Azharul Alam

Is It Time for a New Era in Invasive Species Control? Regulations make it hard to introduce organisms that quash invasive species. Some experts see missed opportunities.

undark.org/2025/11/10/i...

Increased nitrogen deposition may facilitate an invasive plant species through interfering plant–pathogen interactions These findings imply that elevated nitrogen deposition may enhance the invasiveness of A. philoxeroides by influencing the interactions between the plant and its pathogens.

Increased nitrogen deposition may facilitate an invasive plant species through interfering plant–pathogen interactions - Lin - 2025 - Journal of Ecology - Wiley Online Library besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The path toward a unified trait space: synthesizing plant functional diversity Plant traits capture the remarkable diversity of ecological strategies, yet synthesizing this complexity into coherent frameworks remains challenging. Trait spaces have significantly advanced this ef....

The path toward a unified trait space: synthesizing plant functional diversity - Carmona - 2025 - New Phytologist - Wiley Online Library nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Humans Have Altered 97 Percent of Earth's Land Through Habitat and Species Loss The study, which did not include Antarctica, also identified opportunities to restore up to 20 percent of land ecosystems

A new study says only 3% of Earth’s land remains “untouched.” We’ve been editing the planet for millennia as a result of pushing animals/plants to extinction….reshaping entire continents.
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/h...

Toward a macroevolutionary understanding of live‐leaf flammability in plant species of fire‐prone forests Premise The flammability of live leaves in canopies varies considerably among plant species. Identifying macroevolutionary processes that shape variation in leaf flammability contributes to an under.....

The final version is now available #AmJBot
bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

When invasive species become part of our culture – our study on the process of cultural integration of #invasivespecies and its implications, now published in #npjBiodiversity www.nature.com/articles/s44... #biologicalinvasions #alienspecies #nonnative #invasive #pests #conservation

How the #arts and #science can jointly protect #nature – our new article on building synergies between #art and #biodiversity #conservation now published in in Front. Ecol. Environ. @esajournals.bsky.social esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Final version now available #AmJBot @botsocamerica.bsky.social

Sequoia & Sequoiadendron: Two paleoendemic megatrees with different adaptive responses to high-severity fires
bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Plants are not adapted to fire, but to fire regimes
🧪🌍🔥🌳🌿🪴 #ecoevo #wildfire

Relationship between fire severity (dNBR, x axis) and early postfire recovery (y axis) for the different vegetation types affected in the Bermeja, Culebra and Hurdes wildfires (Spain). A: based on the Spanish Forest Map (MFE) data; B: based on the Spanish National Inventory (IFN). Dashed lines correspond to global means.

Pine plantations burn more severely & recover more slowly than other vegetation types. This is observed using the forest map (L) or the forest inventory (R), Spain
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
jgpausas.blogs.uv.es/2025/10/16/p...
🧪🌎🔥🍁🌳🔥 wildfire @jappliedecology.bsky.social

Oregon could see 800+ excess deaths yearly from smoke by 2050 A new study suggests wildfire smoke could drive deadly surge in U.S. mortality

“Study: Wildfire smoke could drive tens of thousands of deaths each year by 2050” www.axios.com/local/portla... - @axios.com

#AirQuality #Health #Wildfires #WildfireSmoke

Drought sensitivity is climate‐adapted and consistently influenced by wood density and maximum height in eucalypts Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Drought sensitivity in eucalypts is climate‐adapted and consistently influenced by wood density - great work by PhD student Victoria Perez-Martinez at @deannicolle1.bsky.social Currency Creek Arboretum during the Tinderbox drought

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

Take home points for John Dwyer's talk

Temperature niche of two tree species in relation to Brisbane's temperature now and the prediction for 2070. We want street trees to last 50+ years, so they need to be able to cope with future climates. Croton would be better suited in this instance.

Graph showing temperature niche of species best able to cope with Brisbane's future temperatures, with Owenia venosa as the example.

Tuned in yesterday for an impassioned plea and delightful talk by @john-m-dwyer.bsky.social on how dry rainforest trees, including our beloved vine thickets, could be used to revegetate Brisbane's streets in the lead up to the 2032 Olympics.

Lots of neat data on temp. niches!

Testing key tenets of pyro‐ecophysiology: Indicators of drought response in relation to shoot flammability Premise Relationships between flammability and drought tolerance influence vegetation dynamics during fires. A goal of the emerging subdiscipline of pyro-ecophysiology is to identify ecophysiologica.....

I'm so very proud of Niger Sultana and the first chapter of her PhD thesis!!!

She had so many challenges and came through them all with flying colours.

With @loraxcate.bsky.social @azhar06.bsky.social et al.

in @botsocamerica.bsky.social

bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Toxic toad invasion puts ecology of Madagascar at risk The Asian amphibians arrived just 10 years ago. Now in th...

Toxic toad invasion puts ecology of Madagascar at risk https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/24/madagascar-toxic-toads-lemurs-ecology-threat?CMP=share_btn_tw

1/ Invasional meltdown is a popular but nebulous concept in invasion ecology. It involves multiple direct & indirect mechanisms, yet it is rarely studied beyond simple pairwise facilitations.

In a new paper, we expand the concept & offer testable hypotheses: redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/ricciardi/Ri...

Fire Season Is Starting Earlier Thanks to Climate Change, New Study Finds Study co-authored by a UC Santa Barbara professor sheds light on timing, size, and speed of recent wildfires, including the Gifford Fire.

“The amount of spring rain is one of the best indicators of when you’ll hit the more severe part of the fire season,” Max Moritz @ucanr.edu said. “But the warming trend still plays a role because... plants are drying faster than in the past.”
www.independent.com/2025/08/18/f...

‘Pray for rain’: wildfires in Canada are now burning where they never used to Canada’s response to the extreme weather threat is being upended as the traditional epicentre of the blazes shifts as the climate warms

‘Pray for rain’: wildfires in Canada are now burning where they never used to
Canada’s response to the extreme weather threat is being upended as the traditional epicentre of the blazes shifts as the climate warms
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

‘We’re being cooked alive:’ Europe burns as temperatures soar above 100 degrees | CNN Europe is on track for its worst wildfire season on record as swaths of the continent – including France, Spain, Albania, Portugal and Greece — battle raging, deadly fires as temperature soar above 10...

We need an "In Bed" rule for extreme weather headlines, except add "Thanks to Big Oil's Avoidable Pollution."

‘We’re being cooked alive:’ Europe burns as temperatures soar above 100 degrees Thanks to Big Oil's Avoidable Pollution:

Fireproofing forests on a hotter planet – DW – 08/07/2025 France is battling one of the biggest wildfires in decades that is now larger than Paris. As climate change fuels record drought and heat that make wildfires more frequent and extreme, can we reduce f...

www.dw.com/en/firefight...
Fire season in the northern hemisphere is well under way. This article has some sensible solutions.

Great fun working with Lyndle Hardstaff, Megan Murray, and @zoexiro.bsky.social on our latest flammability project

Toward a macroevolutionary understanding of live-leaf flammability in plant species of fire-prone forests

@botsocamerica.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1002/ajb2...

Study co-authors Hannah Goodman, Lexi Hankenson, and Dr. Deborah Apgaua (left to right) demonstrate the plant flammability testing apparatus, showing how samples are burnt.

🔥🌱 From the #AJB Special Issue: “Understanding novel #fire regimes using plant trait‐based approaches" 🌱🔥

Fight fire with food #forests: Assessing flammability of tropical crop plant species to design fire-smart #agroforestry systems

By Ashley Pacheco, Hannah Goodman et al.
doi.org/10.1002/ajb2...

Citizen Scientists Are Accelerating Ecology Research, Study Suggests

Citizen Scientists Are Accelerating Ecology Research, Study Suggests www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/s...

Climate Change Is Making Fire Weather Worse for World’s Forests

It's 2025, and it's still climate change driving major forest loss through wildfires. With insights from @climate-guy.bsky.social and @calxcunningham.bsky.social

@ucmerced.bsky.social @utas.edu.au

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/c...

Lightning Impacts on Global Forest and Carbon Dynamics: Current Understanding and Knowledge Gaps Lightning is a fundamental Earth system process that influences the world's major forest biomes and their carbon storage through two primary pathways. Lightning is the major cause of boreal forest fi....

⚡Striking impacts on forests!⚡
Our perspective on how lightning impacts forest dynamics, through igniting fires in boreal forests and being a major cause of tree mortality in tropical forests.🔥🌳⚡ Led by Sander Veraverbeke @vuamsterdam.bsky.social @globalchangebio.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/gcb....

Our new research highlights the extent that aspen stands may act as a firebreak, slowing or stopping fire. Applications for land management and implications for fire-driven conifer-to-aspen forest conversion. Thanks @grumpyunclesean.bsky.social for the summary below. doi.org/10.1002/eap....

Wildfire risks as climate change fuels extreme heatwave in Southern Europe The countries most affected are Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal, with temperatures nearing or topping 40C (104F).

The countries most affected are Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal, with temperatures nearing or topping 40C (104F).

If you're waiting on a reply, a peer review, or other effort from me--please be patient. I urgently left to document a developing forest die-off event more intense than any I've seen. No obvious biotic agents, dead & dying include multiple Pinus & Juniperus, many Quercus, & shrubs. #WhatKillsTrees

Ecological and evolutionary consequences of changing seasonality Climate change and other anthropogenic drivers alter seasonal regimes across freshwater, terrestrial, and marine biomes. Seasonal patterns affect ecological and evolutionary processes at different eco...

If you think the seasons are feeling… different, you may be right.
Our new review in Science (@science.org) shows that Earth’s changing rhythms could have major and underestimated consequences for life on Earth. 🌍🧵
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Earth’s seasonal rhythms are changing, putting species and ecosystems at risk A summary of our new paper out in Science this week.

And if you want to have a chat about it outside of Bluesky, I've also published The Conversation piece on my Substack: predirections.substack.com/p/earths-sea...

Fuel moisture matters more for some species than for others. Cool stuff by Azaj Mahmud.