Tim Utteridge

Fields of maize and rice terraces next to mountains rainforest

#Rice and #Maize cultivation cheek by jowl with montane rainforest in northern #Thailand - choices to be made around #biodiversity stores, #carbon, #water and #air regulation vs food production. DoiTung has been developing a model to support ecosystems AND livelihoods. @mtnresearchmri.bsky.social

Flying Rhamnaceae fruits - the day Daniel Cahen and I tested the aerodynamics of Ventilago fruits in Wing B of the Kew Herbarium. There’s a cool x-over physics/botany project there… #physics #flying #botany (No specimens were harmed in the making of this movie!)

Ventilago lanceata Tul.

Ventilago novoguineensis Cahen, Utteridge & Henry Mill.

Expanding Ventilago to incorporate Smythea: new combinations in Ventilagineae (#Rhamnaceae) based on novel sequence data and phylogenetic analysis. Kew Bull (2025).

rdcu.be/eTrK6

Ventilago lanceata Tul. and
Ventilago novoguineensis Cahen, Utteridge & Henry Mill. nom. nov.

If you’re wondering…the sexuality and blunt stigma suggest best as Tapeinosperma. For now…

Sometimes taxonomy is difficult, this took ages to work out…were they Ardisia or Discocalyx?, and we went from three new species to two. This genus is a start, now with a scientific name and formally ‘exist’(they always did!) and can be used in conservation planning…

Two new species of Tapeinosperma (Primulaceae-Myrsinoideae) from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Kew Bull (2025). doi.org/10.1007/s12225… #taxonomy #botany #Primulaceae #Ardisia #PNG #SolomonIslands #Pacific

IAPT | Grants The IAPT provides competitive grants for research on the taxonomy, systematics and nomenclature of plants, algae and fungi and to support botanical collections.

IAPT’s Research Grants support research in systematics, nomenclature, and floristics of algae, fungi, and plants.

www.iaptglobal.org/grants

Rare Rafflesia haseltii Blooms Repeatedly in Bengkulu The blossoming of the very rare Rafflesia species in Bukit Balai Tanjung Gelang confirmed that Bengkulu is the home of Rafflesia hasseltii.

Rare Rafflesia haseltii Blooms Repeatedly in Bengkulu

en.tempo.co/read/2070894...

Include Aceh, north Sumatra, west Sumatra

Floods in #Indonesia.
The animation shows the impact of severe inundation in the northeastern part of #Sumatra, comparing #Copernicus #Sentinel2 images from Aug. and Dec. 1, 2025.
Relentless monsoon rains and tropical cyclones have devastated parts of Asia. #ClimateEmergency

Deadly Sumatra flooding triggers memories of Indian Ocean tsunami For fisherman Effendi Basyaruddin, the deadly floods and landslides in Indonesia's Aceh province over the past week have triggered traumatic memories of the day 21 years ago when he ran for his life as the ocean rose like a cliff face and smashed through his hometown.

Deadly Sumatra flooding triggers memories of Indian Ocean tsunami reut.rs/48TMDLl

Watching over my bird books…

It's International #OpenAccessWeek!
At Singapore Botanic Gardens, all of the (old, new and future) papers in Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore, our magazine, Gardenwise, as well as books like the Flora of Singapore, are openly available through our websites www.nparks.gov.sg/sbg/research...

A person standing in front of a presentation slide, which features text and a photo of books, one open in front.

A person giving a presentation in front of a slide showing text and a map of dots.

A person giving a presentation in front of a slide showing text and an OpenAI prompt.

A person giving a presentation in front of a slide showing text and a table of purple lines.

Ben Scott @nhm-london.bsky.social shares how his team has extracted trait data from species descriptions on BHL. Result? 706,842 trait terms & the largest trait database in the world. BHL = the foundation of our understanding of biodiversity. #LivingData2025 @biodivlibrary.bsky.social

A person presenting on a stage in front of a slide featuring text and two pages of an historic publication.

A person presenting on a stage in front of a slide featuring text and a logo.

📣 Calling all biodiversity institutions! Meise Botanic Garden is supporting the continuation of BHL by auditing/cancelling non-Open Access journal subscriptions & diverting all saved funds to BHL. Patricia Mergen encourages other institutions to do the same 🧪 🌱🌎 #LivingData2025 #OpenAccess #ILoveBHL

‘Bark salon’. The remarkable bark painting room at the NVG Australia, Melbourne.

Doryanthes palmeri A.W.Hill (Doryanthaceae), giant spear lily, endemic to eastern Australia, flowering below Flinders Street Station along the Yarra River, Melbourne. #Australia

This is always a major target on many visitors' needs lists, which is always funny since this bird is easily found in one of the most accessible parks in the country: the car park.

A screenshot of a Powerpoint slide: "A new future for the Biodiversity Heritage Library". The background is an historic illustration of a Bald Eagle on a rock, claws deep in a large catfish.

I'm excited to be speaking at #LivingData2025 about the future of BHL. I'll be sharing a critical update on our transition toward a sustainable, global & community-governed future. 🧪 📖 🌱
🗓️ Info: www.livingdata2025.com/program.html...
🌎 #BHLTransition news: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/tag/transition

Singapore's new archaeology & heritage centre Discover ArCH Square, Singapore's new heritage centre, offering public access to archaeological finds and intangible cultural heritage practices. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstim...

Learn to work with Singapore’s archaeological finds at new heritage centre in Jalan Sultan ⛏️🇸🇬 Very cool. www.straitstimes.com/singapore/le...

Digitising the Singapore Herbarium: the equipment now nearly set up and all on view in a public gallery. #herbarium

Illustrated artwork showing five different wild cat species in a tropical setting. From largest to smallest: a brown mountain lion (puma), two spotted jaguars, an ocelot with distinctive orange-brown markings, and a small spotted wildcat. The cats are arranged in a naturalistic scene with palm fronds, red flowers, and other tropical vegetation in the background. The composition shows the relative size differences between these feline species native to the Americas.

Latin America’s feline species are losing their habitat and becoming trapped in small patches. Researchers say biological corridors are vital for their conservation. 🐆

Read more w/ @mongabay.com : https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/conservation-corridors-provide-hope-for-latin-americas-felines/

Prof Francis Hallé speaks at Singapore Botanic Gardens - “New insights into plant architecture.” A real privilege to hear him talk through the different models so succinctly and accurately illuminated with his illustrations. #SBGScience

Will phylogeny for food

Thanks to everyone who came along/tuned in to my PhD exit seminar! What a thing to do at the end of almost four years. So close to submitting, just need to tidy up this last chapter and I’m done! PS does anyone need a mycology/botany genomics/systematics postdoc? 👀

Gynostoma sp, a member of the Casuarinaceae - the she-oaks, flowering plants with equisetoid foliage and cone-like fruits.

powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:ls...

No its not rude - its simple fact that if you destroy one of the lungs of the Earth you put life on this planet in peril

Hutu (Ascarina lucida) is the first New Zealand native plant shown to have heterodichogamy (explained in ALT) and also the first report of it for Chloranthaceae. Most heterodichogamoous plants are wind pollinated and monoecious. Details in latest @ijpsjournal.bsky.social (see above post)

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

The #NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program #GRFP solicitation is coming soon!

The due date for Life Sciences proposals is 27 October 2025.

For more info: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

oh crap. MNHN-the Paris Natural History Museum paralyzed by cyber-attack! If you've been unable to access their database, website or other resources, here is why.. www.sortiraparis.com/en/news/in-p...