Jake Dalzell
@bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
botanist and micromycologist from Belfast
luıḃeolaıḋe ⁊ mıcrıṁíceolaıḋe 'e ḃunaḋ Ḃéal Feırste
PhD student in Aberystwyth. Network ecology, evo eco, conservation, etc.
My website: irishplants.org
Field Guide to Plant Pathogens: plantpathogens.net
luıḃeolaıḋe ⁊ mıcrıṁíceolaıḋe 'e ḃunaḋ Ḃéal Feırste
PhD student in Aberystwyth. Network ecology, evo eco, conservation, etc.
My website: irishplants.org
Field Guide to Plant Pathogens: plantpathogens.net
Don't forget to record Puccinia malvacearum too! bladmineerders.nl/parasites/fu... #WildPlantDisease #FungiFriends
January 11, 2026 at 12:26 PM
Don't forget to record Puccinia malvacearum too! bladmineerders.nl/parasites/fu... #WildPlantDisease #FungiFriends
Fieldwork this week has been chilly!
January 10, 2026 at 5:18 PM
Fieldwork this week has been chilly!
Are you interested in learning more about identifying plant pathogens in the wild? Come along to my webinar at 7pm on the 27th of January!
bsbi.org/take-part/ev...
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
bsbi.org/take-part/ev...
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
December 11, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Are you interested in learning more about identifying plant pathogens in the wild? Come along to my webinar at 7pm on the 27th of January!
bsbi.org/take-part/ev...
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
bsbi.org/take-part/ev...
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
Not sure, my intuitive understanding of it is that it is equivalent to the loss of a giant component in a network of hosts that are separated by distances <= some characteristic distance related to disease dispersal. Not my field though!
pic from
networksciencebook.com/chapter/8#pe...
pic from
networksciencebook.com/chapter/8#pe...
December 7, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Not sure, my intuitive understanding of it is that it is equivalent to the loss of a giant component in a network of hosts that are separated by distances <= some characteristic distance related to disease dispersal. Not my field though!
pic from
networksciencebook.com/chapter/8#pe...
pic from
networksciencebook.com/chapter/8#pe...
I'm learning a programming language called Julia at the minute. Here is a graph I made showing how the probability of a disease going extinct changes as its host plant gets more common in a simulation. There is a clear and sudden phase transition below which there is a collapse in host connectivity.
December 6, 2025 at 10:52 PM
I'm learning a programming language called Julia at the minute. Here is a graph I made showing how the probability of a disease going extinct changes as its host plant gets more common in a simulation. There is a clear and sudden phase transition below which there is a collapse in host connectivity.
You can really see my biases in my iNaturalist records from this year. Almost all of the flies are gall midges, almost all the wasps are gall wasps, almost all of the arachnids are gall mites :P
The fungi are well represented this year in pink (1587 records), as are the plants in green (870 records)
The fungi are well represented this year in pink (1587 records), as are the plants in green (870 records)
December 5, 2025 at 6:10 PM
You can really see my biases in my iNaturalist records from this year. Almost all of the flies are gall midges, almost all the wasps are gall wasps, almost all of the arachnids are gall mites :P
The fungi are well represented this year in pink (1587 records), as are the plants in green (870 records)
The fungi are well represented this year in pink (1587 records), as are the plants in green (870 records)
Unfortunately I have picked up a virus and will not make it to #BIBConf but here is my poster, which explains what I am doing in my PhD.
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
November 29, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Unfortunately I have picked up a virus and will not make it to #BIBConf but here is my poster, which explains what I am doing in my PhD.
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
Interactions between plant pathogens (left) and plants across five quadrats in a restored species-rich grassland. The basic premise of my PhD is to see if these interaction networks differ between restored and ancient grasslands.
#FungiFriends #NetworkEcology
#FungiFriends #NetworkEcology
November 19, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Interactions between plant pathogens (left) and plants across five quadrats in a restored species-rich grassland. The basic premise of my PhD is to see if these interaction networks differ between restored and ancient grasslands.
#FungiFriends #NetworkEcology
#FungiFriends #NetworkEcology
The rather rare Entyloma ranunculacearum on Ranunculus acris was a highlight, only the second time I've seen it
November 8, 2025 at 2:50 PM
The rather rare Entyloma ranunculacearum on Ranunculus acris was a highlight, only the second time I've seen it
Meadow, Snowy, Pink Waxcap at an ancient grassland site I am sampling today. The wonders of rural South Down!
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
November 8, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Meadow, Snowy, Pink Waxcap at an ancient grassland site I am sampling today. The wonders of rural South Down!
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
My soil sampling partner for the day. Very interested in sniffing all my equipment! All I could think of was "an Mhuc Dhubh" which killed one of the Fianna in a story I heard last week...
November 7, 2025 at 5:21 PM
My soil sampling partner for the day. Very interested in sniffing all my equipment! All I could think of was "an Mhuc Dhubh" which killed one of the Fianna in a story I heard last week...
I had a great time this morning learning to use the Scanning Electron Microscope. Here are urediniospores of Puccinia rusts from the grassland restoration projects of @donnarainey4.bsky.social and @ceanncait.bsky.social . I'm hoping it will help with ID!
#FungiFriends #PlantPathogens
#FungiFriends #PlantPathogens
October 22, 2025 at 1:20 PM
I had a great time this morning learning to use the Scanning Electron Microscope. Here are urediniospores of Puccinia rusts from the grassland restoration projects of @donnarainey4.bsky.social and @ceanncait.bsky.social . I'm hoping it will help with ID!
#FungiFriends #PlantPathogens
#FungiFriends #PlantPathogens
October 18, 2025 at 4:40 PM
It's that time of the year again – look out for blackened veins on yellowed leaves of Ribwort Plantain, caused by the fungus Spilopodia nervisequia!
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
October 2, 2025 at 7:30 PM
It's that time of the year again – look out for blackened veins on yellowed leaves of Ribwort Plantain, caused by the fungus Spilopodia nervisequia!
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
I've arrived in Aberystwyth where I'll spend the winter learning fungal (meta-)barcoding and working on some theoretical background for my research on plant-pathogen networks in grasslands. It was nice to find a species new to me as I explored the town: the rust fungus Puccinia umbilici on Navelwort
September 21, 2025 at 3:26 PM
I've arrived in Aberystwyth where I'll spend the winter learning fungal (meta-)barcoding and working on some theoretical background for my research on plant-pathogen networks in grasslands. It was nice to find a species new to me as I explored the town: the rust fungus Puccinia umbilici on Navelwort
Thanks to everyone who gave me camera advice – as it turns out my grampa had a small camera he never used lying around that is absolutely perfect. I took it for a test run: here is Coleosporium euphrasiae on Eyebright and Podosphaera plantaginis on Ribwort Plantain.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
September 19, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Thanks to everyone who gave me camera advice – as it turns out my grampa had a small camera he never used lying around that is absolutely perfect. I took it for a test run: here is Coleosporium euphrasiae on Eyebright and Podosphaera plantaginis on Ribwort Plantain.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
On Saturday I led a workshop on plant pathogens. We saw a wide variety of species and found just how ubiquitous this group is, in spite of rain and hail! It's been great to see more people recording pathogens, and I hope events like this will make it more accessible.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
September 15, 2025 at 8:14 AM
On Saturday I led a workshop on plant pathogens. We saw a wide variety of species and found just how ubiquitous this group is, in spite of rain and hail! It's been great to see more people recording pathogens, and I hope events like this will make it more accessible.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
I had the pleasure of visiting a meadow managed by @donnarainey4.bsky.social today. Only when I got home did I notice the swelling on the midrib of this Dandelion leaf, which turned out to be the leaf smut Protomyces pachydermus.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
September 8, 2025 at 8:16 PM
I had the pleasure of visiting a meadow managed by @donnarainey4.bsky.social today. Only when I got home did I notice the swelling on the midrib of this Dandelion leaf, which turned out to be the leaf smut Protomyces pachydermus.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
September 3, 2025 at 6:08 PM
this island in the bog had really nice woodland on it, very thin tall trees of all sorts but mostly Betula pubescens and Salix caprea caprea
September 1, 2025 at 7:58 PM
this island in the bog had really nice woodland on it, very thin tall trees of all sorts but mostly Betula pubescens and Salix caprea caprea
new tetrad for Cranberry 😼
September 1, 2025 at 7:58 PM
new tetrad for Cranberry 😼
another dreech day on the bog
September 1, 2025 at 2:29 PM
another dreech day on the bog
The adjacent lowland raised bog which was only somewhat degraded had Royal Fern – a new tetrad!!! This is my best find this week
August 26, 2025 at 8:01 PM
The adjacent lowland raised bog which was only somewhat degraded had Royal Fern – a new tetrad!!! This is my best find this week
I visited one of Fermanagh's mythical species-rich grasslands today. They really exist, apparently. This one had a lot of Devil's-bit Scabious
August 26, 2025 at 7:36 PM
I visited one of Fermanagh's mythical species-rich grasslands today. They really exist, apparently. This one had a lot of Devil's-bit Scabious
Some nice Gymnosporangium rusts on Rowan today – they look a bit like sea slugs I think
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
August 22, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Some nice Gymnosporangium rusts on Rowan today – they look a bit like sea slugs I think
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends