@michieldegroot.bsky.social
Evolutionary biologist | PhD candidate at UGent & INBO working on weird parasitic fungi on ladybirds๐๐ | Endless freeform jazz most beautiful
"AI can get in the way of learning, and it can promote learning, depending on how it's used." I really like Terry McGlynn Terry McGlynn's conceptual take on how we might think about student use of AI in courses. https://
scienceforeveryone.s...
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It was a pleasure to host ๐ง๐ท PhD student Marรญlia Pereira Rodrigues de Melo in our group for a few months! She returns home with new knowledge, new friends, and the #TeamLaboul mug ๐ต๐ชฒ๐
Photo shows me surrounded by PhD students Aimรฉe Blondelle, Marรญlia, and @michieldegroot.bsky.social.
Some big diffs between citizen science observations (from iNaturalist) and specimen records (from digitised museum collections) - cit. sci records biased towards large inverts & exotic spp. Great MSc project with recommendations ๐๐งช@nzhymenoptera.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
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24.11.2025 20:29 โ ๐ 3 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Slow traffic this morning in Ghent ๐
02.11.2025 11:00 โ ๐ 18 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 1Slow traffic this morning in Ghent ๐
02.11.2025 11:00 โ ๐ 18 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 1
Want to read the #OpenAccess article itself? Find it here!
Effects of #temperature & #humidity on the presence & prevalence of a common fungal #parasite on an invasive ladybird
buff.ly/jw3xPTY
#Harmonia #Hesperomyces
@michieldegroot.bsky.social @teamlaboul.bsky.social @inbo.be
New @royentsoc.bsky.social #ResearchHighlight available!
A new article examines which factors influence the growth of a parasitic fungus on an invasive ladybird.
Read more โฌ๏ธ
buff.ly/DVDCgIt
Video courtesy of article authors, videographer E. Liu.
Why did we use a hot dog roller for this? Did the ladybirds just enjoy it like a fairground ride? I explain here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=46JW...
New paper! We looked at how temperature and humidity affect a fungal parasite on a ladybird in an article in @royentsoc.bsky.social's Ecological Entomology. ๐๐
You can find the full journal highlight here:
www.royensoc.co.uk/news/tempera...
I have letter to the editor this week in our local paper.
Our community is, once again, facing a developer who wants to turn public, protected coastal land into a golf course. We've been here before. This time, it's shadier. And God knows it was shady last time. www.invernessoran.ca/top-story/co...
Why did we use a hot dog roller for this? Did the ladybirds just enjoy it like a fairground ride? I explain here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=46JW...
New paper! We looked at how temperature and humidity affect a fungal parasite on a ladybird in an article in @royentsoc.bsky.social's Ecological Entomology. ๐๐
You can find the full journal highlight here:
www.royensoc.co.uk/news/tempera...
The work reports on abiotic factors influencing the parasite-host interactions of a microfungus & the invasive harlequin ladybird (#Harmonia axyridis).
@michieldegroot.bsky.social @adriaenstim.bsky.social @dhaelewa.bsky.social @teamlaboul.bsky.social @inbo.be
Photo credit: Trey Wardlaw (CC-BY-NC)
New paper! Featuring state-of-the-art technology!
22.09.2025 12:18 โ ๐ 4 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Also, there's a great article on these here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
08.09.2025 20:55 โ ๐ 4 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0That's a really weird one! I've been in Oldrich Nedved's lab for a while where they cross various strains of H. axy., but never seen this. You could shoot him an email about it, he might be interested.
08.09.2025 20:50 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Group of purple fungi.
@fundive-fungi.bsky.social is a Europe-wide project to better understand & protect fungi. Find, photograph & document fungi and join us to help reveal Europe's fungal diversity!
Follow @fundive-fungi.bsky.social and check https://fun-dive.eu/en/get-involved/ for more information!
๐Microfungi on insects๐
Fungi in the genus Hesperomyces are associated exclusively with ladybirds, visible as yellowish-greenish elongated balloons. We aim to map them in Europe and describe #newspecies. Join the #FunDive campaign! #Biodiversa fun-dive.eu/en/get-invol...
12.08.2025 10:05 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
www.instagram.com/reel/C8wyOlI... prepare yourself with the videogame
03.08.2025 19:49 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
27.07.2025 23:24 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
The only known extinct species of the beetle subfamily Catopocerinae (Leiodidae), Archaeocerus uenoi Perreau, 2019, is redescribed. Learn more here: doi.org/10.3897/subt...
#extinction #fossils #taxonomy โช@dhaelewa.bsky.social @taxonexpeditions.bsky.social @michieldegroot.bsky.social
Gentse Feesten
24.07.2025 14:48 โ ๐ 5 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 2 ๐ 0
17.07.2025 14:25 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
We made a few terabytes of images, which were reconstructed to create 3D images over the past couple of years by Michel back in Paris, resulting in this paper!
Doesn't it still look like he has the ~99 million year old wind blowing through his antennae?
Also, the synchrotron makes you look like the most sciency scientist ever.
(Pictured: a guy who pretends he understands what all this machinery is for, exactly.)
The technique to create 3D image out of the microscopy is called micro-tomography, which was what we spent most our time doing. It is useful if you want to look at fragile fossil beetles trapped in amber! Michel Perreau, a French beetle and fossil expert, asked us to image them for him.
08.07.2025 16:26 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
It's a massive complex with a big particle accelerator, which takes a long time to get around - many people had little mopeds or bikes. Particle accelerators produce extremely bright, focused, and tunable X-ray beams, which can be used to "see through" objects and reconstruct the details inside.
08.07.2025 16:23 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Back in 2022, @dhaelewa.bsky.social, Iva Njunjiฤ (@taxonexpeditions.bsky.social), Warre van Caenegem and I went to the Synchrotron in Grenoble to image very small fossil beetles in very small pieces of amber. The resulting paper is now out! (With more to come)
subtbiol.pensoft.net/article/1542...
