New paper out in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social led by @westobymark.bsky.social and others The term ecosystem condition can imply an objective benchmark for what a “good” ecosystem state is. We argue for ecosystem valuation instead: it makes clear that assessing ecosystems involves value judgments.

1. Kevin Gross and I have a new paper out today PLOS Biology. We used economic models based around screening games and the market for unpaid labor to highlight a meltdown cycle threatening peer review.

A paper in Nature presents OpenScholar, an open-source language model that can outperform commercial large language models in performing accurate literature reviews. go.nature.com/3MozzFq #Academicsky 🧪

"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.

Our new preprint out led by David Coleman, @westobymark.bsky.social and others: The most abundant plant species of Eastern Australia and our knowledge of their traits Just <1% of species make up 50% of the entire vegetation cover of Eastern Australia. doi.org/10.64898/202...

🏆We are pleased to announce that our Eminent Ecologist for 2025 is Angela Moles! ✨Angela has collected a few of her favourite Journal of Ecology papers together here: buff.ly/86uQ6v5

Paper out in Ecology Letters! We - incl. @westobymark.bsky.social @biogeokreft.bsky.social and others - show that traits are linked to species’ colonisation and extinction probabilities on #islands — with direct implications for species persistence and the Equilibrium Theory of Island #Biogeography

1/At Macquarie Uni we are losing 50% of our units in my faculty. This is on top of cuts in 2020. We estimate by next year my faculty will be teaching 80% fewer subjects than pre Covid. Disciplines being cut do not have declining enrolments. @jennaprice.bsky.social @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social

www.publish.csiro.au/bt/Fulltext/... Reflection in Aust J Bot "Trajectories of ecology past and future" #ecology

Wind and frost have surprisingly strong effects on global patterns in leaf cuticle thickness! Latitude, biome and taxonomy matter too. Other climate variables not so much. #trait research from international team including @lawrensack.bsky.social @westobymark.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1111/nph....

Excited to share our new paper led by Tsinghua Uni ECR Zhang Han: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/.... New model based on eco-evolutionary optimality explains observed seasonal and spatial trends in stem respiration, implies stem CO2 efflux down by >25% by 2100, reducing land carbon emissions.

Going live in 2 hours... @jpodwyer.bsky.social and @sarperotto.bsky.social interview Bob Holt for @smtpb.bsky.social youtu.be/q8hX3S0xMJc?...

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

🌿The Value of Biodiversity Excited to share a new #EcolClip featuring world-renowned ecologist Prof. Peter Reich @umich.edu I found Peter's insights into the future of #biodiversity especially inspiring www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVLM... Please boost if you like it #ecology #science #nature #biology

📢 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...

New paper out in @journalofecology.bsky.social led by Rudi Otto from Universidad de La Laguna (Tenerife) Primary succession and plant functional traits on an oceanic island Plant communities shift from fast-growing, wind-dispersed pioneers to slow-growing, animal-dispersed endemics as lava ages.

We're living in a landscape of novel ecosystems, emerging in every part of the world. The topic has been ably covered in this BBC article on "freakosystems" by Matthew Ponsford @interspecies.agency www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Elizabeth Wenk & colleagues from @unswbees.bsky.social are making it easier for scientists to align databases with the current taxonomic classifications of their study species #R #APCalign #AustralianPlantCensus doi.org/10.1071/BT24...

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/...

News article about our recent paper in Nature on global impoverishment of natural vegetation by Conny Sattler (cosattler.com) and myself in @theconversation.com @aunz.theconversation.com theconversation.com/invisible-lo... www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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...

inspiring and useful #functional #ecology tea towel, with much thanks to @ianjwright.bsky.social, Sharyon O'Donnell and Nathan Hart

📣 Register for our first #webinar of 2025! @westobymark.bsky.social is Prof. Emeritus in the School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University. One strand of his research has defined #ecological strategy variation across plant species by means of quantitative traits. 📝: uqz.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

"John Raven, FRS, FRSE: a truly great innovator in plant physiology, photosynthesis and much more" link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Memorial Lecture Feb 26 2025 @ANU Fenner School. David Brand: The Evolution of Forestry into a Natural Capital Asset Class. fennerschool.anu.edu.au/news-events/...