Missed out on an ARC Future Fellowship, despite being scored an A by all three assessors. It's a reminder to not read too much into the detailed assessor reports. If my experience is not an unusual one, it appears they don't count for much.

#IndustryFellowships #IE25 announcement cont.: Outcomes summary: Approved / requested (%) Apps: 50 / 180 (27.8%) Funds: $24.74M / $89.58M (27.6%) Approved grants requested $25.00M; 98.9% provided. /bot

ARC says outcomes for Future Fellowships and Early Career Industry Fellowships will be announced tomorrow (Wednesday 9 July). Such announcements have been happening around 11am AEST recently. (Apologies for my tardiness to report this – was offline for a bit.)

I am happy to share my final PhD chapter in @oikosjournal.bsky.social The 2019–20 wildfires altered vegetation structure yet had little effect on most species’ relative abundance. However, several species shifted their diel activity in burnt landscapes. doi.org/10.1002/oik.... #FireEcology

Mining reshapes animal communities at a local and landscape-scale www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This was a bad decision @albomp.bsky.social One that will be held against you for decades. It will come back to bite you every time you try to claim the high moral ground on climate change. www.smh.com.au/business/the...

In one awful decision, Albanese has revealed his do-nothing plan

If you want to govern effectively, you have to be prepared to stand up to powerful interest groups. It’s now clear Albanese isn’t prepared to do that.

smh.com.au

"The Albanese government will launch a lobbying campaign in a bid to reverse a Unesco recommendation that an ancient rock art site in Western Australia can’t go on the world heritage list until damaging industrial emissions linked to a controversial Woodside gas development are stopped."

Australia to lobby Unesco over barring of ancient rock site from world heritage list due to Woodside emissions

Site is home to more than a million petroglyphs, some almost 50,000 years old, but reports say it has been damaged by the Karratha gas plant

theguardian.com

There's a few more days until applications close for this PhD project. The project would involve working with my group to help test ideas about fire naivety, using lizards. It would involve a mix of field work and behavioral trials www.ecolsoc.org.au/opportunitie...

Serotinous Seed by Void of Kings — a song inspired by the phenomenon of serotiny. But can you spot the ecological error in the lyrics? 🎵🌱 (h/t Jodi Price) www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Void of Kings - Serontinous Seed

YouTube video by Voidof King

youtube.com

‘Endearing and fascinating’ yellow-bellied glider faces ‘inexorable slide’ into extinction

‘Endearing and fascinating’ yellow-bellied glider faces ‘inexorable slide’ into extinction

Guardian Australia is highlighting the plight of our endangered native species during an election campaign that is ignoring broken environment laws and rapidly declining ecosystems * Explore the series – Last chance: the extinction crisis being ignored this election * Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email Australia’s most skilled aerial mammal, the yellow-bellied glider, is on an “inexorable slide” to extinction as global heating creates more extreme bushfires that are robbing the species of the food and tree hollows it relies on to survive. Thanks to large parachutes of skin stretching from their wrists to their ankles, yellow-bellied gliders can travel up to 140 metres in a single jump, the furthest of any Australian mammal, including the larger and better known endangered greater glider. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

Mona Caron, contemporary Swiss-born artist, known for her large scale environmentally themed murals #WomensArt

‘Megafire’—You May Not Like It, But You Cannot Avoid It doi.org/10.1111/geb.... New paper on the meaning of 'megafire'.

Politicians are elected to represent their communities and should be accessible to everyone, not just those with the biggest bank accounts. These cash-for-access dinners for the privileged few have to stop. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

What a $5,000 ticket will and won’t get you at one of Canberra’s budget night fundraising soirees

As you decipher how the budget may alter your life on Tuesday night, your politicians will be raking in the cash by wining and dining donors and lobbyists

theguardian.com

Genomic repercussions of landscape modification on three lizard species link.springer.com/article/10.1... By @dylanwestaway.bsky.social

Genomic repercussions of landscape modification on three lizard species - Conservation Genetics

Habitat destruction is the most pervasive threat to global biodiversity, leading to widespread population declines and range reductions. Land clearing can leave small, isolated populations persisting ...

link.springer.com

"If you can’t captivate an audience with the wonders of wildlife without harassing a wild animal, then perhaps it’s time to rethink and refine your social media strategy." theconversation.com/yes-its-a-te...

Yes, it’s a terrible idea to pick up or interfere with wild animals – especially baby wombats. Here’s why

‘Momma’s right here and she’s pissed’: influencers can show wildlife to their audience without traumatising baby wombats

theconversation.com

Senate Inquiry into Governance in Universities kicks off this morning — really important insight into the corruption of public institutions by corporate boards

#FutureFellowships #FT25 Detailed Assessor reports are now available in RMS and rejoinders have opened. Here’s an older thread with suggestions on dealing with assessor reports – especially the #ARC3DayRule – and constructing a rejoinder. threadreaderapp.com/thread/15191...

I was just told that I have to remove “climate” from the title of an ongoing grant if I want to keep it. And publications from that grant cannot include “climate” and other forbidden words. I can’t believe I’m writing this from the United States of America. #AcademicSky

Alessandro Rigolon@alerigolon.bsky.social · last yr.

Just received an email saying that it's not advisable to include the following words in future applications for research funding to the US DOT. Here we are.

Australian governments are failing to conserve biodiversity, meaning their extraordinary values are being lost and global conservation targets will likely fail. The next federal government must do better. My letter with @biodiversityguy.bsky.social in @science.org. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Addressing Australia’s biodiversity crisis

science.org

Ongoing bushfires in VIC's Grampians National Park.

Appalling decision by the PM. He has denied, delayed, and now decided to do nothing. He has caved to lobbying from the gambling industry, and it’s our young people who will pay the price. www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

Labor shelves crackdown on gambling ads until after election

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s timidity on the gambling advertising debate was evidence of his alleged weakness of character.

smh.com.au

It's "woke" to *checks notes* support parks.

The Grampians/Gariwerd fire now and December 2024.

Some more Sentinel Hub images of the Little Desert (Victoria, Australia) wildfires, showing the breadth of impact. The fire spans about 55 km from east to west. Some unburnt patches remain within the fire boundary, but there are also extensive areas with no unburnt refuges.

One of the first publicly available satellite images of the Little Desert fires in western Victoria, before (top) and after (bottom). Obviously very grainy, but the fires are clearly quite extensive.

Australia is increasingly criminalising peaceful protests while allowing corporate lobbying to thrive. As @jack-thrower.bsky.social writes - Protesting fines are expensive; lobbying is cheap. #OffTheCharts australiainstitute.org.au/post/compare...

Big oil pushed to kill bill that would have made them pay for wildfire disasters

Big oil pushed to kill bill that would have made them pay for wildfire disasters

Legislation has new life in wake of Los Angeles catastrophe but US fossil-fuel industry is already mobilizing against it In the year preceding the devastating Los Angeles county wildfires, big oil fiercely lobbied to kill a “polluter pay” bill that moved…

theguardian.com

Looking for a PhD? Check out the Gulbali Institute PhD prospectus. Our team is looking to fill three positions, centered around improving biodiversity outcomes of fire management. All projects include close collaboration with government and First Nations groups. cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/asset...

Dylan Westaway’s PhD work w/ @biodiversityguy.bsky.social, finding 84% survival rate of translocated dragon lizards to isolated habitat patches in highly fragmented landscapes. And no sign of ⬆️ post-translocation movement rate. Hope for ⬆️ resilience of our rad reptiles❤️. So good! #ESAus2024

“This was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver meaningful legislative reform and leave a long-term legacy for the protection of nature." Watch the full interview: biodiversitycouncil.org.au/news/stateme...

Statement from the Biodiversity Council on Nature Positive Bills scuppered by PM | Biodiversity Council Australia

The Biodiversity Council is deeply disappointed that the Prime Minister has vetoed a deal to deliver a national environment protection authority and an information-gathering agency - two key election ...

biodiversitycouncil.org.au