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Tim Baker

@kofitim.bsky.social
140 followers 87 following 21 posts

Evolution, ecology and management of tropical forests | Prof @ U Leeds, UK & Visiting Researcher, IIAP, Peru

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Reposted by Tim Baker
Grace Lindsay @neurograce.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
MIT has put out an "AI and Education" report summarizing what they've found at their own institution. Seems thoughtful. aiandeducation.mit.edu/report/
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Nature @nature.com · 21/06/2026
Evidence suggests that AI-driven ‘deskilling’ is starting to happen in medicine, computer science and other fields go.nature.com/4uJdRvW
go.nature.com
Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in — and they’re not good
Nature - Reliance on artificial-intelligence tools degrades the abilities of physicians and software engineers, studies show.
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Oisin Mac Aodha @oisinmacaodha.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Job opening for Lecturer/Associate Professor of AI for Biodiversity Science at University College London (UCL). www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
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iaptglobal @iaptglobal.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
bit.ly/PD_Senna
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 08/06/2026
"Something remarkable happened in April. For the first time in history, wind and solar generated more electricity than gas across the entire planet. Not in a country. Not in a region. Globally." Tons of great news here from Danny Kennedy (via @billmckibben.bsky.social's newsletter, which rules).
proelectrica.substack.com
Elite Cognitive Dissonance and the Asian Energy Disruption
Notes from the Field — Singapore & Indonesia, May 2026
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Sarah Tuttle @niais.cryptoanarchy.network · 14/05/2026
Honestly, I love this approach.
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Just gave a seminar at the School of Food Science and Nutrition, who do many meta-analyses etc. Talked at length about ForestPlots.net Blank looks; finally someone said, for us, that's just a type of graph. I should get out of my bubble more often. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_...
en.wikipedia.org
Forest plot - Wikipedia
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
First-hand experience today of 'rewilding' limestone pavement for our undergrads. AI can't replace that.
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Laura K. Nelson @lauraknelson.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Wow this figure. AI reviews appear to be (subjectively) much better along almost all dimensions 👀
Figure 2: Survey responses: AI vs. human review comparisons, The figure is a horizontal bar chart with a marked 0 line, and bars to the left indicated human preferred and bars to the right indicating AI preferred, on a continuous scale from -0.6 to 0.6.  The figure shows the differences in the mean response score between AI and human reviews for each of the nine review-quality criteria. In six out
of nine criteria, AI reviews were rated higher than human reviews. The preference towards AI reviews was stronger for authors than for PC, SPC, and ACs. All p-values show strong statistical significance at the α = 0.01 level.
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Phil Sturgeon 🌳🚵⚓️ @philsturgeon.com · 25/04/2026
Solar panels don’t damage the countryside you just don’t like the way they look. Skylarks. Linnets. Yellowhammers. www.ecoportal.net/en/solar-pan...
ecoportal.net
Solar panels were known to attract birds, but they are now drawing in species never seen in these areas before
New research from the University of Cambridge has found that some birds species are making a triumphant return to the area around solar panels in England.
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Camille Ziegler @csziegler.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Freshly published paper led by @santiagotrueba.bsky.social on leaf water losses across vascular plants 🌳🔬🧪 The 50-fold variation in gmin across ecological groups was weakly related to phylogeny with evidence for convergent evolution in response to climate 🌡️💦 @newphyt.bsky.social
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Ecological drivers and phylogenetic patterns of leaf minimum conductance variability in vascular plants
Stomatal closure prevents significant water losses during drought events. Yet, leaves are not perfectly hermetic and dehydration ensues through residual water losses, known as minimum conductance (g...
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Christopher Dick @chrisdick.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Great new paper on the biogeography of the Brazil nut family #Lecythidaceae led by #UMichEEB PhD student Diana Medellín-Zabala. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Assembling the Neotropical Tree Flora: Andean Uplift and the Historical Biogeography of the Brazil Nut Family (Lecythidaceae)
Aim The assembly of tropical tree floras is complex, involving many lineage-specific histories; however, focusing on the biogeographic history of diverse clades can reveal general patterns. We inves...
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Brian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Our new #BIEN biodiversity data workflow paper is out! BIEN is an ecosystem of modular, open-source BIEN tools for collecting, harmonizing, and validating biodiversity data -- and an integrated global database (BIEN db) of plant occurrences, traits & geographic ranges. doi.org/10.1111/2041... 🧪🌐🌾🌵
doi.org
BIEN: A biodiversity informatics ecosystem advancing open and reproducible workflows for plant observation, plot and trait data
The rapid expansion of biodiversity data presents new opportunities to understand and forecast biosphere dynamics. However, disparate and dispersed data, taxonomic and geographic inconsistencies, ...
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Chris Hassall @katatrepsis.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Very excited to announce that we are hiring for three faculty positions at @universityofleeds.bsky.social in @bioscienceleeds.bsky.social: A/Prof Plant Science, A/Prof Animal Biology and Lecturer in Ecology, Zoology, Biodiversity or Ecosystem Management. Please do get in touch to chat. Links below:
jobs.leeds.ac.uk
Job Opportunity at University of Leeds: Associate Professor of Plant Science
Associate Professor of Plant Science Salary: Grade 9 (£61,759 - £73,708 p.a, depending on experience)This role will be based on the university campus, with scope for elements of the job to be undertak...
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
These are great courses, apply if you can; going to Kibale was my first step to a career in ecology and conservation
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Jeremy Cliffe @jeremycliffe.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Meanwhile, Spain's massive investment in renewables is paying dividends now: with prices for Spanish industry and consumers low and stable compared with other European economies. www.ft.com/content/ac77...
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Distinguishing the signal of the vegetation from the water is not straightforward, but L-band SAR shows promise for monitoring the water level in Amazonian peatlands. Wonderfully led by Antje Uhde using precious field data from IIAP @congopeat.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Kim L. Holzmann @kimholzmann.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Big effort, exciting results - our paper on the constraints of thermal limits in tropical insects is now out in @nature.com! 🦋🐝🪰🪲🦗 @ecoresearchzoo3.bsky.social @biologie-uniwue.bsky.social @uni-wuerzburg.de
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ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Fabaceae emerge as amongst the most embolism-resistant tree families in Amazonia. Forests in the Brazilian and Guiana Shield regions, where Fabaceae abundance is high, are expected to have greater drought resistance than Western Amazon forests.
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Mark Smith @geomorphmark.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Applications open for a 3-year Post Doc position in Leeds (UK) on the #UKRI funded Still Waters project. We are looking for #hydrology #geomorphology modelling skills to embed surface hydrology into #malaria models with fieldwork in Zambia. Pls contact me for more details: tinyurl.com/3356rt44
The Zambezi river flows under a road bridgeSunset on the ZambeziMosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria falls)
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Tommaso Jucker @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
🚨3 Lectureships in Biology 🚨 Come join us in Bristol @bristolbiosci.bsky.social! We are looking for new collegues working across a broad spectum of topics in biology, including ecology & environmental change. Get in touch if you have Qs! Apply here by 8 March: www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Our research with the SECO project to understand the trajectory of the dry tropics depends on a team of wonderful people across the world, working in Peru, Brazil and beyond, in fieldwork, data management and lab analysis. Here are some of their stories: www.leeds.ac.uk/directory-re...
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Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society @botjlinnsoc.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Piper dispersed from South America first to Southern Africa, then on to South East Asia, where it spread across the Wallace & Lydekker's lines several times! Intrigued? The full paper can be found here: doi.org/10.1093/botl... (2/2) @linneansociety.bsky.social
doi.org
Origin and biogeographical history of Palaeotropical Piper (Piperaceae): multiple long-distance dispersals from South America initiated during the Middle Eocene climatic optimum
Abstract. Piper is the largest genus of Piperaceae and second largest in the angiosperms, but the biogeography and timing of its global radiation has not y
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ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Many congratulations to Adriane Esquivel, Rebecca Morgan and to all our colleagues supporting Amazon forest monitoring with RAINFOR and ForestPlots.net! Our analysis of 30 years of Amazon forest change is highlighted on the cover of @natplants.nature.com. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Really great to see our colleagues and friends at IIAP, Peru recognised by FAO for their long-term work on the ecology and management of Amazonian peatlands. www.facebook.com/100000023934...
facebook.com
Facebook
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Jose Luis Marcello (U Jaén, Peru) está liderando los estudios de la dinámica y el impacto del cambio climático en los bosques secos en el Peru - un trabajo muy importante, y con coordinación con ForestPlots.net Descubre mas aqui: fb.watch/CjP0DvNbL0/
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Tommaso Jucker @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
We have a #Tansley review out today @newphyt.bsky.social led by Becky Banbury Morgan in which we put forward a new framework that aims to explain how and why edge effects on forest structure vary across ecosystems and through time 📜 doi.org/10.1111/nph....
Graphical illustration of the four key stages of edge evolution following edge creation.
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Simon Lewis @simonlewis.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Huge new work in the central Congo peatlands, showing that the peatlands began forming 42,000 years ago. Culmination of around 15 major expeditions over the past decade, and a huge effort by many people.
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Ricardo Segovia @ricardosegovia.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Nueva entrevista en MongaBay a propósito de nuestro nuevo paper sobre la boogeografía del género Weinmannia.
es.mongabay.com
Un estudio revela los secretos de la evolución escondida de los imponentes árboles Weinmannia en Latinoamérica | ENTREVISTA
Un nuevo estudio reconstruyó la historia evolutiva de Weinmannia, un género con más de 90 especies de árboles emblemáticos.
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Ricardo Segovia @ricardosegovia.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
¡Recién publicado! 🌿 Descubrimos que Weinmannia, un género emblemático de los Andes, se originó fuera de los trópicos y migró hacia los Andes tropicales, donde se diversificó. A pesar de expandirse en altura y latitud, conserva su nicho ambiental. #Evolución #Andes #Biogeografía
sciencedirect.com
Phylogeny of Weinmannia (Cunoniaceae) reveals the contribution of the southern extratropics to tropical Andean biodiversity
The Andes are a relatively young mountain range with impressive biodiversity, but the biogeographic processes underlying its hyperdiversity are still …
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Julia Koricheva @juliakoricheva.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
📢 Fully funded PhD studentship for UK students is available in my lab @rhulbiology.bsky.social as part of new EU project Trees4Adapt 🌲🌳 Fieldwork in forest diversity experiments in Finland www.sataforestdiversity.org 📆 Apply by Sept 8th, start date - Jan 2026 👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project... 🍁🌍🧪
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Very important, fascinating patterns, and be cool to link with current trajectories of the structure and composition of apparently 'intact' tropical forests @forestplots.bsky.social
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Dr Jess Baker @jesstreebaker.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
New study led by Bruno Cintra @unibirmingham.bsky.social brings together work from both our PhD theses! Oxygen isotopes recorded in tree rings provide independent evidence that the Amazon water cycle has intensified, with increasing wet season rainfall and decreasing dry season rainfall since 1980.
Tree ring oxygen isotope records from terra firme (blue line) and floodplain (red line) sites in the Amazon show diverging trends since approximately 1980. This is a proxy for a large-scale pattern of increasing rainfall in the wet season and drying in the dry season.
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ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
The fantastic first image released by @esa.int Biomass satellite. In glorious false colour to represent its P-band radar imaging, capable of penetrating even the highest biomass forests in the Amazon and Congo.
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Reynaldo Linares-Palomino @rlinares.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
🚨 New paper alert 🚨 Documenting the seasonally #dry #plant #community dynamics in the #Marañon valley, in northern #Andean #Peru. Valley is a trove of #endemism, severely threatened, little studied. JL Marcelo and team provide a first glimpse at temporal #vegetation changes. doi.org/10.1016/j.tf...
doi.org
Redirecting
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ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
#pdra #postdoc Research Fellow in Tropical American Forest Dynamics. We are looking for a scientist with strong quantitative skills interested in forests and ecological change. You will work with a team of tropical ecologists including RAINFOR PPBio + other networks. jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
New lecturer position available with us at Leeds Geography: its a very supportive school with a vibrant and varied group of ecology and global change scientists, and it's a good place to live, with six national parks in easy reach. Do apply! jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Read about our work using drones to support sustainable palm fruit harvesting in the swamps of the Peruvian Amazon environment.leeds.ac.uk/faculty/news... @envleeds.bsky.social
environment.leeds.ac.uk
New research develops drone technology for mapping and managing palm species in the Peruvian Amazon
Working with stakeholders to design technological solutions to support their specific needs can help to extend the reach of conservation in the tropics.
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Great day studying the impact of excluding sheep on the soils, vegetation, birds and butterflies of limestone pavement in the Yorkshire Dales with our first year undergrads
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ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
#PhD How do tropical forest soundscapes alter with land use change? Ecoacoustic monitoring in Amazon and African forests, working with partners and gradients of tropical forest modification. Apply by 19 May: Manchester Met Uni, w/ Martin.Sullivan@mmu.ac.uk & colleagues! www.mmu.ac.uk/study/postgr...
mmu.ac.uk
Doctoral scholarships
Find out what doctoral research scholarships are available at Manchester Met and sign up for vacancy alerts.
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Fascinating article describing the reality of the fieldwork to map peat across Colombian Amazonia news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-...
news.mongabay.com
New research finds substantial peat deposits in Colombia’s conflicted Amazon
In the heart of the Colombian Amazon, the towering mountains of the Serranía del Chiribiquete harbor secrets including South America’s oldest rock art. The remote site was off-limits and poorly known ...
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Stakeholders + tech + long-term collaboration = more sustainable management: our pipeline using drones and AI makes counting palms cheap and fast in the swamps of the Peruvian Amazon, so more management plans can be produced with communities. Led by Ximena Tagle (IIAP/Wageningen) rdcu.be/ejbKd
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Luíseach Nic Eoin @roinnanluisigh.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Great @nature.com editorial and @naturepodcast.bsky.social series referencing ongoing coverage in @natureecoevo.bsky.social of the taxonomic furore regarding eponyms www.nature.com/articles/d41... (Check out rdcu.be/eja4P for the most recent NEE piece following last year's IBC votes)
nature.com
Scientific naming conventions should keep in step with contemporary science
A three-part Nature Podcast series explores the importance of scientific naming conventions — and talks to researchers looking at how to make them more inclusive.
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Mark Smith @geomorphmark.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
On this years’ Portugal trip, while wandering over the student field sites we found some naked men. Thankfully, the Naked Man orchid (also generously known as the Italian man orchid). Good spot @kofitim.bsky.social - you have a good eye for these things! Nice hat too
A naked man orchidA zoom in on the orchid
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Really interesting paper untangling the role of dispersal and speciation in the SE Asian tropics.
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ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
The botanist Al Gentry changed tropical ecology and helped create the global science of today. This new article celebrates Gentry's unique innovations, achievements and lasting influence, more than 30 years after his untimely death. rainfor.org/wp-content/u... annals.mobot.org/index.php/an...
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lucyhelenwells.bsky.social @lucyhelenwells.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
I'm excited to share my new paper on classifying dry tropical ecosystems in NE Brazil, using remote sensing. Our method aligns with the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology and suggests a new Ecosystem Functional Group: non-pyric shrubland. Find the paper: biogeography.pensoft.net/article/1454...
biogeography.pensoft.net
Satellite remote sensing can operationalise the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology in the biome-diverse north-east of Brazil
Accurate biome delineation is difficult where biomes occupy the same climatic space, as is the case for tropical dry forest and savanna. The resulting confusion limits our ability to understand and ma...
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Over two decades, harvesting aguaje palm fruits by climbing rather than tree felling in palm swamp forests in Peru, leads to a higher density of fruit-bearing female trees and increases incomes: a win/win for the forest and people. Great new paper led by Euridice Honorio doi.org/10.1002/pan3...
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Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
>20 years ago banging in aluminium nails, I realised its much easier to tag genera of trees common in forests close to the Andes, than genera that are common in Brazil, where the nails bend. Now Martin Sullivan has produced a beautiful map of wood density to illustrate this trend! rdcu.be/ecTlK
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Jesús Aguirre Gutiérrez @jeaggu.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Are tropical forests in the Americas changing as adaptation to ongoing climate change? Yes, they are! Are these changes enough to track their suitable climate? Not quite! Check out our paper in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... to see more of what our network has been working on!
science.org
Tropical forests in the Americas are changing too slowly to track climate change
Understanding the capacity of forests to adapt to climate change is of pivotal importance for conservation science, yet this is still widely unknown. This knowledge gap is particularly acute in high-b...
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