Nice reporting on our recent paper by Ryan Truscott

Mongabay@mongabay.com · 5mo ago

Forest restoration in Madagascar faces a "pernicious" threat: the strawberry guava. As lemurs spread their seeds, this nonnative tree takes over damaged habitats. Conservationists warn that this invasive takeover is complicating vital forest restoration efforts. Ryan Truscott reports for #Mongabay.

news.mongabay.com/2026/03/an-i...

An invasive guava is muscling out Madagascar’s forests — and lemurs are helping

Madagascar is renowned for its lemurs, which are threatened due to hunting and deforestation. Restoring native forests to ensure their survival is critical, but once damaged, forests in Madagascar are...

news.mongabay.com

Honored & excited to join the list of @aaas.org fellows, which includes many of my science heroes. Big shout out to the many outstanding new fellows, including my colleagues at @Rice. www.aaas.org/news/aaas-we...

AAAS welcomes 449 scientists and engineers as Honorary Fellows | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

AAAS announces its 2025 class of Honorary Fellows, includes 449 scientists, engineers and innovators across 24 AAAS disciplinary Sections.

aaas.org

Some short term benefits but long term harm. Lemurs in these areas look underweight to me. No epiphytes that frogs and other critters rely on or mistletoes that feed and provide shelter to many birds and threatened lemurs.

If the strawberry guava plant feeds endangered wild lemurs of Madagascar, but is ecologically invasive and harmful... how to make decisions about what to do? Research by @amydunham.bsky.social, scicomm by @rachelnuwer.bsky.social #lemurs #primates #anthropology #plants #invasiveplants #conservation

Lemurs Love This Fruit That Is Choking Madagascar’s Forests

nytimes.com

🌿 Postdoc opportunity in plant evolutionary ecology/genetics! My lab in the Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to start Fall 2026. We study plant adaptation, using weeds as model systems. #Postdoc #EcoEvo Pls RT!

Strawberry guava is one of the top 100 most problematic invasive species worldwide. In the biodiversity hotspot of Madagascar we observed that it can arrest native forest succession causing long term ecological harm. But it also feeds endangered lemurs creating a challenging conservation problem.

Amy Dunham@amydunham.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our work with Dr Matt McCary and team was featured in NYTimes! www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/s...

This amazing lemur pic was taken by Natalie Phelps

Amy Dunham@amydunham.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our work with Dr Matt McCary and team was featured in NYTimes! www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/s...

Our work with Dr Matt McCary and team was featured in NYTimes! www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/s...

Lemurs Love This Fruit That Is Choking Madagascar’s Forests

nytimes.com

Exciting announcement! My new department is launching a postdoc fellowship in quantitative biology. Fellows will be co-advised by two Bio faculty, one that is quant focused (not me) and one that is not (me???). I would love to co-sponsor a postdoc and build a collaboration so please reach out!

It's also incredibly difficult and expensive to eradicate, adding a very real financial consideration to any conversation efforts.

The stunted tree growth prevents regeneration of the rainforest after deforestation, even decades after deforestation has stopped. But the plant isn't hated - its straight stalks (bottom left) make for good building materials, and its fruits (bottom right) attract beloved lemurs.

But strawberry guava can only grow in disturbed (deforested) parts of the rainforest. Once it's established, this study found it causes: decreased soil quality changed arthropod populations stunted tree growth

Lemurs, the most well-known Madagascar animal, eat the strawberry guava fruit. (Humans do too!) So the plant can have a very positive association - lemurs tend to be found around its groves.

Invasive strawberry guava is a favorite food of endangered Madagascar lemurs. It also prevents native trees from growing past the seedling stage, halting the regeneration process after deforestation. Study led by Amy Dunham and Matt McCary. news.rice.edu/news/2026/st...

Texas ground update.

Ahead of International #ChameleonDay here is a pic of a female Parson’s Chameleon (Calumma parsonii) looking like a lichen covered leaf

Environmental Science students @RiceUniversity learn a little bit about beekeeping during last class of the semester 🐝🐝

Rice University Ecology & Evolutionary Biology grad students enjoying a #PaintYourPhD workshop. #sciart

Our 1st Biodiversity Science-Policy 'starter pack' is now full (150 accounts). Access at: go.bsky.app/LjV86zg There's a 2nd starter pack already filling up: go.bsky.app/GzM8eok NB: these are mainly IPBES authors & stakeholders regularly engaged with IPBES work. Please follow & share widely! 🌍🧪

Two years in a row our Purple Martins have made first appearances on Valentines Day ❤️❤️❤️🐦 (Houston)

A White-bellied Reed Frog (Heterixalus alboguttatus) from near Ranomafana, Madagascar. Also called the Starry Night Frog ❤️ A species I had hoped to see on my visit, and I saw exactly one. This one. #herps #NaturePhotography #FrogFriday

We're relieved to hear from our friends at Centre ValBio that the #fire in Ranomafana National Park is finally out. Heavy rainfall finally came after months, ending an unseasonably long dry spell, and the community worked tirelessly each day to stop the fires from spreading.

Congratulations to Kory Evans @sternarchella.bsky.social, winner of this year’s @J_Exp_Biol sponsored Carl Gans Award at #SICB2025. His #biomechanics research examines the role of modularity in the evolution of the #fish skull. Don't miss his talk: 7 Jan at 13:30 in Marquis D Please repost

New paper led by former group member Jadelys Tonos! Simulations/empirical data reveal just a few trees bearing the most fruit in the landscape are critical for driving patterns of lemur movement & seed dispersal 🐒🥭🌱https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/1365-2435.14702

JOB OFFER: Postdoctoral researcher on biodiversity modelling and scenario development @ipbes.bsky.social @biodiversaplus.bsky.social @creaf.cat creaf.factorialhr.com/job_posting/...

What happens to tropical plants when large seed-dispersing animals disappear? 🌱🌳 New study, led by former research grp member, Dr.JT Lamperty, shows that even small-seeded plants can be affected by defaunation (1/5) 🔗 Read more: doi.org/10.1111/mec.17620

Defaunation Increases Clustering and Fine‐Scale Spatial Genetic Structure in a Small‐Seeded Palm Despite Remaining Small‐Bodied Frugivores

Anthropogenic pressures such as hunting are increasingly driving the localised functional extinctions of large- and medium-sized wildlife in tropical forests, a phenomenon broadly termed ‘defaunation...

doi.org

👇👇

Timothée Poisot@ctrlalttim.com · 2y ago

And the lesson I am drawing from this is: context can wait, start with the punchline. This helps a presumably very tired panelist stay engaged in your proposal from the beginning. And crafting that perfect first sentenc ia a great way to figure out what is the core feature of your proposal!

An important review - The ecology of plant extinctions - "Recent warm-edge extirpations demonstrate the growing impact of anthropogenic climate change & show that predictions of massive climate-driven extinctions later this century are plausible" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🌾🌎🧪🌐