tropical forests in the Americas changing as adaptation to ongoing climate change? Yes, they are! Are these changes enough to track their suitable climate? Not quite! Check out our paper in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... to see more of what our network has been working on!

New paper out about functional trait variation in the canopies of the world's tropical rainforests - congrats Jesús Aguirre-Gutiérrez @jeaggu.bsky.social and co-authors! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Amazon flora and forest functional composition www.nature.com/articles/s42... Congratulations to all authors, led by Hans ter Steege, and with 2054 carefully-inventoried Amazon plots!

🌳Why are buttress roots almost exclusively found in tropical rainforests? Is it mechanical suppport or nutrient competition? Dr. Haozhi Ma is delving into these fascinating questions to uncover patterns and evolutionary advantages tied to buttress roots.🌎✨ shorturl.at/TtakH

Spent the last few days in World Heritage-listed Lamington National Park recensusing an old forest plot with @ecologyella.bsky.social, @lilydun.bsky.social and the indomitable Bill McDonald. Pictured are two of our old-growth rainforest giants - the strangler fig and purple cherry.

Thousands await stinky plant's rare bloom. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This ⬇️ is amazing work that confirms the need to account for interactions between species traits & their exposure to environmental stressors when predicting species redistribution 🌏🏔 It is exactly what we claimed in a perspective published last year in @globalchangebio.bsky.social shorturl.at/DPMX1

We’re taking a leisurely drive (bakery tour) through the South Burnett looking for termites in “dry rainforests”. @bapswijas.bsky.social is our fearless leader. First stop, Yarraman (actually the first stop was Blackbutt Bakery). With @jradford-smith.bsky.social and my old mate Josh Tooth.