Dr Eva Plaganyi
@drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
870 followers 450 following 170 posts
Research scientist, Marine Fisheries and Ecology, Climate Change, Biomathematics, Modelling, Marine Mammals. CSIRO | Ocean, Bird watching, bush walking | #SuperstarsOfSTEM | Opinions my own
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drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Another idyllic day on Brisbane/Meanjin’s north Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah) watching dolphin pods and humpback whales as they start their long journey towards Antarctic feeding grounds #WhaleWatching #BottlenoseDolphin
Blue Pacific Ocean with 2 humpback whales showing their dark blue backs and small dorsal fins above the water, most likely a mother and her calf moving close inshore in a southerly direction Blue- green ocean water close to shore where a pod of grey bottlenose dolphins were feeding and playing. My photo shows an adult with a small calf towards centre of pic, with their large dorsal fins showing and to the right is a tip of a dolphin snout peeping above the water
Reposted by Dr Eva Plaganyi
science.org
A 2024 study found that ants best humans at tests of collective intelligence.

Learn more on #WorldAnimalDay: https://scim.ag/42nMvQJ
Reposted by Dr Eva Plaganyi
us.theconversation.com
Florida's 1,100 natural springs face threats from reduced flow, habitat loss, and excessive algae. Many popular springs are impaired by pollution, despite $357 million spent on restoration since 2011. A geographer explains how to restore them:
Florida’s 1,100 natural springs are under threat – a geographer explains how to restore them
Florida’s springs are a window into the state’s groundwater system. Revitalizing them will require multiple solutions tailored to each spring.
buff.ly
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
I agree as there’s been ongoing uncertainty whether oysters are carbon positive or negative but if I understand this study it indicates an overall net benefit. My colleagues note they measured marine CO2 removal, which isn’t 1-1 with atmospheric CO2 removal, so there’s hope but still uncertainty
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
An excellent thought-provoking read about what we as humans should be contemplating before we resist or resign ourselves to the GenAI revolution. Just one of several great quotes:

“Promote and produce original work of value, work that’s cliché-resistant and unreplicable, work that tries”
chanda.blacksky.app
YES! THIS on GenAI!

Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:

"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."
Large Language Muddle | The Editors
The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...
www.nplusonemag.com
Reposted by Dr Eva Plaganyi
museumofscience.bsky.social
What if you were immune to all viruses? 🦠🧪

A small number of people carry a rare genetic mutation that causes their bodies to produce interferons, virus-blocking proteins, all the time, keeping them immune without activating the rest of the immune system.
Reposted by Dr Eva Plaganyi
helenczerski.bsky.social
In discussion with a computer scientist from the University of Cambridge last night:

Me: "you've described some of the things that AI is good at. How would you describe the category of things it's not good at?

**pause**

Him: "Anything where it has to be right".
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Just the good news we need - a nature-based solution for climate change mitigation that could be scaled up to help with carbon sequestration plus is a tasty food source - at least for those of us that like oysters #ClimateChange #CO2reduction #OysterFarming
pnas.org
A delicious win-win: Oyster farming helps sequester carbon, not just because the bivalves lock CO2 in their shells but even more so because the oysters promote primary production and organic carbon sedimentation in the sea around them. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
CO2 flux pattern over oyster farming ecosystem.
Reposted by Dr Eva Plaganyi
jangeerthiddink.bsky.social
Another critique showing that the Sala et al. 2021 estimate of carbon release by bottom trawling is ridiculous.

It estimates an increase in NW European shelf OC mineralization of 0.27 Mt C yr−1, which is an order of magnitude smaller the previous estimates.

academic.oup.com/icesjms/arti...
Reconciling the impact of mobile bottom-contact fishing on marine organic carbon sequestration
Abstract. Anthropogenic activities that disturb the seafloor inadvertently affect the organic carbon cycle. Mobile bottom-contacting fishing (MBCF) is a wi
academic.oup.com
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Singing with gusto, I had a laugh photographing this New Holland honeyeater! #BirdWatching #wildoz #Nectarivore #SunshineCoastHinterland
A bird perched on a pale diagonal stem with green background from a bush.. honeyeater bird has black and white streaks on chest, yellow on wing and top of tail, white eye with black head and open bill with long tongue showing during his very loud tweeting and singing! I snapped this photo with my canon as he opened his bill.
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
A super cute red-necked wallaby trying to remain unseen in the long grass .. such big ears 😊 #wallaby #marsupial #macropod #wildoz #qld
Head and neck of a wallaby facing the camera with a green grass background. Red-necked wallaby has a black nose, white strip on chin, tan colour on face with black eyes with lovely long lashes and the grey-brown fur including on large upright ears
Reposted by Dr Eva Plaganyi
us.theconversation.com
🚨Arctic sea ice has shrunk by about 50% since 1978 🚨

This is reshaping ecosystems, accelerating global warming and threatening communities that rely on it.

A polar scientist shares what he’s seen on the ice and what’s at stake:
A walk across Alaska’s Arctic sea ice brings to life the losses that appear in climate data
A polar scientist explains the changes hunters who rely on the ice are seeing off Utqiagvik, and how those shifts are echoed in satellite data and climate models.
buff.ly
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Beautiful whale-filled morning on North Stradbroke Island / Minjerribah #HumpbackWhale #WhaleWatching #MarineLife
2 Humpback whale flippers sticking out the water showing white underside Sunrise over the Pacific Ocean
Reposted by Dr Eva Plaganyi
scienceshaina.bsky.social
New @natclimate.nature.com commentary looking at the changing role of #ClimateChange assessments in informing #ClimateLitigation!

We consider tensions around the legal relevance of climate reports & compare testimony submitted to international courts vs. what is cited in decisions 🧪 rdcu.be/eFADN
The expanding role of climate assessments as legal evidence
Nature Climate Change - The role of climate science is changing — fast. Once positioned to inform policy, scientific assessments are increasingly being used in courtrooms to substantiate...
rdcu.be
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
🌀📣 “the scientific case for climate liability is closed “ says lead author of NEW Nature study: may be a game changer tracing and attributing climate damages such as from heat waves 🥵 back to emissions from individual fossil fuel companies #ClimateAction #CarbonMajors

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Systematic attribution of heatwaves to the emissions of carbon majors - Nature
Climate change made 213 historical heatwaves reported over 2000–2023 more likely and more intense, to which each of the 180 carbon majors (fossil fuel and cement producers) substantially contributed.
www.nature.com
Reposted by Dr Eva Plaganyi
natureportfolio.nature.com
Deforestation is responsible for nearly 75% of dry season rainfall reduction in the Amazon rainforest since 1985, according to a study in Nature Communications. go.nature.com/3I2xPzr ⚒️ 🧪
This is figure 4, which shows the relative contributions of climate change and deforestation to the Amazonian climate.
Reposted by Dr Eva Plaganyi
aunz.theconversation.com
Nanoplastics can cross the blood-brain barrier – and being able to better detect them is the first step in addressing their potential impact.
New type of ‘sieve’ detects the smallest pieces of plastic in the environment more easily than ever before
theconversation.com
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Congratulations to my colleague @marialvozzo.bsky.social and the entire #LivingSeawalls team for winning the prestigious NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water Eureka Prize for Environmental Research. #MarineRestoration #eureka

media.australian.museum/media/dd/thu...
Winning Eureka team standing on rocky shore with ocean backdrop and green hill in distance L-R: Dr Aria Lee, Associate Professor Melanie Bishop, Dr Katherine Dafforn, Dr Mariana Mayer Pinto & Dr Maria Vozzo. Image: The Earthshot Prize
© Living Seawalls
Reposted by Dr Eva Plaganyi
trevorabranch.bsky.social
IT'S ADORABLE!
New fish species just dropped: the bumpy snailfish at 10,000 ft down in the ocean
gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/s...
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
A sleepy snug #koala in a large #eucalyptus tree along our local wildlife corridor where yet more development proposals continue to threaten the future of these unique marsupials in SE qld #conservation #HabitatDestruction #WildlifeCorridors #wildOz
A V-shaped grey eucalyptus tree trunk with a round grey furry ball in the middle, which is a curled up koala with whitish speckles on lower back, left claws visible on branch plus rounded fuzzy ear, which has a radio transmitter to allow tracking of these threatened animals. Green leaves in foreground
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Puffins were my nemesis bird mainly because my non-birder friend regularly saw them and when travelling north I was always wrong place, wrong time, no time.. finally arranged penguin boat trip in Alaska and saw these tiny birds 🐧
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Coastal art #GeorgeBassCoastalWalk #vic
Brown Kelp and algae washed up on the beach and naturally artistically arranged 
Geometric patterns in sandstone rock ledge with small pools of water and the ocean in the background Beautiful rainbow over the ocean looking out across Bass Strait from the George Bass coastal walk trail, and with coastal vegetation in foreground. Dark grey sky to the left and white clouds with patches of of blue sky to the right.
Reposted by Dr Eva Plaganyi
trevorabranch.bsky.social
Africa pushes for world to use a more accurate map that does not distort the size of Europe and North America, but shows just how small they are compared to Africa, in reality.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/w...
Africa Is Big, and It Wants the World’s Maps to Show It
www.nytimes.com
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
The stunning artworks were such a thoughtful gift for the awesome plenary speakers, and reflected the highly inclusive nature of this year’s #ASFB2025 conference in Darwin.. such a great week focussed on fish, fisheries and the people that depend on them 🐟🦀🦑 #MarineLife
austsocfishbiol.bsky.social
We’re very grateful to Elah Yunupingu for providing unique artworks as a thank you to all our plenary speakers at #ASFB2025.

Each artwork depicts a different fish, which is exactly the kind of biodiversity we love! 🐟 💙