Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Jan 20

What's nature ever done for us?

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Australian oysters’ blood could hold key to fighting drug-resistant superbugs, researchers find

Protein found in Sydney rock oysters’ haemolymph can kill bacteria and boost some antibiotics’ effectiveness, scientists discover

www.theguardian.com

1 5

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Jan 13

Widespread planned burning accelerates loss of large trees and locks in higher flammability for decades. There are alternatives that the Western Australian government should invest in. Check the video featuring fire expert Phil Zylstra🌏

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01...

Giant 400-year-old tingle tree accidentally destroyed by authorities

WA officials have defended the state's prescribed burning strategy after an enormous tingle tree was destroyed in a recent fire.

www.abc.net.au

2 23 35

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Dec 30

Feral cattle & cattle from neighbouring stations threaten Australia's top end national parks. A WA government control program already limits damage, but from what I saw in 2023, more investment is needed. Preventing station cattle from entering parks is also important.🌏

youtu.be/KXCSpItB0o4

Cattle in top end national parks

YouTube video by Don Driscoll

youtu.be

6 23

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Dec 4

Lobbyists who demand feral horses stay in National Parks found to have racially vilified Indigenous people. But current goverment policy is evidence based, and, with support of the Yorta Yorta, feral horses will be removed, protecting native species and ecosystems.🌏

www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...

Brumby activists racially vilified former head of Yorta Yorta corporation, VCAT finds

The state's civil and administrative tribunal has found that a pro-brumby group racially vilified the former chief executive of an Aboriginal corporation through social media posts and posters.

www.abc.net.au

7 20

Reposted by Don A. Driscoll

Dr. Hilary Rose Dawson @hilaryrosed.bsky.social · Oct 22

The #ESAus2024 (Ecological Society of Australia conference) starter pack is live! Let me know if you're attending in December and I'll add you in.

go.bsky.app/5YmZLNm

🧪🌏🇦🇺

Dr. Hilary Rose Dawson @hilaryrosed.bsky.social · Oct 21

Let's try this out with #ESAus2024! If you're planning to go to the conference in Melbourne in December, reply here and I'll add you to a #ESAus2024 starter pack.

(Minimum 7 replies needed before I can start the pack.)

🧪🌏🇦🇺

Ant Stanley @iamstan.elmo.sh · Oct 21

I think BlueSky will be significantly better for conferences than any other site. Organisers can create speaker starter packs to allow attendees to auto-follow all speakers. Also a custom feed of all folks skeeting abut a conf would be a big win.

8 5 14

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Nov 29

yes please! #ESAus2024 is going to be the biggest ever ESA!

1

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Nov 29

Thanks to Tony Mitchell and his wallaby, Nature has actual nature on the cover, highlighting our paper that shows the impact of megafires on biodiversity is moderated mostly by the number of past fires. 🌏

www.nature.com/nature/volum...

Nature - Scorched earth?

The cover shows a black wallaby (Wallabia bicolor) clutching some of the scant food available in the charred aftermath of a wildfire in February 2020 at Cape...

www.nature.com

2 3 30

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Nov 27

Australia's Government has scuttled nature positive legislation because one State Labor premiere is kowtowing to the mining industry.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Albanese kills off deal with Greens to pass ‘nature positive’ legislation after intervention by WA premier

Roger Cook says he spoke to ‘highest level’ of federal government to reiterate his view the environment bills in their current form ‘should not be progressed’

www.theguardian.com

3 8

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Nov 21

The Ecological Society of Australia is here. Such a relief to have a platform for scientists to communicate with each other and the world more generally.
@ecolsocaus.bsky.social

3 21

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Nov 14

Update on conservation status of Australia's freshwater fish. It looks grim and more effort needed to limit invasive trout and habitat loss.
www.abc.net.au/news/science...

Scientists say 35 freshwater fish species should be added to the threatened species list

The largest survey of Australia's freshwater fish suggests about one third should be listed as threatened species.

www.abc.net.au

1 12 25

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Nov 13

The condition of sites affected how severe impacts of the 2019-20 fires were. Most important was the number of preceding fires, with implications for prescribed burning🌏
The conversation theconversation.com/catastrophic...
The paper www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The video youtu.be/kCPjowmxH3Q

‘Catastrophic declines’: massive data haul reveals why so many plants and animals suffer after fire

Frequent fuel-reduction burning appears to prime ecosystems for major disruption when the next wildfire hits.

theconversation.com

1 37 97

Reposted by Don A. Driscoll

Professor Euan Ritchie @euanritchie.bsky.social · Nov 13

‘Catastrophic declines’: massive data haul reveals why so many plants and animals suffer after fire theconversation.com/catastrophic...

Based on @dadriscoll.bsky.social et al.'s paper out now in Nature www.nature.com/articles/s41...

‘Catastrophic declines’: massive data haul reveals why so many plants and animals suffer after fire

Frequent fuel-reduction burning appears to prime ecosystems for major disruption when the next wildfire hits.

theconversation.com

2 39 83

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Nov 13

Biodiversity impacts of the 2019–2020 Australian megafires.

In this massive collaboration, >100 Australian ecologists put a novel spin on meta-analysis to discover how fire frequency, interval, unburnt area, pre-fire drought and protected areas modify fire impacts.🌏

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Biodiversity impacts of the 2019–2020 Australian megafires - Nature

Data collected from more than 2,000 taxa provide an unparalleled opportunity to quantify how extreme wildfires affect biodiversity, revealing that the largest effects on plants and animals were in are...

www.nature.com

4 53 120

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Nov 13

NSW Government inquiry into control of feral horses confirms that aerial culling is an important tool for reducing feral horse numbers humanely. Great to see increased protection of native Australian species and ecosystems, at least in 2/3 of Kosciuszko NP.
invasives.org.au/media-releas...

NSW Parliament inquiry confirms: Aerial culling key to protecting wildlife from feral horse damage

The NSW Upper House has today released its report following an inquiry into the aerial shooting of wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park.

invasives.org.au

7 20

Reposted by Don A. Driscoll

Professor Euan Ritchie @euanritchie.bsky.social · Nov 12

New paper! besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... - Grant Linley et al.

Widespread resilience of animal species, functional diversity, and predator–prey networks to an unprecedented gigafire

Despite the unprecedented 2019–20 Australian wildfires, our landscape-scale analysis found most native terrestrial fauna exhibited widespread resilience. Using 192 wildlife cameras across 24 landscap...

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

23 57

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · Nov 12

Exciting news! Tomorrow our gigantic collaboration about the impacts of the 2019-20 megafires on plants and animals comes out in Nature. It has implications for prescribed burning and climate change. More tomorrow....

1 4 21

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · May 17

Effective conservation is so closely connected to the big decisions governments make. And Australia's Labor party just went with greenwashing and gross underfunding.🌏

theconversation.com/threatened-s...

Threatened species have declined 2% a year since 2000. Nature positive? Far from it.

When Labor took office, it promised to reverse nature’s decline. But that looks more and more like greenwashing

theconversation.com

1 6

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · May 16

Australia's government renegs on promises to protect biodiversity. It could have done so much with relatively little $$. 🌏

theconversation.com/green-indust...

Green industry yes, conservation no: a budget for people, not for nature

What’s in the budget for the environment? Lots for green industry, little for conservation

theconversation.com

4

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · May 16

Do a teaching course so you learn the teaching language. Publish great papers. Collaborate.🌏

Don A. Driscoll @dadriscoll.bsky.social · May 16

Hi Ethan. Please add me.🌏