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Keller Kopf

@kellerfish.bsky.social

2.3K followers 1K following 75 posts

Ecology - Conservation - Rivers - Fish and Fisheries Senior Lecturer Charles Darwin University

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Keller Kopf @kellerfish.bsky.social · Nov 24

First post here.
I’ll unpack our new paper @science.org highlighting the loss of old animals and calling for ‘longevity conservation’

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Loss of Earth’s old, wise, and large animals

Earth’s old animals are in decline. Despite this, emerging research is revealing the vital contributions of older individuals to cultural transmission, population dynamics, and ecosystem processes and...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Keller Kopf

Frank Pennekamp @pennekampster.bsky.social · 2d

Does body size predict abundance the same way in all environments, as predicted by the Metabolic theory of Ecology? Our new study challenges this assumption. Read it here: 📄 doi.org/10.1111/ele....

Biodiversity modulates the cross‐community scaling relationship in changing environments

Organismal abundance typically declines with increasing body size, with metabolic theory predicting a universal size–abundance slope of –0.75. Using protist microcosms across gradients of species ric...

doi.org

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Reposted by Keller Kopf

Brian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · 7d

Classic macroecological laws-long held as signatures of biological systems-also emerge in economic and geological systems. The real signal lies not in the static universal patterns, but in how those patterns shift with scale 🌐🧪 #scaling #macroecology journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Separating Macroecological Pattern and Process: Comparing Ecological, Economic, and Geological Systems

Theories of biodiversity rest on several macroecological patterns describing the relationship between species abundance and diversity. A central problem is that all theories make similar predictions f...

journals.plos.org

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Reposted by Keller Kopf

Brian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · 19d

Cool... a global focus on three core traits of ectotherms: metabolic rate, development time and fecundity. ShareTrait: Towards interoperable and reusable individual trait-based data in ectotherms #OpenTraits #FunctionalTraits besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1... 🧪🌐

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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William (Bill) Sutherland @billsutherland.bsky.social · Aug 8

The Society of Wildlife Art have a wonderful project at Massingham Heath rewilding project, Norfolk. Here Amie Haslam and Brin Edwards explain the project. youtu.be/hiCQiSHuaG4?...

The Power of Art in Conservation

YouTube video by Bill Sutherland's Conservation Concepts

youtu.be

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Keller Kopf @kellerfish.bsky.social · Aug 6

Nice photo; I grew up near there and spent many summer days as a kid floating old tractor tire intertubes downstream in the Platte

Reposted by Keller Kopf

Magdalena Skipper @magdalenaskipper.bsky.social · Aug 2

This is fascinating - the brain fires up immune cells when sick people are nearby
🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The brain fires up immune cells when sick people are nearby

When people viewed virtual avatars with coughs or rashes, their brains triggered an immune response.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Keller Kopf

Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · Aug 2

Why did some #megafauna survive? 🦣🦘🦌
Our new study shows #extinction risk was higher for larger, flat-footed, island species— and lower for those closely related to tropical African/Asian fauna, likely filtered by earlier human impacts 👣🍖
📄 doi.org/10.1111/geb....
#hominid #hunting #evolution

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Julian Hoffman @julianhoffman.bsky.social · Jul 31

Like the old-growth coastal redwoods that host whole other ecosystems in their spires, these extraordinary Australian stick insects reveal not only the richness and mystery of mature forest canopies but how vital their protection is for countless forms of life.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Supersized stick insect discovered in high-altitude trees in Australia

The 40cm-long insect, named Acrophylla alta, weighs slightly less than a golf ball and may be the heaviest insect in Australia

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Keller Kopf

Journal of Applied Ecology @jappliedecology.bsky.social · Jul 31

Albatrosses make distinct flight hops when following fishing vessels 🎣

In this blog post, Jonathan Rutter discusses a new behaviour-based method to detect previously hidden interactions between seabirds and fishing vessels 🛰️🌏🧪

👇
appliedecologistsblog.com/2025/07/31/a...

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Rachel A.S. Forbes @rachelasforbes.bsky.social · Jul 31

There's so much life in the deep ocean, and there's still so much to discover! #deepocean #marinescience 🧪
www.bbc.com/news/article...

'Communities' of strange, extreme life seen for first time in deep ocean

A Chinese-led research team captures pictures of life at depths of more than 9km in the northwest Pacific Ocean.

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Keller Kopf

Journal of Applied Ecology @jappliedecology.bsky.social · Jul 29

To fill or not to fill: Comparing imputation methods for improved riverine long-term biodiversity monitoring 💭🌎

Suggests gap filling in biodiversity data can distort trends as more missing years mean easier fits but higher uncertainty 📊🧪

🔗 doi.org/10.1111/1365...

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Keller Kopf @kellerfish.bsky.social · Jul 12

1500 km2 of tropical savanna dotted with crystal clear water holes. Camping off the beaten track in Litchfield National Park is pretty special

Reposted by Keller Kopf

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · Jul 5

An ecological trait matrix of Neotropical freshwater fishes

@gymnotus.bsky.social et al. 2025 Scientific Data

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

An ecological trait matrix of Neotropical freshwater fishes - Scientific Data

Scientific Data - An ecological trait matrix of Neotropical freshwater fishes

www.nature.com

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Keller Kopf @kellerfish.bsky.social · Jun 26

Title of the year.

a gold trophy with a laurel wreath around it and the words well done on a gold ribbon

ALT: a gold trophy with a laurel wreath around it and the words well done on a gold ribbon

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Keller Kopf

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · Jun 22

Novel complete mitochondrial genomes of eight riverine Lamprologus species (Actinopterygii, Cichlidae) suggest in-situ speciation of the blind cichlid L. lethops in the lower Congo River

Jimenez et al. 2025

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Figure 3. Maximum-likelihood (IQ-TREE 2) phylogeny based on all mitochondrial protein-coding genes of riverine Lamprologus species analyzed in this study (in bold) along with additional lamprologine species with available partial mitogenomes

Specimen of Lamprologus lethops (c. 70 mm long) on a hand. Photograph by the American Museum of Natural History, used with permission and courtesy of Melanie L. J. Stiassny.

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Brian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · Jun 17

Please pass along - postdoc position! with our working group on #FunctionalTraits and rarity. This is part of the FREE (Functional Rarity in Ecology and Evolution) working group led by Cyrille Violle in Montpellier France 🧪🌐🌾 emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

Portail Emploi CNRS - Offre d'emploi - Offre de post-doctorat en écologie (H/F)

emploi.cnrs.fr

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Miguel Clavero @chikichanka.bsky.social · Jun 11

Amazing paper by He Zang and colleagues showing the (truly!) long-term decline of tigers in Eastern Asia
Chinese difangzhi, and other historical documents, are used to describe range loss since the 16th century with an increadible spatial precision
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

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Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · Jun 10

Silky sharks - sleek oceanic predators that were once one of the most abundant shark species in our oceans - are now considered vulnerable on the IUCN Red List due to their decreasing population. They are threatened by overfishing, and are the second most commonly caught shark in global fisheries.

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Keller Kopf @kellerfish.bsky.social · Jun 9

Happy to see our new paper published exploring size-based trophic dynamics in Australia’s largest river system

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Intraspecific body size determines isotopic trophic structure of a large river fish community

The body size of individuals within species plays an important role in determining trophic structure, yet many ecological models and tests of theory assign species-level values to define trophic posi....

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Brian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · May 28

Simple, Universal Rules Predict Trophic Interaction Strengths #scaling #allometry #bodysize 🧪🌐https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ele.70126?campaign=woletoc

Simple, Universal Rules Predict Trophic Interaction Strengths

Two simple, universal rules derived from energetic arguments predict the parameters of predator functional responses that underlie the strengths of trophic interactions. Furthermore, theory developed...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · May 26

Repeated and widespread evolution of biofluorescence in marine fishes

Carr et al. 2025 Nature Comm.

459 known biofluorescent teleosts (the majority are associated with coral reefs); estimate biofluorescence evolved multiple times but first ~112 mya

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

Repeated and widespread evolution of biofluorescence in marine fishes - Nature Communications

Biofluorescence is widespread in fishes. Here, the authors compile data on biofluorescence presence across teleost fishes and demonstrate that it may have originally evolved in eels 112 million years ...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Keller Kopf

Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · May 14

Adaptations to marine environments and the evolution of slow-paced life histories in endotherms www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Adaptations to marine environments and the evolution of slow-paced life histories in endotherms - Nature Communications

The evolution of a slow life history may be due to reduced extrinsic mortality and allometric effects. Here, the authors suggest that adaptations endotherms needed to return to marine life are associa...

www.nature.com

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John Turnbull PhD @johnwturnbull.bsky.social · May 12

Our latest paper highlights changes in the marine community at Shiprock in Sydney over half a century. #sydney_science #SAEF_ARC #marineexplorer 🧪🦑
Open access: doi.org/10.1071/MF24...

Inforgraphic showing how marine life hase changed from the 1960s to the 2010s

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Biodiversity Council @biodivcouncil.bsky.social · May 13

Floodplain wetlands in Barmah Forest are bouncing back after the removal of more than 700 feral horses between 2020 and 2024 by Parks Victoria.

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Mongabay @mongabay.com · May 13

“Until we came along, there was no voice for those saltwater anglers who cared about conservation.”

Though anglers aren’t generally thought of as environmentalists, many people who fish are conservation minded, whether because it’s an outdoor pursuit, or because they wish to ensure future harvests.

Angling for answers, this saltwater fishing group boosts research for better conservation

Saltwater fishing is both big business and a pastime in the U.S., with millions of Americans working in the industry – from commercial trawlers to professional fishing guides and gear manufacturers –…

news.mongabay.com

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