Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Bill Bateman

@ourprimatepast.bsky.social

Continuous Audio‐Visual Sensor Monitoring Is More Effective Than Human Observers for Detecting Moor Macaques

Camera traps and PAM outperformed human transects in detecting moor macaques: sensors overcame point transect detectability after 2 days survey. Combining both audio-visual methods achieved highest d...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

February 4, 2026 at 9:42 AM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬

@smwadgymar.bsky.social

This paper is a great for teaching phylogenetic trees.

"Ancient DNA reveals elephant birds and kiwi are sister taxa and clarifies ratite bird evolution"

Clearly written. It discusses hypotheses of relatedness among species via continental drift vs genetic data. 🧪

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A figure depicting continental drift from when Gondwana existed to present day, with continents and countries colored according to the ratite species that occur or occurred on them. Next to that is a cartoon of a phylogeny that we would expect support for if continental drift explained patterns of species occurrence and relatedness. And next to that is a cartoon of the phylogeny supported by the genetic data presented in this paper, which demonstrates that closely related species must have traveled great distances after Gondwana broke up, after which flightlessness evolved, and that this happened more than once.

January 31, 2026 at 11:16 PM

Bill Bateman

@acanthoplus.bsky.social

Emphasises how relatively easy some conservation actions are and how rapidly positive results happen www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Rare butterflies bounce back after landowners in Wales cut back on flailing hedges

More than 300 brown hairstreak butterfly eggs were recorded in hedgerows near Llandeilo this winter after decade of decline

www.theguardian.com

January 30, 2026 at 6:44 AM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Tom Fairman

@itsnotfairman.bsky.social

Was glad to speak with The Guardian about the impacts of frequent fires on ecosystems, and bang my usual drum about the need for a state level strategy on how we manage the inevitable change that is going to occur to many forest ecosystems. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘We shouldn’t be surprised’: bushfires in Victoria push threatened species to the brink

The impact of fires on wildlife can be ‘catastrophic’, with some plant species feared extinct

www.theguardian.com

January 30, 2026 at 3:58 AM

Bill Bateman

@acanthoplus.bsky.social

New Holland Honeyeater in the green shade at the hottest point of the afternoon #birdsseenin2026 #birds #WildOz

January 29, 2026 at 12:20 AM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Dr Tom Harris

@drtomharris.bsky.social

Ancient pine trees growing in eastern Spain have quietly recorded more than five centuries of Mediterranean weather. Analysis of tree rings clearly shows that todays storms and droughts are becoming more intense and more frequent than almost anything the region has experienced since the early 1500s.

January 25, 2026 at 11:56 AM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

WA Orchids

@wa-orchids.bsky.social

A cool weekend with a bit of welcome rain is the perfect time to get out for a walk in the Perth Hills.

There are flowers to be seen out there too, despite last week’s scorching temperatures. Details in ALT

#ozflora #wildoz #bativeplants #inaturalist #nature

Wide path through a forest if quite tall native trees

Comesperma virgatum - Milkwort - a pink flower spike against a tree trunk in the background

Ptilotus manglesii - Pom Pom - a fluffy flower head with bright pink tips

Xanthosia atkinsoniana - Tufted Xanthosia - a white flower divided into four groups of petals

January 26, 2026 at 10:06 AM

Bill Bateman

@acanthoplus.bsky.social

Tawny frogmouth doing what they do best - being an innocent stick #birdsseenin2026 #birds

January 25, 2026 at 7:57 AM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Andrew D Thaler

@drandrewthaler.bsky.social

The interesting applications of AI are all, like, "we built an open framework that uses processors on recycled cell phones to identify and triangulate the location of rare bugs in tropical rainforests" while big tech is going "what if we burned down that rainforest to summarize your emails?"

Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 13d

Calling all the PhDs I know to make monumental annoyances of themselves (and honestly, who better)

January 21, 2026 at 9:42 PM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Damien Huffer

@damienhuffer.bsky.social

Crime against wildlife is surging in Australia. These 4 reforms can help tackle it share.google/zWecZo5N9b3m... @counteringcrime.bsky.social

Crime against wildlife is surging in Australia. These 4 reforms can help tackle it

A new study reveals the most prevalent crimes against Australia’s wildlife and environment.

share.google

January 22, 2026 at 7:15 AM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Mrs Dr Syd

@mrsdrsyd.bsky.social

Delicious to me

Headline from PC Gamer, from the writer Tyler Wilde:
Microsoft CEO warns that we must "do something useful" with AI or they'll lose "social permission" to burn electricity on it.

Works should learn AI skills and companies should use it because it's a "cognitive amplifier," claims Satya Nadella

January 21, 2026 at 4:30 PM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

WA Orchids

@wa-orchids.bsky.social

Lovely sunrise after an overnight “low” of 27°C 🥵

📍Kalamunda National Park
⌚️22/01/2026 5.30am

We won’t be the only ones feeling the heat, if you can please put fresh water out for our native wildlife on these really hot days 💧🐝🐞🦋🦜🦉🦎🦘

#sunrise #weather #PerthWeather #nature

Picture over a large open area of forest with a sunrise in colours of peach and purple

January 21, 2026 at 10:12 PM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Bruce Webber

@drbrucewebber.bsky.social

Introduced foxes and cats have had a devastating impact on Australia's mammals. This threat to biodiversity has been widely recognised, documented and acted upon by scientists, policy makers and land managers. Here we refute recent assertions to the contrary.

Read more (OA): doi.org/10.1093/bios...

Timing of extirpation of a native mammal population from a location relative to the time of arrival of feral cats at that location. Data are taken directly from Supplement 1 in Wallach and Lundgren (2025), using the last record of the native species, and the earliest arrival date from the range of arrival dates of cats to that location. Based on this information, extirpation of a native mammal occurs before cats arrive in only two cases, and these are where Wallach and Lundgren (2025) arbitrarily give the last record dates of 1788 and 1789 (i.e., time of European colonization, in 1788) for undated subfossil material. Of the 178 cases given in the Supplement, eight are omitted from this graph because: they were repeats of another row (n=4), there is no date for the last record of the species (n=1), the species is still present at the location (n=2), or the species never occurred at the location (n=1).

January 22, 2026 at 12:02 AM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Diana Fisher

@dianafisher1080.bsky.social

Cats and foxes are indisputable major causes of extinction and decline of Australian native mammals academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

Investigating the Causes of an Extinction Catastrophe: Controlling Introduced Predators Remains Essential for Conserving Australia’s Mammals

Abstract. At least 40 Australian mammal spcies have been driven to extinction since European colonization in 1788. For conservation management to be effect

academic.oup.com

January 22, 2026 at 12:10 AM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Sandy Horne

@sandyhorne.bsky.social

Another Aurora Australis photo from last night. The beams were naked-eye visible. This event was even better than 11 May 2024.
Near Truro, South Australia.
#aurora

January 21, 2026 at 12:10 AM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Rob Davis

@pezoporus.bsky.social

Aurora australis in our neighbour’s paddock last night, Perth Hills.

January 21, 2026 at 12:16 AM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Willem Van Zyl

@willemvzyl.bsky.social

Cape Cobra (Naja nivea), highly venomous.

#snakes #herpetology #herping #snakesofsa #southafrica

A high angle photo of a yellow snake on tree bark.

January 18, 2026 at 10:51 AM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Andrew Digby

@digs.bsky.social

Three more #kakapo matings last night: Tumeke + Te Atapo on Whenua Hou, and Kotahitanga mated with both Marama and Kohengi on Anchor. Mating with different males substantially increases the likelihood of clutch fertility: peerj.com/articles/146.... Here's Te Atapo booming. #conservation #parrots

January 16, 2026 at 7:41 AM

Reposted by Bill Bateman

Michael Dahlstrom

@michaeldahlstrom.bsky.social

12 years after Australia’s 'extinct' night parrot was rediscovered, a worrying new investigation by the Australian Conservation Foundation has revealed swathes of its remaining habitat are under threat.
au.news.yahoo.com/rare-and-bea...