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Associate Professor John White

@johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social
3K followers 5.1K following 112 posts

I’m a wildlife ecologist at Deakin University Australia. Long-term small mammal, fire and climate research in Gariwerd (Grampians). Rodenticide impacts in wildlife. Urban ecology. Powerful owls. Native gardener :)

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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
The detritus of human occupied landscapes. A problem flowing away to become someone else’s problem. Like access to highly toxic rodenticides, Australians want the convinience of modern life but none of the responsibilty for the flow on Impacts.
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Reposted by Associate Professor John White
CSIRO Publishing @csiropublishing.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
New research in @wildliferesearchj.bsky.social shows the critical importance of landscape composition in #PowerfulOwl nest cavity selection and highlights how cavity availability influences #breeding productivity. doi.org/10.1071/WR25... #WildlifeResearch
A portrait of a Powerful Owl, round yellow eyes staring at us with intensity from its perch in a tree. The photo is credited as being by KarenHBlack, Getty Images. A caption invites us to read an open access article titled 'Navigating human-dominated landscapes: nest site selection by a threatened cavity-nesting apex predator' in Wildlife Research
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Distressing watching the demise of a once great nation. Feel like I am watching dystopia novels playing out in the real world. I really hope the USA can drag itself out of this and somehow say good bye to this destructive and self interested president before he does irreparable damage.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
New paper. Dynamics of the introduced house mouse in the Gariwerd-Grampians landscape in response to fire and climate. With climate change driving more regular fires and changes in rainfall, we show one of the species to benefit will be the house mouse. rdcu.be/eRIWA
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Reposted by Associate Professor John White
lights out for migrating birds @lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Anticoagulant rodenticides
Number of types
1
2
3
5
?
n= 37
Chicago, USA
n = 15
?
P
n = 101
Exposure pathway
M
?
Primary exposure
Mammary transfer
Unknown
P
1=4
M
n = 4
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Why we need better management of rodenticides post. A #rentokil bait station at the interface af a pond with wildlife and a public swimming pool. All rodenticides must be within 3m of a building. This is at least 20m from a building and in a place where it will attract the attention of wildlife.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
It bothers me so much that every building I encounter has rodenticides outside them. The bait in these boxes out doors will more than likely spread to the food chain. We need to do so much better and ban second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs). Do better APVMA!!
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Feral bees getting ready to take over my glider nesting box. They came in with a massive buzz and are looking like staying in the garden for a while.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Hot off the press. Using species distribution models to find species in landscapes where they are increadibly rare. Our adventures finding potoroo in the Grampians landscape. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Finding a needle in a heath stack: A strategy to optimize the detection of a rare marsupial on the brink of local extinction
Anthropogenic pressures are reducing species distributions and driving extinctions within ecosystems. As the urgency to address biodiversity loss inte…
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
An old one. But is sums up one of our favourite study species. Enjoy :)
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Could the APVMA be any more clear how they view scientific evidence of rodenticide poisoning of our wildlife? Time to ditch our regulator? #APVMA
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
So apparently the APVMA is supposed to release the recommendations of their review into rodenticides in Australia this month (only a few days left). It is over a year late and we still have no indication if they will do anything. Rat poison is a disaster for our wildlife. @davidpocock.bsky.social
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
When you reach for the rat poisons, stop for one second and think about where it goes. Often not rats and mice. Here we demonstrate it ends up in possums, many are then eaten by predators like powerful owls. Please avoid second generation anticoagulants 🙏♥️🦉 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Mum’s love.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Fire not only resets our biological infrastructure but also has significant economic costs. Fire is good for ecosystems in the right dose, but the more frequent mega-fires we are seeing in the Grampians are not good.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Jumping spiders rock.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
A tiny little reddish scops owl (Otus rufescens) I encountered in Coastal scrub in Borneo once. At about 20cm in height they are a cute little owl.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
A squadron of green long legged flys waiting for take off. Kubah NP, Borneo.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
Sri Lankan green vine snake (Ahaetulla nasuta). Super good looking snake.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
Winter burning grass trees. Even in the middle of winter they go up with such force.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
My personal native plant nursery. Australian native daisies, emu bush, banksia and grevillea from cuttings. Masses of grass trees grown from seed over many year. I give most of these away to people in my street willing to plant them on their nature strips. 1 plant at a time will make a difference
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
It is a tough world out there for male eastern great kangaroos. A series of shots of a fight in the Grampians.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
Just a little reminder on rat poisons. They don’t just kill rodents! Second generation anticoagulant rodenticides are killing native predators the world over. Think twice, maybe even thrice before using SGARs.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
A superb fairywren foraging for insects on seaweed on a beach in Cape Conran.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
One of the more amazing wildlife experiences I have ever had. A chance encounter with Wallace’s flying frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus). Given It was so special!!
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Microhyla borneensis, also known as the Matang narrow-mouthed frog, lays its eggs in pitcher plants. This shot was in Kubah NP and one of several times I have seen them laying eggs.
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Reposted by Associate Professor John White
Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
This is a male agile Antechinus. He has rather large “nuts”, and like most dasyurid marsupials will live a short life and go out in a flurry of sex. After a short breeding season all the males die off. Generally referred to as going out with a bang.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Swamp Antechinus in the Otways. These chunky little marsupials are feisty little carnivores who seem to be declining across their distribution.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
A harvestman prowling the leaf litter of a Bornean jungle.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
My favourite little mammal that visits our garden. A Krefft’s glider. They love wattles and sap, so provide natives and they may visit you too.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
One of my favourite species encounters when in Borneo are proboscis monkeys. The Malay name for proboscis monkeys, orang belanda, means “Dutchman.” Originally, the joke was that, with their big noses and portly bellies, the monkeys resembled the Malay peoples' European colonisers.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Just hangin’ with a few friends. Bats in Kubah NP, Sarawak, Borneo.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
That moment the heating turns on.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Last week I was away on our annual field program for Deakin University Wildlife and Conservation Biology first year students. It is so much fun teaching students field skills and things such as surveying small mammals. Who could not be inspired by amazing small mammals such as this Antechinus?
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Sri Lankan brown fish owl. Everyone loves an owl, and this one is pretty special
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Heath mouse, an early post fire specialist. Arrive after the house mouse. Gariwerd-Grampians.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
A zombie moth. Or a moth with a serious fungal infection. Borneo.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Slaying the hair,Toque macaque style. Sri Lanka.
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Reposted by Associate Professor John White
Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
20 years ago we wrote a paper on planting native trees on streetscapes to promote native bird communities. Not particularly revolutionary from our perspective but it is still relevant given fascination in most countries for planting exotic plants in our gardens www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Non-uniform bird assemblages in urban environments: the influence of streetscape vegetation
The urban landscape encompasses a broad spectrum of variable environments ranging from remnant patches to highly modified streetscapes. Despite the ex…
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Reposted by Associate Professor John White
Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
In an attempt to understand how powerful owls are exposed to rodenticides we tested their native possum prey. And surprise, surprise they were full of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides. Our food webs are full of these terrible toxins. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
The missing toxic link: Exposure of non-target native marsupials to second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) suggest a potential route of transfer into apex predators
Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are used globally to control rodent pests. Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) persist in the liver …
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Reposted by Associate Professor John White
Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Using our long term small mammal data in the Grampians landscape, our PhD student Luke predicts what the past looked like. Hindcasting is a cool way to get more value out of long term data and it shows that changes in rain and wildfire have impacted mammals onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Hindcasting long‐term data unveils the influence of a changing climate on small mammal communities
Aim Shifting climates are reshaping ecosystems globally and are projected to intensify over the coming century. Understanding how biodiversity will respond to these shifts is crucial for developing .....
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Reposted by Associate Professor John White
Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
Societies war on rodents has just ended up being a war on everything. Our research showing owls and frogmouths are all heavily impacted by second generation anticoagulant rodenticides. SGARs are the new silent killer in the environment. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Silent killers? The widespread exposure of predatory nocturnal birds to anticoagulant rodenticides
Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) influence predator populations and threaten the stability of ecosystems. Understanding the prevalence and impact of r…
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Dreamtime at the ‘G.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
While trapping in the post fire Gariwerd-Grampians has been very tough and captures of any mammals extremely rare, we do get the occasional furry gem. Two southern brown bandicoot managed to survive the fires at one of our sites. Simply amazing!
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Reposted by Associate Professor John White
Tom Parkes @thomasparkes.com.au · 11/05/2025
Porcupine Grass - Triodia scariosa near the Mt William Creek east side of Gariwerd on Djab Wurrung country grow on these small sand dunes that likely developed during the last ice age 10,000 years ago. #Grampians #WildOz
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
It is going to be a tough year trapping in the Grampians. So far in 4 sites we have caught a single agile Antechinus and a mouse. That equates to a single native small mammal every 6 hectares.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
Today’s diary. 250 traps out. Result a recapture of the one native animal we have caught so far and a house mouse. House mouse is generally the first species to colonise burnt landscapes and will be a dominant feature of the Grampians landscape for a few years. Fire = invasive species invasion.
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
5 months post burn. It is going to take some time for this site to recover. It was also trashed by the 2006 wildfires and took almost 15 years to start catching native small mammals. Grampians long-term, fire, climate and biodiversity project (established 2008).
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Associate Professor John White @johnwhitewildlife.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
An amazing looking grass tree after the Grampians fires. It was in one of our very long unburnt sites. So this is possibly its first fire induced hair cut.
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