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Max Fontaine

@maxfontaine.bsky.social
629 followers 316 following 11 posts

Botanist & PhD student @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social & @rbgkew.bsky.social | Interested in the chemical defences of tropical trees and the origins of plant diversity 🌳🍃🐛

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Max Fontaine @maxfontaine.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Kopsia pauciflora, Apocynaceae. One of the first flowers we found in the forest 😁.
Flower with 5 imbricate (overlapping) white petals. Reduced stamens forming a faint yellow ring around the inside of the corolla tube.
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British Society of Plant Pathology @bspp.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
🌾 It’s #PlantHealthWeek! Think you’ve got what it takes to keep our plants healthy? Try our Plant Doctor quiz and prove it! 👩‍🔬🌿 💡 Learn, play, and celebrate plant health 👉 www.bspp.org.uk/plant-doctor... #BSPP #PlantPathology #PlantsMatter
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Max Fontaine @maxfontaine.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Think this guy is some kind of skink? Made me jump, thought I almost stepped on a snake until I saw the tiny legs 😅 #herp
Face shot of a reptile, possibly a skink. The upper surface is brown/grey with black spotsTop shot of same reptile amongst some moss and rocks
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Max Fontaine @maxfontaine.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Fruit and flower of Goniothalamus roseus, Annonaceae. Native to Borneo. Distinct, bright red/pink apocarpous (unfused) fruit with lots of baby fruitlets (yes the whole thing is one fruit).
One apocarpous (unfused) fruit with bright red/pink fruitlets hanging from stem of shrubPendulous flower with large pale pink  petals
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Max Fontaine @maxfontaine.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Welcome week parade of Long-tailed macaques passing by my front door 🐒
Baby macaque Three baby macaques Two baby macaquesBaby macaque hitching a ride on mum
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Max Fontaine @maxfontaine.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Hi All 👋 I’ll be at the incredible Danum Valley in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo conducting botanical fieldwork for the PhD until late July 🌳 Happy to take, and encouraging, any ID suggestions on posts. Especially for anything that isn’t a plant 😄
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Max Fontaine @maxfontaine.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Very late considering i got here almost two weeks ago, but made it to Danum Valley, NE Borneo 🥳. 438km2 of pristine primary lowland rainforest, and my home for the next 3ish months. Keeping track of all the cool things I’ve seen is a challenge - I’ll attempt to post them here as i go.
Sign saying “Danum Valley Field Centre”Scenic shot of fog over forest canopySunset in rainforest
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Max Fontaine @maxfontaine.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Figured maybe i should slowly start sharing all these pictures of plants I’ve been hoarding in my camera roll. Lollipop plant - Pachystachys lutea (Acanthaceae). Native to Peru. BTW, Yellow structures are bracts , not flowers David Welch Winter Gardens, Duthie Park, Aberdeen.
Inflorescence of Lollipop plant (Pachystachys lutea). Young four-sided inflorescence with showy, yellow overlapping bracts. A few pairs of opposite leaves in shot.
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Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology @mpi-ce.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Scientists from our institute and @uni-kiel.de led by @sunsicker.bsky.social show that endophytic fungi boost the chemical defenses of poplars by producing their own alkaloid to fend off herbivores. They alter insect communities and influence aphid-ant interactions. www.ice.mpg.de/491257/PR_Wa...
ice.mpg.de
Hidden allies
An endophytic fungus of the genus Cladosporium fungus which lives inside the leaves of black poplar, not only increases the production of defensive substances in the trees, but also produces an alkalo...
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Botanical University Challenge @bucbotany.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Only 6.6% of conservation funding goes to plants (and only 0.2% to algae and fungi!!). Almost all goes to vertebrates, especially big well-known ones. Where do people think animals live and what do they eat? Picture with article has 2 rhinoceroses - and thousands of plants!
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Dr M Goes Wild @drmgoeswild.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
IT IS TODAY! The Quarter Finals of Botanical University Challenge starting 2pm GMT watch on our YouTube Channel! Good luck to our eight plantastic teams! #BUC2025 @bucbotany.bsky.social
IThe Quarter Finals of Botanical University Challenge starting 2pm GMT watch on our YouTube Channel!
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Max Fontaine @maxfontaine.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Aberdeen team Taxon, Taxoff first place after round one of #BUC25 🥳 So proud of our team, lots of very high scores on the leaderboard 👏 Bring on round two next week! @bucbotany.bsky.social @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social
BUC25 scoreboard, Aberdeen first place followed by plymouth in second. Eden project, Royal holloway and UCD joint third
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Plantae.org @plantaeofficial.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
#JustIn on Plantae - Classical Botany in the Shadow of Molecular Science: Why It Still Matters. In this piece, Plantae Fellows, @kesmaio.bsky.social @carlosgonzsanz.bsky.social and @vedjiwan.bsky.social discuss the decline of the term and education of botanical sciences plantae.org/classica…
plantae.org
Classical Botany in the Shadow of Molecular Science: Why It Still Matters | Plantae
The Decline of Classical Botany Though many of us may recognize the word ‘botany’, we may also associate it with dusty books and 18th century science. ‘Botany’ is not used frequently in our…
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Dr. Catherine Macdonald @drcatmac.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
As someone working in conservation and ecology, I want to add that learning to see the world differently, with new eyes, is one of the most beautiful and rewarding aspects of ecological training and expertise. We live in a world of wounds AND wonder, both of which are often invisible to others.
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Max Fontaine @maxfontaine.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
🤯
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Catherine Sheard @sheardcat.bsky.social · 29/10/2024
Fully-funded PhD position available on the cultural evolution of tea! With me, Sabine Parrish, and David Burslem at the University of Aberdeen (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿), come combine anthropology and biology to think about why people drink tea and how that may change in the future. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
findaphd.com
People and tea: past, present, and future at University of Aberdeen on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - People and tea: past, present, and future at University of Aberdeen , listed on FindAPhD.com
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Brendan O'Loughlin @brendanoloughlin.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
One of the craziest beetles I've ever seen, genus Notosacantha 📍Madagascar #Entomology #Coleoptera
Genus Notosacantha tortoise beetle
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David @incnaturalist.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Absolutely gorgeous male Archduke butterfly. Those metallic blues are sensational
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Mario Fernández-Mazuecos @mfmazuecos.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Ok, let's repost this here. Types of plant systematics papers.
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Shelly Gaynor @shellygaynor.bsky.social · 10/11/2024
Started a starter pack for botanist! go.bsky.app/5JTxuk1
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