Most illegal activity in the ocean takes place on licensed vessels. This is the context in which a new agreement to protect the high seas has emerged. It has three broad legs

Very sad to hear of this. I met Emma at conference I organized in Montreal in 2019. She had a stellar reputation, so I invited her as a keynote speaker. She was charismatic & inspirational. Students in particular told me they enjoyed meeting her. Wonderful person. theconversation.com/emma-johnsto...

Very sad news. The world needs more people like Emma. Her death is a tragic loss for science, education, and society . I wish Emma’s family and friends peace at this time.

Current evidence shows: More invaders in an ecosystem = greater likelihood that one will be disruptive. Invaders can interact synergistically with each other & with external stressors. Rather than generate resistance, higher invasion rates promote more disruption. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Ricefishes of the genus Oryzias always fascinate me. At first glance I at once think it must be a small Percina darter species, a Poeciliid livebearer, or a North American silversides. Here's a newly described species from northern Taiwan. 🧪🌍🐟 #TeamFish

Awesome article in @science.org on @danielgeldof.bsky.social Master's thesis on the secret of the rockhead poacher’s (Bothragonus swanii) unusual cranial anatomy. Daniel did some beautiful CT scans on this odd fish's head. www.science.org/content/arti...

A global estimator of C and N isotope baselines for fresh waters. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 00, 1–15. doi.org/10.1111/2041...

Prep. Finished for a minor (cat. 2; likely 90 km/hr winds) cyclone here in Darwin.

The application deadline for these has been extended (due to them being open an unreasonably short time initially, not b/c we got too few applications). Dust off your CV, friends. 🧪⚒️

A new special collection, released in the journal Wildlife Research @wildliferesearchj.bsky.social, published by @csiropublishing.bsky.social, showcases some of the amazing Indigenous-led and cross-cultural wildlife research occurring in Australia 🧪 Watch the full interview in the link below.

The remarkably long lifespan of bowhead whales could be due to an increased ability to repair DNA mutations, according to research in Nature. go.nature.com/4hzvDN7 🌏 🧪

The not-so-little Murray cod that could: fish tracked swimming 900km along Australia’s biggest river system www.theguardian.com/environment/... 🧪🦑🌎🐠

the IUCN have passed the Longevity Conservation motion put forward to them by @kellerfish.bsky.social and @pili-scotland.bsky.social and based on the paper we wrote on the value of older individuals in animal societies. www.cdu.edu.au/news/global-...

The North Atlantic right whale, one of the rarest whales on the planet, now numbers an estimated 384 animals, up 8 whales from the previous year, according to the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. Right whales were once hunted to the brink of extinction. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The Victorian government’s decisions do a great disservice to expert’s time and carefully considered advice, and most importantly, the health of the places and wildlife we love.

Proud papa moment: my son J published a letter in the @nytimes.com today (in print tomorrow) on the need to think our definitions of autism.

📑 #NewReview by Boube et al. dives into the scientific literature around the Great Hammerhead Shark. Our understanding of its migratory behaviour and habitat use is changing. 👀 doi.org/10.1007/s111...

Extinctions serve as important warning signs that something is very wrong in the environment. Will we finally heed these warnings? Our mental wellbeing and over half our economy depends on it. theconversation.com/and-then-the...

Attempted eradication of smallmouth bass promotes rapid evolution. Here's the study that is the focus of the Scientific American article: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

@scbeurope.bsky.social @society4conbio.bsky.social @science.org @altfws.altgov.info

@biodiversityguy.bsky.social @euanritchie.bsky.social @ljnbrent.bsky.social @pili-scotland.bsky.social @chrisjolly.bsky.social @charlesdarwinuni.bsky.social @rarlinghausfish.bsky.social @shoalorg.bsky.social @sharkscience.bsky.social @amfisheriessoc.bsky.social @fishconserve.bsky.social

If you are a voting member of the IUCN - please consider supporting our motion (113) for Longevity Conservation at the Congress this week @iucnshark.bsky.social @aciucn.bsky.social @iucn-bctf.bsky.social @sscmarine.bsky.social iucncongress2025.org/assembly/mot...

The disproportionate impact of the #megabiota on biodiversity and ecosystem processes

Dexter and Casper snoozing

Little surprise saltwater crocodile swimming off local Darwin beach; I did let the surf lifeguards and swimmers know!

A BIG congratulations to Dr Tegan Dedman for completing her PhD @charlesdarwinuni.bsky.social. Effects of sea level rise on the tropical freshwater wetland communities

Bison inhibits tree growth in Great Plains. We should give wisent a better chance to do the same in German national parks. esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

@sse-evolution.bsky.social just announced the following: Call for Proposals: Research Synthesis Working Groups The Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) invites proposals for sponsored Research Synthesis Working Groups at the 2026 Evolution meeting (up to two in-person and one virtual). ...

Does body size predict abundance the same way in all environments, as predicted by the Metabolic theory of Ecology? Our new study challenges this assumption. Read it here: 📄 doi.org/10.1111/ele....

Classic macroecological laws-long held as signatures of biological systems-also emerge in economic and geological systems. The real signal lies not in the static universal patterns, but in how those patterns shift with scale 🌐🧪 #scaling #macroecology journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Cool... a global focus on three core traits of ectotherms: metabolic rate, development time and fecundity. ShareTrait: Towards interoperable and reusable individual trait-based data in ectotherms #OpenTraits #FunctionalTraits besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1... 🧪🌐

The Society of Wildlife Art have a wonderful project at Massingham Heath rewilding project, Norfolk. Here Amie Haslam and Brin Edwards explain the project. youtu.be/hiCQiSHuaG4?...

This is fascinating - the brain fires up immune cells when sick people are nearby 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Why did some #megafauna survive? 🦣🦘🦌 Our new study shows #extinction risk was higher for larger, flat-footed, island species— and lower for those closely related to tropical African/Asian fauna, likely filtered by earlier human impacts 👣🍖 📄 doi.org/10.1111/geb.... #hominid #hunting #evolution

Like the old-growth coastal redwoods that host whole other ecosystems in their spires, these extraordinary Australian stick insects reveal not only the richness and mystery of mature forest canopies but how vital their protection is for countless forms of life. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Albatrosses make distinct flight hops when following fishing vessels 🎣 In this blog post, Jonathan Rutter discusses a new behaviour-based method to detect previously hidden interactions between seabirds and fishing vessels 🛰️🌏🧪 👇 appliedecologistsblog.com/2025/07/31/a...

There's so much life in the deep ocean, and there's still so much to discover! #deepocean #marinescience 🧪 www.bbc.com/news/article...

To fill or not to fill: Comparing imputation methods for improved riverine long-term biodiversity monitoring 💭🌎 Suggests gap filling in biodiversity data can distort trends as more missing years mean easier fits but higher uncertainty 📊🧪 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/1365...

1500 km2 of tropical savanna dotted with crystal clear water holes. Camping off the beaten track in Litchfield National Park is pretty special

An ecological trait matrix of Neotropical freshwater fishes @gymnotus.bsky.social et al. 2025 Scientific Data www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Novel complete mitochondrial genomes of eight riverine Lamprologus species (Actinopterygii, Cichlidae) suggest in-situ speciation of the blind cichlid L. lethops in the lower Congo River Jimenez et al. 2025 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Please pass along - postdoc position! with our working group on #FunctionalTraits and rarity. This is part of the FREE (Functional Rarity in Ecology and Evolution) working group led by Cyrille Violle in Montpellier France 🧪🌐🌾 emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

Amazing paper by He Zang and colleagues showing the (truly!) long-term decline of tigers in Eastern Asia Chinese difangzhi, and other historical documents, are used to describe range loss since the 16th century with an increadible spatial precision onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Silky sharks - sleek oceanic predators that were once one of the most abundant shark species in our oceans - are now considered vulnerable on the IUCN Red List due to their decreasing population. They are threatened by overfishing, and are the second most commonly caught shark in global fisheries.

Happy to see our new paper published exploring size-based trophic dynamics in Australia’s largest river system besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Simple, Universal Rules Predict Trophic Interaction Strengths #scaling #allometry #bodysize 🧪🌐https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ele.70126?campaign=woletoc

Repeated and widespread evolution of biofluorescence in marine fishes Carr et al. 2025 Nature Comm. 459 known biofluorescent teleosts (the majority are associated with coral reefs); estimate biofluorescence evolved multiple times but first ~112 mya www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Adaptations to marine environments and the evolution of slow-paced life histories in endotherms www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our latest paper highlights changes in the marine community at Shiprock in Sydney over half a century. #sydney_science #SAEF_ARC #marineexplorer 🧪🦑 Open access: doi.org/10.1071/MF24...