🚨Looking for a PhD project on 🐝? look no further! ✅ "Metapopulation dynamics of pollinating bees under pesticide pressure" Hosted @bristolbiosci.bsky.social and University of Swansea, with myself, @harrysiviter.bsky.social, and Miguel Lurgi Full details: bpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristo...

Great to see #lizards represented! 🦎

New study modelling common lizard declines in Belgium, using structured survey and citizen science data 🦎📉 #lizard #zootoca #herpetology link.springer.com/article/10.1...

More evidence for the successful use of wildlife underpasses! 🐸🦎

Announcing our Vanishing Viper 2025 conference to be held in September at Chester This special two-day event focused on our native adder, Viper berus, seeks to unlock the drivers behind adder declines & determine how research & landscape-level projects can meet the challenges #vanishingviper2025

Hi all! I've been shortlisted for the BIAZA Photo Competition 2025 in the Native Species category!📸 Please can you vote for my photo on their Facebook! (just by reacting to my submission!) www.facebook.com/share/16MksF... - voting closes on Thursday night! The image below is the one to look for!🐍

For my PhD, I need to catch lizards to take a mouth swab to retrieve a DNA sample. In comes the lizard lasso! A fishing rod with a small lasso loop tied to the end, I sneak up on lizards as they bask and (hopefully) slip them into the lasso 🦎

American researchers looking for funding: @euraxessudc.bsky.social is an all-purpose platform for researchers & scientists seeking to advance their careers by moving to EU countries.This link includes job, funding, hosting opportunities, & career development guidance. euraxess.ec.europa.eu

This week marked the true beginning of my PhD, where we got out and collected our first common lizard DNA samples! This will all feed into mapping lizard population genetics across the UK, and to hopefully work towards a brighter future for these little guys in the age of nature's decline 🤙🦎

India experiences an extreme burden from snakebite each year, averaging 58,000 snakebite deaths annually. Some good news to help combat this problem: a new app for everyday Indians to connect with snake catchers and hospitals across India in times of emergency to help prevent and manage snakebite.

Spring has certainly arrived in the UK with the first herp sightings of the year this week! 🐍🦎🐸 ✅️Common frog (Rana temporaria), pair in amplexus ✅️Common toad (Bufo bufo) ✅️Smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) ✅️Viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara) ✅️European adder (Vipera berus)

Quite important for European herpetology, the scientific name of the Alpine newt shifts again to Mesotriton alpestris: www.salamandra-journal.com/index.php/co... #amphibians #herpetology #newts #Mesotriton

Thanks to all who turned out in the cold and damp weather to set up our reptile survey at Chasewater. A collaborative effort between BBCARG, SASARG and the Chasewater rangers, this is the first crucial step in mapping herps across the site! 🦎 🐍 🐸 Photos thanks to Steve Holland

New paper on smooth snake ecology! 🐍 ✅️ snake diet in Hungary consists mainly of lizards (65%) ✅️ snake occupancy is attributed to lizard prey availability ✅️ no evidence that smooth snakes negatively impact meadow vipers Implications for Britain's populations? 🐍🦎 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New paper about Aesculapian snake spatial ecology! 🐍

Disappointed is an understatement 🫠 UK climate and nature bill dropped after deal with Labour backbenchers www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A selection of before and after pics from heathland habitat management at some of the Walsall heaths we monitor. Without intervention the heath would succeed into birch and pine woodland, outcompeting the heather that gives the structure needed for common lizards to bask 🦎 Lizard surveys to follow!

Fonseca Species Conservation Fund is now accepting proposals for herpetofauna, freshwater fish, primates & small mammals. FSCF is for early career conservationists 35 years and younger, provides grants of up to $25,000 to support threatened species conservation. www.rewild.org/the-fonseca-...

Video on our paper about the problem of invasive species carried with ornamental plants. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgNV... academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

We have not yet introduced #AnimalTA to the Bluesky community, but it’s a free and user-friendly tool for animal behavior research! 🕷️🔬 See here how it’s used to study spiderlings dispersal in our experiments. Have questions? Feel free to contact us! #Science #Spiders 🧪

There’s space for 100 more poeple on this 2nd edition #herper starter pack, let me know if you’d like to be added. go.bsky.app/9e5s1ek #herpetology #amphibians #reptiles 🐸🐍🦎🐢

AI-INTERVENE is now accepting applications for 26 PhD projects in AI and Biodiversity findaphd.com/phds/program.... Hosted by UCL and the University of Reading, in partnership with NHM, ZSL, Kew Gardens, and UKCEH. More details at ai-intervene.net #biodiversity #AI #conservation

Keep common species common 🤘

Just look at the scale patterns on this common lizard (Zootoca vivipara) 🦎 I can't wait for these guys to wake up again, spring cannot come soon enough!