Auke-Florian 🪹
@aukeflorian.nl
🌍 Biologist, 🪺 Studying strange animal nests, 📚 Author, 🧠 Doing science communication daily, 🏛️ Loves natural history, 🔥 Documenting the Anthropocene 🌐 www.aukeflorian.nl
📍 Leiden, The Netherlands
📍 Leiden, The Netherlands
No matter how rough your day is, at least it’s going better than this poor raccoon’s. 🦝💛
November 14, 2025 at 4:25 PM
No matter how rough your day is, at least it’s going better than this poor raccoon’s. 🦝💛
Reminder voor het stemmen: de natuur kan prima zonder mensen, maar mensen kunnen niet zonder natuur 🌱🌳🌍
October 29, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reminder voor het stemmen: de natuur kan prima zonder mensen, maar mensen kunnen niet zonder natuur 🌱🌳🌍
It’s that time of year when this meme becomes relevant again… 🫣
October 28, 2025 at 3:02 PM
It’s that time of year when this meme becomes relevant again… 🫣
I will forever remember Jane, her inspiring stories and her powerful message of hope, but also her humour, smile and the fun that we had.
With a twinkle in her eyes, she once said to me: ‘The chimps would have the time of their lives grooming you’. Best compliment I ever had. 🐵
With a twinkle in her eyes, she once said to me: ‘The chimps would have the time of their lives grooming you’. Best compliment I ever had. 🐵
October 1, 2025 at 9:01 PM
I will forever remember Jane, her inspiring stories and her powerful message of hope, but also her humour, smile and the fun that we had.
With a twinkle in her eyes, she once said to me: ‘The chimps would have the time of their lives grooming you’. Best compliment I ever had. 🐵
With a twinkle in her eyes, she once said to me: ‘The chimps would have the time of their lives grooming you’. Best compliment I ever had. 🐵
*Coot to meet you!* 🐦
Last day of posters at the Annual Conference of the Cognition & Behavior Evolution Network, find me and my coot there if you like! 🙌
Last day of posters at the Annual Conference of the Cognition & Behavior Evolution Network, find me and my coot there if you like! 🙌
September 19, 2025 at 12:34 PM
*Coot to meet you!* 🐦
Last day of posters at the Annual Conference of the Cognition & Behavior Evolution Network, find me and my coot there if you like! 🙌
Last day of posters at the Annual Conference of the Cognition & Behavior Evolution Network, find me and my coot there if you like! 🙌
Sharing the stage with a co-presenter today 🐦
Delighted to be at the University of Antwerp for the Annual Conference of the Cognition & Behavior Evolution Network, and yes, the coot has its own chair! 🪑
Delighted to be at the University of Antwerp for the Annual Conference of the Cognition & Behavior Evolution Network, and yes, the coot has its own chair! 🪑
September 18, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Sharing the stage with a co-presenter today 🐦
Delighted to be at the University of Antwerp for the Annual Conference of the Cognition & Behavior Evolution Network, and yes, the coot has its own chair! 🪑
Delighted to be at the University of Antwerp for the Annual Conference of the Cognition & Behavior Evolution Network, and yes, the coot has its own chair! 🪑
All I see is ripple bug robots now haha 😵💫
August 27, 2025 at 10:11 PM
All I see is ripple bug robots now haha 😵💫
A ripple bug robot just went full Van Gogh ✨🎨
August 27, 2025 at 10:06 PM
A ripple bug robot just went full Van Gogh ✨🎨
Can we stop putting happy faces in news stories about temperature records and heat waves?
August 15, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Can we stop putting happy faces in news stories about temperature records and heat waves?
June 27, 2025 at 2:14 PM
I was today years old when I learned about bird nest fungi!! 🪹🍄
And I’m literally a scientist who studies bird nests... MIND IS BLOWN 🤯
And I’m literally a scientist who studies bird nests... MIND IS BLOWN 🤯
June 16, 2025 at 11:37 AM
I was today years old when I learned about bird nest fungi!! 🪹🍄
And I’m literally a scientist who studies bird nests... MIND IS BLOWN 🤯
And I’m literally a scientist who studies bird nests... MIND IS BLOWN 🤯
That sequence of music snippets! 🤯🎶
Very impressive video editing and science storytelling from the YouTube channel 'How do they know', created by Adam Cole and Joss Fong. Thank you for covering my research, and high fives to the editor! 🤩👏
Very impressive video editing and science storytelling from the YouTube channel 'How do they know', created by Adam Cole and Joss Fong. Thank you for covering my research, and high fives to the editor! 🤩👏
June 11, 2025 at 3:39 PM
That sequence of music snippets! 🤯🎶
Very impressive video editing and science storytelling from the YouTube channel 'How do they know', created by Adam Cole and Joss Fong. Thank you for covering my research, and high fives to the editor! 🤩👏
Very impressive video editing and science storytelling from the YouTube channel 'How do they know', created by Adam Cole and Joss Fong. Thank you for covering my research, and high fives to the editor! 🤩👏
If you enjoyed this thread and want more people to find out about these tiny caddisflies, please consider sharing the first post! 🧵🐛
It's very much appreciated if you made it here and read about my research! Curious to hear your thoughts below! 💭
22/22
It's very much appreciated if you made it here and read about my research! Curious to hear your thoughts below! 💭
22/22
May 29, 2025 at 4:59 PM
If you enjoyed this thread and want more people to find out about these tiny caddisflies, please consider sharing the first post! 🧵🐛
It's very much appreciated if you made it here and read about my research! Curious to hear your thoughts below! 💭
22/22
It's very much appreciated if you made it here and read about my research! Curious to hear your thoughts below! 💭
22/22
Hi! 👋 I'm Auke-Florian, and I study how animals adapt to the Anthropocene, this new age shaped by pollution, and how that shows up in the things birds or insects build. 🪹 Curious about the weird and wonderful world of animal architecture? Follow along for more! 🙏 21/x
May 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Hi! 👋 I'm Auke-Florian, and I study how animals adapt to the Anthropocene, this new age shaped by pollution, and how that shows up in the things birds or insects build. 🪹 Curious about the weird and wonderful world of animal architecture? Follow along for more! 🙏 21/x
Our work is published #openaccess in the Journal of Limnology, which means that everyone can read it, and I invite everyone curious to do so! 💚
www.jlimnol.it/jlimnol/arti... 🐛
Researchers can also find me and my papers on ResearchGate! www.researchgate.net/profile/Auke-Florian-Hiemstra ✨
www.jlimnol.it/jlimnol/arti... 🐛
Researchers can also find me and my papers on ResearchGate! www.researchgate.net/profile/Auke-Florian-Hiemstra ✨
May 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Our work is published #openaccess in the Journal of Limnology, which means that everyone can read it, and I invite everyone curious to do so! 💚
www.jlimnol.it/jlimnol/arti... 🐛
Researchers can also find me and my papers on ResearchGate! www.researchgate.net/profile/Auke-Florian-Hiemstra ✨
www.jlimnol.it/jlimnol/arti... 🐛
Researchers can also find me and my papers on ResearchGate! www.researchgate.net/profile/Auke-Florian-Hiemstra ✨
Urgent action is needed to minimise sewage overflows. ⚠️
They release high loads of microplastics, which are picked up by caddisflies, allowing plastics to enter and spread through the food chain.
Overflow events are already common and expected to increase with climate change. 😵💫 🔥 19/x
They release high loads of microplastics, which are picked up by caddisflies, allowing plastics to enter and spread through the food chain.
Overflow events are already common and expected to increase with climate change. 😵💫 🔥 19/x
May 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Urgent action is needed to minimise sewage overflows. ⚠️
They release high loads of microplastics, which are picked up by caddisflies, allowing plastics to enter and spread through the food chain.
Overflow events are already common and expected to increase with climate change. 😵💫 🔥 19/x
They release high loads of microplastics, which are picked up by caddisflies, allowing plastics to enter and spread through the food chain.
Overflow events are already common and expected to increase with climate change. 😵💫 🔥 19/x
From diamond to debris?
I first heard about caddisflies thanks to the amazing artist Hubert Duprat. 🐛 He famously allowed them to build casings with e.g. gold and diamonds in the 1980s. 💎
These legendary creatures deserve more than the filth we flush their way. They deserve clean water!! 18/x
I first heard about caddisflies thanks to the amazing artist Hubert Duprat. 🐛 He famously allowed them to build casings with e.g. gold and diamonds in the 1980s. 💎
These legendary creatures deserve more than the filth we flush their way. They deserve clean water!! 18/x
May 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
From diamond to debris?
I first heard about caddisflies thanks to the amazing artist Hubert Duprat. 🐛 He famously allowed them to build casings with e.g. gold and diamonds in the 1980s. 💎
These legendary creatures deserve more than the filth we flush their way. They deserve clean water!! 18/x
I first heard about caddisflies thanks to the amazing artist Hubert Duprat. 🐛 He famously allowed them to build casings with e.g. gold and diamonds in the 1980s. 💎
These legendary creatures deserve more than the filth we flush their way. They deserve clean water!! 18/x
Brick is lighter than natural stone, and plastic is even lighter. But weight matters for caddisfly larvae to avoid being swept away by currents, so some add side extensions as ballast stones. Using a light brick particle as ballast might be an evolutionary trap... 🐛🪨 17/x
May 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Brick is lighter than natural stone, and plastic is even lighter. But weight matters for caddisfly larvae to avoid being swept away by currents, so some add side extensions as ballast stones. Using a light brick particle as ballast might be an evolutionary trap... 🐛🪨 17/x
The total mass of bricks on Earth is 92 gigatons. All animals combined? Just 4 gigatons.
Let that sink in: we are profoundly reshaping the world around us. 🧱🌍 16/x
Let that sink in: we are profoundly reshaping the world around us. 🧱🌍 16/x
May 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
The total mass of bricks on Earth is 92 gigatons. All animals combined? Just 4 gigatons.
Let that sink in: we are profoundly reshaping the world around us. 🧱🌍 16/x
Let that sink in: we are profoundly reshaping the world around us. 🧱🌍 16/x
Not all artificial particles are plastic; masonry waste used for streambank protection is also picked up by insects. While humans in Egypt have built with brick since 14,000 BC, caddisflies are now doing it too! 🏠
Gotta love these urban caddisflies in their tiny brick houses! 🧱🐛 15/x
Gotta love these urban caddisflies in their tiny brick houses! 🧱🐛 15/x
May 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Not all artificial particles are plastic; masonry waste used for streambank protection is also picked up by insects. While humans in Egypt have built with brick since 14,000 BC, caddisflies are now doing it too! 🏠
Gotta love these urban caddisflies in their tiny brick houses! 🧱🐛 15/x
Gotta love these urban caddisflies in their tiny brick houses! 🧱🐛 15/x
Bright plastics could make a caddisfly larva more visible to predators. But in our new paper, we introduce the term "confetti sediment". 🎉 A deceptively cheerful phrase for creeks so polluted that NOT using microplastics might actually make you stand out more. A troubling reality. 🐛 14/x
May 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Bright plastics could make a caddisfly larva more visible to predators. But in our new paper, we introduce the term "confetti sediment". 🎉 A deceptively cheerful phrase for creeks so polluted that NOT using microplastics might actually make you stand out more. A troubling reality. 🐛 14/x
Plastic in caddisfly cases is not a rarity anymore. 😔 This is the first time that sewage overflow microplastics are linked to uptake by caddisflies. This scares me. Plastics are not only flushed in a stream, they are flushed in the food chain! Caddisflies are the base of a complex food web... 😵💫 13/x
May 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Plastic in caddisfly cases is not a rarity anymore. 😔 This is the first time that sewage overflow microplastics are linked to uptake by caddisflies. This scares me. Plastics are not only flushed in a stream, they are flushed in the food chain! Caddisflies are the base of a complex food web... 😵💫 13/x
In the Eyserbeek creek, more than half of all the caddisflies contained presumed artificial material!!! 🫣 In Noor, with just one valve, it was already 16,6% 😵💫
EDX analysis shows plastic additives as titanium, chloride, and sulphur. Below you see colourised SEM images and the EDX mapping. 🟦 🟩 12/x
EDX analysis shows plastic additives as titanium, chloride, and sulphur. Below you see colourised SEM images and the EDX mapping. 🟦 🟩 12/x
May 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
In the Eyserbeek creek, more than half of all the caddisflies contained presumed artificial material!!! 🫣 In Noor, with just one valve, it was already 16,6% 😵💫
EDX analysis shows plastic additives as titanium, chloride, and sulphur. Below you see colourised SEM images and the EDX mapping. 🟦 🟩 12/x
EDX analysis shows plastic additives as titanium, chloride, and sulphur. Below you see colourised SEM images and the EDX mapping. 🟦 🟩 12/x
We also sampled the Eyserbeek, a creek running through the Dutch village of Simpelveld. 🏠 Here, 21 separate overflow valves spew sewage into the stream. What a time to be a biologist! An emoticon for every sewage overflow in that town:
💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩
11/x
💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩
11/x
May 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
We also sampled the Eyserbeek, a creek running through the Dutch village of Simpelveld. 🏠 Here, 21 separate overflow valves spew sewage into the stream. What a time to be a biologist! An emoticon for every sewage overflow in that town:
💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩
11/x
💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩
11/x