Prof. Jeff Ollerton

Pollinators = the hidden workforce of sustainability 🐝🌼

~75% of food crops rely partly on animal pollination, supporting food, ecosystems & the SDGs 🌍 🧪

Join Prof. @jeffollerton.bsky.social on Tuesday, 26 May 2026, for a Skills for Ecology webinar.

Register: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1980275133...

Join me on 26th February in Leicester for a talk: “Adventures in Pollination!” On Thursday 26th February I’m giving a talk to the Friends of the University of Leicester Botanic Garden with the title that you see above. The talk starts at 7.30pm and non-members are welco…

If you're near Leicester, come and join me for a talk at the Botanic Garden next week.

jeffollerton.co.uk/2026/02/17/j...

#pollinators #biodiversity #bees #ecology

🌱 Back to basics: What is biodiversity, and why does it matter?

Join Prof @jeffollerton.bsky.social on Tue 31 March 2026 to explore biodiversity, sustainability, and how it underpins food, water, climate, and wellbeing. 🌍 🧪

Sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1980197493...

Biodiversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals Discover why biodiversity matters, how it supports the UN SDGs, how change is monitored, and what actions lead to a nature-positive future.

How does biodiversity support the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals?

From pollinators for food (SDG 2) to forests for water (SDG 6) and carbon storage (SDG 13), healthy ecosystems underpin global goals.

Join @jeffollerton.bsky.social on 31 Mar 2026: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1980197493...

Pollination as a matter of national security In these turbulent times it’s hard to know where to focus one’s gaze. Do we concentrate on Ukraine? Greenland? Venezuela? Sudan? China? Russia? The Middle East? The rise of the far righ…

A new UK government report warns that global #biodiversity loss threatens food security, economic stability, and geopolitical order. In my latest blog post I ask whether pollination should now be considered a #nationalsecurity issue:
jeffollerton.co.uk/2026/01/26/p...

@butterfly-project.bsky.social

🧵1/4

⚡🦋 Electrostatic pollination by butterflies and moths

Butterflies and moths accumulate electrostatic charge as they fly, allowing them to pull pollen grains off flowers without even touching them. In other words, they can literally attract pollen through the air.

doi.org/10.1098/rsif...

Beautiful, thanks Scott!

NEW EVENT! Plant–Pollinator Interactions Underpin the SDGs 🏵️

Explore how pollinators support food security, health, climate resilience & biodiversity, and why their protection matters - With Professor @jeffollerton.bsky.social on MAY 26th 🌎 🧪

Book now:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1980275133...

🌍 Biodiversity & the SDGs | Tue 31 Mar 2026

How does nature support food, water & climate goals? Join Professor @jeffollerton.bsky.social to explore biodiversity’s vital role in the UN SDGs and a nature-positive future. £12.50 🧪

🎟️ Book now: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1980197493...

Should AI be thought of as a science tool or collaborator? A conversation with ChatGPT In a piece that I posted before Christmas, I made the offhand comment that “we need to think of AI as a collaborator as much as a tool”. It’s offhand in the fact that I’d no…

In piece that I posted on my blog before Christmas, I made the offhand comment that “we need to think of #AI as a collaborator as much as a tool“. I decided to ask the question of #ChatGPT itself and we ended up having quite a long conversation on this topic:

jeffollerton.co.uk/2026/01/12/s...

Last chance to book 🌿

Join the Wildlife Gardening Virtual Symposium 2026 on 14 Jan for cutting-edge garden science — from ponds & pollinators to fungi and urban mammals, with expert speakers from across the UK.

🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1419239717...

@jeffollerton.bsky.social @ptes-org.bsky.social

It's definitely worth a read. I plan to write a review on my blog later in the month.

Spread the word about The Ecology of Ecologists and get a free signed bookplate! (UPDATED) I hope you had a happy holiday. I certainly did, in no small part because my book is finally out! (woohoo!) (update: link fixed) The Ecology of Ecologists: Harnessing Diverse Approaches for a Stron…

If you're reading Jeremy Fox's book book "The Ecology of Ecologists", let him know what you think of it for a chance to win a signed bookplate: dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2026/01/05/s...

#ecology #biodiversity #books

On the first day of Christmas (in about 2014), @duckswabber.bsky.social gave to me - a partridge in a pear tree.

Happy Christmas everyone!

A Christmas lesson from plant ecology: why plants like holly and mistletoe may not be as well defended as we think Christmas is a time of expectations, when we assume that familiar traditions will work as they always have. Some traditions are associated with plants such as holly and mistletoe. In ecology, we ma…

“A Christmas lesson from plant ecology: why plants like holly and mistletoe may not be as well defended as we think” - pleased to have been involved in this project jeffollerton.co.uk/2025/12/24/a...

A Christmas lesson from plant ecology: why plants like holly and mistletoe may not be as well defended as we think Christmas is a time of expectations, when we assume that familiar traditions will work as they always have. Some traditions are associated with plants such as holly and mistletoe. In ecology, we ma…

A Christmas lesson from plant ecology: why plants like holly and mistletoe may not be as well defended as we think:

jeffollerton.co.uk/2025/12/24/a...

Merry Christmas everyone!

#ecology #biodiversity #Christmas

Join me at the Wildlife Gardening Virtual Symposium 14th January 2026 – Free Registration Now Open! At a time when the UK’s wildlife is under increasing pressure, the everyday spaces we manage—especially gardens—are becoming ever more important. Although interest in wildlife-friendly gardening ha…

The UK’s #wildlife is under increasing pressure, and #gardens are becoming ever more important.
That’s exactly why the Wildlife Gardening Virtual Symposium has become such a valuable (& free!) annual event.

More details here:
jeffollerton.co.uk/2025/12/10/j...
#pollinators #mammals #fungi #ponds

Here's a sneak preview of the latest Pollinator Project! It's going to be something special. Welcome ProPollSoil on board!

Insect poop is key for soil health. Much more key than mammalian poop. Insects are now declining much faster than human children can grow up and develop. Massive extinction debt. When we lose biomass faster than species - it's worse than the other way around. Ecological worst case.

🌱 Meet us at European Mission Soil Week 2025!

Join SoilWise on Day 1 of the Mission Soil Project Trail 🌍

🔎 Data users: explore FAIR soil data for better decisions.
📊 Data providers: make your data discoverable!

#EMSW2025 #MissionSoil #SoilWiseProject #SoilData #FAIRdata #SoilHealth #HorizonEurope

Connecting soils and pollinators: the ProPollSoil project kicks off in Germany! The ProPollSoil project officially got underway on 1st October, and this week (16th–20th November) our consortium gathered in Freising, Germany, for the kick-off meeting hosted by the Technical Uni…

The #ProPollSoil project has officially got underway, coming together to explore two big questions: How does the health of our soils shape the fate of #pollinators? And how do pollinators influence #soil health?

Read more here: jeffollerton.co.uk/2025/11/21/c...

#bees #biodiversity #MissionSoil

🌿 Wildlife Gardening Virtual Symposium 2026 🌿

Join leading researchers sharing evidence-based insights on ponds, pollinators, fungi and urban mammals. Coming up on 14th Jan.

More details: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1419239717...

@jeffollerton.bsky.social @jassydrak.bsky.social @btobirds.bsky.social

I sometimes worry that Bluesky is going to go the way of Twitter and be taken over by anonymous, hateful trolls who don't know how to discuss, only insult.

"I am a biodiversity prof, I know ethics better, I should lead the discourse of environmental conversations with Chinese government, disregarding the fact that they have a long history of censoring public opinions on env conversation"
UN says no, you clown🤡.

You mean "unfounded".

I'm actually a Professor of Biodiversity, and if #biodiversity is not a political subject, I don't know what is....

You know precisely nothing about me or my work or my "exposure" to those subjects and your view of biology is incredibly narrow minded.

What's your point? Every country in the world has arrested environmental activists for one reason or another.

My pleasure Gwen!

Pollinators and politics in China Last week I returned from a 14 day visit to China to colleagues at the Kunming Institute of Botany in Yunnan, part of a three-year commitment to working there that I documented on the blog last yea…

Pollinators and politics in China:

jeffollerton.co.uk/2025/11/14/p...

#China #Bees #Pollinators #Biodiversity