Bridget Nicholls founded Pestival in 2006 to educate people about how essential insects are to the living world. Since then, Pestival has engaged tens of thousands of people with the importance of insects, working alongside the Wellcome Trust, ZSL London Zoo and the Natural History Museum.

Hi there, if you are or know anyone in the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland that works around blue crabs, conservation, or Chesapeake Bay management please consider signing up here (forms.gle/CBe5Hm5YHywB...) to take part in a short game & interview. Participants will be given $20 for taking part.

Congratulations to #UofStirling researchers and colleagues on their new article led by @naturefromsam.bsky.social and Emily H. Waddell about #invertebrate community assembly in #ecosystem restoration 👏 @ecologybarnett.bsky.social 🪰 @kirstyjpark.bsky.social 🦋 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Drivers of invertebrate community assembly during ecosystem restoration

Restoration practice largely focuses on facilitating species recovery through resource provisioning and habitat connectivity, with less attention to how trophic interactions structure assembling comm...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

🪲! New paper alert ! 🌳 "Drivers of invertebrate community assembly during ecosystem restoration" analyses over 18,000 arthropods from 858 species. We explore how habitat characteristics and trophic guilds impact invertebrate diversity in restoring woodlands and grasslands: doi.org/10.1111/rec....

Drivers of invertebrate community assembly during ecosystem restoration

Restoration practice largely focuses on facilitating species recovery through resource provisioning and habitat connectivity, with less attention to how trophic interactions structure assembling comm...

doi.org

Citizen science platforms must mitigate against the threat of generative AI rdcu.be/ftL0T Lees et al. highlight the growing problem of AI-manipulated media contaminating citizen science platforms

Citizen science platforms must mitigate against the threat of generative AI

Nature Ecology & Evolution - Citizen science platforms must mitigate against the threat of generative AI

rdcu.be

PhD opportunity: we're recruiting a 4-year fully-funded PhD student to investigate the biodiversity value, ecological health and connectivity of urban woods and trees. Full details and how to apply at www.findaphd.com/phds/project... @thebotanics.bsky.social @uofstirling-bes.bsky.social

Plants with Purpose: Enhancing the Role of Scotland’s Urban Forest for Landscape-scale Nature Recovery at University of Stirling on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Plants with Purpose: Enhancing the Role of Scotland’s Urban Forest for Landscape-scale Nature Recovery at University of Stirling, listed on FindAPhD.com

findaphd.com

Congratulations to BES students Alex and Ross on their fabulous talks at the 2026 Iapetus conference 👏 (and a shout out to Sheena and Maria, who are supervised by Stirling researchers @zarahpattison.bsky.social, @kirstyjpark.bsky.social and Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor!)

Iapetus DTP@iapetusdtp.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Great first session in our first day at the Iapetus Student Conference yesterday, hosted by our St Andrews students. We enjoyed some excellent presentations from our students!

📖 This study shows that ecological complexity is empirically measurable, and its development in restoration can be influenced by key variables 👇️ besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Deer 🦌 activity limits tree 🌳 recruitment in woodland creation sites - Journal of Applied Ecology besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Superb! “It sounds impressive but then it would, because it’s a press release” said Dr Louise Johnson “I look forward to reading more details when they’re published, but until there’s a peer-reviewed paper I might as well give expert commentary on a YouTube ad” www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Artificial eggshell comes first in attempt to revive giant flightless moa

De-extinction company hopes artificial incubation system can be scaled up but other scientists are sceptical

theguardian.com

Where should I put my acoustic monitor? If you're looking to study #biodiversity using #ecoacoustics, #PhD researcher @ecologybarnett.bsky.social can advise! Here he is talking at the BES Symposium 🔊

Our new review highlights growing challenges for owls, from road mortality to sensory pollution. Understanding these impacts is essential for their conservation in rapidly changing landscapes link.springer.com/article/10.1... @dornitholges.bsky.social @dmdominoni.bsky.social @pesumas.bsky.social

The impact of urban-related sensory and risk factors on owls: a systematic review - Journal of Ornithology

Urbanisation is a globally increasing phenomenon with diverse impacts on biodiversity. Interest in how urbanisation affects raptors is growing because, as top predators, they can be used as bioindicat...

link.springer.com

“Drivers of complexity in ecosystem restoration” Waddell 2026 - Journal of Applied Ecology - besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Drivers of complexity in ecosystem restoration

This study shows that ecological complexity is empirically measurable, and its development in restoration can be influenced by key variables, which have mechanistic underpinnings. The foundational ro...

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Looking for a furnished room/flat near Kingussie, or Aviemore for 3 months (May-July). I'm starting a work placement at the Highland Wildlife Park, helping with their invertebrate reintroduction programme! Happy to discuss details. Please drop me a message if you know anything, or share this post 🙏

DucklingWatch The DucklingWatch citizen science project, led by Hannah Coburn at the University of Essex, returns for its second year. Submitting your records of Mallard ducklings will help improve understanding of duckling survival rates and drivers of population trends.

Ross @ecologybarnett.bsky.social gave a fantastic seminar last week about his #research into dawn chorus #soundscapes in #woodlands with different canopy structures and noise pollution levels 🌳🐦‍⬛ His use of audience members' pets to explain AI models was such a fun way to increase engagement!

Our new paper is out: "Acoustic differences persist in urban Parus major (Great Tit) over two decades of declining anthropogenic noise in Paris, France." A study of noise and bird song, by me and Hans Slabbekoorn, in Ornithological Applications @amornith.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1093/orni...

Thank you to everyone who brought and presented posters at #SNSC2026 - we were lucky to have such a wide range of fascinating topics and great engagement in great conversations about ongoing research!

I want to break tree! Sitka spruce colonisation of treeline environments in Scotland by Rory Abernethy 🌲 #SNSC2026 @naturescot.bsky.social @stir.ac.uk

We are getting ready for #SNSC2026 Scotland's Nature Student Conference - welcome and arrival tomorrow at the Pathfoot Building, University of Stirling, from 10am! View the programme on our website: scotnsconference.wixsite.com/2026 We look forward to welcoming you to our event!

Our research on Tawny Owls at @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk was featured on this episode of BBC Radio Scotland - listen at: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... We discuss how we track Tawnies' movements and the way they are adapting to noisy and light-polluted areas @dmdominoni.bsky.social @iapetusdtp.bsky.social

Scotland Outdoors - Tawny Owls, Pearl Mussels and Jelly Ears - BBC Sounds

Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart with stories from the great outdoors

bbc.co.uk

Congratulations to BES members Thiago Silva, Kirsty Park, Kevin Watts and Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor and colleagues for a new article in #Forest Ecology and Management on the use of #LiDAR to measure #woodland complexity! 🌳

Julia Koricheva@juliakoricheva.bsky.social · 9mo ago

New #OA output from @uktreescapes.bsky.social #TreE_PlaNat project: a LiDAR-based comparison of structural complexity of woodlands established through planting, natural colonisation and hybrid approach, led by Sam Hughes and @thisanna.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

📣 Calling fish biologists & conservation scientists! We’re convening a session at #ICBF2026 (UBC, Vancouver): Bridging experimental biology & conservation If your research connects mechanism to real-world application- from lab to field- we want your abstract! Apply by March 3rd! 🐟🌎 icbf2026.com

🚨New paper out now! Excited to see this commentary, led by @shaunkillen.bsky.social, showing that social context is key in comparative physiology and must be integrated! Read more here: doi.org/10.1242/jeb.... #ComparativePhysiology #Behaviour #Ecophysiology @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk @jexpbiol.bsky.social

Further integrating social context into comparative and environmental physiology

Summary: Social environments affect all aspects of animal physiology. We highlight how overlooking social effects might lead to inaccurate physiology-based predictions of species’ responses to environ...

doi.org

Scotland's Natural Environment Bill has passed!🎉 The bill will contribute to achieving Scotland's ambitious commitment to becoming a nature-positive country by 2030, and have substantially restored nature by 2045.

Just the smell of predators, like lynx, is enough to limit sapling damage from deer overbrowsing, according to new research in @jappliedecology.bsky.social 

The lynx effect: how the smell of predators could help forest restoration - BES

The lynx effect: how the smell of predators could help forest restoration - BES is the largest scientific society for ecologists in Europe. We're working towards a world in which nature and people thrive.

f.mtr.cool

In our new paper, we show that native trees, particularly oaks, are crucial to support blue tits reproduction, likely via increasing preferred insect prey. Very relevant for urban planning. Leveraging 9 years of data from our Glasgow Urban Gradient study system. Led by @clairebranston.bsky.social!

Last week, a group of BES #PhD students attended a @iapetusdtp.bsky.social doctoral training residential at The Sill in #Northumberland 👩‍🏫

The University of #Stirling is excited to be hosting #SNSC2026 😀 The registration deadline for attendance, posters and talks is Wednesday 11th February - can't wait to see you all there! 🏞️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🦫🐜🦌🌿

Scotland's Nature Student Conference 2026@scotnsconf.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Exciting News - Registration has opened for Scotland's Nature Student Conference 2026. Join us at the University of Stirling on 3rd and 4th March. #SNSC2026 For more information go to: scotnsconference.wixsite.com/2026

Great to attend #BES2025 this week, and meet colleagues. Exciting to share the first findings from my PhD, and the Restoring Resilient Ecosystems project! @britishecologicalsociety.org