Published today in @nature.com, our study shows that the #foodweb trophic structure is critical for #ecosystemfunctioning. Read it here: rdcu.be/frxEl This has been an incredibly rewarding collaboration with many amazing scientists! 🌐🧪🦑🍁🌱 @waikatouniversity.bsky.social @idiv-research.bsky.social

Emerging Scientist Prize goes to Luke Harrington of University of Waikato. His work includes calculating contribution of climate change to extreme weather events 👏 #NZPMSciPrizes

Note to journals and editors: automatic "no" to review requests that give time lines of 2 weeks or less. I usually get them done in this time frame but I dont except anyone to get through my papers that quickly - in fact - take your time. 😁

We're pleased to announce applications are now open for NZ Association of Science's 2026 Medals. The closing date for all applications is 5pm Monday 3rd August 2026. The medals are ... scientists.org.nz/Awards (1/7)

1/n We just published a global assessment of GHG emissions from global rice cultivation. Led by Jingting Zhang & Hanqin Tian, this is part of the Global Carbon Project's efforts to constrain the Global Methane Budget & provide relevant data for GHG mitigation. theconversation.com/rice-feeds-b...

And also see excellent article by @kategevans.bsky.social www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-... Fortresses in the wetlands

This makes me happy www.yahoo.com/entertainmen...

It is always a happy day when a student's work is published. A neat study that quantifies the importance of dung input on soil C stokcs in grazed pastures! authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Good morning! The Climate Change Commission has just released the first National Climate Change Risk Assessment in six years – and I've read the key document. In short: Climate change is here, we're not ready, but there's lots we can do to prepare. For more: newsroom.co.nz/2026/05/07/l...

Looking forward to this event. Young people ask the most impressive questions that make you think hard. www.sciencealive.co.nz/events/ask-a...

A new peat paper in @mdpiopenaccess.bsky.social enaccess.bsky.social Problem is, it's chock-full of AI generated references, including several papers with my name on that don't exist. How did the reviewers not spot this? www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/16...

20 years ago I started teaching a Masters course on Soil and greenhouse gases with a mitigation focus. Naturally I show a graph of global temperatures each year in the first lecture. Depressingly looks like the temperature has increased by more than 0.5 C since I started teaching. #weneedtodobetter

There is a grand piano at the front the lecture theatre where I am going lecture on soil management. For some reason, this makes me happy. Note: I have no skills with music other than an eclectic taste. I am hoping one of the students can play to warm up the crowd.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... We are having problems renewing home coverage. Forced to add home security & water turnoff meter (> $2k) just to renew. Alternative coverage would be $12k The atmosphere should not be a free sewer. Time to internalize these externalities.

Landing in Dunedin Aotearoa in about 90 minutes for the start of a trip that represents the culmination of a dream I’ve had since I was ten years old.

A new soil lecturer position available at the University of Waikato (equivalent to Assistant Professor in US terms). elhs.fa.ap1.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Ngā mihi nui to our treasured Kaumātua Professor Tom Roa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato, Ngāti Apakura), who has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit 🧵

We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing: a 🧵 1/n Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...

Another way NZ resembles Ireland

I thought of the gold clam invasion in the Waikato mostly as a threat to ecosystems, but the clams' need for calcium to build their shells impairs arsenic removal during treatment, threatening drinking water for millions theconversation.com/gold-clam-in...

Excited to have this paper out, soil microbial growth Topt (and other metrics) increases by 0.22°C–0.27°C per 1°C warming along a longstanding geothermal gradient. Global Change Biology | Environmental Change Journal | Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Also excited to be chatting about this tonight on www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro... - around 8.05/8.10pm if you're keen to tune in 🕸️🕸️🕸️

A Conversation piece on our (@manpreetkdhami.bsky.social @sbirdy.bsky.social) quirky fake spiderweb research for eDNA biomonitoring, just out in time for Halloween. Paper forthcoming! theconversation.com/spiders-insp...

I had to read this twice, what?

Good Lord!

New Zealand accused of ‘full-blown climate denial’ over cuts to methane reduction targets #Climate

"Agriculture and Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay said the government had worked closely with industry and accepted a range of advice to determine a "practical target"." Imagine a business setting a "practical target" rather than success and being ambitious www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

I thought I’d have a go at answering the question: what’s the flow on effect on emissions budgets from the methane cuts? The answer was worse than I had anticipated www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

"Chief people officer Keri-Anne Tane said reduced funding and the sector going through reforms meant they had to pause taking on new graduates." www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/575...

Applications for @ipcc.bsky.social AR7 Chapter Scientists close on 18th October. Great opportunity for emerging researchers from developing countries! 🧪🌎🌱

Every year, the Ig Nobel Prizes honor the weirdest and most wonderful science out there—like studying how drunk bats fly or the physics of perfect pasta. It’s all real research, and it’s all hilariously brilliant. Because sometimes science makes you laugh… then think. 🎤🎥🎞️@tomlumperson.bsky.social

High nitrate levels found in rural NZ drinking water – Expert Reaction

We need the NZ Climate Change Commission independence, wisdom, courage, and intellect. www.climatecommission.govt.nz/who-we-are/o...

It seems like it’s dangerous for scientists to speak out against Colossal’s “de extinction research”. www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

It feels slow not because of facts, but because the doom-narrative drowns out reality. 📉 The truth: solar doubled from 1,000 → 2,000 TWh in just 3 yrs, wind’s surging too. Fossils took decades. The fastest energy leap in history is here—don’t let fear blind you. ⚡🌞 #EnergyTransition #BESS #EVs #LFP

More cuts to the Marsden Fund. This time $20 million from the annual budget cut starting next year. This is on top of previous cuts by this government. They are trying to skip the 'priming the pump' step of public research as a driver of the economy. How well that is going to work? #NZPOL

On behalf of the Netherlands, I’m sorry for all the whales that are killed by our windmills throughout the centuries. 🌬️

Folks, there is a snail out there looking for love and you may be able to help them find it.... www.nzgeo.com/newsletter/t...

Important read "For Indigenous Peoples in the 21st century, statistical erasure remains an ongoing issue." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...?

This is so bad! How out of touch with human decency. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

For teachers everywhere: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/lesson

cool idea

1. Kevin Gross and I just posted a new science-of-science preprint. This one explores the looming peer review crisis. As many of you know, it's becoming significantly more difficult for journal editors to find scholars willing to serve as peer reviewers for submitted manuscripts.

An excellent explainer from @eloisegibson.bsky.social on the sorry state of our ETS. Meanwhile the extreme events keep coming, here and around the world. www.rnz.co.nz/news/what-yo...

We are looking for a technician to support our work on greenhouse gas emissions #ghg from drained #peat. We use eddy covariance and chambers. You will support a team of researchers and students in the waiber.com team www.seek.co.nz/University-o...

a shame

New research from my colleagues out today looking at the environmental and social impacts of food crop-based biofuels in the US, where we now use >30% of the corn supply and >40% of the soybean oil supply (on tens of millions of acres of prime cropland) to produce only ~6% of US transport fuel. 🧪