Who defines what 'healthy' ecosystems look like, and what do different people value in them? Even if we think we know, ecosystems can also be variable, says Igshaan Samuels in this clip from our recent event on #RangelandMyths. repairproject.org/rangeland-my... #IYRP2026 @iyrp2026.bsky.social

Are deserts 'empty' and 'lifeless' spaces, as some people have painted them? Brahim El Guabli gives an overview of the colonising effects of 'Saharanism' in this clip from our recent event on #RangelandMyths. repairproject.org/rangeland-my...

Wow! Still to be confirmed by the #BSBIReferee but looks like @sibthorpia.bsky.social has found the hybrid between Water Bent plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9... & Annual Beard-grass plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9... Goes to show there are lots of exciting plants out there, just waiting to be found!

Louis P@sibthorpia.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Polypogon viridis (Water Bent, left), Polypogon monspeliensis (Annual Beard-grass, right) and what I believe to be their hybrid (centre) from Portland last week. Hopefully to be confirmed by the Poaceae referee soon - would be the fourth UK record if confirmed.

Learning to tell grasses, sedges & rushes apart? 🌿 Sedges usually have solid, triangular stems 🌿 Rushes typically have smooth, round stems 🌿 Grasses often have distinct nodes A useful beginners ID webinar for improving botanical skills: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHIz... #BotanicalSkillsNI #PlantID

Grasses, Sedges and Rushes for Absolute Beginners

YouTube video by Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland

youtube.com

New food discovery day! Sakoamanga or Sakoa are the fruit of Poupartia, trees endemic to Madagascar and nearby islands in the family Anacardiaceae. Especially delicious with plenty of salt.

Many years ago I proposed launching Benthos, the journal of bottom-dwelling research. It looks like our time has come.

NoTrue, Silence and Rubbish Communications: satirical journals give Chinese academics a pressure valve

Viral trend highlights frustration over the ‘credibility crisis’.

nature.com

Zebu grazing grounds in southwest Madagascar, featuring several grass species, water sources, trees and other spiny plants, raketa (prickly pear) and signs of other wildlife, including birds and giant snails. Water and grasses vary with the seasons. #iyrp2026

Looking through the photos of my recent visit to Sinah Common, I realise I forgot to post this lovely Hare's-tail grass, Lagurus ovatus. On your marks, get set, go .......

New publication by Noro Fenitra H. Randrianarimanana making sense of all the grasses allegedly introduced to Madagascar: abcjournal.org/index.php/ab... . Not a small job resolving the accumulated errors perpetuated across the literature @rbgkew.bsky.social

Joke attempts during science talks at least make the audience more relaxed apparently www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Knock knock, no one’s there. Study finds scientists’ jokes mostly fall flat

Survey examines how often academics attempt jokes during conference talks — and how these attempts at comedy land.

nature.com

So cool, would love to try this botany course Darwin apparently took three years in a row

Cambridge University Botanic Garden@cubotanicgarden.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Preserved for 200 years, these watercolour illustrations used by Darwin’s mentor, John Henslow, have been featured for the first time in today’s Guardian. And they will soon be used again as teaching materials in the Garden’s new Certificate in Botany course. Find out more: https://shorturl.at/SxCej

The irony: conservation involving fenced-off 'hard boundaries' can lead to shrinking space for wildlife. @tekgw.bsky.social explored findings from Kenya and Tanzania at our February event on #rangelandmyths about Mobility. #IYRP2026 #pastoralism #conservation

As China’s Two Sessions take place, a new book by Prof @gujingc.bsky.social explores how cooperation between China-global South works in practice including how China’s provinces engage with African partners.👇 https://ids.pulse.ly/pkcoi3db1e

Shaping China-global South cooperation in a contested world order - Institute of Development Studies

explores how cooperation between China and countries across the Global South works in practice

ids.pulse.ly

Do pastoralists simply need 'more markets' to thrive? repairproject.org/Blog/myth-pa... Read Linda Pappagallo's think-piece and join our online discussion on 26 March with Timothy Gibbs, Oluwaṣeun Williams, @camelilse.bsky.social and Lars Otto Naess. #IYRP2026 @iyrp2026.bsky.social @ids.ac.uk

Myth: Pastoralists need more markets to thrive - REPAiR project

The myth that pastoralists simply need ‘more markets’ to thrive rests on a set of deeply rooted assumptions about markets and animal husbandry.

repairproject.org

Continuing the 'spectacular' theme, here's Early Meadow-grass Poa infirma on Hayling Island. Once a rarity restricted to the SW of England, it's now quite widespread and a guaranteed find here in coastal Hampshire. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

The Botanical Research Fund offers up to £750 for British and Irish botanists applying by 31 March, please do share further: url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/Y_MECOPRgH...

Fish doorbell: help Dutch fish successfully migrate by alerting lock keepers when you spot then needing access on the video feed visdeurbel.nl/en/

Fish Doorbell – It's almost here! — The Fish Doorbell

Zie je een vis? Druk op de Visdeurbel dan opent onze sluiswachter de sluis en kunnen de vissen doorzwemmen.

visdeurbel.nl

Palace of Westminster, House of Lords, Afternoon Tea Reception to mark the launch of the Seventeenth Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the UNCCD in Mongolia, and to celebrate the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists

What is nature? Some see nature as a set of 'stocks of resources' to be exchanged and traded. But there are many more complex ways of valuing nature. Frank Matose spoke at our online event on rangelands & the myth of 'Tragedy of the Commons'. #rangelandmyths #IYRP2026 @iyrp2026.bsky.social

The Killing Famine, southern Madagascar comic pdf and story at futurenatures.org/the-killing-... @futurenatures.bsky.social @amberhuff.bsky.social

Postdoc position with me at Stockholm University – phylogenomics and evolution of fire adaptations in Malagasy Erica : www.su.se/english/divi...

"Bond’s work leaves behind an inconvenient lesson for an era of climate urgency: that speed is not a substitute for understanding, and that good intentions, applied without care, can erase ancient worlds as efficiently as neglect." A beautiful tribute to William Bond. Forever missed by many.

William Bond, defender of grasslands

In recent years, one of the loudest ideas in environmental policy has been that trees are the planet’s universal remedy. Plant enough of them, in enough places, and carbon will be soaked up, water wil...

butlernature.com

Thanks everyone that came to chat to me about my poster on grass communities in savannas in Thailand & Cambodia yesterday at the @britishecologicalsociety.org annual meeting in Edinburgh. So many grass and savanna fans out there! And such a great conference. #grass #ecology #diversity #savanna 🌏🌐

More than 2/3 of environmental professionals feel that working class individuals are underrepresented in their organisation. 🎧Check out the latest episode of the @endsreport.com report podcast featuring @drciaradwyer.bsky.social, Co-Chair of our Socioeconomic Equality and Diversity (SEED) Network

ENDS Report@endsreport.com · 9mo ago

Our latest podcast on being working class in the environment sector is live⚡️ with - 🐦‍⬛ RAVEN networks' Nadia Shaikh 🏗️ ISEP's chief Sarah Mukherjee 𖣘 WCCA founder Emma River-Roberts and 🍃 @britishecologicalsociety.org 's SEED co-lead Dr Ciara Dwyer 🎧 Listen now pod.fo/e/368517

Come join us in beautiful Western Norway! Ping co-supervisor team: @janhackel.bsky.social @vorontsovams.bsky.social www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

PhD position in systematics and evolution of Malagasy heathers (Erica; Ericaceae) (289897) | University of Bergen

Job title: PhD position in systematics and evolution of Malagasy heathers (Erica; Ericaceae) (289897), Employer: University of Bergen, Deadline: Sunday, January 4, 2026

jobbnorge.no

Exciting PhD project with me and @vorontsovams.bsky.social RBG Kew on Grass Diversity, developing a phylogeny using morphology and genomics for the tropical forage grass genus Urochloa. Applications at centa.ac.uk/students... but contacts Bat or me to discuss

Florida softshell turtle we had to drive around with the Archbold Biological Station team!

500 copies of the new Madagascar grass guidebook!

2 job adverts on a NERC project w myself + @darrenobbard.bsky.social on “What determines the virome: ecology and the environment, evolution, or species history?” early 2026 in @uniexecec.bsky.social - Postdoc: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr... - RA: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr... Pls share!