Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Holly Kirk @hollykirk.bsky.social · 2d

I can't pretend the cynic in me thinks winning a popularity contest will make a difference, but it's at least worth a try, eh?!
🪶🌏

@birdlifeoz.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Baudin’s or bauxite?’ Stark warning black cockatoo won’t survive mining expansion

BirdLife WA calls consequences of Alcoa’s proposals to clear 11,000ha of jarrah forest ‘irreversible and catastrophic’ for endangered bird

www.theguardian.com

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Holly Kirk @hollykirk.bsky.social · 2d

Once again it is @australia.theguardian.com @birdlifeoz.bsky.social Aussie Bird of the Year.
🪶🌏
And this time I'm throwing my support behind the Baudin's Black-Cockatoo.

Why? Because this WA icon is about to be wiped out by greedy mineral extraction.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Australian bird of the year 2025: vote for your favourite #birdoftheyear in the Guardian / BirdLife Australia poll

From little penguins to (very big) cassowaries, every bird has its fans. Vote for your favourite in the 2025 Guardian/BirdLife Australia poll

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 6d

New preprint alert! We DNA barcoded 95 thousand Ghanaian arthropods, more than doubling the number of BINs (a species proxy) available online from West Africa. In doing so we’ve released a huge amount of new data to scientists studying the region 🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Characterising a species-rich and understudied tropical insect fauna using DNA barcoding

Background: West Africa has high biodiversity that is relatively understudied, especially for insects. Studies of West African arthropod diversity can therefore help address important questions regard...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Adrift Lab (Marine Science) @adriftlab.bsky.social · 6d

Our team handles 100s of dead #seabirds each season. We try to cope with what we’re witnessing by documenting it in a shared field diary where we write, sketch & keep mementos from heartwarming and harrowing moments with the #birds

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Bruce Webber @drbrucewebber.bsky.social · 6d

"The greatest danger to our future is apathy. ... What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." - Vale Jane Goodall (1934-2025).

Jane Goodall in a tall rainforest looking up into the canopy with binoculars in her hands.

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Crystal Lewis @cghlewis.bsky.social · 7d

If colleagues or students share a dataset with you and you make this face, consider sharing these resources with them. ☺️

datamgmtinedresearch.com

1. Organizing data (Ch. 3)
2. Naming variables and files (Ch. 9)
3. Documenting data (Ch. 8)
4. Cleaning data (Ch. 14)

a man is covering his mouth with his hands and the word schitts creek is on the bottom right

ALT: a man is covering his mouth with his hands and the word schitts creek is on the bottom right

media.tenor.com

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Holly Kirk @hollykirk.bsky.social · 7d

And Beth summarises the range of methods we can use to support #urbanNature in this @aunz.theconversation.com article:
🌏
theconversation.com/from-frog-sa...

From frog saunas to butterfly puddles: 8 ways to turn your homes into a wildlife refuge

Urban sprawl has forced native animals and humans to live close together. Here are eight ways to make your home a refuge for wildlife.

theconversation.com

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Holly Kirk @hollykirk.bsky.social · 7d

Secondly, @icon-science.bsky.social PhD student Beth Kiss has an exhibit in the NGV Ian Potter Gallery "When the wildlife moves in", showing the different ways wildlife interacts with our homes 🌏🌆

You can see interactive materials from the exhibit here: whenwildlifemovesin.com
#urbanNature
#wildAus

When wildlife moves in

‘When Wildlife Moves In’ expands on an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, which explores the enormous possibility for houses as places for both people and wildlife to co-exist

whenwildlifemovesin.com

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Holly Kirk @hollykirk.bsky.social · 7d

Some lovely things on the Aussie #urbanNature scene this week!

First up - the work and creativity of friend-colleague @drkyliesoanes.bsky.social has been beautifully profiled by the ABC.

If you use TikTok or Insta I highly encourage you to add Kylie to your feeds!🌏
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

One woman's mission to rewild our cities

Kylie Soanes says urban development should not come at the expense of nature and there's no reason why we should not spot a fairy wren on the way to the bus stop.

www.abc.net.au

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Tim Hollo @timhollo.bsky.social · 8d

Perfect. 100%. No notes.

Screengrab from Insta of Radical Graffiti - poster with Gramsci’s “The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born: Now is the time of Monsters” with Elmo’s smiling face beneath

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Voices of Wentworth @voicesofwentworth.bsky.social · 10d

21/ More random #Aussie starter packs

Aus Women in ecology & conservation : go.bsky.app/2A8GiTX

Entomology Australia: go.bsky.app/8d9RtMC

BuildinPublic (programmers) Aus: go.bsky.app/2VCyyqZ

Australian and New Zealand urbanists:
go.bsky.app/NrzWxjT

#Australia

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 10d

NEW STARTER PACK! This time I’m hoping to encourage and support global urbanists from OUTSIDE North America here on Bluesky, so hopefully this will help! Who’ve I missed? Just joined? Let me know! I’ll keep updating, so please keep checking & sharing this pack! And let’s try using #GlobalUrbanists.

Urbanists OUTSIDE North America Worth Following!

Join the conversation

go.bsky.app

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Holly Kirk @hollykirk.bsky.social · 13d

Aw, poor little floof!
I'm really glad it sounds like it is recovering though, great work team!

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Holly Kirk @hollykirk.bsky.social · 13d

Is it just being a bit of a joker here with the hanging?!

Or are they that ungainly when smol?

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Great Southern Bioblitz @gsbioblitz.bsky.social · 15d

🌸 30 Days to Go!
One month until the Great Southern Bioblitz 2025 kicks off!
It’s the perfect time to invite your friends, family, or community group to join you.
📅 24–27 October 2025 — save the date and charge those camera batteries!
#GSB2025 #NatureLovers #CitizenScience
buff.ly/AqpdMst

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Holly Kirk @hollykirk.bsky.social · 15d

Love this.

But hate that 2002 looks so dated! Wasn't that just a few years ago?!

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 15d

WATCH THIS: The most amazing thing about this remarkable 2002 car commercial is that it didn’t seem to realize at the time, or perhaps didn’t care, how effectively it made the point that cars and car infrastructure are a HUGE waste of space in cities. Award-winning 2002 ad for Saturn car company.

Saturn Ion commercial

YouTube video by Eliyahu Biton

youtube.com

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 19d

I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Alan McElligott @amcell.bsky.social · 20d

2025. Harms of introduced large herbivores outweigh benefits to native biodiversity. "caution regarding the intentional introduction of large mammalian herbivores for conservation purposes(rewilding, assisted colonization) without rigorous assessment of their impacts"
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Harms of introduced large herbivores outweigh benefits to native biodiversity - Nature Communications

Using impact assessment frameworks, this study shows that the introduction of large mammalian herbivores outside their native range has predominantly caused negative impacts on native biodiversity glo...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

John Holmes @jhaue.bsky.social · 20d

Australia’s quietest cockatoo is running out of trees. We have betrayed its gentle curiosity
As logging, fire and shrinking habitat push the glossy black cockatoo closer to the brink, we don’t just risk losing a species, but a world of wonder
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Australia’s quietest cockatoo is running out of trees. We have betrayed its gentle curiosity | Joseph Earp

As logging, fire and shrinking habitat push the glossy black cockatoo closer to the brink, we don’t just risk losing a species, but a world of wonder

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Bruce Webber @drbrucewebber.bsky.social · Sep 6

A sold out screening of Wilding this week shared the benefits of helping nature recover with almost 500 people. These events energise me and give me hope that while we have an enormous challenge ahead of us, we have plenty of people wanting to make a difference to biodiversity conservation outcomes.

Bush Heritage Australia hosted a sold out screening of the film Wilding at the Luna Palace Cinemas in Leederville, Western Australia. As the sun sets in the west, the exterior lights of the cinema announced that the screening, with an exclusive Q&A session, was sold out.

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

mr dog @firstdogonthemoon.bsky.social · Sep 8

Yes Giant Cuttlefish sex is not the most important thing happening right now (unless you are a Giant Cuttlefish) but we are all in this together... www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Giant cuttlefish! They are in danger and scientists are going to save them with … bubbles! | First Dog on the Moon

The only other option was to go back in time and do something about climate change but time travel hasn’t been invented yet

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

The Clever Cockie Research Project @clevercockierp.bsky.social · Sep 2

That's the spot...! A trio of allopreening cockies engaging in some social bonding at our field-site, captured by @elliearose.bsky.social.

If you'd like to learn more about when and why cockies allopreen, check out a recent paper by @julia-penndorf.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Holly Kirk @hollykirk.bsky.social · Aug 27

Good morning!

If you missed our @ecolsocaus.bsky.social Hot Topics online forum a couple of weeks ago, the good news is that you watch all the talks here for free!

🌏🧪#wildoz
kaigi.eventsair.com/esa-hot-topi...

Image of the Albany windfarm from sw Western Australia. The turbines are on the right of the image, marching towards the horizon, standing tall and dramatic above the low green coastal health. A silver and grey ocean appears on the left, below thickly textured grey clouds. A thin ribbon of coastal path winds through the left of the image.

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Reposted by Holly Kirk

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · Aug 15

A massive slowdown in renewable energy growth in Australia as investors and energy utilities simply decide to not build clean energy.

It's being blamed on environmental regulations, but all of those were in place in the boom time of the 2010s...

cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news-resourc...

Financially committed generation projects
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