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Kate Parr

@funkyant.bsky.social
1.4K followers 376 following 48 posts

Ecologist - particularly fond of ants, savannas and cold beer (preferably at the same time). She/her

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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Urg!
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Caroline Lehmann @caroaceae.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Open ecosystem nature based solutions need to prioritise biodiversity and livelihoods or risk undermining ecosystem integrity. C metrics have moved into policy ahead of ecological + social evidence to evaluate consequences. @funkyant.bsky.social @jmbecologist.bsky.social @adamdevenish.bsky.social
nature.com
Nature-based solutions in open ecosystems must support biodiversity and people - Nature Geoscience
Nature-based solutions in savannas and grasslands that seek to maximize tree cover and carbon uptake can erode biodiversity, create fragile carbon stocks and disrupt the livelihoods of people who depe...
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GrumpyUncleSean🔥 @grumpyunclesean.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
1/5 New paper in PNAS led by Andreas Wion! 🔥🌍🧪 For centuries, dry-conifer forests in the western U.S. burned frequently, but mostly at low severity, meaning most trees were not killed by fire. Read on for details ...
doi.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Immigration is good for Britain. A government trying to reduce immigration is acting against the nation’s best interests
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Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 10/04/2026
Tonight in the ai reading group i was reminded of something that happened in 2006 after I dropped out of college, when I was living in a run-down old house next to jb alberto's in rogers park with a bunch of dudes. it was, as you can imagine, not clean.
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Cassy Vogel @cassyvogel.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
What a great idea for a special issue! Sometimes you learn more from failure than from success 🫠
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Caroline Lehmann @caroaceae.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Science funding needs fixing - but not through chaotic reforms.
nature.com
Science funding needs fixing — but not through chaotic reforms
The changes announced by a major UK science funder are putting scientists — and the future of research — in a difficult position.
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Belen Fadrique @belenfadrique.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Very happy to share this new article on Andes-Amazon tree diversity change. We found that over the last 4 decades, tree richness changed differently across the Andes-Amazon regions. Thanks to the many researchers across the world who made this possible! www.nature.com/articles/s41... Keep reading!
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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Come and join us! Plants, mountains and the Tropics!
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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Last chance to apply for this ACCE+ DPT PhD project on nomadic birds in East Africa: www.findaphd.com/phds/project... deadline is tomorrow, so still time to draft soemthing good! It will be a great project with @funkyant.bsky.social too, so please apply!
A black-shouldered Kite sites in a thorn tree in front of an otherworldly orange background. It is a stunning white, gret and black bird that looks SO FIERCE. A gooed axample of a nomaid bird species too...
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James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Our @bes-cascade.bsky.social survey of ecologists asked which socio-political changes might be most effective in the biodiversity & climate crises Broad-scale transformative changes were most selected Biodiversity or carbon credits, use of AI, & de-extinction were each selected in <1% of responses
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Caroline Lehmann @caroaceae.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
"Bond’s work leaves behind an inconvenient lesson for an era of climate urgency: that speed is not a substitute for understanding, and that good intentions, applied without care, can erase ancient worlds as efficiently as neglect." A beautiful tribute to William Bond. Forever missed by many.
butlernature.com
William Bond, defender of grasslands
In recent years, one of the loudest ideas in environmental policy has been that trees are the planet’s universal remedy. Plant enough of them, in enough places, and carbon will be soaked up, water wil...
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Richard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Hendrik Mesdag's sunset (1887) looks simple: sea and the sky, which a low horizon divides into unequal parts, a few sails in the distance, on the left, enliven the rather severe construction. But look at the multiplicity of tones and the complexity of this work sinks in.
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Jean-Philippe Lessard @bugecology.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Our research group has an open PhD position! Please share widely! Possible topics include: Determinants of range limits Assembly of ecological networks (eg, plant-pollinator) The role of soil arthropods (eg, ants) in carbon storage Details: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
PhD position opening in community and biogeography
PhD Position in Community Ecology & Biogeography, Montreal, Canada Our research group at Concordia University investigates the forces enabling the maintenance, and governing the distribution, of biol...
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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
This paper has been on the way for just about a decade: the 1st draft was written 8 years ago - some great pesistence by the fab T. Michael Anderson! Lots of fun to have been working on it wth the likes of @funkyant.bsky.social y.social, @sallyarchibald.bsky.social & @carlastaver.bsky.social etc!
y.social
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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
#Mirmeco2025 community!
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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
BrilliANT time at #Mirmeco2025 in Recife. A meeting full of enthusiasm & passion for #ants. Fabulous to see all my Brazilian and other ant friends again ❤️
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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Shiny new PhD being advertised with me and @cmbeale.bsky.social !!
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James Meek @jamesmeek.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Ed Luce watching democracy die in the United States of America
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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 29/09/2025
When I was a teenager there was a bus direct from my hometown in Germany to London - we had a British army base, and this direct bus connection was one of the benefits of that. One summer I went on that bus to go volunteer in an old people's home in Southend-on-Sea. I had just turned 18 and was... 🧵
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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Great to discuss the flagrant disinformation peddled at the Reform conference by Malhotra with @garethiacobucci.bsky.social As @LawrenceYoung11 et al agree, the 💩 re mRNA vax and "turbo cancer" (anyone taking that name seriously?!🤦‍♂️) is pure, insidious fiction designed to ⏫️ hesitancy.
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gavin jones @ecologyofgavin.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
We have a new paper developing methods for looking at bird-fire macroecology. What’s most fascinating to me is that the magnitude *and* direction of fire effects can vary enormously across a species range. Stationarity is dead!! Long live non-stationarity!! doi.org/10.1002/fee....
doi.org
Evaluating macroecological fire impacts on bird populations
Fire regimes are context-dependent, as are the ways that animals respond. However, most information on animal responses to fire comes from short-term local field studies, which are hard to extrapolat....
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Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · 03/09/2025
woah this is genuinely, utterly WILD Ant queens of one species produce males of another species, so she can then mate with them and produce hybrid workers! This is so gloriously weird I can't quite compute it 🤯🧪🐜 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother
Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.
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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Join us!
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Thelonevirologist @thelonevirologist.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Unraveling the arc of vaccine progress www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Unraveling the arc of vaccine progress
The philosopher Thomas Hobbes famously described life in 1651 as “nasty, brutish, and short.” He was undeniably correct, with estimates of average life expectancy in the UK at the time ranging from 37...
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Lily Leahy @lilyleahy.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Hot off the press: Metabolic traits are shaped by phylogenetic conservatism and environment, not just body size Our article in PNAS explores several controversies in metabolic theory in a macroscale study of 🐜 #aridity #temp #SMR #DGC 📸:François Brassard www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501541122
Myrmecia ant carrying an Isopod, photo: François Brassard
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Tom Rhys Bishop @tbish.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Awesome to see our paper exploring competing hypotheses in macro/metabolic ecology out in PNAS. Led by the all star @lilyleahy.bsky.social with a range of amazing folks including @funkyant.bsky.social @natejsanders.bsky.social @ianjwright.bsky.social. Check it out! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Metabolic traits are shaped by phylogenetic conservatism and environment, not just body size | PNAS
Metabolic rate dictates life&rsquo;s tempo, yet how ecological and environmental factors integrate to shape metabolic traits remains contentious. Conside...
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James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Really disappointing new policy from NERC banning resubmissions of grant applications Many of us, including me, have won grants on resubmission, using the reviews to improve the application This is is neither fair nor productive www.ukri.org/councils/ner...
ukri.org
NERC policy on resubmissions
This policy only applies to research grant applications.
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Dr Anna Sturrock @otolithgirl.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
Hiring a marine biology lecturer at @universityofessex.bsky.social! Permanent position. Deadline to apply= 20 Aug. We have aquaria, lots of mass specs/genomic facilities, field trips to Crotia, Indonesia, Scotland and a super collegial department. Pls share! vacancies.essex.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...
vacancies.essex.ac.uk
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Jess Rickenback @jess-rickenback.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
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
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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
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Mike Kaspari @mikekaspari.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Ecologists/botanists: In the 80s/90s tropical tree monitoring plots showed evidence of degradation. A counter argument was that when you set up monitoring plots in "old growth", you are biasing toward older trees that will die sooner. Anyone remember key cites? And if this held up?
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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Somerset looking quite splendid today
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Tommaso Jucker @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
So excited to finally share our new paper charting the global spectrum of tree crown architecture, out today at @natcomms.nature.com ‬🧪🌐 Paper link 🔗: www.nature.com/articles/s41... A brief thread of what we found 🧵
Schematic diagram showing the major axes of tree crown architecture
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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
WTF? If this Government can’t even agree to this smallest of initiatives, which has no cost to them & absolutely no down-sides, what hope that it will step up to the bigger nature challenges we face? This is a *popular* policy, for heavens sake. Obstinate tin-eared stupidity doesn’t come close …
theguardian.com
Labour blocks proposal for ‘swift bricks’ in all new homes
MPs had previously backed Conservative amendment to ask developers to provide hollow bricks for endangered birds
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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Closing tomorrow! Last chance to apply for postdoc to explore the role of animals in savanna ecosystem productivity & nutrient cycling! Link to job: tinyurl.com/53dy4584 #savanna #termites #largemammals
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Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
The hysterical reaction of certain commentators to today’s UK-EU agreement is something to behold. The “surrender” of using e-gates when you go on holiday. The contempt for the “will of the people” of making education abroad more accessible. Rigorous debate is good. This nonsense is a waste of time.
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ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Job Opportunity: Lecturer in Ecology and Global Change at University of Leeds. We welcome dynamic applicants from across the world to join our team of tropical ecology and global change scientists. jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Reminder we are advertising a postdoc to explore the role of animals in savanna ecosystem productivity & nutrient cycling! Link to job: tinyurl.com/53dy4584 #savanna #termites #largemammals
tinyurl.com
Job Specification
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Richard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
'Pond water crowfoot.' (1895) Eero Järnefelt was christened Erik but Finnicised his name to Eero, just as his fellow artist Axel Gallén later renamed himself Akseli Gallen-Kallela. This work, painted near Koli in eastern Finland, shows a strong influence from Japanese prints.
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Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
Simply this.
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Dr Victoria Xiaoxiao Ma @victoriaxiaoxiaoma.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Thursday #morningread 🪽🪶🪽🪶
From Birds: An Anthology, ed. Jaqueline Mitchell
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Geoff Brumfiel @gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
President Trump's "skinny" budget request absolutely eviscerates scientific research funding. The @aaas.org estimates the request would constitute an 82.5% reduction in research spending (and that's just the agencies named in the request).
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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Postdoc available! Come help us understand where the green stuff goes! Link to job: tinyurl.com/53dy4584
tinyurl.com
Job Specification
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Oxford Ecosystems @oxfordecosystems.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
In February, Yadvinder & Eleanor traveled to South Africa to collect trait data at collaborator, Kate Parr’s @funkyant.bsky.social field site for her new ‘The Green Stuff’ Project. @naturerecovery.bsky.social We cover this visit in a visual way on our blog www.oxfordecosystems.org/post/explori...
oxfordecosystems.org
Exploring Nutrient Cycling in the Waterberg, South Africa
Ecosystems researchers travel to the Waterberg in South Africa to collect baseline trait data with collaborators from Liverpool University and University of Pretoria
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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Postdoc alert! Looking for someone to join our new savanna zoogeochemistry project with @ymalhi.bsky.social and Mark Robertson. Please circulate widely! Contact me if interested. #ecosystemecology #largemammalherbivores #termites my.corehr.com/pls/ulivrecr...
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Kate Parr @funkyant.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Spring in Somerset
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Dale Nimmo @biodiversityguy.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
‘Megafire’—You May Not Like It, But You Cannot Avoid It doi.org/10.1111/geb.... New paper on the meaning of 'megafire'.
onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au
Shibboleth Authentication Request
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Richard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
'Dandelions,' was painted by the Danish artist Bertha Wegmann around 1910. It wasn't an arbitrary choice of a plant to paint: the dandelion was used to promote the women’s liberation movement in Scandinavia because of its capacity for uncontrolled, strong-willed growth.
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Frank Ashwood @frankashwood.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
If you're an entomologist/soil invertebrate scientist, then it's likely your dream job advert just went live at Reading University in the UK! #Invertebrate 🧪 jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
jobs.reading.ac.uk
Lecturer in Invertebrate Zoology:Whiteknights Reading UK
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