Dr Dave
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ecosystemunraveller.com
Dr Dave
@ecosystemunraveller.com
Professor of Ecology, educator, maker | birds, mistletoe, acoustics, conservation | updates on research, family & other beasts. Living on unceded Wiradjuri country
More at https://ecosystemunraveller.com
Pinned
Oh, and welcome new followers, welcome aboard. Ecologist here, parasitic plants and birds, biogeography and acoustics, connectivity conservation and evolutionary ecology. Also Amazonia and aquaria, wood working and smoked meats. Welcome
Aboard.
Reposted by Dr Dave
What is that? 🤔 It's a chimney swift tower and is a really well conceived, designed, and executed joint project at the
Lichterman Nature Center in the Memphis, TN area.
Jan 11, 2019
January 11, 2026 at 6:42 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave
Happy to share our new paper published in @cp-iscience.bsky.social We deployed 300+ multi-sensor loggers across 17 species to investigate how different species adapt their flight strategies when crossing deserts and marine areas during migration. tinyurl.com/2c8y8xvf #ornithology #birds
January 10, 2026 at 1:25 PM
True wild type Angelfish are hard to find but geez, in sunlight they rival all of the other colour types I’ve seen.
January 11, 2026 at 4:34 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave
How many photos of this bird can sate our curiosity? Two can.
January 11, 2026 at 2:30 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave
Who can enjoy this toucan? You can.
January 11, 2026 at 2:24 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave
Populations of endangered animals on an island have increased by 90-100% in five years, after effectively controlling non-native predators.
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
'Predator-free' fence project praised for restoring Kangaroo Island's native wildlife
Five years after feral cats were removed from inside the Western River Refuge on Kangaroo Island, populations of endangered species have boomed.
www.abc.net.au
January 10, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Next mission—sort out some steps between the workshop and the new wing. First step, remove excess soil.
January 10, 2026 at 10:50 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave
In a remote and isolated part of NSW, nature is enjoying a deluge of water still around from floods in Queensland last year.
Wetland teeming with life in this remote Corner Country of NSW
In a remote and isolated part of NSW, nature is enjoying a deluge of water still around from floods in Queensland last year.
www.abc.net.au
January 10, 2026 at 9:18 PM
Morning all.
January 10, 2026 at 7:52 PM
Currently.
January 10, 2026 at 6:52 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave
Here are the Walwa and Longwood line scans (as of 3:30pm 10 Jan) to give you an idea of the scale of the fires when overlaid on the base Melbourne map.

Yikes!

#VicFires
January 10, 2026 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave
Found this Eastern Brown Snake snarled in bird netting last night. Returned this morning with some poly pipe for safe handling and sharp scissors. Released beside dam where it had a big drink. Timely reminder that bird netting is nasty stuff for wildlife—if you must use it, keep it off the ground!
January 9, 2026 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave
First MEP report.

Medical research often uses non-parametric tests. We looked, and noticed that small-sample rank-based tests (i.e. M-W, Wilcoxon) have significant granularity... like p-values!

So, here's GRIM for U values -- GRIM-U.

Enjoy.

medicalevidenceproject.org/grim-u-obser...
GRIM-U: A GRIM-like observation to establish impossible p values from ranked tests - Medical Evidence Project
The Medical Evidence Project uses forensic metascientific methods to examine medical research publications that have a disproportionately high impact on human health. Our aim is to determine where pro...
https://medicalevidenceproject.org/grim-u-observation-establish-impossible-p-values-ranked-tests/"
January 7, 2026 at 2:53 PM
January 10, 2026 at 3:29 AM
Found this Eastern Brown Snake snarled in bird netting last night. Returned this morning with some poly pipe for safe handling and sharp scissors. Released beside dam where it had a big drink. Timely reminder that bird netting is nasty stuff for wildlife—if you must use it, keep it off the ground!
January 9, 2026 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave
T. rex is more closely related to this little dinosaur (a hummingbird) than T. rex is to Allosaurus. Also, a hummingbird's humerus is way smaller than it's eyeball. Go home, evolution, you're drunk! 🦖
January 9, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave
In this week’s @science.org cover article, we discover tree bark is a hidden habitat for abundant, diverse, and specialized microbial life that actively regulate our climate 🦠. Bark isn't just an inert armor of tree but an active interface for climate and biodiversity
www.science.org/eprint/7H9PX...
Bark microbiota modulate climate-active gas fluxes in Australian forests
Recent studies suggest that microbes inhabit tree bark, yet little is known about their identities, functions, and environmental roles. Here we reveal, through gene-centric and genome-resolved metagen...
www.science.org
January 8, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave
🚨Paper alert🚨
We studied the permanent chewing louse genus Myrsidea to revisit the long-debated evolutionary and biogeographic history of Sapayoa aenigma, finding signals consistent with an extra-Neotropical origin of the parasite lineage.

📄 royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article...
January 8, 2026 at 5:05 AM
Good morning.
January 9, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave
New paper out! 🐦📊

We realease AVONICHE, a global dataset with detailed information on the proportional use of 32 foraging niches, combining dietary categories with the behaviours and substrates used to access resources.

Openly access the paper and data in GEB: doi.org/10.1111/geb....
January 8, 2026 at 11:09 AM
Surely, the quintessential trumped-up budgie… #WildOz
For our first and only artificial insemination of the #kakapo breeding season, we matched Pearl with Ralph (a founder who has no offspring) and Hurihuri - who was in excellent condition. #conservation #parrots #birds
January 9, 2026 at 7:18 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave
Hi, bushfire survivor here and NSW RFS volunteer.

If you think you are going to stay and defend your property...Don't.
You are not prepared for the intense radiant heat, the ember showers, the smoke, the collapse of all of your energy.

If you have been instructed to leave.
Leave early.
#Bushfire
January 8, 2026 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave
The VicEmergency website has been overloaded, causing intermittent outages. Use radio for official emergency updates www.abc.net.au/emergency/ho... #VicFires
How to listen to ABC Radio in an emergency - ABC Emergency
Stay informed in an emergency, set your local ABC radio station in the ABC listen app, and find the frequency on your battery-powered radio.
www.abc.net.au
January 9, 2026 at 3:45 AM
43 in the shade at Burrumbuttock and the wind is violently gusting. Checked on animals and wildlife waterers—everyone’s edgy.
January 9, 2026 at 4:48 AM