We are happy to share our latest paper on response diversity with M. Pitzer as first author: 🌱📈🌿📉 Response diversity increases functional but decreases compositional stability of grassland communities doi.org/10.1111/nph.... @newphyt.bsky.social @unimarburg.bsky.social @bexplo.bsky.social

Response diversity increases functional but decreases compositional stability of grassland communities

Response space of grassland plant species to increasing land-use intensity based on response dissimilarities quantified by using a novel approach. The response space clusters species that benefit fro....

doi.org

Very sad news. As a Wye graduate I have many happy memories of ecology field trips. In the years since, our paths often crossed within the botanical community due to Dr M's tireless efforts to spread the love of plants: long may that legacy continue. 🌱

Botanical University Challenge@bucbotany.bsky.social · 3d ago

🌿🌾🌳🌍🍞🎼We are sad that Jonathan Mitchley ('DrM') passed away this week. BUC and especially the Student Botany Festival, would not exist without him. He made a big impact on the UK & Irish student botany community. Competition & festival will continue in 2027. www.reading.ac.uk/news/2026/Un...

AfD und BSW treffen sich zu Sondierungsgesprächen in Moskau www.der-postillon.com/2026/09/sond...

AfD und BSW treffen sich zu Sondierungsgesprächen in Moskau

Moskau (dpo) - Hat Sachsen-Anhalt bald eine neue Landesregierung? Um mögliche Gemeinsamkeiten auszuloten, haben sich heute Vertreter der AfD und des B

der-postillon.com

Small boat arrival numbers are at a low. Responsible journalism would ask: - Who organised this? - Did police have prior intelligence? - Why were arrests not made? - Were online networks, funding streams or political affiliations involved? - Why now? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Hundreds of far-right protesters descend on Portsmouth after small boat arrival

Influencer livestreams event calling for men to travel to port to block coaches carrying asylum seekers from leaving

theguardian.com

Israeli ministers keep telling everyone their brutal plans – so why doesn’t the world take them seriously? | Nesrine Malik

Israeli ministers keep telling everyone their brutal plans – so why doesn’t the world take them seriously? | Nesrine Malik

Schemes to forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza are not being promoted by fringe voices. But the international community continues to avert its eyes, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

theguardian.com

Sadly Jean Paton has died (10 August 2026). Botanist, bryologist & botanical illustrator. Her The Liverwort Flora of the British Isles is superb, in terms of bryological knowledge & beautiful illustrations; here's Trichocolea tomentella, Handsome Woolywort @bbsbryology.bsky.social photo: Napp Wood.

Peinliche Panne: Merz halbiert versehentlich falsche Partei www.der-postillon.com/2026/09/cdu-...

Peinliche Panne: Merz halbiert versehentlich falsche Partei

Deutschlands größte Tageszeitung der Welt

der-postillon.com

Polls have closed in Saxony-Anhalt and exit polls put result on a knife edge (AfD 41 seats, others 42). First projections based on actual results due out soon. But if exit polls are right this is a rupture in the history of the federal republic.

Europe Elects@europeelects.bsky.social · 2d ago

Germany, Infratest dimap exit poll: Saxony-Anhalt regional parliament election AfD (ESN): 44.5% (+23.5) CDU (EPP): 18.5% (-18.5) LINKE (LEFT): 9.5% (-1.5) GRÜNE (Greens/EFA): 9% (+3) SPD (S&D): 8% ... +/- vs. last election Fieldwork: 06 September 2026 ➤ europeelects.eu/germany

Shocking exit poll from Saxony-Anhalt. I hope BSW fails to reach the 5% threshold, AfD fails to win a parliamentary majority, and CDU pulls its head out of its ass and acknowledges the need to cooperate with Die Linke. It could be a long evening before the polls stabilise.

Europe Elects@europeelects.bsky.social · 2d ago

Germany, Infratest dimap exit poll: Saxony-Anhalt regional parliament election AfD (ESN): 44.5% (+23.5) CDU (EPP): 18.5% (-18.5) LINKE (LEFT): 9.5% (-1.5) GRÜNE (Greens/EFA): 9% (+3) SPD (S&D): 8% ... +/- vs. last election Fieldwork: 06 September 2026 ➤ europeelects.eu/germany

We sampled a dry grassland in Armenia, which contained 90 and 104 vascular plant species in plots of 10 m² and 25 m², respectively. These counts are higher than those recorded in any European grassland so far, except for the Carpathian region and steppes near Kursk. www.tuexenia.de/publications...

I am not into race driving, but much respect for Loek Hartog!

Guardian Sport@sport.theguardian.com · 2d ago

Ollie Millroy says he owes his life to heroic rival who pulled him from burning car at China GT

‘Britain’s Yellowstone’: restoration project aims to take the greed out of land acquisition www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Britain’s Yellowstone’: restoration project aims to take the greed out of land acquisition

Investors in Emblehope Moor will get their financial returns – and then it will be given to community or charity owners

theguardian.com

They spontaneously turned up all dressed in black, wearing masks at the same time.

Tomas Hirst@tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 3d ago

Sure, seems totally fine for a bunch of masked men to stop traffic around a port

A beautiful obituary for @drmgoeswild.bsky.social - so many former colleagues and students sharing memories today. He was very loved by us all www.reading.ac.uk/news/2026/Un...

Botany was Jonathan's greatest passion but he also had a great interest in ecological restoration and amongst others did serve as a board member of the European chapter of @serestoration.bsky.social and if I remember correctly he was also running SER Europe's Twitter account.

Botanical University Challenge@bucbotany.bsky.social · 3d ago

🌿🌾🌳🌍🍞🎼We are sad that Jonathan Mitchley ('DrM') passed away this week. BUC and especially the Student Botany Festival, would not exist without him. He made a big impact on the UK & Irish student botany community. Competition & festival will continue in 2027. www.reading.ac.uk/news/2026/Un...

Often when sharing the risks of multiple food basket failures as we pass 1.5°C of heating on our way to 2°C, I often get this puzzled “what are you even talking about” expression. This is what is what is being referred to.

How this summer’s heat and drought impacted crops in Europe – in six charts - Carbon Brief

In the six charts below, Carbon Brief provides a snapshot of the impact this summer’s extremes are considered to have had on crop production and yields across Europe.

carbonbrief.org

Absolutely awful news and a terrible loss for the botanical community here in the UK. So sorry to hear this.

Botanical University Challenge@bucbotany.bsky.social · 3d ago

🌿🌾🌳🌍🍞🎼We are sad that Jonathan Mitchley ('DrM') passed away this week. BUC and especially the Student Botany Festival, would not exist without him. He made a big impact on the UK & Irish student botany community. Competition & festival will continue in 2027. www.reading.ac.uk/news/2026/Un...

New in Applied Vegetation Science: Schmidtlein et al. introduce Vegapp, a free Android app for vegetation fieldwork, recording layered vegetation, individual inventories, and species lists, with flexible export for databases and analysis. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

And as with Jason Arday, you can see the problem here. Because a handful of gatekeepers decide what is ‘news’ & what isn’t. This is a stunning investigation but if & how it catches fire depends on the follow-up…& Times & Telegraph are embarrassed & implicated. So much now depends on the BBC…

Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation. 🔗 Read the exclusive story on Substack:

Exclusive: Nigel Farage filmed undercover celebrating secret new foreign donations

Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation.

channel4news.substack.com

Israelis shoot dead two Palestinian teenagers after settlers encircle village

Israelis shoot dead two Palestinian teenagers after settlers encircle village

Troops escort settlers into al-Mughayyir and raze village outside Hebron as ethnic cleansing of West Bank continues Israelis have shot dead two teenagers in a Palestinian village encircled by settlers and Israeli troops have razed an entire village outside Hebron, the latest attacks in a surge of Israeli terror and ethnic cleansing across the occupied West Bank. The shootings targeted Khalil Abu Alia, 16, who was about to start 11th grade at the al-Mughayyir boys school, and 19-year-old Omar al-Nassan, who graduated from the same institution with top marks this summer. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

We're seeking a Research Ecologist to develop & apply methods for analysing large-scale passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) datasets & to lead work on the collection/analysis of restoration & rewilding data. Apply via www.bto.org/jobs Closing date: 22 September. #Ornithology #bioacoustics

Ben-Gvir posts Palestinians on conveyor belts to detention camps. The world is silent | Arwa Mahdawi

Ben-Gvir posts Palestinians on conveyor belts to detention camps. The world is silent | Arwa Mahdawi

Ben-Gvir did not come into power in a vacuum: he was helped into his position by an international community that has afforded Israel complete impunity

theguardian.com

Using weapon remnants, satellite images, witness accounts, here's our report on the U.S. airstrike on a wedding gathering in Kuhestak, southern Iran, that killed 5 and wounded 67. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/v...

In Small Iranian Town, a U.S. Attack Turns a Wedding Into a Tragedy (Gift Article)

The bomb that hit the residential area was American, according to a weapons expert and a visual analysis by The Times. It killed five people and wounded 67 others, the Iranian authorities said.

nytimes.com

"UK agricultural soils have been identified as among the most contaminated by microplastics in Europe, often as a result of repeated applications of sludge from water treatment works as fertiliser, according to a report published by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on microplastics."

The Guardian@theguardian.com · last wk.

Rising microplastics in soil a threat to UK food security, MPs and campaigners say

📣 post-doc opportunity w/ Georgia Native Seed Network @ State Botanical Garden (Athens, GA) 🫘 lead conservation genetics research supporting restoration across the southeastern U.S. 🧬 50% molecular lab work, 30% research, 10% field, 10% training & development www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/503...

If you have a Gmail account, you need to read this. Google's AI now scans your emails and attachments, bank statements, tax files, medical letters, all of it. It turned on by default, and there's a class-action lawsuit over how. Here are 5 moves to shut it off, the switch is hidden in two places:

Two depressing images of the charred chalk grassland of Bratton Downs SSSI, after a large wildfire in August. This is less than a mile from my home. Thankfully, the iconic Westbury White Horse escaped. As usual, careless or thoughtless human activities are likely to be the cause of the fire.

Echinops cephalotes Asteraceae Iran Esfahan Shahreza June 2026 Elevation 1700m Iran is a major center of diversity for the genus Echinops, with 72 species recorded in the Flora of Iran, including 57 endemic species. #Echinops #Asteraceae #wildflowers #botany

📢 Postdoc opportunity in interaction networks under global change @ University of Helsinki! The position includes leading fieldwork & analyses on seed dispersal networks & mentoring junior researchers. Apply by 30 Sept: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki... #Postdoc #Ecology #Conservation #AcademicJobs

Postdoctoral Researcher in Ecological Networks and Biodiversity Conservation

Postdoctoral Researcher in Ecological Networks and Biodiversity Conservation

jobs.helsinki.fi