Graeme S. Cumming | Lightnews

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 7h

Ah noooo! So I haven’t been to the *proper* source after all 🧐

Mongabay @mongabay.com · 16h

A new study finds the Zambezi River starts not in Zambia but in Angola’s highlands, adding 342 km to its length. Rivers there supply ~70% of the water that feeds Victoria Falls, underscoring the need to protect the Upper Zambezi Basin, where forest loss is rising.

Scientists chart a new source, and length, for Africa’s famous Zambezi River

A new study suggests that the Zambezi River, Africa’s fourth-longest, is 11% longer than previously thought, with its most distant source lying in Angola, not Zambia. While the finding leaves the…

news.mongabay.com

Mongabay @mongabay.com · 16h

A new study finds the Zambezi River starts not in Zambia but in Angola’s highlands, adding 342 km to its length. Rivers there supply ~70% of the water that feeds Victoria Falls, underscoring the need to protect the Upper Zambezi Basin, where forest loss is rising.

Scientists chart a new source, and length, for Africa’s famous Zambezi River

A new study suggests that the Zambezi River, Africa’s fourth-longest, is 11% longer than previously thought, with its most distant source lying in Angola, not Zambia. While the finding leaves the…

news.mongabay.com

Luca @lucagalletti.bsky.social · 17h

Spotted Eagle Rays.
They get the eagle part of their name from their snout, or beak, which they use to forage for invertebrates in the sand.

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 1d

Looks like it found the fishosphere

WWF UK @wwf.org.uk · 2d

Photo of the day: A blue footed booby diving into the big blue. 📸

Photography by Henley Spiers.

Underwater image of a blue footed booby swimming up to the surface with a sardine in its mouth. The water is clear apart from a trail of bubbles from the blue footed booby’s dive to catch prey. Below is a large shoal of sardines.

Dr Eva Plaganyi @drevaplaganyi.bsky.social · 1d

Some good news 🐳 #BlueWhale
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12...

Baby blue whale numbers peak at just the right time off WA coast

Researchers are relieved as baby blue whale numbers increase after a slow start to the migration season.

www.abc.net.au

WWF UK @wwf.org.uk · 2d

Photo of the day: A blue footed booby diving into the big blue. 📸

Photography by Henley Spiers.

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 3d

Félicitations, Anne! Bien méritées.

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 3d

Woohoo! Cover photo AND article

ESA Journals @esajournals.bsky.social · 4d

The December cover star of "Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment"—a young vervet monkey photographed by Graeme Cumming—illustrates Cumming’s study on “spillover effects” when protected species roam beyond park boundaries, bringing benefits and costs

Browse the full issue: tinyurl.com/2stvspyp

December 2025 cover of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

ESA Journals @esajournals.bsky.social · 4d

The December cover star of "Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment"—a young vervet monkey photographed by Graeme Cumming—illustrates Cumming’s study on “spillover effects” when protected species roam beyond park boundaries, bringing benefits and costs

Browse the full issue: tinyurl.com/2stvspyp

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 4d

Schooling! One of those strangely fascinating fish behaviours that I love watching

Acid Rain @bearysweet.bsky.social · 5d

What is that hairy creature in the sea? 😱

Oh, it's just a bunch of fish going to school together 😸😋

#marinelife #fish #nature

UWA Oceans Institute @uwaoceans.bsky.social · 4d

Minister for Fisheries announces strong new measures to boost sustainability of WA’s demersal fish stocks.

OI and WA Fisheries research shows no-take zones, paired with smart management, can help recover these iconic species.

New study available now.

www.researchgate.net/publication/...

(PDF) A fine‐scale fish population model reveals how integration of spatial and temporal management can maximise conservation and fisheries benefits

PDF | Recreational fishing is a popular activity worldwide with significant socio‐economic contributions to society, but also presents environmental... | Find, read and cite all the research you need ...

www.researchgate.net

The Marine Biological Association @thembauk.bsky.social · 5d

Meet the veliger larva - a tiny ocean drifter with a delicate shell and two ciliated “velums” that look like fluttering ears. These velums help it swim through plankton and capture food.

🎥 Video by @elizabethbeston.bsky.social

#MarineBiology

Acid Rain @bearysweet.bsky.social · 5d

What is that hairy creature in the sea? 😱

Oh, it's just a bunch of fish going to school together 😸😋

#marinelife #fish #nature

The Society for Social-Ecological Systems (SocSES) @socses.bsky.social · 6d

🌱 Join our community and be recognised as a founding member 🏅

SES research has long lacked an institutional home. That changed this year with the launch of SocSES. Sign up before the end of 2025 to be recognised for co-creating our community.

🔗 Become a founding member: socses.org/join-socses/

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 7d

Nice summary of some recent science on the issues with Diamond's portrayal of Rapa Nui collapse. People are often surprised to discover that descendants of the original inhabitants still live on the island... although their numbers were heavily reduced by influenza, introduced by the Spanish.

Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 7d

Yes, Jared Diamond was wrong.

Rapa Nui's people did not suffer ecological and social collapse. They adapted to changed circumstances and thrived.

And they were nothing like "primitive"

phys.org/news/2025-11...

Studies show how the giant statues on Rapa Nui were made and moved—and what caused the island's deforestation

Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is often portrayed in popular culture as an enigma. The rationale is clear: The tiny, remote island in the Pacific features nearly 1,000 enormous statues—the moa...

phys.org

Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 7d

Yes, Jared Diamond was wrong.

Rapa Nui's people did not suffer ecological and social collapse. They adapted to changed circumstances and thrived.

And they were nothing like "primitive"

phys.org/news/2025-11...

Studies show how the giant statues on Rapa Nui were made and moved—and what caused the island's deforestation

Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is often portrayed in popular culture as an enigma. The rationale is clear: The tiny, remote island in the Pacific features nearly 1,000 enormous statues—the moa...

phys.org

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 9d

seems like it's been going oakay?

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 9d

lofty pursuits

Nature Ecology & Evolution @natecoevo.nature.com · 9d

Many ecological studies assume that space-for-time substitutions can be proxies for missing time series. Here the authors show congruence between the two in the direction but not the magnitude of plant and arthropod community responses to land-use intensification 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congruent direction but different magnitude of biodiversity response to land-use intensification in space and time - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Many ecological studies assume that space-for-time substitution approaches can be suitable proxies for unavailable time series. Here the authors show congruence between the two approaches in the direc...

www.nature.com

People and Nature @peopleandnature.bsky.social · 10d

🌳 "Protected areas shape human-nature connections in diverse ways. Our study identifies five key narratives—learning, care, regional heritage, multifunctional production & collaborations—offering insights to strengthen conservation strategies"

📖 Read the full paper here ➡️ buff.ly/HntSxCk

Andy Purvis @andypurvisnhm.bsky.social · 10d

Land-use change undermines the stability of avian functional diversity - new #OA @nature.com paper with @patrickawalkden.bsky.social @josephtobias.bsky.social, combining #PredictsProject with #Avonet doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Land-use change undermines the stability of avian functional diversity - Nature

Large-scale analyses of bird species traits reveal that land-use change reduces resilience of key ecological functions more than previously thought.

doi.org

Dr Chris Clements @expecocons.bsky.social · 11d

🌍📢 Postdoc alert | 3-yr starting early 2026

Please 🔁!

Understand how ecosystem stability is changing across space and through time using niche modelling, pinpoint at-risk species/regions, and build tools that drive conservation action🌿🧭📈

👉 tinyurl.com/2mafwru3

#Ecology #Jobs #Biodiversity

Nicolas Mouquet @nmouquet.bsky.social · 11d

Spatial Insurance of Distinct Ecological Functions

Communities can act as functional sources and sustain rare ecological roles across space. We reveal patterns of functional vulnerability for plants and birds

Check out our Perspective in Ecol Lett

👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

🌐🌍🦤🪴🍁🧪

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 14d

The Stirling Ranges are home to many fantastic and unusual plants and animals…

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 14d

Top of Bluff Knoll today (highest point in Western Australia!)

Picture shows a view from a granite-strewn mountain top over sweeping shrubs and fields, with some blue sky between white and grey clouds.

Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 15d

COP30 TEXT ANALYSIS: One way to read dense COP text is to focus on the verbs. These are helpfully italicised – and for good reason.

MOSTLY INACTIVE: Carbon Brief analysis of the “global mutirão” text finds 69 inactive verbs, requiring no action, against 32 active verbs.
1/4

Ambio - A Journal of Environment and Society @ambio-journal.bsky.social · 21d

new publication:
Ecosystem accounting through first nations’ lenses: Integrating the SEEA-EA and Indigenous knowledge systems

open access link: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Ecosystem accounting through first nations’ lenses: Integrating the SEEA-EA and Indigenous knowledge systems - Ambio

The UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) provides a framework for integrating information about the environment and the economy, organising information about e...

link.springer.com

Anthony Ricciardi @ecoinvasions.bsky.social · 21d

There are no remote regions in a globalized world. The Antarctic region (ice-free peninsula, coastal waters, & surrounding islands) has been invaded by ~200 species of plants, animals, & microbes. Antarctica is connected to the world by global ship traffic. #bioinvasions
www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

Oikos @oikosjournal.bsky.social · 25d

🐦🌊When species are lost but functions persist: a trait-based perspective on Wadden Sea bird diversity dynamics

vist.ly/4d2fu

#BiodiversityLags #ColonisationExtinctionImbalance #DiffusionMaps #ExtinctionDebt #LongtermMonitoring #WaddenSea

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 26d

Note from an irritated editor: AI is starting to infiltrate peer review, or at least it looks a lot like it. If you’re planning to use an LLM to review someone else’s work for a journal, rather just don’t accept the review invitation. It’s easy.

a penguin holding a brain with the words hey you dropped this

ALT: a penguin holding a brain with the words hey you dropped this

media.tenor.com

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