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Graeme Cumming

@gscumming.bsky.social
5.7K followers 1.5K following 377 posts

Ecologist of the frontiers... Prof at University of Western Australia & posting on ecology, conservation, academic life.

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Reposted by Graeme Cumming
John Alroy @johnalroy.bsky.social · 8h
There are better ways to quantify biodiversity than coverage-based rarefaction – in particular, by fitting the geometric Weibull distribution and extrapolating. GW outperforms CBR according to four different empirical tests. New paper in Oikos. nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Coverage‐based rarefaction fails to quantify relative species richness
Coverage-based rarefaction (CBR) is a high-profile tool for assessing biodiversity that provides relative species richness estimates by leveraging the Good-Turing index u to interpolate. In contrast ...
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PeppyPanda 🐼 - Uplifting and good news @peppypanda.com · 10/10/2026
The world's oyster reefs could deliver an estimated $12 trillion in ecosystem benefits if restored and protected, scientists say. Researchers identified 295,000 square kilometres of suitable habitat across 10 countries, where reefs can clean water, capture carbon and protect coastlines.
scitechdaily.com
The world's oyster reefs could deliver an estimated $12 trillion in ecosystem benefits if restored and protected, scientists say. Researchers identified 295,000 square kilometres of suitable habitat across 10 countries, where reefs can clean water, capture carbon and protect coastlines.
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Reposted by Graeme Cumming
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This video of a Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) was taken by Sondre Eriksen Hensema (@itseriksen on IG). There are 4 species in genus Lynx & what's striking is that 2 of them are in North America, 2 in Eurasia... but the lynx line originates in Africa. Let's learn more about these right-sized kitties.
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Chat with Callan Cohen at birdingafrica.com + possibly folks at FitzPatrick Institute at UCT (Cape Town)
birdingafrica.com
Birding Africa – The Africa Specialists
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Anthony Burke @anthonyburke.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Some cautious good news. But no signs of the needle shifting on emissions. That’s a power government has but refuses to use.
theguardian.com
Has the high court set Australia’s fossil fuel producers shaking in their boots? They should be | Jacqueline Peel
A high court victory sets a new baseline for coal and gas projects in New South Wales – and potentially for the rest of Australia
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Big congratulations to Valeria Mendez Angarita for the publication of her first PhD chapter, which adapts a framework from health care to think through what is involved in getting access to protected areas and their benefits: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 🧪
tandfonline.com
A conceptual framework for understanding the accessibility of protected area benefits
Reader environment loaded
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worm @rfksbrainworm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
If you ever wondered why visible light is those particular wavelengths, it's because life evolved to see in the narrow range where water is transparent
Diagram of absorption of emf by water. There's a gap right that dips in the 500 nm range
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The Wild @thewild.news · 01/10/2026
Scientists are asking for better protection of Australia's coastal waters instead of just the remote areas. #marineparks
theguardian.com
Australia’s marine parks protect ‘places no one goes’ rather than fragile waters near the mainland, scientists say
Hundreds of experts write to environment minister calling for stronger protections for ‘unique and distinct’ marine ecosystems
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hammancheez but spooky @hammancheez.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Yall wanna see a 2 hour old highland cow
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KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Ashley Sykes Photographer 🐋 Whale & marine wildlife photography 🇦🇺 Australian east coast "It's finally here! The best time of the year - calf time! This is the time of the year when the calves come back south and they're so playful and full of life, such a joy to see! 🐋 This was from this morning."
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Michelle Wille @duckswabber.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Synthesized current knowledge to identify 43 parameters that influence HPAI. Migratory waterfowl contribute most to HPAI spread when high bird-to-bird transmission rate, long infectious periods and greater aggregation of birds at stop-over sites 👉 royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...
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Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"Extrapolation to the European redwing population suggests that tens of millions of infected ticks may be transported southward each autumn."
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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 19/09/2026
Beef production has been the largest driver of deforestation this century. Over the last two decades, around 128 million hectares of forest have been cleared to make way for agriculture and forest plantations. That’s an area five times the size of the United Kingdom.
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Journal of Animal Ecology @animalecology.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
🦌 Elements on the move: How ungulate migration expands Alpine biogeochemical footprints🦌 These findings highlight the broader ecosystem consequences of declining animal movement extent 👇️ buff.ly/2KmnGj8
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Some kind of colonial salp would be my best guess, but hard to know without seeing what white dots are.
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Pyrostremma spinosum colony?
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SharkScience @sharkscience.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
3D tracking of marine megafauna to advance movement ecology 🦑🧪🐟🦈 www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
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Miguel Clavero @chikichanka.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Japanese team have observed directly, for the first time, noctule bats hunting birds The images they provide astonishingly resemble that painted by Brueghel over 400 years ago... maybe he had actually seen the hunt!! Paper: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @ebdonana.bsky.social
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Alan D. Foreman @climatearchivist.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Check out our latest paper in Science Advances - detailing the evidence for increased nitrogen loading in the Gulf of Mexico and the impacts this has had on corals in the region: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Increasing nitrogen loading in the Gulf of Mexico undermines coral reef resilience
The ongoing global decline of coral reefs underscores the need to identify key mechanisms driving reef deterioration. The Flower Garden Banks (FGB) reefs in the northern Gulf are widely regarded as so...
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 10/09/2026
As heat waves scorched Europe and North America this summer, nuclear and fossil fuel plants closed down ... but solar and batteries kept the lights on. Read on!
patreon.com
Powering through the heat | Talking Climate with Katharine Hayhoe
Green energy keeps the lights on, heat impacts on children, and how to Play it Cool Europe endured a succession of scorching heat waves this
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Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is seismic news for fisheries scientists. Northern cod is *the* iconic symbol of total fisheries collapse due to overfishing (and other factors) *and* the iconic symbol of a complete failure to recover for decades afterwards. This is like announcing the complete recovery of bison on land.
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Journal of Applied Ecology @jappliedecology.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Incorporating interaction structure into conservation planning can help prioritise key dispersers and plants, anticipate hidden vulnerabilities, and guide management actions that better sustain seed dispersal processes 🌱 🦇 🏝️ 🔎 Find out more: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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Robert Maxwell @robmax4.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
Dugong population drops 50pc in 'real shock' for researchers
The number of dugongs in the Gulf of Carpentaria, one of the animal's most globally important populations, has halved in the past two decades, a decline scientists have called a "real shock".
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mr dog @firstdogonthemoon.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
If this is not the time to talk about climate change then when is? If this is not the time to talk about climate change then when is? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
A glacier collapsed in Nepal but this is not the time to talk about climate change | First Dog on the Moon
It’s always thoughts and prayers and please don’t politicise this horrible disaster
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Many versions of the flag have white too? Agree with odd time and place for it. Or perhaps the artist wanted to send some message…
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Looks like a ‘Christian’ flag, used sometimes by American Protestants? Red Cross on a blue background would fit.
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Emma Lewis @petchary.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Source: France 24 Brazil banned whaling by law in 1987 and later declared the Abrolhos humpback breeding grounds a protected area. In 2014, the humpback whale was removed from Brazil's list of threatened species. www.france24.com/en/environme...
france24.com
'They were legends': Humpback whales make spectacular comeback off Brazil's coast
Once driven to the brink of extinction, humpback whales have thrived in the South Atlantic since a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling came into force in 1986, offering a bonanza to scientists…
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Spoiler alert: it wasn’t a cat My cat has shark-like eyes nonetheless
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Fredrik Jutfelt 🐠 @jutfelt.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Come join us, PhD and postdoc positions! Please spread! Supervisor @patricepottier.bsky.social (patricepottierlab.com), me as co-supervisor. Impacts of climate change on different life-stages in fish.🐟🧪 PhD web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/103... Postdoc web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/103...
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 23/08/2026
A study over 15 years of seabirds called Sable shearwaters found that birds that consumed 1 gram of plastic or more as fledglings were 11% less likely to return to their home island to breed. Those that ate over 5 grams almost all disappeared. In PNAS: ow.ly/tqiL50ZCLZu
A Sable shearwater fledgling on Lord Howe Island.
CREDIT: Alexander L. Bond.
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Interesting example of institutions creating spatial, temporal, and functional mismatches in a single ecosystem.
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Things have been enshittified by ‘ continuous publishing’ which basically keeps production line ticking with no opportunity to create issues of similar papers or time releases. But a half-decent production manager (publisher staff, not academic) should be able to deliberately schedule pub of a paper
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Sometimes I think a better plan would be to reject manuscripts from people who have declined more than 5 (say) invitations to review for us. There are some real freeloaders out there who still expect rapid reviews of their own work.
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Chris Gug @gugunderwater.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
A juvenile #pompano It may look chill, but I’m actually swimming backwards and descending quite rapidly to keep it in frame. Shot on scuba, miles offshore from Okinawa, over several thousand feet of water, while drifting with the plankton. #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #blackwaterphotography
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Happy birthday! Nice 🎂
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The Conversation AUNZ @aunz.theconversation.com · 20/08/2026
The rest of the world has already had to grapple with bird flu – and there are lessons for Australia.
theconversation.com
The first wave of bird flu is the worst: what Australia can learn from overseas
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Peter du Toit @peterdutoit.com · 16/08/2026
The risk profile for Southern Africa has gone up considerably with the latest CCSR/IRI Aug seasonal forecast, which generally shows an expected El Niño impact over the DJF period. Temps above normal Precipitation below normal Not a great combination. Full update: iri.columbia.edu/our-expertis...
Image 1:

CCSR/IRI Multi-Model Probability Forecast for Temperature for December-January-February 2027, Issued August 2026

Image 2: 

CCSRIRI Multi-Model Probability Forecast for Precipitation for December-January-February 2027, Issued August 2026
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Andrew Barnes @barnesecodiv.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Our paper has just been published in the latest issue of @nature.com! We analysed 318 food webs spanning marine, freshwater & soil ecosystems worldwide & found that ecosystem functioning increases consistently with biodiversity across multiple trophic levels. 🌐🧪🕷️🦠🍄🌿 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Food web complexity underlies biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning - Nature
Analyses of the relationship between taxon richness and multi-trophic ecosystem functioning across marine, lake, stream and soil ecosystems show that food web complexity underlies biodiversity effects...
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Apologies if you already knew this, but nothing you’ve said so far suggests you do.
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Yes. There are also treatments, like Tamiflu, that have shown effectiveness against AIV infections in people. Tamiflu is effective in domestic pets too, but not recommended for wildlife due to mutation/resistance concerns (prioritising people). It might offer some support for Tas Devils in a crisis.
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
We don’t have a current one for people either. Viruses mutate rapidly and there wouldn’t be much point in trying to stockpile the required number of doses for wildlife. Vaccines are in any case unrealistic for most wild animals because they need a booster.
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
And yes, free-range/outdoors domestic cats qualify as invasive species…
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Stelios Katsanevakis @skatsanevakis.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
🚨 Europe’s seas can’t wait for more promises. The #EEA message is clear: marine ecosystems are in crisis. Europe knows the problems—and has the policies. What’s missing is decisive implementation. Time to turn commitments into action. 🌊 #MarineConservation #EU 🧪🌍🌐 www.wwf.eu?21173591/EEA...
wwf.eu
EEA rings alarm bell over Europe’s seas; urgent action needed
A new report presented by the European Environment Agency (EEA) confirms the dire state of Europe’s seas, which are at the frontline of a growing triple crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change and
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Upper arm of the glacier. Snow sitting high.
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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Just back from some travel and a holiday in Europe. Interesting to see the impacts of climate change everywhere - 38 degree days and the Aletsch glacier (behind me) has shrunk noticeably since I last saw it ~16 years ago.
Image shows Graeme on a mountain in the Alps with a brownish glacier track, mostly permafrost/gravel now, behind.
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Dr Samuel Finnerty @samuelfinnerty.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Really useful new paper by @brionylatter.bsky.social @samhampton.bsky.social @lwhitmarsh.bsky.social mapping how social influence shapes climate attitudes & action. Excellent resource for thinking about designing interventions, determining best points of influence. Critically, keep talking about it
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Noah Greifer @noahgreifer.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I'm so happy to announce version 2.0.0 of my #Rstats package WeightIt is out on CRAN! New features: censoring weights, multilevel propensity scores, improved weights for continuous treatments, bias-reduced ordinal and multinomial models, M-estimation in subgroups Check out the website below!
ngreifer.github.io
Weighting for Covariate Balance in Observational Studies
Generates balancing weights for causal effect estimation in observational studies with binary, multi-category, or continuous point or longitudinal treatments by easing and extending the functionality ...
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UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) @ukceh.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
The largest global assessment of its kind has shown that plant diversity increases populations of predators to suppress pests before they cause significant crop damage. See the open access study in Science Advances: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.… 1/
Global map of experimental sites by ecosystem and size; boxplots of plant species and bar charts of tests by region.
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Prof Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
🌊 Marine heatwaves aren’t just an ocean problem, they’re a human health issue. A new perspective highlights how MHWs can ripple through ecosystems, food systems, economies, and communities, affecting everything from seafood safety to livelihoods and mental wellbeing. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Recognizing the human health impacts of marine heatwaves - Nature Sustainability
Although the physical and ecological impacts of marine heatwaves are well recognized, their cascading consequences for human health remain poorly understood. We argue that marine heatwaves pose growin...
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