Zoe Xirocostas
@zoexiro.bsky.social
1.4K followers 890 following 58 posts
Chancellor’s Research Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney | Board member @ecolsocaus.bsky.social | plant ecology, climate change, biological invasions, interactions, scicomm | invert-lover 🪲 and beach fiend 🏝️ | she/her | zoexiro.com
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zoexiro.bsky.social
Some snaps from the field today in Heathcote National Park on Dharawal land 🌱
A person amongst grass-like vegetation putting small bags on plants to collect seeds. An image of a mesh bag placed over a shrub with spiky leaves. A label on the bag reads “DO NOT REMOVE - RESEARCH”. A flannel flower with white petals and a small beetle sitting in the middle of the inflorescence. Two brown hemipterans mating with their abdomens touching. They are standing on top of a bright green leaf.
zoexiro.bsky.social
Saw a red beardie yesterday (YES that's really one of its common names!!!) - or for the scientifically inclined, Calochilus paludosus🧔‍♂️❗
A striking orchid flower with green and burgundy petals and a distinctive dark red-brown labellum (lip) covered in fine, hair-like projections. The flower grows on a slender green stem among tall grass-like foliage, with a soft, blurred natural background.
zoexiro.bsky.social
Ahh thanks for letting me know Ros!
zoexiro.bsky.social
Spotted this big fella while teaching in the Blue Mountains with @ecologybrad.bsky.social
zoexiro.bsky.social
Awesome! Congrats Suz and team!
zoexiro.bsky.social
You nailed it Inna! Thanks for sharing your research with us. Our students wouldn’t stop raving about your seminar afterward :)
Reposted by Zoe Xirocostas
ydavila.bsky.social
🐝🌸 With climate change, many organisms are shifting their ranges, but some are shifting in the opposite direction to what we expect.
Insightful and entertaining seminar by Inna Osmolovsky @innaosmol.bsky.social on "Climate Change and Shifting Interactions: Where Do Species Go from Here?"
Reposted by Zoe Xirocostas
innaosmol.bsky.social
It was such an honour to present my research at UTS! Thank you to @zoexiro.bsky.social and @ecologybrad.bsky.social for the invitation and to everyone who came to listen to my talk 🌿
ydavila.bsky.social
🐝🌸 With climate change, many organisms are shifting their ranges, but some are shifting in the opposite direction to what we expect.
Insightful and entertaining seminar by Inna Osmolovsky @innaosmol.bsky.social on "Climate Change and Shifting Interactions: Where Do Species Go from Here?"
Reposted by Zoe Xirocostas
ausjbotany.bsky.social
🌱 New research from The Australian PlantBank reveals how 4 threatened Australian Grevillea species respond to temperature changes. Good news, 3 species show resilience to future warming, but G. iaspicula prefers cooler conditions & may struggle with climate change.

Read more 🔗 buff.ly/b4pbbgv
Reposted by Zoe Xirocostas
ausjbotany.bsky.social
The "living fossil" Wollemi pine🌲can self-fertilise! New research from #CharlesSturtUni shows this critically endangered conifer produces viable seeds without cross-pollination - which helps explain their low genetic diversity in natural systems 🧬

Open access paper 🔗 buff.ly/l3yG5Rt
zoexiro.bsky.social
Spent the past month in Greece 🇬🇷 on holiday and visiting family. But surprised to see so many reminders of Aus (Eucalypts) planted on so many islands! (could they be contributing to the wildfires Greece is being ravaged by? So many questions!)
Reposted by Zoe Xirocostas
methodsinecoevol.bsky.social
📖Published📖

Arnold et al. propose a design that will allow ecologists to simulate more realistic heat events in the field by combining a controllable convection heater system with a semi-enclosed chamber with adjustable vents 🌍 🧪

buff.ly/k2GJSA2
Images of the chamber and active heating system. (a) Annotated detail image of the heating system, electrical components, and chambers (not to scale). Field photos from Mt. Hotham, VIC, Australia (Case study 1): (b) two polycarbonate chambers attached via black ducting to one heating system under a tarpaulin for protection from the weather; and (c) side view of a chamber with its semi-enclosed, overhanging lid with adjustable portholes, circulating fans, and Stevenson screen housing thermocouples. (d) Field photo from Perisher Valley, NSW, Australia (Case study 2). The heating system attached to three chambers showing improved insulative ducting and open tent protecting and ventilating the heating system. Note that chamber lids are transparent like the chamber sides but appear grey due to reflections of cloud cover.
Reposted by Zoe Xirocostas
ausjbotany.bsky.social
A HIDDEN SABOTEUR: Pilostyles hamiltoniorum is a parasitic plant that lives INSIDE its host, only revealing itself through tiny flowers on the stems.
New research shows this endoparasite slashes flower production by 52% in its host plants, despite being almost invisible!
OA paper ➡️ buff.ly/gArS9tO
zoexiro.bsky.social
Hot off the press 🌱🔥
ecologybrad.bsky.social
Great fun working with Lyndle Hardstaff, Megan Murray, and @zoexiro.bsky.social on our latest flammability project

Toward a macroevolutionary understanding of live-leaf flammability in plant species of fire-prone forests

@botsocamerica.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1002/ajb2...
Reposted by Zoe Xirocostas
botsocamerica.bsky.social
🔥🌱 From the #AJB Special Issue: “Understanding novel #fire regimes using plant trait‐based approaches" 🌱🔥

Toward a macroevolutionary understanding of live-leaf flammability in plant species of fire-prone #forests

By @ecologybrad.bsky.social, @zoexiro.bsky.social, et al.

doi.org/10.1002/ajb2...
A fire in dry sclerophyll forest in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney (New South Wales, Australia).
zoexiro.bsky.social
Congrats Inna! and thank you for the invitation to collaborate :)
zoexiro.bsky.social
Ooh! This will be so useful for species selection for my upcoming fieldwork :)
zoexiro.bsky.social
Oh cool! Wasn’t expecting to get that right as a plant ecologist. Best of luck with the trapping!
zoexiro.bsky.social
Mammal trapping perhaps?
Reposted by Zoe Xirocostas
annekempel.bsky.social
Our paper on unifying theory around biodiversity–consumer relationships (pathogens & herbivores) is now out in TREE!

I hope it helps those navigating the forest of theories & hypotheses in this space to see more clearly 🤓

Check out @fletcher-h.bsky.social great summary of the paper here 👇
Reposted by Zoe Xirocostas
suzeveringham.bsky.social
Our paper on the integration of biodiversity-disease and biodiversity-herbivore relationships is out now! Thanks to @idiv-research.bsky.social for supporting us through #sDiv working group funding to bring together two typically disparate fields in ecology! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...