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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe

@thilinas.bsky.social
4.3K followers 169 following 327 posts

Conservation scientist, Professor, Dept of Biological Sciences, Bridgewater State University, MA, USA. Research: #EcoRestore, #biodiversity, #conservation #urbanEcology, invasive species PhD in Fisheries & Wildlife 🐢🐍🐸🐦 🐟🌃🧪🏞️📊🖥️🛰️🏳️‍🌈🌍🦤

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Reposted by Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
Functional Ecology @funecology.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
📰Published📰Beyond Observed Diversity: A completeness-based invasion theory💡 buff.ly/gcrGPQd 🧪🌍️
buff.ly
Beyond Observed Diversity: A completeness-based invasion theory
Yanjie Liu This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Biological invasions pose a profound threat to global biodiversity and ecosystem functi…
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Excited to see undergraduate research contributing to restoration ecology and new approaches to monitoring #biodiversity! #GenerationRestoration #Ecoacoustics #WetlandEcology #WetlandRestoration #RestorationEcology #UndergraduateResearch
Undergrad research students presentation Undergrad research students presentation Undergrad research students presentation Undergrad research students presentation
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
🎓Our undergraduate researchers, recipients of the Summer 2026 ATP Award, presented their work on ecological monitoring of restored wetlands at the ATP symposium, using #bioacoustics to study birds and #wetland #soundscape. 🐦🌿🔊🌎🌱🦤🧪
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
A tick encounters some pesticide environmentally—perhaps through contact with treated vegetation, soil, or prey. The exposure is below the dose that causes immediate mortality in the tick. Instead of dying, the tick experiences a physiological effect described in the paper
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Sub lethal is the chemical dosage that does not result in mortality. Yes intent in pesticide use is lethality. “Sublethal” doesn't mean pesticides aren't intended to kill something; it means the particular exposure/dose used in this experiment wasn't high enough to kill the ticks outright.
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Protecting intact tropical forests may deliver greater biodiversity and carbon benefits per dollar than restoration, highlighting the importance of preventing forest disturbance alongside efforts to halt deforestation and restore degraded forests.
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Moderate manual bush thinning can reduce shrub encroachment while maintaining arthropod diversity, whereas complete or chemical clearing causes greater biodiversity losses—highlighting the value of retaining vegetation heterogeneity in savanna restoration.
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Reposted by Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
Anil Madhavapeddy @anil.recoil.org · 24/09/2026
Good news for the Scottish Highlands in our latest paper mapping natural woodland regeneration up there with lidar, measuring the effect of deer population control on sapling survival into mature tree growth 🌎 anil.recoil.org/notes/cairng...
anil.recoil.org
Mapping millions of little trees across the Cairngorms with airborne LiDAR
A good news paper in the Journal of Applied Ecology, using airborne LiDAR over Cairngorms Connect to map 2.65 million young trees and finding deer management is working.
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
A surprising twist in tick ecology: sublethal pesticide exposure increased cold tolerance and winter survival in Dermacentor variabilis, potentially enabling northward range expansion—and highlighting why physiology matters when predicting species responses to environmental change.
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Reposted by Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
Springer @springer.springernature.com · 28/09/2026
This #OpenAccess study in 'Hydrobiologia' provides a comprehensive inventory of non-native inland fishes across the circum-Mediterranean region, identifying key introduction pathways and highlighting the need for coordinated strategies to protect freshwater biodiversity. bit.ly/4rB55A7 🌍 #Fisheries
Patterns and correlates of non-native inland fishes in the circum-Mediterranean region
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Reposted by Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
Journal of Animal Ecology @animalecology.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Check out this review 👇️ Reproductive value as a key concept in ecology and evolutionary biology🌍 'Our synthesis highlights why reproductive value repeatedly reappears across diverse areas of population biology' 🔎 buff.ly/7eYA5IN
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Reposted by Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
Methods in Ecology and Evolution @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
📖Published📖 This article developed a standardized protocol for simultaneously monitoring the leaf phenology of canopy and ground-layer vegetation in tropical dry ecosystems, using pole and tree-mounted trail cameras 🌳 📸 🌍 🧪 Read here👇 buff.ly/PZKVaRk
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Reposted by Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
Journal of Animal Ecology @animalecology.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This study provides the first continent-scale evidence that carotenoid-based colouration declines along a continuous urbanisation gradient 🏢 🐦‍⬛ 🌍 📖 Read more: buff.ly/1LoiOGp
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Thanks to Nate Cristofori and Town of Plymouth for helping make this a great field experience! #FireEcology #PrescribedFire #PineBarrens #FieldEcology 🌎🌱🦤
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
For our Ecological Methods & Techniques class, we’re learning how prescribed fire is used in forest management to maintain pine barrens ecosystems—and seeing firsthand how ecological concepts translate into management on the ground.
Field trip with grads  Field trip with grads
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Field day at Myles Standish State Forest MA with my graduate students from Bridgewater State University! 🌲🔥
Fire managementFire management Fire ecology
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Reposted by Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
DrArchivalGenomics @ehekkala.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
🧪🌏👇
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Reposted by Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
Functional Ecology @funecology.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
📰Published📰Community assembly on inland cliffs is context-dependent💡 buff.ly/c76qAuP 🧪🌍️
buff.ly
Community assembly on inland cliffs is context-dependent
Thomas Deola, Gianmaria Bonari, Alessandro Bricca, Leopoldo de Simone, Sofie Paulus, Claudia Angiolini, Francesco Candini, Juan Lorite, Manuel J. Steinbauer, Anke Jentsch This is a plain language s…
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Assessing phragmites invasion in restored wetlands... A research project by our #undergradResearch students @ #bridgewaterState
WetlandsWetlands Wetlands teamWetlands
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
🍂 Fall fieldwork is back! Monitoring stream restoration and tracking the recovery of aquatic biodiversity. 🌊🔬 #GenerationRestoration #StreamEcology #Biodiversity 🧪🌍🌱
Monitoring stream restoration and tracking the recovery of aquatic biodiversityMonitoring stream restoration and tracking the recovery of aquatic biodiversityMonitoring stream restoration and tracking the recovery of aquatic biodiversityMonitoring stream restoration and tracking the recovery of aquatic biodiversity
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Tick collections off miceTick collection off miceTick collection off miceTick collection off birds
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
All part of our #NSF-EEID project investigating host–vector interactions and tick-borne disease ecology. Great to be working alongside the Columbia University E3B Diuk-Wasser Lab! 🔬🌿 #DiseaseEcology #VectorEcology #TickEcology #WildlifeEcology #Onehealth 🦤🌱🌍🧪
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
🕷️🐦🐭 Fieldwork day in NY! Today we were out in the field mist-netting birds, collecting ticks from them, and checking Sherman traps for white-footed mice—then collecting ticks directly from the mice, too.
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Reposted by Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
Canadian Journal of Zoology @canjzoology.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Just Published 📰Mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) respond to anthropogenic disturbance by shifting activity patterns 🌎 ✒️Skinner et al. 🔗https://ow.ly/MAvL50ZxAK4 📷Fig. 3 #AnimalBehavior #WildlifeResearch #WildlifeEcology
Line graph showing predicted activity of goats and vehicles over time. The X axis shows time between 08:00 and 20:00, and the Y axis shows predicted activity. As vehicles (in green line) increase in activity, goats (in blue dashed line) decrease in activity.
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Reposted by Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
Jules Segrestin @jsegrestin.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
In our latest paper, we show that the ecological determinants of stability in #dryland plant communities changed along an #aridity gradient, highlighting that the mechanisms underpinning community #stability are climate-dependent. 🔗🔓 doi.org/10.1111/nph.... 🌍🌐🌱
doi.org
Ecological determinants of stability in dryland plant communities
Conceptual framework for partitioning the drivers of community stability.
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Published in BioScience doi.org/10.1093/bios...
doi.org
BON in a Box: An Open and Collaborative Platform for Biodiversity Monitoring, Indicator Calculation, and Reporting
Abstract. The Convention on Biological Diversity’s Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) sets ambitious goals to protect and restore biodive
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
An excellent example of how coordinated biodiversity observation and open science can help turn research into actionable information for the GBF. #Biodiversity #GEOBON #GBF #BiodiversityMonitoring #OpenScience #Conservation 🧪🌱🦤
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
These pipelines can be reused and adapted, helping connect biodiversity research, monitoring networks, capacity building, and policy. Many thanks to Jory Griffith, Jean-Michel Lord, and Andrew Gonzalez, and to all the authors for developing and advancing this important platform. 👏
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
BON-in-a-Box, developed by the @geobon.org, is helping bridge that gap by providing open, transparent and reproducible pipelines that transform biodiversity data into Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) and policy-relevant indicators.
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
A belated post from a large collaboration... 🌍 How do we turn #biodiversity observations to guide policy? The Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework sets ambitious goals for protecting and restoring biodiversity—but tracking progress requires robust, standardized indicators.
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
#VectorBorneDisease #DiseaseEcology #LandscapeEcology #PublicHealth #LymeDisease #onehealth doi.org/10.1186/s130... 🧪🌍🦤⚕️
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Our standardized, spatially explicit workflow provides a transferable approach for assessing tick-borne disease hazard and supporting more targeted Lyme disease prevention. Congratulations to all my co-authors!
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Excited to share our latest paper in Parasites & Vectors! We mapped Lyme disease hazard across 141 urban greenspaces in NYC–Long Island & Greater Boston, showing how urbanization, tree canopy & wildlife connectivity shape the distribution of Borrelia-infected Ixodes scapularis nymphs.
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Our #undergrad team is taking STEM beyond into the community! 🌍🔬🇨🇻 This week, our team is leading #STEM outreach activities with school students in #CapeVerde, sharing hands-on science and inspiring the next generation. Science is at its best when it's shared. 🧪🌱🌍🦤 #ScienceOutreach #SciComm
STEM outreach STEM outreachSTEM outreachSTEM outreach
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I will be at #esa2026. DM me if you are interested in applying if you want to meet up and chat. I will be at disease ecology, urban ecology, & aquatic ecology socials
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I will be at #esa2026. DM me if you are interested in applying. I will be at disease ecology, urban ecology, & aquatic ecology socials
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Now it's time for the next phase: identifying specimens to species in the lab, and using #AI-assisted analyses of autonomous recording unit (#ARU) data to characterize bird communities. The fieldwork ends here—but the discoveries are just beginning. #RestorationEcology #Bioacoustics #Birds #AI
Lab is for bugsLab is for bugsLab is for bugsLab is for bugs
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Field season is officially in the books! 🌿🦂🏞️ This summer, our team sampled stream #macroinvertebrates across restored streams in SE MA to understand freshwater ecosystem recovery. Huge thanks to our outstanding #undergraduateResearch team for all their hard work. #GenerationRestoration 🪻🌱🌍 🦤
Insect macroinvertebrates Insect macroinvertebrates Insect macroinvertebrates Insect macroinvertebrates
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Reposted by Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
‪🚨 Grad Assistant - Masters in Biology🚨 🦌🕷️ wildlife ecology at Bridgewater State Uni, MA. #NSF; #wildlife #diseaseEcology, host–vector surveillance Submit cover letter; CV; unofficial transcripts; 2–3 reference contacts. 📧tsurasinghe@bridgew.edu sites.google.com/bridgew.edu/...
jobs.bridgew.edu
Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Staff Associate (Grant Funded)
The Post-Doctoral Associate will coordinate and participate in integrated field and analytical components of a multi-year project in southeastern Massachusetts (Greater Boston Area). The position will...
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
🚨 Postdoc in Urban Wildlife & Disease Ecology Join our NSF EEID project at Bridgewater State (MA) studying wildlife–tick–pathogen dynamics in Greater Boston. Details: sites.google.com/bridgew.edu/... 🔗 Apply: jobs.bridgew.edu/postings/33045 📧 tsurasinghe@bridgew.edu Please share! 🔁
jobs.bridgew.edu
Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Staff Associate (Grant Funded)
The Post-Doctoral Associate will coordinate and participate in integrated field and analytical components of a multi-year project in southeastern Massachusetts (Greater Boston Area). The position will...
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
‪🚨 Grad Assistant - Masters in Biology🚨 🦌🕷️ wildlife ecology at Bridgewater State Uni, MA. #NSF; #wildlife #diseaseEcology, host–vector surveillance Submit cover letter; CV; unofficial transcripts; 2–3 reference contacts. 📧tsurasinghe@bridgew.edu sites.google.com/bridgew.edu/...
jobs.bridgew.edu
Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Staff Associate (Grant Funded)
The Post-Doctoral Associate will coordinate and participate in integrated field and analytical components of a multi-year project in southeastern Massachusetts (Greater Boston Area). The position will...
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Work includes #trailCams, #ARU, small-mammal surveys, tick collections, mentoring UG/MS students. Great fit for candidates in wildlife ecology, disease ecology, quantitative ecology, GIS, or vector-borne disease research. Please repost/share! 🔁
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
🚨 JOB ALERT 🚨 🦌🕷️ Postdoctoral Research Associate in wildlife ecology at Bridgewater State Uni, MA. #NSF #EEID grant; #wildlife and #diseaseEcology, host–vector surveillance in Greater Boston. Apply: jobs.bridgew.edu/postings/33045 sites.google.com/bridgew.edu/... tsurasinghe@bridgew.edu
jobs.bridgew.edu
Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Staff Associate (Grant Funded)
The Post-Doctoral Associate will coordinate and participate in integrated field and analytical components of a multi-year project in southeastern Massachusetts (Greater Boston Area). The position will...
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Stay tuned as we continue documenting the biodiversity of Cape Verde's coastal ecosystems and building international partnerships in marine science, conservation, and sustainability. 🔬🐠🌍🧪🦤 #NSF #IRES #CapeVerde #MarineBiology #Biodiversity #CoastalEcology #Aquaculture #UndergraduateResearch
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
This exciting work is being led by our outstanding M.S. student Siena Larrick alongside six BSU undergraduate researchers from Biology and Geography. Their energy, curiosity, and dedication have already made for a fantastic start to the field season.
Undergrad and grad studentsUndergrad and gradsIntertidal surveys Intertidal work
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
📹 BRUVs (Baited Remote Underwater Video systems) are now being deployed to investigate impacts on marine communities associated with mariculture, with subtidal surveys beginning soon.
BRUVSBRUVS
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
🪸 Our team then started baseline intertidal biodiversity surveys along the Calhau coastline ahead of planned aquaculture waste release, helping us understand ecological conditions before potential disturbance.
Intertidal workIntertidal workIntertidal work Intertidal work
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
🦐 We began with a visit to the nation's first shrimp farm in Calhau to learn about emerging aquaculture practices. 🐟 A trip to the local fish market provided valuable insights into coastal resources and fisheries.
Visiting shrimp farmVisiting shrimp farm Fish market Fish market
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
🌊🇨🇻 Field season is underway in São Vicente, #CapeVerde Over the past week, our NSF IRES-supported team has launched collaborative #coastal & #marine #biodiversity research with partners from #BridgewaterState, Universidade de Cabo Verde, Universidade Técnica do Atlântico and Biosfera.
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Dr. Thilina Surasinghe @thilinas.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
"hunting not only targets areas used as refuges by wildlife, but also reduces recolonisation potential and may therefore alter source–sink dynamics"
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