Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
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thilinas.bsky.social
Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
@thilinas.bsky.social

Conservation scientist, Professor, Dept of Biological Sciences, Bridgewater State University, MA, USA.
Research: #EcoRestore, #biodiversity, #conservation #urbanEcology, invasive species
PhD in Fisheries & Wildlife 🐒🐍🐸🐦 πŸŸπŸŒƒπŸ§ͺπŸžοΈπŸ“ŠπŸ–₯οΈπŸ›°οΈπŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸŒπŸ¦€ .. more

Environmental science 80%
Geography 20%
Pinned
πŸ§ͺ🌊🐚 We are hiring: Biology MS in #MarineEcosystems in #CapeVerde 🌍πŸͺΈ Spring 2026 start, at Bridgewater State Uni in #coastalEcology, #biodiversity
πŸ’Έ Funding includes: GA + tuition waiver

πŸ“… App: Oct 15, 2025

www.bridgew.edu/center/case/...

πŸ“«[email protected], [email protected]
Graduate Mentors
Discover the HERITOR Project: An International Mentoring and Research Opportunity!
www.bridgew.edu

Fall creators🐍

πŸ‚ Fall fieldwork update: surveying upland amphibians & reptiles near restored wetlands to understand how habitat restoration influences terrestrial habitat use and seasonal movements. 🐸🐍 🌱🦀🌍🐒
Iconic examples of fire-dependent (pyrophylous) taxa in the plant (green), animal (red), & fungi (gray) kingdom & their phylogenetic relationship. Tips are genus (& family)

Source: doi.org/10.1093/bios... BioScience
@aibsbiology.bsky.social

πŸ§ͺ🌍πŸ”₯🌳🌿🍁🌐 wildfire #ecoevo
'What makes PhD students happy? Good supervision. Supervisors who invest in positive mentoring relationships with their PhD candidates also reap the benefits for their own research.' Nature, 23 Oct 2025. I’m amazed this is framed as a revelation β€” it’s pure common sense. πŸ§ͺ🌎🌐
Need healthy #FreshwaterHabitat?

A new study confirms #oldgrowth #forests (>75 years) are better for freshwater #invertebrates and #vertebrates than young forests.

Diverse #habitats in older trees support more unique and specialized aquatic species 🌍

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Forest age influences freshwater biodiversity in temperate watersheds
Forests can affect stream structure and function, but evaluations linking freshwater biodiversity to watershed-scale forest-stand conditions are limit…
www.sciencedirect.com
Widespread #MountainEcosystem loss (2000-2020) is driven by human expansion ( #agriculture approx. 89% and #NaturalDisasters approx 11%)

Over half (approx 56%) occurred in #ProtectedAreas or #biodiversity hotspots, demanding urgent #conservation action 🌍

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Global loss of mountain vegetated landscapes and its impact on biodiversity conservation - Nature Communications
This study reports widespread loss of mountain vegetation worldwide from 2000 to 2020, with ∼89% attributable to human expansion, primarily agriculture. Over half of this loss occurred within protecte...
www.nature.com

And reconnected with @jalene-lamontagne.bsky.social and some old friends

I had the opportunity to attend the NEON convergence Summit 2025 at #CUboulder πŸŒπŸ“Š
This summit brought together scientists working on #macrosystemsEcology, #biodiversity, #continentalScaleBiology using #NEON.
#EnvironmentalDataScience #OpenScience

🌐🌱πŸ§ͺ

Some spots in our restored wetland are full of common reed (Phragmites australis), while others stay mostly invasion-free πŸŒΎπŸ€”.
We are asking: how do water levels πŸ’¦ and habitat structure 🌱 shape these invasion patterns?
Understanding this helps guide better wetland restoration and management.
🌍

We are studying the spread of common reed (Phragmites australis) in a restored wetland 🌿.
We aim to understand how wetland hydrology πŸ’§ and habitat structure πŸͺ΅πŸŒΎ influence the degree of invasion.
#InvasiveSpecies #WetlandRestoration #Phragmites #GenerationRestoration
#Wetlands #InvasionEcology

Some spots in our restored wetland are full of common reed (Phragmites australis), while others stay mostly invasion-free πŸŒΎπŸ€”.
We are asking: how do water levels πŸ’¦ and habitat structure 🌱 shape these invasion patterns?
Understanding this helps guide better wetland restoration and management.
🌍

We are studying the spread of common reed (Phragmites australis) in a restored wetland 🌿.
We aim to understand how wetland hydrology πŸ’§ and habitat structure πŸͺ΅πŸŒΎ influence the degree of invasion.
#InvasiveSpecies #WetlandRestoration #Phragmites #GenerationRestoration
#Wetlands #InvasionEcology

a new research project on ecological #TippingPoints 🌱🌍πŸ§ͺ🌐🦀 & regime shifts πŸ”„ at @cu-esiil.bsky.social Innovation Summit πŸ”οΈ.
Looking forward to working with amazing colleagues 🀝 on data-driven approaches πŸ“Š to ecosystem change.

#OpenScience #EnvironmentalDataScience #Biodiversity

Excited to present at #SER2025, the 11th World Conference on #EcologicalRestoration 🌎!

Join me this Thursday, Oct 2 πŸ“… at 5:00 PM in the Quartz Room for Session O.28: Restoration, Biodiversity & Climate.

I will share our remote-sensing–based approach to track #wetland restoration success πŸŒΏπŸ›°οΈ...

Back in the field this fall πŸ‚ with undergrads πŸ‘©β€πŸ”¬πŸ‘¨β€πŸ”¬, monitoring woodland #herps 🐸🦎 around restored wetlands 🌿. We are testing whether wetland restoration helps not upland biota. 🌱πŸ§ͺ🌍
#WetlandRestoration #RestorationEcology #Biodiversity #Amphibians #Reptiles #UndergraduateResearch #GenerationRestoration

Year 3 underway on comparing #urban vs #rural #turtle pops with @eren2010.bsky.social at Continental scale
#UndergraduateResearch
🌍🦀πŸ§ͺ🌐🌱🐒

βœ… Take‑homes

Supporting home gardens (especially with traditional/indigenous practices) is not just sentimentalβ€”it’s a practical conservation tool.

Protect home garden designs that maximize structural complexity: multi‑strata trees, mixed plantings, integrating animals.

🌿🐦 New Research Highlight: β€œSuccessful Home Garden Model for Biodiversity Conservation in Sri Lanka” πŸ“š

Our recent work published in Loris shows that home gardens are key players in conserving biodiversity AND delivering climate, social, and economic benefits.
"35% [of new hillside development] occurring within global biodiversity hotspots, significantly exacerbating habitat fragmentation. This has far-reaching consequences for biodiversity, directly affecting ~70% of globally threatened species."🌍 www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Extensive terrestrial biodiversity threats from global hillside urban expansion - Nature Cities
Hillside urbanization rises as cities exhaust flat land, threatening sensitive ecosystems. Mapping of 11.65 Mha added since 2000 reveals that 35% of them are in critical areas, fragmenting habitats an...
www.nature.com
If You're Rare, Should I Care? How Imperfect Detection Changes Relationships Between Biodiversity and Global Change Drivers 🌎🌐πŸ§ͺ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
If You're Rare, Should I Care? How Imperfect Detection Changes Relationships Between Biodiversity and Global Change Drivers
In this article, we provide a modeling approach that accounts for imperfect detection of species, especially rare ones, in biodiversity studies. Using three case studies across diverse taxa (birds, i...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Had a successful session on #urbanAgriculture & #urbanBiodiversity πŸ™οΈπŸŒ±πŸŒΏπŸ¦€ @ #ESA2025
We presented a framework to survey urban #biodiversity in university campus #greenSpaces
Designed as #undergradResearch & multisite #ecological research
πŸ’° Support #NSF #RCN
🌍🌐πŸ§ͺ
Hello. Today in β€œOne day, one paper”, native grassland species show greater drought resistance than introduced ones. However, this advantage disappears when other global change drivers like nutrients, temperature, or grazing are present🌎🍁

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Native plant species exhibit consistent drought advantage over introduced species until additional global change drivers are included: A grassland meta‐analysis
We examined how drought, predicted to increase under climate change, influences native and introduced plants in grasslands using a meta-analysis. Native plants fared better than introduced plants und...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Fire in focus: Clarifying metrics & terminology for better ecological insight πŸ”₯πŸ§ͺ

This framework can help researchers & practitioners to
πŸ‘‰select fire metrics for research & management πŸ“Š
πŸ‘‰interpret previous studies πŸ’­
πŸ‘‰form a growing body of knowledge 🌏

πŸ”— doi.org/10.1111/1365...
doi.org
πŸ“°PublishedπŸ“°How species turnover influences fish invasion patterns in lakes🐟

buff.ly/t9BsOdU

πŸ§ͺ🌍
How species turnover influences fish invasion patterns in lakes
Songhao Ji, Hugh J. MacIsaac, Yanling Li, Chengzhi Ding, Jie Wang, Liuyong Ding, Dekui He, Juan Tao This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here…
buff.ly

β€ͺDr. Thilina Surasinghe‬
β€ͺ@thilinas.bsky.social‬
Β· 11h
πŸ”Ή Multi-trophic #biodiversity
πŸ”Ή #AI & low-cost tech for bird monitoring
πŸ”Ή Urban #environmentalJustice

#urbanEcology #urbanBiodiversity
🌍πŸ§ͺ

🌱 Join us at #ESA2025
Urban Agriculture as an Accessible Framework for Ecological Research
πŸ“… Wed Aug 13 8–9:30 AM Hilton Key 11–12
Urban ag: a powerful, underused lens for ecological research & education 🌿🐝🌾