Charlie C. Nicholson

Pollinators like bees, bumblebees & butterflies have too few habitats, often of insufficient quality. A new international study, including Lund University, shows these insects can benefit from a much larger habitat than prescribed in the EU:s biodiversity strategy.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Picture of a speaker at a podium with a slide to his left, which includes a photo of a green and yellow bee on a bright purple-pink flower.

Picture of a speaker at a podium with a slide to his left, which includes text along the top and then a map with a zoomed in region and color coded

Excellent Lockwood Seminar today from @buzznicholson.bsky.social at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station! Shared with us his work on the landscape ecology approach to understanding pesticide driven decline of pollinators 🐝

Look at these beautiful pictures and charts 🤩👏

Thanks Meghan. It was a pleasure. Great questions from CAES

Pyrethroid insecticides implicated in mass mortality of monarch butterflies at an overwintering site in California Abstract. Since the 1980s, monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) populations across North America have declined by 80–95%. Although several studie

In January 2024, 200 monarchs were found dead or dying on the ground at a CA overwintering site. The likely culprit? Nearby residential/commercial pesticide use. 1/ academic.oup.com/etc/advance-...

Pesticide outcomes in the wild are rarely straightforward. Some thoughts inspired by the stupendous work of @gbaucom.bsky.social and colleagues

The Global Ecology feed is growing — 20-30 posts/week on large-scale biodiversity science — 390 contributors! 🌍🧪🦤🦑🪴🍁

DM @global-ecology.bsky.social to join and tag 🌐 in your posts to see them on the feed

Let’s build a engaged community together ✨🌈💚

Pls share to spread!

👉 bsky.app/profile/nmou...

Out of site, out of mind? Considering pesticide drift and plant mutualisms Click on the article title to read more.

Very clear-eyed commentary on our recent New Phyt paper!

Thanks @buzznicholson.bsky.social for highlighting our work!

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Thank you. Thats very kind. It’s a great and timely study!

spAbundance package (Doser et al. doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14332) was published this year at
@methodsinecoevol.bsky.social! It fits a variety of single/multispecies abundance models using Bayesian Inference allowing also for hierarchical frameworks. Let me show you a funny example 🧵👇(1/6) #rstats

A stingless bee guard showing off her defensive weapons: two blobs of resin to be smeared on any attacker. Frieseomelitta varia have extra wide hind legs for extra loads of resin 🇧🇷🐝😍

A Continuum From Positive to Negative Interactions Drives Plant Species' Performance in a Diverse Community We explored the patterns of species performance in a real-world community, dependent on pairwise and higher-order interactions with species belonging to the same and other trophic levels (plant, herb....

Yayy 🌱🪲🐝🐌- A list of stellar ecologists and myself showed that (1) species interactions can be summarised at the guild level, except for a few critical species, (2) they occur along a continuum from positive-to-negative, and (3) they have relatively weak strength except between plants!

Predicting landscape‐scale native bumble bee habitat use over space, time, and forage availability The distribution and abundance of foraging resources are key determinants of animal habitat use and persistence. Decades of agricultural expansion and intensification, along with the introduction of ...

A pandemic paper from my postdoc with the Williams Lab at @ucdavis.bsky.social is just out in @esajournals.bsky.social Ecology.

"Predicting landscape-scale native bumble bee habitat use over space, time, and forage availability" 🐝 🌼

doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

Postdoc Opportunity in #Pollination Research

The @uni-freiburg.de is hiring a Postdoc for the EU project VALOR, exploring the ecological and economic values of pollinators.

📅 Deadline: March 1, 2025
📅 Start date: June 1, 2025
💰 Salary: TV-L E13 (100%), 3 years

🔗 uni-freiburg.de/stellenangeb...

"Across the 1705 papers, the effect of new vs. old pesticides was similar [...] There was, therefore, limited evidence that the negative environmental impact of pesticides on wider biodiversity has been reduced by the development and authorisation of novel active ingredients and formulations".

Thanks!

A starter pack for those working or interested in agroecology. Lot of room for new folks. Comment below to be added.
go.bsky.app/VXdYJjQ

Could you add me please?

Doctoral student in evolutionary ecology Subject description Biology is a broad subject about all living things. It encompasses everything from processes at the molecular and cellular level to global processes at ecosystem level. The subject

Join us a Doctoral student in evolutionary ecology!
The PhD candidate will be part of the research group of @oysteinopedal.bsky.social and the Speciation, Adaptation and Co-Evolution (SPACE) research environment at Lund University. 
Please apply no later than 16 February
lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Crop diversification for pollinator conservation - Landscape Ecology Context Intensive agriculture drives insect decline impacting insect-mediated ecosystem services that support production. Crop diversification shows promise in increasing crop productivity and enhanci...

New study: #CropDiversification can help pollinators without taking land out of agricultural production, but only some #pollinator species may benefit. We highlight mechanisms on the spatial
and temporal #diversity of crops. Led by Thijs Fijen @w-u-r.bsky.social

Animal Ecologists!! Here’s an opportunity to help lead Journal of Animal Ecology and join a fun team of editors. Please share widely and consider applying yourself. I’m happy to answer any questions.

Megachile centuncularis (Megachilidae) in Lotus pedunculatus (Fabaceae)

Look, Ma, I have a framework! That sound you heard last month was the “thud” of another classic evolutionary hypothesis hitting the ground, falsified. There’s nothing particularly unusual about that; despite efforts from the an…

On progress in science, a cherished hypothesis falling, and seeing your own work cited. Plus, weird, weird fish! scientistseessquirre...

So urceolate!

PhD position available! Are you interested in how natural selection shapes the evolution of animal memory? Be part of our experimental evolution plans at UCL @ucl-pnl.bsky.social @treesdla.bsky.social , co-supervised by Flo Camus @fcamus.bsky.social. www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/evo...

Good luck! Looking forward to it

Sounds very interesting! Missing #SCIB2025. Is there any way to learn more? Preprint?

Hey y'all. I've created an #agroecology starter pack for folks interested in how we create, manage, research, and advocate for more sustainable agricultural systems across the world.

Please let me know if you'd like to be added! Currently v. short list as I'm new to Bluesky.

go.bsky.app/6d3FswT

Could you add me too please! Thanks bud

Pollinator seed mixes are phenologically dissimilar to prairie remnants Native seed mixes are widely available to create pollinator habitat. One approach to understand the efficacy of pollinator seed mixes is to compare them to species found in high-quality natural areas...

I always like to see papers that analyze commercially available pollinator seed mixes and make recommendations for their improvement!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

I have an open position (fully funded for 4 years) for a PhD candidate in a project on pollinator communities and populations in relation to forest structure and microclimate.
See more, and apply here: www.slu.se/en/about-slu....