Álvaro Luna
@alvaroluna87.bsky.social
2.5K followers 920 following 560 posts
PhD in Biology 🐦🌍🦅 | Urban Ecology, Plastic Pollution & Wildlife Conservation | Head of the “Study and Conservation of Biodiversity” Research Group at the European University of Madrid
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Reposted by Álvaro Luna
alvaroluna87.bsky.social
📢 Thrilled to share our new paper 🌍

We found synthetic debris in nearly 1/4 of Eurasian otter spraints examined across five European countries, revealing how plastics infiltrate freshwater ecosystems.

Link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#plasticpollution
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
alvaroluna87.bsky.social
Breve paseo por el Entorno Meaques- Retamares, que siempre deja alguna cosilla. Aparte de lo que se ve en las fotos: zorro, martín pescador, pito ibérico, urracas, jilgueros, verderones, lagartija verdosa, lagartija colilarga, etc.
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
alvaroluna87.bsky.social
Mis primeras fotos de rascón, al fin. Me ha costado mucho ver esta especie a placer, para mí era algo similar a un fantasma.
alvaroluna87.bsky.social
Y así hay gente en el transporte público, en la montaña, en el cine, etc. No comprendo algunas cosas de este país.
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
malavika-m.bsky.social
What a cool finding! Eurasian Scops owls bring live worm snakes to the nest, and snakes feed on insect parasites in the nest, therefore increasing owl hatchling success! 🐍↔️🦉
#ornithology
bou.org.uk
BOU @bou.org.uk · 16h
Association of nesting Otus scops (Eurasian Scops Owls) with Xerotyphlops vermicularis (worm snakes) in Türkiye | doi.org/10.1093/orni... | Ornithology | #ornithology 🪶
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
alvaroluna87.bsky.social
Magnífica experiencia conocer Salburua, donde he podido disfrutar de la berrea del ciervo bien cerca, en un paisaje bien bonito y con bastante abundancia de aves acuáticas.
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
richgreg3.bsky.social
Great new🗒️'Observer species preferences [in citizen science bird surveys] lead to biased initiation of surveys & consequent overreporting of some species.' Where then does this take temporal change? 🐦
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/Q3VU2S...
Detections of Rare Species Lead Citizen Scientists to Initiate Data Recording
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onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
aukeflorian.nl
Can’t recommend this documentary on extreme birdwatching enough: absolutely wild stuff! 🦅 You won’t regret it! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
LISTERS: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching
YouTube video by owen reiser
www.youtube.com
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
pauldufour80.bsky.social
What a stunning bird to come across today: the rare dark morph of the Atlantic Islands subspecies of the Eurasian Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla heineken)!
alvaroluna87.bsky.social
Magnífica experiencia conocer Salburua, donde he podido disfrutar de la berrea del ciervo bien cerca, en un paisaje bien bonito y con bastante abundancia de aves acuáticas.
alvaroluna87.bsky.social
Mis primeras fotos de rascón, al fin. Me ha costado mucho ver esta especie a placer, para mí era algo similar a un fantasma.
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
neobiota.pensoft.net
Despite bans on importing invasive turtles such as 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑦𝑠 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑡𝑎 into the EU, researchers have found that wild populations are still growing and trade is shifting to other species, suggesting current legislation isn’t enough to stop freshwater turtle invasions in Europe.

doi.org/10.3897/neob...
Effectiveness of legislative tools to stop biological invasions: freshwater turtles’ invasion in Europe as a study case
Invasive species pose significant threats to biodiversity, human health, and economic systems. Freshwater turtles are popular as pets, but when released or allowed to escape into the wild, they can be...
doi.org
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
peopleandnature.bsky.social
🐦‍⬛ The proportion of New Zealand businesses named after birds has increased over the past 70 years. In the same time the representation of native birds within those businesses has risen to more than 50%. This new study explored this➡️ buff.ly/VV5LJxg
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
oriollapiedra.bsky.social
Urbanization enhances biodiversity loss. Yet sometimes cities may *paradoxically* shelter species threatened by other components of global change

We studied if urban areas are sheltering an endangered iconic lizard 🦎 from a rapidly spreading predator 🐍 in Ibiza👇

📸G. Casbas

doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
mehr.nz
samuel mehr @mehr.nz · Dec 14
it's wild that R, the ubiquitous statistical computing language, was co-created by a Māori prof (Ross Ihaka) — and yet the vast majority of scientists who use R don't know

this is like inventing the toaster. possibly the largest impact of a single member of an indigenous community on modern science
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
chikichanka.bsky.social
Lo del nóctulo comiendo pajaritos te lo cuenta estupendamente Elena Tena
@ebdonana.bsky.social
youtube.com/shorts/eI1pU...
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
aberron.bsky.social
Durante el eclipse solar de 2024 en EEUU, miles de aves cambiaron su comportamiento al hacerse la oscuridad total durante casi 4 minutos. Muchas enmudecieron cuando se fue la luz y un número mayor se lanzó a cantar con la reaparición del sol como en el amanecer

www.eldiario.es/1_c143ca?utm...
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
thelabandfield.bsky.social
Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today.

Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
dskarp.bsky.social
Finally, larger, more attractive species were consistently more likely to be marketed.

This is despite prior work arguing that an emphasis on novel birds translates into dedicated birdwatchers preferring dull species.

Dedicated birdwatchers may value beauty in birds, just like everyone else.
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
dskarp.bsky.social
Second, we were surprised that regularly observed species were more likely to be mentioned in trip itineraries.

Maybe tour operators are balancing novelty with the risk of disappointing clients when they inevitably fail to encounter rare species?
Reposted by Álvaro Luna
dskarp.bsky.social
Ok, so what did we find?

First, tour operators recognized that birdwatchers value novelty above all else. Range-restricted species were ten times more likely to appear in trip itineraries than cosmopolitan species.