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fletcherecology.bsky.social
Robert Fletcher
@fletcherecology.bsky.social
3.8K followers 900 following 140 posts
Miriam Rothschild Professor of Conservation Biology, University of Cambridge
(formerly Univ. Florida)

Working on ecology, conservation, and ornithology. Love telling a good story. Fond of maths. Husband and Dad.

https://www.fletcherlab.com/
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
coleburton.bsky.social
There are 3 exciting postdoctoral openings to work on biodiversity research, monitoring and conservation with us at UBC - check them out!

2 positions: biodiversity.ubc.ca/training-and...

1 position: science-bcbiodiversitynetwork-2025.sites.olt.ubc.ca/opportunities/
Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunities
Biodiversity Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2-year (2026-2028) - 2 positions OPENAt UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in resea...
biodiversity.ubc.ca
November 20, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
rewildingbritain.org.uk
Did you know that European wildcats could return to Devon? 🐾

These fascinating cats have been absent in south west England for over a century but a two-year study has concluded that reintroducing wildcats to mid-Devon is feasible — and that most local people are positive about the idea. 

🧵1/2
Screen grab of an online article from The Guardian titled 'European wildcats could be seen again in England for first time in 100 years' and featuring a close up photo of a wildcat overlayed on a photo of woodland. Background photo credit: Sam Rose
November 20, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
mongabay.com
One of the world’s rarest birds has rebounded from near extinction after Indigenous communities in Bali committed to protect it under traditional laws, Mongabay contributor Heather Physioc reported.

In 2001, just six Bali starlings were known to live in the wild. By 2021, there were roughly 520.
How Indonesian communities rescued the Bali starling from the brink of extinction
One of the world’s rarest birds has rebounded from near extinction after Indigenous communities on the Indonesian island of Bali committed to protect it under traditional laws, Mongabay contributor…
news.mongabay.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
plieningerlab.bsky.social
Participatory mapping (#PPGIS) has potential to foster socially inclusive #EcosystemRestoration. In our recent #PeopleNatureLandscapesBlog, Gaelle Ndayizeye showcases her experiences from a PPGIS study of how local farmers value Western Rwanda's restoration landscapes. medium.com/people-natur...
Mapping What People Value in Western Rwanda’s Restoration Landscapes
Join our PhD student Gaelle as she journeys through Western Rwanda uncovering the values rooted in its landscapes.
medium.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:31 AM
fletcherecology.bsky.social
Happy to share new research, just out in Ecology @esajournals.bsky.social, led by Meghan Beatty.

We interrogate source-sink dynamics over a 28-year period for the endangered snail kite, testing how an invasion of novel prey alters dynamics...

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
@conservation.cam.ac.uk @camzoology.bsky.social
November 18, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
natecoevo.nature.com
Safeguarding long-term research in ecology and evolution www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Q&A with Stéphane Blanc, research director at CNRS, about the Long-term Studies in Ecology and Evolution programme and its priorities for supporting long-term monitoring and research

Free to read: rdcu.be/eQltU
Safeguarding long-term research in ecology and evolution - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Long-term research projects are essential for predicting the ecological and evolutionary responses of species to global change, yet their continuity is often threatened by uncertainties over funding. ...
www.nature.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
tommaso-jucker.bsky.social
🚨Job opportunity🚨

We are hiring a 3yr research technician. If you love fieldwork, are passionate about forests & mountains, and want to up-skill in remote sensing, sensor networks and running field experiments this could be the dream job for you!
🧪🌳⛰️🛰️🌡️🍄

www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...
Details | Working at Bristol | University of Bristol
www.bristol.ac.uk
November 14, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
mongabay.com
South Africa’s rhinos now have an unlikely superpower: radioactivity! Scientists working on the Rhisotope Project inject the horns of live rhinos with a radioactive isotope. Although harmless to rhinos, it makes smuggled horns easy to detect in customs inspections in hopes of deterring poaching.
Radioactive rhinos (cartoon)
South Africa’s rhinos now have an unlikely superpower: radioactivity! Scientists working on the Rhisotope Project inject the horns of live rhinos with a radioactive isotope. This is harmless to the…
news.mongabay.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
unburntwitch.com
If you’re wondering what a “least weasel” is, they absolutely live up to the name. This is the least amount of animal you can have that can still meet the bar for “is weasel”
A least weasel. It fits in the palm of the hand.
June 2, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
funkyant.bsky.social
Shiny new PhD being advertised with me and @cmbeale.bsky.social !!
cmbeale.bsky.social Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 19d
So, next up is this fabulous project with me and @funkyant.bsky.social on nomadic birds in East Africa. Fieldwork and fancy spatial statistics are on offer here, and who doesn't want birds like this fabulous, nonadic Temminck's Courser?! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
November 6, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
marcelocegonha.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
We need to restore Britain’s connection to nature | Letter
Letter: The country must implement a truly connected system of protected areas to preserve the natural world, says Dr Marcelo Lima. Plus a letter from Elia Kabanov on all the ways nature is around us ...
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
ramsar.org
🌍Connectivity occurs from local to global scales and is crucial to supporting life on Earth.

🌿Protecting, restoring and enhancing ecological connectivity underpins the survival of a wide range of species and is key to tackling the global nature and climate crises.

#RestoreWetlands #WetlandsMatter
November 4, 2025 at 3:06 PM
fletcherecology.bsky.social
Please repost!

I am looking for a passionate and hard-working PhD student to work in southern Africa on experimental defaunation and rewilding of megafauna. See the link below for more information:

@camzoology.bsky.social @conservation.cam.ac.uk
Reversing defaunation through rewilding and its consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem function | Department of Zoology
Reversing defaunation through rewilding and its consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem function Supervisor: Professor Rob Fletcher The world is facing several global challenges that are transform...
www.zoo.cam.ac.uk
October 29, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
rspb.bsky.social
Today, the Planning Bill returns to the Lords. And the future of nature in England’s planning system is on the line. 🌳⚠️

Peers must back the amendments* that protect wildlife, ensure accountability, and build nature back into our homes & communities.

*130, 140 & 245, 114, 148
A Robin perches upright on a branch, chest puffed out and beak open mid-song. Its stance and expression convey urgency: a symbol of nature’s voice calling out as the future of England’s planning system hangs in the balance.
October 27, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
kevinjkircher.com
Last week, the Indiana University administration asked their student newspaper not to print any news stories in the Homecoming edition. When the faculty advisor refused, IU fired him and ended paper printing. So students at the Purdue paper printed the IU edition and drove it down to Bloomington!
Purdue student journalists deliver special 'solidarity' newspaper to IU Bloomington campus
The special edition blasted across town features columns from IDS and Exponent editors, alongside QR codes to support both student papers.
www.heraldtimesonline.com
October 18, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
mwtingley.bsky.social
Less than 1 month left to submit abstracts for what is always the *best* conference on climate change impacts on biodiversity. Intimate conference size but truly global participation; highly recommend for 1st-timers and returnees.
sotm2026.bsky.social Species On The Move 2026 @sotm2026.bsky.social · Oct 17
✨🌏 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS 🌏✨

⏰ Deadline: November 10, 2025

🗣️ Oral Presentations | 📋 Poster Presentations

🔗 Guidelines & Submissions: www.speciesonthemove.com/abstract/inf...

🇹🇼 Can't wait to welcome you to #Taiwan!

#SpeciesOnTheMove #SOTM2026 #Taiwan #SunMoonLake #ClimateChange #Biodiversity
October 17, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
eliotmiller.bsky.social
Using automated acoustic monitoring, citizen science, and centuries of ornithological research and understanding to quantify ecological integrity at scale.

The BirdsPlus Index, a novel method for assessing site-level conservation values.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 16, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
vrijevogel56.bsky.social
Bird migration is changing. What does this reveal www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Bird migration is changing. What does this reveal about our planet? – visualised
Bird migrations rank as one of nature’s greatest spectacles. Thanks to GPS tracking, scientists are uncovering extraordinary insights into ancient and mysterious journeys – and new threats that are re...
www.theguardian.com
October 17, 2025 at 3:39 AM
fletcherecology.bsky.social
Start of the new term and excited to be teaching Conservation Science @camzoology.bsky.social

Working with these talented students gives me hope about our future
October 13, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
guypeer.bsky.social
Anyone thinking that having a car or two is ''quality of life'', should pay a visit to Paris to experience a city where a car is not only 'not necessary' but even a burden.
Paris was transformed by improving public transport, extending bike lanes, and by converting streets to green spaces. Amazing.
October 10, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
thelabandfield.bsky.social
Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today.

Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology
October 10, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
volts.wtf
A new Nature study on the four horsemen of the climate-tipping-points apocalypse: "the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, the South American monsoon system and the Amazon rainforest."
Destabilization of Earth system tipping elements - Nature Geoscience
A review of observation-based evidence suggests that four interconnected Earth system tipping elements have moved towards their critical thresholds, highlighting the need for better monitoring and increased mitigation efforts.
www.nature.com
October 8, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Robert Fletcher
carlzimmer.com
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
October 8, 2025 at 11:29 PM