Markus Eichhorn
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markuseichhorn.bsky.social
Markus Eichhorn
@markuseichhorn.bsky.social

Ecologist, author, tree watcher. Shill for Big Forest. Writing another textbook on biodiversity and biogeography. It's always karaoke time. More at treesinspace.com

Environmental science 47%
Agriculture 17%

Don't waste money on expensive champagne. Just buy a cheap chardonnay and put it in your SodaStream. #TopTips
It’s awful. I’ve finally decided I need to demo how bad it is. In my intro lecture, I have several in class activities where I show the students chat GPT output and have them identify what’s wrong.

This attempt at the carbon cycle was in this week’s classes.

Reposted by Markus P. Eichhorn

New plant genus discovered in the Andes. Sumacoa barbata is an arborescent Gesneriad endemic to Cordillera del Cóndor.
David Neill, co-author of the study and legendary figure in neotropical botany, passed away this year. Sumacoa represents both a scientific milestone and a tribute to his legacy.
🚨If you are at #COP30, evacuate the Blue Zone immediately.

(from a source)

"You have been nominated for an award but have not been short-listed". Thanks, that's a nice way of saying "Someone thought you deserved this but we don't". I'll take it.

Could it be an ivory-billed woodpecker?
AI slop gracing the cover of Royal Society B. Not only in AI yellow but scientifically nonsensical. Come on. I'm certain human photographs and artworks were ignored to platform ... this.

Reposted by Markus P. Eichhorn

Reposted by Markus P. Eichhorn

The Senior Editor team at @jappliedecology.bsky.social is growing. Come join us! Applications close 21st December.
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/seni...
Senior Editor for Journal of Applied Ecology - British Ecological Society
Join the editorial board on Journal of Applied Ecology! Apply by 21 Dec 2025.
www.britishecologicalsociety.org

Aside from being cool research on remote-sensing of AGB across Canada, this is an amazing visualisation by Tompalski et al. (2025). Paper here: academic.oup.com/forestry/adv... 🌲🌏🧪

Hat trick!

After this weekend I'll be happy to never see another unicorn for as long as I live.

I'd be glad to never hear all the other stories told again. They were such a fixture of meetings and conferences for so many years that I'd prefer we found someone better to talk about.

This is literally the only Jim Watson Story I've heard that wasn't lewd, drunken or shockingly offensive. Probably because he's hardly in it.
I don’t have a particularly good James Watson story, but I found it amusing at the time. He visited the Irish National Diagnostics Centre, where I worked in 1995. The centre prepared a visitors book at the entrance and after giving a lecture in the university, Watson came to the research centre 1/2

Reposted by Markus P. Eichhorn

I don’t have a particularly good James Watson story, but I found it amusing at the time. He visited the Irish National Diagnostics Centre, where I worked in 1995. The centre prepared a visitors book at the entrance and after giving a lecture in the university, Watson came to the research centre 1/2

This isn't a partisan point either. It's that the political system doesn't allow a shutdown to happen. The civil service just carries on until government decides how it should change.

Amid any talk of US exceptionalism we should include that government shutdowns don't happen in other countries. Political parties don't crash their societies to make a point.

It's as if we learnt nothing from the 90s.

Congratulations, but as your bio points out, you've been a college prof for 30 years. Junior colleagues aren't playing the same game that we were.

Ant people are fun people. Is that Yvette? I'm very jealous.

Why does this keep happening to me.

Things I wish I'd known as a junior academic #37

I always love it in a talk when someone says "I didn't know the answer to this so I asked ChatGPT" because it means I can take a nap.

How does not teaching languages help students develop a 'global mindset' as set out in @uniofnottingham.bsky.social's Global Engagement strategy?
Home - The University of Nottingham
www.nottingham.ac.uk

Only a few years ago @uniofnottingham.bsky.social liked to call themselves "Britain's global university". What kind of global institution stops teaching languages?
Well this is awful news: tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'

Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.
Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham
In a statement the institution also says it is
www.bbc.co.uk
In Icelandic we have 'Ókind' for monster. But the translation is un-sheep. So everything not a sheep is dangerous.
Academics set their metrics and incentives. And that defines everything. Including the future of scientific publishing.

And if at any point, one feels that incentives are being defined from outside, that's what needs to be fought against.

But the power of change lies within.

Got a bit stuck writing a proposal so I went for a walk outside to clear my head and came back with a pile of fresh ideas that are entirely irrelevant to this proposal. Does anyone else want them?
Well this is awful news: tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'

Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.
Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham
In a statement the institution also says it is
www.bbc.co.uk
I have no idea who to credit for this, apologies. But fuck, that's so accurate based on recent workplace conversations I've overheard.