Today, the University of Maine's Vice Chancellor for Finance and Strategic AI Integration (who made $243,000 last year) sent UMaine campuses an announcement that we have partnered with OpenAI with a contract for ChatGPT Edu. I sent him the following questions:

Reimagining Plant Science Training in the Era of Generative AI: A Global Perspective by Moghe et al. doi.org/10.1093/plce... I'm critical of how AI is being used in education, but this article is too, and points to how it CAN be incorporated into plant science education ethically and effectively.

Baby plants! 🪴🪴🪴

A little #MondayMorningMystery! 🔎 We've been contacted by someone hoping for help to identify the church in this happy wedding picture. Produced by early 20thC Edinburgh photographers the Thomson Bros, the brick-built church is most likely in Edinburgh or the Lothians. Does anyone recognise it?

This is excellent reporting by @manidunlop.bsky.social outlining the Mana Wahine Inquiry and the experiences of both political and business leaders. www.teaonews.co.nz/2026/05/11/t... #nzpol

We are launching the Biodiversity Futures Working Groups. The call supports small, focused synthesis groups addressing frontier questions in biodiversity science. We welcome proposals from researchers at any career stage. Deadline: 30 June 2026, 23:00 CET www.maraujolab.eu/2026/05/09/2...

Finally we are recruiting a physical geographer in the school of the environment at the university of Queensland, Australia. Looking for researchers who are passionate about teaching. Keen for people working in hydrology, geomorphology, climate modelling. uq.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/uqcare...

Universities that run the National Center for Atmospheric Research want to keep it from being dismantled

'Ngayuku ngura - My Country' by Wawiriya Burton, Indigenous Australian artist from Pipalyatjara who is also a ngangkaṟi (traditional healer) #womensart

New #ecoevo paper @pnas.org: Evolution of species’ range and niche in changing environments. I show that feedback between evolutionary and population dynamics can create a tipping point where genetic variance erodes, and species’ ranges contract or fragment www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #popgen 🧬🧪 🌎

Going to see the finalists of the Archibald Prize each year is one of the many things I miss about Sydney. This year's winner is a beauty! www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Well that's our first year uni student totally screwed over then - and all first and second year students tbh. Student Loans are a hardship to pay off, leave our young people saddled with debt, make it harder to build capital & create poorer social outcomes www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

I've also written up an analysis on the implications of these findings for MPs: The report must be a wake-up call to politicians. Decisions around cost-sharing and managed retreat may be unpopular, but kicking the can down the road is an abdication of responsibility. newsroom.co.nz/2026/05/07/t...

Hello world! This is the Global Dendrometer Network 🌍. We have been founded by the growing community of researchers and practitioners working with high-resolution tree diameter measurements: from microscopic movements to forest-scale insights. 🌳 Join our mailing list here: forms.gle/ETPuNVCH7x89...

My tribute to the one and only, Sir David Attenborough theconversation.com/from-fossick... Happy birthday!

Still a few hours left of day 6 of #MenstrualHealthAwarenessMonth, and today we ask, at what age did you get your first period? #PeriodFriendlyWorld 1/5

Solar panels + batteries + electric transport gives us the freedom to take back control of our energy and transport systems from dependence on oil supply chains stretching around the world, and stabilise the climate in the process.

Functional traits can efficiently characterize and distinguish the complex communities where South America's largest biomes meet. Congratulations to Wesley Jonatar Alves da Cruz for his tremendous work untangling this critical transition zone! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #Amazon #Cerrado

I am trying to get in touch with the whānau of Dave Terangi, a Ngāpuhi fella who lived in Margaret St, Papakura. We did some research with Dave, and we know he has since died, but we would like to return a taonga. If anyone knows his whānau, pls DM me. Also Pls retweet (so to speak).

“By restoring fire to the landscape, communities also restore stories, kinship, and stewardship practices that have been displaced by ­settler-colonial disruption.” (1/2) osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/landkee...

Kirsten is a PhD student gathering data on the experiences of people with safety on public transport. It's super important that marginalised communities are represented in this, so if you're a public transport user, take the online questionaire! auckland.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Hiring 3 postdocs in ecological resilience @biology.ox.ac.uk for my @erc.europa.eu CoG ResIntegrate project. Deadline May 29th. Details below. Pls share @salgoteam.bsky.social @evoldir.bsky.social @britishecologicalsociety.org @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social @ecolsocaus.bsky.social

Time for my yearly update on how we're doing in AoNZ vis-a-vis PhD stipends (poorly). I use the Marsden Fund PhD and Masters stipends as the benchmark because they are at the *top* end of what is offered, btw. 🧪

Come and work with me at @universityofotago.bsky.social Review of apps begins 21 May www.linkedin.com/posts/te-pun...

New editorial out now by Co-Editors-in-Chief @jwmorganecology.bsky.social and @markooiecol.bsky.social discussing publishing trends, most cited papers and the future of our journal 🌿 🔗Read the article here: doi.org/10.1071/BT26...

In NZ only 10% of original wetlands remain. Two hours ago the Govt announced that it would change regulations to allow beef cattle and deer to graze in wetlands where populations of threatened species live. It is a #WarOnNature on behalf of agribusiness environment.govt.nz/assets/publi... p.135

Re-upping. This is probably the most "likely to produce results" of any area of kauri protection research.

Last chance to apply for this fantastic PhD opportunity this week. Please get in touch for the full project details and application process.

ACT's immigration policy includes "a $6 per day infrastructure surcharge on temporary work visas, on top of existing charges." This is a tax. Which applies, per head, only to immigrants. I.e. a head tax. Just leaving the record of the last time we did that, and the official apology for it, here.

If you missed this yesterday… #MenstrualHealthAwarenessMonth

The article includes a few of the common discourses of climate delay (and actually specifically calls it delay) including: - whataboutisim/our emissions are too small - emphasize the downsides/cant afford -technological optimism - fossil fuel solutionism www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

“Drivers of complexity in ecosystem restoration” Waddell 2026 - Journal of Applied Ecology - besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

First post on bsky and first publication of my PhD! Check it out: Intercropping and cover cropping differentially alter maize secondary metabolism and affect herbivore resistance - Jordán - 2026 - Journal of Applied Ecology - besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#NowHiring Science Officer in the IPCC Working Group II Technical Support Unit based at the College of the Integrative Studies, Singapore. Applications close 1 May 2026 Details ➡️ lnkd.in/g2Qvqa2A

In a cost of living crisis, everyone is expected to spend money to save power. These tips are not wrong but I'm not sure where many people will find money to cover the outlay. #NZPol Five ways to save power www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...

I've been watching these buds all week and now they are finally open. A spring-time delight!

In 8 years I’ve held 2 fellowships, worked in 3 fields, published 30+ papers, took part in a Mars mission, and developed better methods of measuring plastic pollution. I’m genuinely proud of the work I’ve done, but this might be the last year I can call myself a scientist.

The China Forest Museum in Harbin is a hidden gem for plant nerds but the taxidermy is a little unfortunate. #BadTaxidermy

Loving watching the flowers blooming in early spring here in Harbin China.

Interested in ant ecology? Have molecular and bioinformatics experience? Come and join the team! 18-month post-doc position at University of York now live: jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/post...

"Why not return to basics? Fund our universities properly, provide mechanisms to support our graduates to build careers here rather than board a flight to Australia, and fund high-quality, internationally excellent research – assessed as such through international peer review." #NZPol

Mostly it is self-explanatory. Few things though: The cleantech report. Just to avoid any more divide & conquer, zero sum game nonsense 😉 may I just say that I am a massive fan of forests generally & here for us scaling up native reforestation. But we also need to decarbonise at global scale

Northeast Forestry University winning on the merch game - first time I've had a university-branded icecream. Not the greatest green tea icecream I've ever had but definitely the most novel.

Land vertebrates increasingly exposed to multiple extreme events by 2085 Heinicke+ doi.org/10.1038/s415... "predict changes in exposure to droughts, heatwaves, river floods and wildfires for 33,936 terrestrial vertebrate species and 794 ecoregions. By 2050"

pls repost! Are you an academic or someone who has published academically who has requested name changes in your works because you were married (or used to go by a former name)? please let me know via reply/DM/the contact form on my website if you're willing to chat about! #AcademicChatter 🗂️🗃️📜📚

Thanks to all who have shared this for us. It's an amazing opportunity for a PhD project to help save kauri trees from kauri dieback.

Supposedly visiting Northeast Forestry University in Harbin China for the trees, and teaching but gotta say, the mammals are pretty cute too!

🌱 Plant dominance can be predicted from soil water flow because root traits are conserved within species 👉️ buff.ly/g6pDmbd

Check out this growing thread of papers from the Special Feature on 20 Years of Evidence Based Conservation by @jappliedecology.bsky.social associate editor and guest editor for the special feature @philmartin.bsky.social