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Joe Atkinson

@joe-atkinson.bsky.social
1.2K followers 973 following 22 posts

Lecturer in Botany, University of Adelaide Formerly Postdoc @ ECONOVO, Aarhus University Restoration, botany, functional traits, community ecology. Science for management and conservation. He/him

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Reposted by Joe Atkinson
Sami Rifai @samirifai.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Are Australia's endangered plant species more likely to go extinct from climate change? Here is a Plant ecophysiology PhD opportunity in sunny South Australia, open to both domestic and international applicants. Contact @ilainematos.bsky.social (ilaine.matos@adelaide.edu.au) for further details.
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Joe Atkinson @joe-atkinson.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
What a difference a year makes! Nearly 200 mm of late summer rain at Fowlers Gap and our DRAGNet plots are unrecognisable. "Just add rain" as Garry says. Tusind tak to Liv Portmann and Peyton Hampel for their help - the biomass harvesting is off the charts! @loveyouleafyou.bsky.social
a clear blue sky and green grassy foregranda 1 x 1 m quadrat sits over very dense grassy vegetationdry and brown grasses sit among a backdrop of a partly cloudy skya 1 x 1 m quadrat sits among completely bare ground
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Maddy Seale @maddyseale.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Out in @science.org this week. Soils drive convergence in the regulation of vascular tension in land plants. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #plantscience #ecophysiology
science.org
Soils drive convergence in the regulation of vascular tension in land plants
Terrestrial vascular plants operate under negative water potential, which results in hydraulic tension in the vascular system. Vascular tension varies with transpiration and soil drying and is regulat...
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Journal of Vegetation & Applied Vegetation Science @jvs-avs.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
How do alpine plants respond to warming?Intraspecific trait shifts depend on precipitation and growth form, with stronger responses in forbs than graminoids. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @joshua-erkelenz.bsky.social @sonyageange.bsky.social @joe-atkinson.bsky.social @vvandvik.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Intraspecific Functional Trait Responses to Experimental Warming Vary With Precipitation and Growth Form
We assessed the intraspecific functional trait response of 17 alpine plant species to experimental warming across a precipitation gradient. Warming consistently increased plant height. In contrast, t...
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Joe Atkinson @joe-atkinson.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
✨ PhD opportunity studying drought and heatwave effects on threatened plants ✨🔥 Funded by an ARC DECRA awarded to the amazing Dr Ilaíne Matos and co-supervised by Dr Sami Rifai and me! Limited by the character limit here, so please see the attached flyer for all the details - please share widely!
PhD Opportunity in Plant Ecophysiology – Adelaide University
We are looking for an PhD candidate to join an exciting research project focused on understanding heat and drought combined impacts on threatened plants’ mortality.
Key Objectives:
Describe drought sensitivity in juvenile and mature individuals of threatened plant species.
Disentangle the effects of elevated temperature, soil dryness, and atmospheric water demand on the sensitivity of threatened species to hotter droughts.
Model threatened species’ risk of mortality under current and future hotter droughts.
Eligibility:
Australians and international applicants with a completed Master's degree (GPA > 5.0) and/or a completed 4-year Bachelor with Honours (GPA > 5.0) in Plant Biology or related areas;
Proof of English proficiency (e.g. IELTS score > 6.5 or equivalent qualification), only for applicants who speak English as a second language.
Strong analytical and programming skills in R or  Python.
Genuine interest in studying plants with previous experience in plant ecology and/or physiology.
Effective writing skills; a passion for reading, writing, and continually improving as a communicator.
Ability to drive in Australia is desirable but not essential.
Start Date: April 2026 (negotiable)
Duration: 3.5 years
Benefits: PhD scholarship (tax-exempt stipend of $36,500 AUD p.a. + $3,000 AUD p.a. top up);
Higher stipend rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates ($ 53,608 p.a.);
Relocation allowances for both domestic and international candidates;
Single Overseas Student Health cover for international applicants.
100% tuition fee waiver.
How to Apply:
Email the following documents to ilaine.matos@adelaide.edu.au before the 15th of February 2026. Women and people underrepresented in research are encouraged to apply. 
1-page cover letter explaining why you are interested in this position and your previous experiences relevant for this opportunity.
Curriculum Vitae in the Adelaide University format.
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Jonas Trepel @jonastrepel.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Excited to share that my first PhD chapter just got published in @animalecology.bsky.social! You can check it out here: doi.org/10.1111/1365.... Based on fieldwork in the beautiful Waterberg Biosphere Reserve in South Africa, we show that.. (1/3)
Beautiful Sunset in Kaingo Private Game Reserve, one of our fieldsites A white rhino in Dabchick Wildlife Reserve, one of our fieldsites Woody savanna landscape in Swebeswebe Nature Reserve, on of our fieldsites Overview of the reserves in our study sites. Shows the location of 10 included reserves with pictograms indicating the largest herbivore in each.
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Jana Stewart @loveyouleafyou.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
Finished up the annual sampling and a spray treatment for @joe-atkinson.bsky.social and I @bugnet.bsky.social sites out at Fowlers Gap. Blue skies and red earth always a great backdrop for fieldwork
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Joe Atkinson @joe-atkinson.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
A great day out yesteday planting a diverse mix of tubestock with a bunch of other keen volunteers for the BioR planting festival at Frahns Farm! We were lucky to get a beautiful day, as the cold and rain arrives this week. Good luck little seedlings!
A group of 30 people stand in a tilled field surrounded by auger holes with seedlings ready to plant
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John Dwyer @john-m-dwyer.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Congratulations to @jradford-smith.bsky.social for making the cover of @ecography.bsky.social with his stunning photo of subtropical #rainforest at Mt Glorious, less than an hour from Brisbane in beautiful Queensland (1 of 2).
Rainforest with buttressed trees, palms and a strangler fig in a shaded understory.
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Tom Le Breton @tomlebreton.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
The rapid assessments accurately identified species as threatened in 84% of cases despite much less time and data per species. Importantly they were accurate in identifying Critically Endangered species (67%) and Endangered species (54%). 2/4
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Tom Le Breton @tomlebreton.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
New paper out! After the 2019-2020 #fires in Australia our team undertook #IUCN Red List assessments of fire affected #plant species, to handle the volume we undertook paired rapid and full assessments and compared their accuracy 1/4 doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...
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Shawan Chowdhury @shawan-chowdhury.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Please share. We are hiring domestic/international #PhD students to work on citizen science, insect migration/conservation at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. If interested, please email me. You can find more about our research interests here. shawanchowdhury.com.
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ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success @coeplantsuccess.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
📢 New publication 'Do trait–growth relationships vary with plant age in fire-prone heathland #shrubs?' by Lily Dun, Elizabeth Wenk, Daniel Falster, Mark Westoby and Ian Wright in Journal of Ecology 🧪 doi.org/10.1111/1365...
doi.org
Do trait–growth relationships vary with plant age in fire‐prone heathland shrubs?
We demonstrate that key functional traits undergo shifts in their relationship with growth as plants mature. Therefore, it will be valuable to shift our understanding of plant strategies away from th...
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INSTAAR @instaar.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
🌱 New paper in @funecology.bsky.social examines how roots drive the growth of juvenile grasses in response to manipulated soil moisture doi.org/10.1111/1365... Led by SAM AHLER (INSTAAR+EBIO), the team's results improve understanding of grass population dynamics & help guide grassland restoration
doi.org
Rooting for the little guy: Below‐ground traits predict juvenile grass demography in microsites
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
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Joe Atkinson @joe-atkinson.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Over the moon to say today is my first day as a Lecturer in Botany at the University of Adelaide. I am character limited so will just be brief other than to say how grateful I am for the amazing support and encouragement I have received from mentors and collaborators. Can't wait to get started!
Three storey red brick and sandstone building with sign "school of botany" with Joe standing on steps in main entrance Selfie in front of entranceway Red brick and sandstone building with a green lawn in foreground and a bright blue sky
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Matt Kerr @mattkerr.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
The third part of my PhD work is now out on Early View in @ecography.bsky.social, available #OpenAccess. 🌐🐚 We were interested in how macroecological patterns recreated from OBIS data might differ from those seen in the field and across methods - nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Regional databases demonstrate macroecological patterns less clearly than systematically collected field data
The analysis of macroecological patterns has necessitated the use of large, composite datasets recording local-scale species occurrences distributed across the globe. These datasets, however, have va....
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Matt Kerr @mattkerr.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Very happy to also say that New Scientist covered our paper last week too - www.newscientist.com/article/2472... With some nice comments from overseas colleagues too 🌐🌿🦬🌍
newscientist.com
More than half of life on Earth experiencing unprecedented conditions
An analysis of changes to global ecosystems has revealed that almost nowhere is untouched by the influence of humanity, with more than 50 per cent of the planet's land mass experiencing "novel" condit...
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Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
The #biosphere is changing: Check our global mapping of ecological novelty in wild #ecosystems (due to #climatechange, #defaunation & floristic disruption) - just out in @natureecoevo.bsky.social ♨️🐘🌿🌐 Big thx to @mattkerr.bsky.social for the huge effort! #novelecosystems #invasivespecies #megafauna
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Matt Kerr @mattkerr.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Read our new study on mapping ecologically novel conditions - out now in Nature Ecology and Evolution 🌍🦬🌿 Headline finding is that 58% of the biosphere is experiencing highly novel conditions, but nowhere was low - we really are living in a novel world.
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ECONOVO - DNRF Center of Excellence @econovoau.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
1/6 Paper Alert📢📢📢 New publication from #ECONOVO on the widespread ecological novelty across the terrestrial biosphere🌱 Read the article here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Key take homes below👇
nature.com
Widespread ecological novelty across the terrestrial biosphere - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Even outside urban and agricultural areas, ecosystems are vastly transformed as a result of human activities. Here the authors map patterns in climate change, defaunation and floristic disruption to q...
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Joe Atkinson @joe-atkinson.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Interesting paper on the potential complex impacts of varroa mites on Australian plants. Honey bees can promote fragmented populations of river red gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), one example of a +ve interaction potentially threatened. Check out Tom's thread and get involved in the iNat project!
Eucalyptus camaldulensis ssp. arida on a dried seasonal riverbed in an arid landscape
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Lily Dun @lilydun.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
New paper! How does age affect plant trait-growth relationship? Does how you measure growth matter? 🌱📏Big thank you to @ianjwright.bsky.social for giving me the opportunity to lead this when I was just a research assistant. doi.org/10.1111/1365...
doi.org
Do trait–growth relationships vary with plant age in fire‐prone heathland shrubs?
We demonstrate that key functional traits undergo shifts in their relationship with growth as plants mature. Therefore, it will be valuable to shift our understanding of plant strategies away from th...
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ECONOVO - DNRF Center of Excellence @econovoau.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
#ECONOVOStories 🌍✨ @joe-atkinson.bsky.social, @mattkerr.bsky.social, @cmlmagneville.bsky.social, and @seh-pang.bsky.social attended the BES Annual Meeting 2024, sharing insights on from their research at ECONOVO! #ECONOVO #Ecology #Biodiversity #AarhusUniversity #BritishEcologicalSociety
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Joe Atkinson @joe-atkinson.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
The EcoEvo Many Analysts project is out! Was great to be a part of this project expertly led by a cracking team. Really important results, showing how variable analytical decisions drastically affect study outcomes, the flow on to perceived quality during peer-review, and more! rdcu.be/d8V4L
rdcu.be
Same data, different analysts: variation in effect sizes due to analytical decisions in ecology and evolutionary biology
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Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar @asanchez-tojar.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
This Registered Report masterpiece just dropped at BMC Biology, brilliantly led by a great team with the help of 300+ analysts & reviewers Same question, same data: go figure! tl;dr: Substantial heterogeneity among results comes from differences among analytical choices 🔗 doi.org/10.1186/s129...
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Michael Bertram @michaelgbertram.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
The first many-analysts study in ecology is finally published! 🥳🙌 300+ coauthors and 5+ years, this was a massive effort by @elliotgould.bsky.social Hannah Fraser Tim Parker and co. Open access 👉 bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
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Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
Embarrassing :( Sweden begins wolf hunt as it aims to halve endangered animal’s population 🐺 www.theguardian.com/environment/... 🐺 #wolf #unsustainablehunting #carnivore
theguardian.com
Sweden begins wolf hunt as it aims to halve endangered animal’s population
Five entire families can be killed, totalling 30 wolves, in move campaigners say is illegal under EU law
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Emma-Liina Marjakangas @emmamarjakangas.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Non-White scientists appear on fewer editorial boards, spend more time under review, and receive fewer citations. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Non-White scientists appear on fewer editorial boards, spend more time under review, and receive fewer citations | PNAS
Disparities continue to pose major challenges in various aspects of science. One such aspect is editorial board composition, which has been shown t...
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John Dwyer @john-m-dwyer.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
🔥 in Ecology Letters 🔥 #Traits describing hydraulic strategies and deciduousness explain the occurrence trends of almost 300 #rainforest #tree species across a steep rainfall gradient in Australia. #FunctionalTraits dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele....
dx.doi.org
A Functional Basis for the Assembly of Australian Subtropical Rainforest Tree Communities
We surveyed rainforest tree communities across the Australian subtropics (spanning 600 to 2500 mm rainfall year−1) and measured functional traits on 285 (91%) of all recorded species. Hydraulic strat....
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Lars Brudvig @lars-brudvig.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Grassland restorations must better foster forbs to facilitate high biodiversity Check out @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social's recent call for "forb-centric" grassland restoration Message if you lack access and would like to a copy onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Grassland restorations must better foster forbs to facilitate high biodiversity
Grassland restoration efforts typically aim to recover lost biodiversity, guided by biologically diverse old-growth grasslands as a benchmark. In most old-growth grasslands, forbs greatly outnumber g...
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Julian Schrader @julianschrader.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
New #PhD position in #Island #Ecology This is a fully funded 4-year joint PhD position (Cotutelle) with my lab at Macquarie U (julianschrader.wordpress.com) and the lab of Rampal Etienne (research.rug.nl/en/persons/rampal-etienne) at @unigroningen.bsky.social Please spread the word widely! :)
mq.edu.au
Global PhD in island biogeography for plants
This scholarship supports PhD candidates studying ecology and evolutionary biology of plants. Research in Groningen, The Netherlands, and in Sydney, Australia.
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Chris Catano @chriscatano.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
I am accepting applications for a PhD student to join my lab at the University of California, Riverside. If you are interested in plant community ecology, ecosystem function/stability, global change, or restoration, please contact me. Fully funded position available. See my website for more details.
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James Orr @jamesaorr.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
New paper that may be of interest to ecologists studying global change, disturbances, biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, or response diversity: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org
Variability of functional and biodiversity responses to perturbations is predictable and informative - Nature Communications
Measures of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning show variable responses to perturbations, complicating the prediction of responses to global change. This study shows that the variability of communi...
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Markus Eichhorn @markuseichhorn.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Who should you nominate as reviewers for your manuscript? After a long chat with a post-grad it appears that there's a lot of misguided advice out there. Thread 👇
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Tommaso Jucker @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
🧪So pleased to see @alice-rosen.bsky.social paper on tropical forest structural complexity featured as Editor's choice in the latest issue of @ecography.bsky.social 🎉 Check it out here: nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Structural complexity of a tropical forest landscape along a forest disturbance gradient.
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Lars Brudvig @lars-brudvig.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
The Early Career Ecologists starter pack is officially completed! Please have a look and give a follow to each and every one of these amazing individuals And, to anyone who is still interested in joining, perhaps we can do part 2 in a bit? go.bsky.app/Di74bDy
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Laura Dee @lauradee.bsky.social · 17/10/2024
We are hiring a TT faculty at CU Boulder at the assistant or associate level at the interface of ecology and remote sensing: jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta... Apps due Nov 15
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SAOCousins @saocousins.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
Three (!) positions as Assistant Professor in #Biodiversity We hope to get one to our department #biogeography A super recruitment within Life sciences. Maximum of 7 since PhD 🌍🧪 #biodiversity #academic #climatechange #lifescience #ecology #StockholmUniversity Please re-🦋 www.su.se/english/news...
su.se
Faculty of Science is recruiting Assistant Professors in Biodiversity - Stockholm University
Faculty of Science is recruiting Assistant Professors in Biodiversity - Stockholm University
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Joe Atkinson @joe-atkinson.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
Eucalyptus gillii (curly mallee), a tough and localised endemic of inland Australia. Here on Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station. Distinctive curled leaf tips that remind me of Eucalyptus coccifera (the Tasmanian snow gum)
A straggly mallee-form eucalypt tree sits on a bare hill in an arid landscapeClose up photo of the fruits and leaves of Eucalyptus gillii showing the distinctive globose fruit with valves exserted with attenuate tips
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Joe Atkinson @joe-atkinson.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
Apropos of nothing, here is a male red-rumped parrot from Murray Valley NP back in 2022
A male red-rumped parrot, stands on the ground of a moist forest among grasses and forbs
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Sami Rifai @samirifai.bsky.social · 11/11/2024
Interested in using remote sensing to study forest recovery following fire? Well have I got the postdoc advert for you! careers.adelaide.edu.au/cw/en/job/51... Apply by Nov 21. Two year position based here in Adelaide, South Australia.
careers.adelaide.edu.au
Come and celebrate our 150th year. Explore our events, our history, and the foundation we’ve built for the future.
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SORTEE @sortee.bsky.social · 11/11/2024
Did you know the Society for Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (SORTEE) is also on LinkedIn? We keep our LinkedIn profile updated and are trying to reach more people. Check us out at: linkedin.com/company/sort... #openscience
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Xabier Simón Martínez de Goñi @martinezgonixs.bsky.social · 07/11/2024
📢Calling all researchers! We are studying what makes a great (or not-so-great) supervisor from the perspective of PhD students and postdocs. Our goal? To improve academic mentorship and research environments. Got 5-10 minutes? Take the survey!✍️ forms.gle/WT9GoiaHxypX...
forms.gle
Labelling my scientific supervisor: A genuine leader or just a big jerk?
Thank you for taking part in this survey. The aim of this survey is to understand which characteristics make a scientific supervisor supportive and constructive or, conversely, detrimental to the grow...
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Elisa Van Cleemput @elisa-vancleemput.bsky.social · 08/11/2024
causal understanding of landscapes + remote sensing 🛰️? Yes, we can! We discuss important hurdles - and provide solutions! - when using remote sensing to study causality in landscapes (free download until Dec 25) @lauradee.bsky.social, @benpoulter.bsky.social, P. Adler, K. Suding, A. Rebelo 🦸‍♀️🦹💪
sciencedirect.com
Scaling-up ecological understanding with remote sensing and causal inference
Decades of empirical ecological research have focused on understanding ecological dynamics at local scales. Remote sensing products can help to scale-…
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