Erika C. Freeman

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! :)

Haha impeccable gif selection.

How academia’s ‘lone wolf’ culture is harming researcher mental health Scientists who don’t consistently publish great papers and attract bumper funding are often overlooked, say campaigners for healthier lab environments.

Lone wolf and constantly on the move. @ceciliapad.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪

"keystone molecules": A beautiful illustration also featured in our perspective on the ecology of molecules!🧪🌐💧🧬🔬🦠 #academicsky with @florianaltermatt.bsky.social @tiannapeller.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Oh yes. Let's have a look inside Antarctica.

Wow! 1/3 of US lakes in no joke. Excited to read in more detail. Congratulations to the authors on an important piece of work.

Manuscript | Arc Institute Arc Institute is a independent nonprofit research organization headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Wow. Excited to think about if/how this plays with biological function and (modifiable?) environmental condition arcinstitute.org/manuscripts/... 🧪 🦠 🔬 ⚗️

Brian,

Thank you so much for taking the time to take a look and for the feedback. It was well taken and much improved! Now hopefully those without super-human vision can view all the text :) warm greetings from Zürich and thanks so much again :)

BlueSky: Looking to make an academic webpage for grants/jobs but not sure if I’ve got the right vibe/content: erikacfreeman.com. Any tips, examples, or resources? Would love feedback and happy to trade feedback too! #academicsky 🧪🙏

A metagenomic ‘dark matter’ enzyme catalyses oxidative cellulose conversion - Nature A metalloenzyme capable of oxidatively cleaving cellulose, found in a microbial community specialized in lignocellulose degradation, could enable sustainable biofuel production.

A metagenomic ‘dark matter’ enzyme catalyses oxidative cellulose conversion www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs

What separates life from death? Mary Shelley once wrote: "To understand life, we first need to understand death". In this movie, we see how a single-celled organism dies. The same matter in both pictures. It is not the same state or the same integrated complexity. youtube.com/watch?v=4bj6...

A most excellent idea