Erika C. Freeman

Infographic explaining the importance of preserving small wetlands, highlighting cost-effective solutions, threats, and protection strategies with illustrations of wetlands and people.

Wetlands are rare and exceptional, even small ones.

Intrinsically valuable, they also:
🌱 Offer habitat for plants, insects, amphibians and birds
🌊 Absorb stormwater, buffering against floods
🌍 Filter and reduce pollutants, improving water quality

Learn more with the Convention on Wetlands 👇

🔥Wildfires are growing in frequency and intensity worldwide. How do they affect the flow of carbon from forests into downstream waters? 🌳🌊 Our new paper @jgrbiogeo.bsky.social with @waterik.bsky.social @ecfreewoman.bsky.social now online to read: dx.doi.org/10.1029/2025... 🧵1/n

Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time after record heat Previously the country was one of the world's only mosquito-free zones.

Proof that climate change is real and horrible:

www.bbc.com/news/article...

🔸Innovative finance is driving a wetland investment revolution.

🔸Breakthroughs such as blue bonds, carbon markets and biodiversity credits are scaling up action.

Learn more: www.global-wetland-outlook.ramsar.org

#WetlandsWednesday #GWO2025

🌐🌍🦑🍁💧🧬🔬🔎🌱📚

Researchers value null results, but struggle to publish them Survey finds that fear of reputational harm and a lack of support and publication platforms are among respondents’ key concerns.

Null results matter, but too often, they never see the light of day.

When journals only publish splashy findings, we lose valuable science.

That's why I'm excited about 2-pagers at @StacksJournal.bsky.social. Streamlined publishing for results that deserve to be shared.

🧪 #SciPub #AcademicSky

ggplot2 4.0.0 A new major version of ggplot2 has been released on CRAN. Find out what is new here.

I am beyond excited to announce that ggplot2 4.0.0 has just landed on CRAN.

It's not every day we have a new major #ggplot2 release but it is a fitting 18 year birthday present for the package.

Get an overview of the release in this blog post and be on the lookout for more in-depth posts #rstats

A person stands on a boat in a lake, raising a hand holding aquatic plants, with mountains in the background and playful line drawings of birds, fish, and a palm tree overlaid. Large white text reads “LET’S REVIVE OUR LAKES” with “Join #GenerationRestoration” beneath, and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030 logo appears in the bottom left corner.

Lakes contain most of the liquid fresh water on the planet, but they are also among the most rapidly degrading ecosystems.

Ahead of #WorldLakeDay on August 27, see how you can take #GenerationRestoration action to safeguard these vital freshwater bodies: www.decadeonrestoration.org/lakes

Hot off the press! 🌐🌍🦑🍁💧🧬🔬🔎🌱📚 🧪 💡 🗣️

We are so excited our newest paper led by @ecfreewoman.bsky.social @camplantsci.bsky.social is now out @pnas.org 🤩
Read it here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
🌲 We followed a forest as it was logged to understand what happens to soil carbon at a molecular-scale. Here's what we learned. 1/n

More scientists choose Bluesky over Twitter It’s not just you. Survey says: “Twitter sucks now and all the cool kids are moving to Bluesky”…

"By contrast, in 2025 thus far, Bluesky has driven "a hundred times as many page views" to Southern Fried Science as Twitter." arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Deadline for applications is 28 February 2025. Do get in touch if you have any questions.

Congrats Penny!

The full programme is now available! Take the chance, learn more about freshwater restoration, Nature-based Solutions and Ecosystem Services.

The webinar is open for everyone and FREE to join.

🔗 Register here: project-merlin.eu/webinars.html

🚨 The next MERLIN webinar will take place very soon! This time it is all about 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁-𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀, from the funding gap, the introduction of an integrated modelling framework, to embedding a wide array of ecosystem services in an extended CBA. Register here: project-merlin.eu/webinars.html

Aerial view of a lush peatland landscape with winding water channels under golden sunlight. Overlaid text reads: "Peatlands cover just 3–4% of Earth’s surface but store one-third of the world’s soil carbon, twice as much as forests. Yet they are among the least understood and monitored ecosystems." UN Environment Programme logo is in the top right, and Global Peatlands Initiative logo is in the bottom left.

Around 15% of the world’s peatlands have been drained for agriculture alone.

UNEP’s Global Peatland Hotspot Atlas highlights the major threats facing these vital ecosystems and offers a global snapshot of their current status: www.unep.org/resources/re...

Woohoo! Congrats :) love to see the women in biogeosciences crushing it

Very good news

🧪 Zombies 🦠🧟🌎

Hello fellow Erika!

Pharmaceutical pollution influences river-to-sea migration in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) Despite the growing threat of pharmaceutical pollution, we lack an understanding of whether and how such pollutants influence animal behavior in the wild. Using laboratory- and field-based experiments...

Research that resolves chemicals in an environment is key to understanding how ecological systems work. 🧪🌐💧🧬🔬🦠https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp7174

Complexity isn't default locked into a one-way trajectory of perpetual increase. It can rise, fall, or stabilize depending on various factors and conditions within the system.

Persistence of soil organic carbon caused by functional complexity - Nature Geoscience Dynamic interactions between chemical and biological controls govern the stability of soil organic carbon and drive complex, emergent patterns in soil carbon persistence.

very nice! In the biogeochemical community we study dissolved organic matter; one of the most complex natural mixtures we know about. Indeed, it seems to grow more complex across environmental gradients that relate to time: www.nature.com/articles/s41... and oceans: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@florianaltermatt.bsky.social

Carbon at the bottom of the ocean is so structurally complex and soil complexity increases with depth. 🌍🧪 #biogeochemistry #ecologyofmolecules

To make discoveries, scientists need to master a pre-existing body of knowledge that is specialised and grows exponentially. This burden is why scientists that make transformative discoveries are increasingly interdisciplinary and lead large, collaborative teams. Collaboration is essential. ⚗️🧪🧫🧬🔬🔭📡

🌊 Save the Date! 🌍
#SAME18 — Aquatic Microbiomes on a Changing Planet
📍 Barcelona, Spain | 🗓️ Sept 28 – Oct 3, 2025
At the iconic PRBB 🧬🌿
Join us to explore the frontiers of aquatic microbial ecology.

📢 Stay tuned for more info and follow us on Bluesky!

#MicrobialEcology #MarineMicrobiology #SAME18

Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) Competition 2026

Academic interested in moving to Canada? 🇨🇦 Canada Excellence Research Chairs program is now live. @ucalgary.bsky.social is looking for (amongst others) senior research chair in Mountain Water Security. 🧪⚒️❄️ #academicsky Please repost far and wide! research.ucalgary.ca/research/our...

COMPASS! Impeccably organised and oh-so-fun to idea share: @icbm-uol.bsky.social @hanse-ias.bsky.social @chandnisidhu.bsky.social @daniel-petras.bsky.social tras.bsky.social @thilogross.bsky.social @nichollebell8.bsky.social @ecochangegroup.bsky.social
@seamicha.bsky.social @prossel.bsky.social

With a cool plain-langauge summary posted at the @eawag.bsky.social webpage! :)