It was an amazing week hosting the inaugural Tropical East Asian Savanna workshop. The week was full of inspiring chats, burgeoning collaborations, & exciting project planning. Thanks to everyone for coming & @royalsoced.bsky.social @thebotanics.bsky.social Edinburgh Uni for supporting us! 🌏🌐

Two different benches, same herbarium. Attendees at the Tropical East Asian Savanna workshop funded by @royalsoced.bsky.social had an intro to the @thebotanics.bsky.social herbarium followed by a crash course in grass ID with Krich. I think we can all spot a spikelet now! 🌏🌐 #grass #botany

It was great to hear Chau Pham, @naomibschwartz.bsky.social , Manichanh Satdichanh, and Johan Setiawan presenting at the Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium on engaging topics which spanned fire ecology, and placing people into the savanna context. #savanna 🌏🌐

A selection of amazing talks from the Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium last week @thebotanics.bsky.social and funded by @royalsoced.bsky.social feat. Kyle Tomlinson, Maliwan Namkhan, Martin van de Bult,& Watchara Arthan. #savanna #asia 🌏🌐

Brilliant day this week on the Tropical East Asian Savanna Network workshop- out on Salisbury Crags with the Global Grassy Group practicing ground layer data collection and loving the #grasses! @s-eshelman.bsky.social @wieczor.bsky.social @naomibschwartz.bsky.social @royalsoced.bsky.social

The Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium is today! Join us in person or online to hear from some truly fantastic speakers. Online via teams Meeting ID: 374 127 860 994 5 Passcode: Yq3je9Jo or in person at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 9:30-4:30 @royalsoced.bsky.social 🌐🌏 #ecology #savanna

Thrilled to have Dr Naomi Schwartz @naomibschwartz.bsky.social, University of British Columbia, at the Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium! Naomi will present 'Seeing the savanna through the trees: fire ecology at forest-savanna boundaries in Southeast Asia'. Join us in person/online June 24th 🌐🌏

More exciting speakers at the Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium! Dr Manichanh Satdichanh will be presenting on 'Farmer, fire and forest succession: A story of social-ecological system from Southeast Asia'. Join us on 24th June in person or online, for free! #savanna #conference #ecology 🌐🌏

We are very excited to be hosting Johan Setiawan, Manager of Baluran National Park, Indonesia, at the Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium. Johan will present on the challenges of managing invasive species in the Park. Join us for free in person or online on June 24th! #savanna #ecology 🌐🌏

Our next speaker is Dr Martin van de Bult who will present at the Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium on 'Melaleuca dominated savanna in Cambodia: floristic composition and ecological characteristics'. Join us in #Edinburgh on June 24th for free in person or online! #savanna #botany #ecology 🌐🌏

It's an honour to host Prof Kyle Tomlinson from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences at the Tropical East Asian Savanna symposium. Kyle will present 'Three lines of analysis for C4 grassy biomes across Southeast Asia'. Don't miss out! Join us on 24 June! 🌐🌏#savanna

Our next speaker at the Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium is Chau Pham, a PhD student from the University of Minnesota, who will talk to use about 'Understanding the past to manage for the future: historical fire regimes of a deciduous dipterocarp savanna'. Join us in person / online June 24 🌐🌏

Dr Kevin Robertson, a fire ecologist from Tall Timbers Research Station, Florida, USA, will be joining us at the Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium on 24th June! We're very excited to hear his presentation 'Pine Savannas of Vietnam and the Southeastern U.S. - A Comparison'. Attendance is free! 🌐🌏

The Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium is proud to present Dr Watchara Arthan speaking on 'Andropogoneae a key but overlooked lineage of savannas– A case study from Heteropogon and Themeda'. Join in person @thebotanics.bsky.social or online June 24th! 🌐🌏 #savanna #ecology #grass #biogeography

Introducing our speakers for the Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium! We are delighted to present work from Maliwan Namkhan who will speak on 'Defining the extent of Deciduous Dipterocarp Forest and Threat under Deforestation Hotspots in the Indo-Burma region'. Join us in person or online! 🌐🌏

Tickets (free!) for the first Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium are available: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tropical-e... 200 word abstracts still welcome for talks (15/30min), deadline 30 May. Email for info / abstract submissions. See you 24 June @thebotanics.bsky.social ! #ecology #savanna 🌐🌏

The first Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium, funded by @royalsoced.bsky.social, will be 24 June @thebotanics.bsky.social. Free! Come along, or apply to present! 200 word abstracts welcome for talks (15/30min), deadline 30 May. Email for info / abstract submissions. @edinburghuni.bsky.social 🌐🌏

Congrats to Ethan, who will be my first PhD student! Very excited to be part of his future journey exploring the drivers of and differences between plant growth forms in the tropics @thebotanics.bsky.social @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social #botany #ecology #biogeography 🌐🌎🌱

The Global Ecology starter pack has been so successful there's a third iteration (and it includes me!) I'm told there's still space if you're a global ecologist and want to be added: DM @global-ecology.bsky.social to join. go.bsky.app/MkLHiKU 🌐

It was an absolute pleasure to present my work exploring ground layer species diversity in Southeast Asian savannas this week at the Savanna Science Network Meeting. Amazing to meet so many inspiring savanna scientists as well! #botany #forbs #savanna #SSNM2025 #SavannaScienceNetworkMeeting

Making friends with the locals at the Savanna Science Network Meeting in Kruger National Park :) #SSNM2025 #savannascience

Overjoyed to receive a @royalsoced.bsky.social Collaboration Grant with @naomibschwartz.bsky.social and Watchara Arthan to run a workshop with and for researchers, managers and conservation practitioners working in Tropical East Asian savannas later this year. Here's to reframing grassy paradigms!

This is such a lovely paper- well done Naomi and everyone!

Published! Open letter:There are more than just trees and forests to be conserved and restored. Tropical & subtropical grasslands & savannas matter for biodiversity protection, and the future of this planet relies on these ecosystems to the same extent it relies on forests. doi.org/10.1002/ppp3...

Interested in plant systematics, ecology, and taxonomy in the tropics? Looking for a PhD? The next round of UKRI funded PhDs @EdinburghUni are out, & include 3 with me, @xaxapezzini and David Harris at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Applications due 6 Jan. e4-dtp.ed.ac.uk/e5-dtp/super... #botany