Habitat loss and associated fragmentation — the division of native habitat into smaller and more isolated patches separated by a “matrix” of human-modified land cover — have widely been shown to have pervasive and often deleterious effects on biodiversity. Such effects often manifest as local declines in the number of species in habitat remnants. However, to what extent is the loss of species following habitat reduction also associated with the loss of important ecological functions?
“Woke is a political term of African American origin that refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. It is derived from the African American Vernacular English expression “stay woke”, whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke
You might think that bats are scary. But do you know what would be even scarier? To live in a world without them. Bats are key providers of ecosystem services and their disappearance would translate into enormous economic losses and arguably wide-scale ecosystem collapse. Yet, despite their vital importance, bats have long been subject of disdain, persecution and cultural prejudice. These negative stigmas have recently been reinforced by virological studies that have attracted widespread media coverage. Today, my colleagues Adrià López-Baucells, Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares and I have published a perspective piece in Mammal Review, arguing that by portraying bats solely as a threat to human health, most virological bat-related studies provide a skewed vision of the group and reinforce a culture of fear that undermines decades of conservation efforts.
Continue reading Bats, virus and a culture of fear: recipe for disaster?
How refreshing to see this.
Not only the 2017 R (https://www.r-project.org/) user conference has a #diversity scholarship aimed at “provide an opportunity for traditionally under-represented individuals (such as, but not limited to, #LGBTQ people, #women, ethnic #minorities, or those with #disabilities) who might not otherwise be able to attend due to logistical or financial constraints” but they also provide #childcare https://user2017.brussels/news/2017/user-2017-childcare and have a code of conduct aimed at providing an “harassment-free conference experience for everyone regardless of #gender, gender expression, #sexual orientation, #disability, physical appearance, body size, #race, or #religion (or lack thereof)” https://user2017.brussels/code-of-conduct
The bar has been raised in terms of promoting #Diversity and a culture of #Respect at scientific gatherings.
The useR!2017 organisers are leading by example and I hope other conferences will adhere to the same level.
Kudos to the #R people.
Someone once said that “a journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles”.
Well, I somehow feel that something similar can be said about PhDs. I have been lucky enough to have a PhD that has been a journey both in the figurative and literal sense. This marvelous journey has been shared with many friends that have greatly contributed for it to be much more enjoyable that it would otherwise have been. Words fall short to express my gratitude but in the following lines I’ll do my best to express how thankful I am to all those colleagues, institutions and friends that have been part of making this dream come true.
2017 is going to be quite a year in terms of conservation congresses!
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of events that have captured my attention for late 2016 and the whole of 2017.
Continue reading Upcoming conservation conferences – late 2016 & 2017.
So, in Lisbon and with no plans for the 21st of January? Why not drop by the Faculty of Sciences (University of Lisbon) and learn about the birds & bats of Madagascar?
Ana Rainho and Ricardo Lima have invited several ecologists & conservationists to speak about their experiences in some exotic corners of the world for the tropical ecology course they co-run (as part of the MSc in Conservation Biology). The conferences will take place between 12-13h in the room 2.3.13 and will cover a wide range of topics & taxa. Anyone can join so please feel free to drop by.
Here’s the full list of talks:
If you need to know something about me, let that something be that my favourite book is The Last Chance to See, by Douglas Adams & Marc Carwardine.
After several months of hard work (two of which in the deep Amazonian jungle), Diogo is finally a MSc! He has joined the team in mid-2014, to investigate how Neotropical bats respond to seasonality within a fragmented landscape and I had the great pleasure to act as his supervisor alongside my own supervisor, Christoph Meyer. Needless to say that it was a tremendously gratifying experience. Diogo presented himself as an enthusiastic learner with a great passion for all things ecological and conservation related. He has an outgoing (and easy-going) personality and it was great fun to work with. His work is due to be submitted soon. Stay tuned for the manuscript.
Continue reading Diogo Ferreira (my 1st MSc student!) defended his thesis with flying colours! …
Functional traits such as diet, mobility and body mass dictate species’ capacity to persist in human-modified landscapes. Understanding how such traits interact with environmental characteristics allows a crystal-ball view into the future of biodiversity under different land-use scenarios. In a study now published in the Journal of Applied Ecology we did just that for Neotropical bats, finding that the future looks gloomy for large-bodied, less-vagile, non-vegetarian species.
