Sarah Arnold
@sejarnold.bsky.social
Entomologist, likes pollination, insect behaviour, IPM, horticulture and agriculture, sustainability, nature and especially wild bees.
Works at Niab (UK). Views my own. she/her
Neurodivergent, quirky, sometimes wrong but usually teachable.
Works at Niab (UK). Views my own. she/her
Neurodivergent, quirky, sometimes wrong but usually teachable.
Reposted by Sarah Arnold
New PhD alert! We'll be applying animal welfare ideas to look at how stress affects bees, looking at the effect on bee brains with @lenariab.bsky.social, and working with @sensibee.bsky.social developing new monitoring methods.
Please spread the word! #bees #PhD 🧪
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Please spread the word! #bees #PhD 🧪
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
The effect of stress on pollinator behaviour at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - The effect of stress on pollinator behaviour at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
February 3, 2026 at 1:21 PM
New PhD alert! We'll be applying animal welfare ideas to look at how stress affects bees, looking at the effect on bee brains with @lenariab.bsky.social, and working with @sensibee.bsky.social developing new monitoring methods.
Please spread the word! #bees #PhD 🧪
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Please spread the word! #bees #PhD 🧪
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Sarah Arnold
Do agricultural diversification practices pay off in the long run? Our new paper synthesizes 100+ years of evidence showing that diversification practices become more profitable over time and delivers growing benefits for soils, biodiversity, and carbon.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Long-term agricultural diversification increases financial profitability, biodiversity, and ecosystem services: a second-order meta-analysis - Nature Communications
Feeding a growing population while protecting the environment is a major global challenge. This study suggests that agricultural diversification enhances long-term profitability, biodiversity, soil he...
www.nature.com
January 31, 2026 at 7:27 AM
Do agricultural diversification practices pay off in the long run? Our new paper synthesizes 100+ years of evidence showing that diversification practices become more profitable over time and delivers growing benefits for soils, biodiversity, and carbon.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Sarah Arnold
Steven Hammer, one of our regular collection users, co-developed a new #insect pinning block, with staff and volunteers from the museum.
It’s 3D-printed and open source, so you can try it for yourself:
cults3d.com/en/3d-model/...
#ECN2025
It’s 3D-printed and open source, so you can try it for yourself:
cults3d.com/en/3d-model/...
#ECN2025
Entoblock step
An improved pinning block for entomological collections.
It has five steps at different heights for quick and accurate label setting. The steps are visible from both sides, making it suitable for lef...
cults3d.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Steven Hammer, one of our regular collection users, co-developed a new #insect pinning block, with staff and volunteers from the museum.
It’s 3D-printed and open source, so you can try it for yourself:
cults3d.com/en/3d-model/...
#ECN2025
It’s 3D-printed and open source, so you can try it for yourself:
cults3d.com/en/3d-model/...
#ECN2025
Reposted by Sarah Arnold
I am teaching a GIS class this semester for undergrads. First time I’m teaching it and it’s all done in R. I’m super excited! I was wondering if you have any recs on papers that link GIS and geospatial science with ecology. I want to include readings and discussions for the lecture part. 🧪🌎#ratats
January 12, 2026 at 10:47 PM
I am teaching a GIS class this semester for undergrads. First time I’m teaching it and it’s all done in R. I’m super excited! I was wondering if you have any recs on papers that link GIS and geospatial science with ecology. I want to include readings and discussions for the lecture part. 🧪🌎#ratats
You get a whole office to yourself? 😮
January 11, 2026 at 5:57 PM
You get a whole office to yourself? 😮
Which I accept when I have capacity, but sometimes I need a couple of days and a reminder to assess if I do have capacity. But I think the fact that humans don't read the auto-reply from old e-mail means that journals still haven't noticed I have moved? Automation = reviewers lost? [2/2]
January 6, 2026 at 1:59 PM
Which I accept when I have capacity, but sometimes I need a couple of days and a reminder to assess if I do have capacity. But I think the fact that humans don't read the auto-reply from old e-mail means that journals still haven't noticed I have moved? Automation = reviewers lost? [2/2]
I changed orgs 3 years ago. Old e-mail is still open but rarely checked; has auto-reply saying where I am now. I get lots of review requests sent to old e-mail still, but I usually see them a week after they expired when I eventually log in; I only occasionally get invites at new e-mail. [1/2]
January 6, 2026 at 1:57 PM
I changed orgs 3 years ago. Old e-mail is still open but rarely checked; has auto-reply saying where I am now. I get lots of review requests sent to old e-mail still, but I usually see them a week after they expired when I eventually log in; I only occasionally get invites at new e-mail. [1/2]
You know the Reanimator Mysteries by @authorkaraj.bsky.social right? 😍
January 5, 2026 at 3:31 PM
You know the Reanimator Mysteries by @authorkaraj.bsky.social right? 😍
Plenty of Bombus terrestris workers active near Tower Hill station in London today - chilly but not bitter, and almost warm in the sun, so I guess they were making the most of the big flowering Choisya while conditions were good. Workers were collecting pollen, so active winter nest.
#Pollinators
#Pollinators
December 30, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Plenty of Bombus terrestris workers active near Tower Hill station in London today - chilly but not bitter, and almost warm in the sun, so I guess they were making the most of the big flowering Choisya while conditions were good. Workers were collecting pollen, so active winter nest.
#Pollinators
#Pollinators
Christmas day walk flowers: scentless mayweed, daisy, annual mercury, common mallow, black nightshade, marigold garden escape, red deadnettle, shepherd's purse, some sort of sowthistle?
Nice to have flowers still cheering things up.
#WildflowerHour
Nice to have flowers still cheering things up.
#WildflowerHour
December 28, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Christmas day walk flowers: scentless mayweed, daisy, annual mercury, common mallow, black nightshade, marigold garden escape, red deadnettle, shepherd's purse, some sort of sowthistle?
Nice to have flowers still cheering things up.
#WildflowerHour
Nice to have flowers still cheering things up.
#WildflowerHour
Journalist Patrick Gathara did a satirical news thread with a similar sort of vibe on the Bird Site...not sure if he is still keeping it going? Was excellent.
December 7, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Journalist Patrick Gathara did a satirical news thread with a similar sort of vibe on the Bird Site...not sure if he is still keeping it going? Was excellent.
That resonates with me too. One reason I am not in HE any more is because I ran out of ability to give what students needed. I wanted to do right by them but systematically it felt like we had fewer resources to meet more complex needs every year.
November 29, 2025 at 6:40 PM
That resonates with me too. One reason I am not in HE any more is because I ran out of ability to give what students needed. I wanted to do right by them but systematically it felt like we had fewer resources to meet more complex needs every year.
I have free DeepL, and it's pretty good online. But I haven't found any definitive information saying the pro version works offline for speech, and at least one site suggesting it doesn't. If someone can say, "Yes, I paid, and used it for speech without internet," I'm all in but I've not found that.
November 27, 2025 at 1:06 AM
I have free DeepL, and it's pretty good online. But I haven't found any definitive information saying the pro version works offline for speech, and at least one site suggesting it doesn't. If someone can say, "Yes, I paid, and used it for speech without internet," I'm all in but I've not found that.
Happy to pay for such a service, but I've tried about 10 apps in the last 2 weeks that all were claimed to do this, and in every case, either voice doesn't work offline, or that language pairing isn't supported for offline use.
November 27, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Happy to pay for such a service, but I've tried about 10 apps in the last 2 weeks that all were claimed to do this, and in every case, either voice doesn't work offline, or that language pairing isn't supported for offline use.
Has anyone found an Android app that genuinely, really:
1. Provides translation of voice/speech
2. Between English and Brazilian Portuguese
3. And does this in offline mode?
1. Provides translation of voice/speech
2. Between English and Brazilian Portuguese
3. And does this in offline mode?
November 27, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Has anyone found an Android app that genuinely, really:
1. Provides translation of voice/speech
2. Between English and Brazilian Portuguese
3. And does this in offline mode?
1. Provides translation of voice/speech
2. Between English and Brazilian Portuguese
3. And does this in offline mode?
Thanks to Takebayashi and Michelin fruit farms for letting me visit, and @innovateuk.bsky.social Business Connect for enabling this fact-finding trip to Brazil to learn about different elements of a diversified climate-smart agricultural system.
November 26, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Thanks to Takebayashi and Michelin fruit farms for letting me visit, and @innovateuk.bsky.social Business Connect for enabling this fact-finding trip to Brazil to learn about different elements of a diversified climate-smart agricultural system.
Argh, sorry, forgot alt-text for second image. A ripe strawberry on which a small fruit fly sits, with distinctive dark spots on the tips of its wings.
November 26, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Argh, sorry, forgot alt-text for second image. A ripe strawberry on which a small fruit fly sits, with distinctive dark spots on the tips of its wings.
Really brilliant day visiting fruit farms in São Paulo state. Lots to think about, comparing Brazilian v. UK strawberry cultivation - diff substrates, diff pests (though did see an SWD!) & very different pollinators! Super-cute seeing strawberry flowers pollinated by stingless bees!
#Horticulture
#Horticulture
November 26, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Really brilliant day visiting fruit farms in São Paulo state. Lots to think about, comparing Brazilian v. UK strawberry cultivation - diff substrates, diff pests (though did see an SWD!) & very different pollinators! Super-cute seeing strawberry flowers pollinated by stingless bees!
#Horticulture
#Horticulture
In Brazil to network around future collaborative projects and dynamic agroforestry. More about that later. For now...found an impressive (sadly deceased) Ascalapha odorata aka black witch moth aka duppy bat in my hotel. Amazing.
#TropicalEntomology #Lepidoptera
#TropicalEntomology #Lepidoptera
November 24, 2025 at 12:46 PM
In Brazil to network around future collaborative projects and dynamic agroforestry. More about that later. For now...found an impressive (sadly deceased) Ascalapha odorata aka black witch moth aka duppy bat in my hotel. Amazing.
#TropicalEntomology #Lepidoptera
#TropicalEntomology #Lepidoptera
Reposted by Sarah Arnold
Ditto with final talk #AAB_IPPM by @sejarnold.bsky.social NIAB surveying parasitoid wasp diversity on aphids from strawberry crops in Kent. 4 main species found plus hyperparasitoids. eDNA barcoding showed more. Little relationship to local vegetation. Sadly missed rest or risk missing train.
November 12, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Ditto with final talk #AAB_IPPM by @sejarnold.bsky.social NIAB surveying parasitoid wasp diversity on aphids from strawberry crops in Kent. 4 main species found plus hyperparasitoids. eDNA barcoding showed more. Little relationship to local vegetation. Sadly missed rest or risk missing train.
Keeping with willow-carrot aphid, Mst Atikunnaher has been screening different carrot cultivars for resistance, but the most exciting findings came from companion cropping with garlic-chives, which may offer protection to carrot crops. #AAB_IPPM
November 12, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Keeping with willow-carrot aphid, Mst Atikunnaher has been screening different carrot cultivars for resistance, but the most exciting findings came from companion cropping with garlic-chives, which may offer protection to carrot crops. #AAB_IPPM
Jude Bennison (ADAS) updates us on aphids of organic celery - mostly willow-carrot. Commercial Aphidius will parasitise but be patient (14 days). Can boost numbers with banker plants! Netting hit-and-miss - damaged netting can do more harm than good. #AAB_IPPM
November 12, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Jude Bennison (ADAS) updates us on aphids of organic celery - mostly willow-carrot. Commercial Aphidius will parasitise but be patient (14 days). Can boost numbers with banker plants! Netting hit-and-miss - damaged netting can do more harm than good. #AAB_IPPM
Amma Simon presents some work about aphids and fusarium on wheat; R. padi goes on leaves/stems, S. avenae on heads, which also can get Fusarium. Therefore, S.a. avoids Fusarium-infected wheat but R.p. does not, and can benefit from infection! #AAB_IPPM
November 12, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Amma Simon presents some work about aphids and fusarium on wheat; R. padi goes on leaves/stems, S. avenae on heads, which also can get Fusarium. Therefore, S.a. avoids Fusarium-infected wheat but R.p. does not, and can benefit from infection! #AAB_IPPM
Ilma Qonaah has been examining wheat resistance to the aphid-vectored BYDV. She compared 2 apparently resistant strains, finding one had low transmission of virus (resists fast), whereas the other had high transmission but the virus didn't replicate (resists more slowly). #AAB_IPPM
November 12, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Ilma Qonaah has been examining wheat resistance to the aphid-vectored BYDV. She compared 2 apparently resistant strains, finding one had low transmission of virus (resists fast), whereas the other had high transmission but the virus didn't replicate (resists more slowly). #AAB_IPPM
Tom Ashfield and a multidisciplinary team have been looking at using multispectral imaging to detect slugs in fields. By targeting on the areas with high slug density, the amount of product (molluscicide/nematodes) can be reduced, with economic and environmental benefits. #AAB_IPPM
November 12, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Tom Ashfield and a multidisciplinary team have been looking at using multispectral imaging to detect slugs in fields. By targeting on the areas with high slug density, the amount of product (molluscicide/nematodes) can be reduced, with economic and environmental benefits. #AAB_IPPM