I just passed my 50,000th identification on @inaturalist.bsky.social! Identifying is a huge but often ignored part of the #iNaturalist community and dataset so I wanted to share why and how I identify. 1/14 🧪 #ecology #taxonomy #botany #CommunityScience

"Burned by the cataclysmic bushfires of 2019, a national park called the Barrington Tops exploded in rare veined doubletail orchids, and now the traditional owners of the lands perform prescribed burns to aid these flowers in flourishing under duress from invasive species."

Important new paper from @marshallburke.bsky.social on the devastating toll of wildfire smoke in @nature.com "climate-driven smoke deaths result in economic damages that exceed existing estimates of climate-driven damages from all other causes combined in the US" www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Bill Hare @billhare.bsky.social - climate scientists and former IPCC Leas Author - says the recently released Australian NCRA **is one of the best risk assessments done globally** “a very fine piece of work” He’s far less enthusiastic about political silly statements www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Toxic baits are good at removing mammal pests from natural areas but what if lots of native insects are munching them too? Postgrad Kayla Valentine talks us through how weta complicate our mammal control in a new @ecolincnz article at: t.co/qb2Nld1nGh

National climate change risk assessment for #Australia’s natural ecosystems tech reports are online: We report Australia’s natural ecosystems are highly exposed & vulnerable to climate change across the land and sea. 1/🧵

Africa’s clean energy dawn is here. ☀️ In the past 12 months, solar panel imports soared 60%, with 20 countries setting records—from Nigeria & Kenya to Algeria, Tanzania & Zambia. A rising Sun lifts all humans, and Africa is joining the global surge toward a solar-powered future. 🌍🔋 #EnergyTransition

The National Climate Risk Report - my life for two years - has just been released. www.acs.gov.au/pages/nation... Minister Bowen press conference at: www.youtube.com/live/GLvd_fu... My specific report on the weather and climate hazards: climateservice.maps.arcgis.com/sharing/rest...

The National Climate Risk Assessment is now live: www.acs.gov.au/pages/nation...

📖Published📖 Check out Furlaud et al. new perspective article 👉 State-and-transition simulation models: How can we use them to assess ecosystem condition and support nature markets 🌍 🧪 buff.ly/ynLOhtt

Predator Free Wellington sent local body candidates a small survey asking their views on the role of biodiversity + whether they'd support ongoing funding of $540k. Like Living Wage, it's another good barometer of who to vote for. www.pfw.org.nz/our-project/...

Extremely important study linking increase in heatwaves to both climate change and the fossil fuel companies which most contribute to this www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Scientists tracking the birds in an experimental forest in New Hampshire have also tracked changes in the forest ecosystem over decades.

The arboretum has been even more heavily affected by drought this year - sad to see, but fascinating from a research perspective

Drought sensitivity in eucalypts is climate‐adapted and consistently influenced by wood density - great work by PhD student Victoria Perez-Martinez at @deannicolle1.bsky.social Currency Creek Arboretum during the Tinderbox drought besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

One more! Here the stellar Laura Williams leads a review of detection + attribution of change in Australian vegetation. The upshot: with current monitoring, it's remarkably difficult to attribute effects of climate - which has important consequences for management

Deforestation is responsible for nearly 75% of dry season rainfall reduction in the Amazon rainforest since 1985, according to a study in Nature Communications. go.nature.com/3I2xPzr ⚒️ 🧪

Analysis of eddy-covariance C and water fluxes during the Australian Tinderbox drought of 2017-2019 showed remarkable resilience and recovery in most Australian forest types. Great work from @clares-hydro.bsky.social and OzFlux community onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Just heading back from a quick couple of days in the scrub at Yarraman with a wonderful crew including Dr Bill McDonald.

Solar and green rooves are not only compatible, but enhance each other. www.straitstimes.com/singapore/en...

It’s amazing that you now have to worry about what vegetation & debris could catch or carry a wildfire next to Vancouver homes & other wood structures. It’s (was?) a year round temperate rainforest.

🔥🌱 From the upcoming #AJB Special Issue: “Understanding novel #fire regimes using plant trait‐based approaches" 🌱🔥 Adaptive plant traits under anthropogenic burning regimes: A database for UK heath and mire plant species By @kimsimp.bsky.social et al. doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... #botany #plantscience

Adaptive plant traits under anthropogenic burning regimes: A database for UK heath and mire plant species @kimsimp.bsky.social et al. in @botsocamerica.bsky.social bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...

Check out our piece in @theconversation.com explaining how intraspecific trait coordination across climatic gradients helps to avoid heat stress in some (but not all) tropical tree species theconversation.com/some-tropica...

Can tropical rainforest trees keep their cool? Now out in @globalchangebio.bsky.social we explored whether intraspecific variation in leaf energy balance was a result of adaptation to local climate. doi.org/10.1111/gcb....

Tuned in yesterday for an impassioned plea and delightful talk by @john-m-dwyer.bsky.social on how dry rainforest trees, including our beloved vine thickets, could be used to revegetate Brisbane's streets in the lead up to the 2032 Olympics. Lots of neat data on temp. niches!

We have a #Tansley review out today @newphyt.bsky.social led by Becky Banbury Morgan in which we put forward a new framework that aims to explain how and why edge effects on forest structure vary across ecosystems and through time 📜 doi.org/10.1111/nph....

Previous research found California fires are getting faster amid a hotter, drier climate and a century of fire suppression. “This is the California foothills,” @pyrogeog.bsky.social said. “... This is the region where you really have fires being carried by that grass understory.”

A patina of hate: The targeting of academics in New Zealand, January to June 2025 www.linkedin.com/pulse/patina... (LinkedIn) sanjanah.wordpress.com/2025/09/03/a... (WordPress) #nzpol #dangerousspeech #academicfreedom #freedomofexpression #newzealand

NEW! Journal of #Pyrogeography has been launched! We cover landscape #fire interactions with #climate, #ecosystems, and #society and welcome studies from diverse research fields spanning the natural and social sciences. Stay tuned to Upcoming Special Issues! www.sciencedirect.com/journal/jour...

New study shows that transitional Amazon-Cerrado vegetation have different response strategies to fire based on their functional traits. These strategies influence post-fire survival and overall community structure and composition #DiscoLab @manumachadoeco.bsky.social @navarrosales.bsky.social

Wow. Check this out. Politicians actually trying to solve problems can achieve a lot! www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solu...

Trip to Pile Bay with fam and kid's friends to watch sunset and do some beachcombing.

California communities can reduce wildfire damage by half. Here’s how: Our new study "Fire risk to structures in California’s Wildland-Urban Interface" was published in Nature Communications today! www.nature.com/articles/s41... news.berkeley.edu/2025/08/28/c...

🔥🌱 From the upcoming #AJB Special Issue: “Understanding novel #fire regimes using plant trait‐based approaches" 🌱🔥 Testing key tenets of pyro-ecophysiology: Indicators of #drought response in relation to shoot flammability By Niger Sultana et al. doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... # botany #plantscience

Key findings were that measures of flammibility were associated with some water-related ecophysiological measures (minimum water potential and turgor loss point) but not other measures (e.g. wood density and P50). Drought-tollerant species are not necessarily less flammable.

The climate case for planting trees has been overhyped, but it's not too late to fix it. @pepcanadell.bsky.social theconversation.com/the-climate-...

Congratulations to Niger Sultana on her first PhD paper out in American Journal of Botany - bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 🌱🔥 Great to work with Niger, @timcurran.bsky.social and the rest of the team!

I'm so very proud of Niger Sultana and the first chapter of her PhD thesis!!! She had so many challenges and came through them all with flying colours. With @loraxcate.bsky.social @azhar06.bsky.social et al. in @botsocamerica.bsky.social bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Brooke nailed some key ideas: "We, too, have to learn to live within the fire regimes in which we find ourselves — that we have, in fact, created for ourselves. Like it or not, we have to become fire-adapted."

A thoughtful look at fire, resilience and the future of ecosystems in SoCal and beyond. It was a pleasure joining @brookejarvis.bsky.social in the field for this @nytimes.com piece, with @mwtingley.bsky.social, @kendallcalhoun.bsky.social & Miroslava Munguia Ramos. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/m...

As was predicted by Marion Ball for Eucalyptus 30 years ago - climate change can mean clearer skies in the Australian alps and together with higher CO2 = more frost damage www.researchgate.net/publication/...

The mid-story cottonwoods shutting down. I’m guessing some of these won’t make it.

The role of fire on Earth by @jgpausas.bsky.social, Jon Keeley & William Bond academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

Looking for a postdoc in #Ecophysiology, #ThermalEcology, #GlobalChange, or #ForestEcology,? Apply for a #Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with my group at #UBC in beautiful #Vancouver! Proposals are due Oct 20 - get in touch if interested! www.postdocs.ubc.ca/award/killam...

The final version of this paper is now published @newphyt.bsky.social The onset of phenological plant response to climate warming nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Long-term databases as an antidote to the shifting baseline syndrome in global change. 🧪🌎🌿🌐🌳 🍁 #PlantBiology