Luis Moliner Cachazo

Earth's deepest ecosystem discovered six miles below the sea Hear the biggest stories from the world of science | 30 July 2025

Latest from the Nature Pod 🔊 Earth's deepest ecosystem discovered six miles below the sea

go.nature.com/4m4iPje

Our Curator of Hemiptera, Diana, wants to show you her favourite bugs - and you’d better have some lovely things to say about them… 👁️🦗🐜

#Hemiptera #Bugs #NaturalHistory #BeNice #WeAreAlwaysWatching

Independent analysis has estimated that more than half of
Thames Water's 351 sewage treatment works are currently operating without sufficient capacity to treat the volumes of sewage they receive.🧵⬇️

Common picture wing (Rhyothemis variegata), very common in Thailand and Cambodia, stunning!

When #mites (𝘌𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘦) suck sap on the underneath of the leaves of Lime #trees (𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢 sp.) & release chemicals, they induce the trees to 'entrap' them inside red nail-shaped #galls, common at this time of the year

Credits: 2nd pic: Marty Jopson (Youtube), 3rd pic: Sciencephotolibrary

First national survey of terrestrial biodiversity using airborne eDNA - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - First national survey of terrestrial biodiversity using airborne eDNA

And then we surveyed a country.....

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#biodiversity #WomenInStem #AcademicSKY 🧪

If you're passionate about #ponds please check out our new Pond Restoration Training with Carl Sayer & Helen Greaves. This two-day course from 3-4 July is a perfect introduction to pond restoration science & best practice.
🐸 Interested? Find out more & book your place:
www.fba.org.uk/shop/p/pond-...

Yesterday, I volunteered for @thames21.bsky.social taking #water samples at 2 locations on the #river Brent. They want to compare the analysis of samples taken by #citizenscientists (measured with Hannah checkers) with lab results. It was fun! & I met one of their volunteers who lives very close 🧪💦

Fining polluters is good, but with #ThamesWater, a company with a £20 billion financial hole, that needed a rescue loan of £3 billion, that should have been nationalised ages ago, customers will probably pay the #fine with an increase in their bills. This is just another #scandal to add to the list!

Yesterday it was a very nice day out in the New Forest, sampling aquatic #macroinvertebrates with PhD students from the NERC-NHM #freshwater course. We sampled two streams and Hatchet Pond, where some of the rarest #macrophytes in the UK thrive (like Water Purslane, 𝘓𝘶𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘴)

🎤There’s no place like London
There’s no place at all
The east or the West End
You end up in the best end
☺️Take part in a FREE exciting walk, talk or webinar this #londonriversweek2025. Starts in Friday 30th May to Sunday 8th June 2025.
🖱️Register here: www.thames21.org.uk/events/categ...
#thames

London Rivers Week - River Brent WaterBlitz <p>Help us get a snapshot of water quality across the whole River Brent Catchment as part of London Rivers Week.</p><p><br></p><p>Join a team of Citizen Scientists to gather water quality samples at n...

Help us gather data on water quality across the River Brent as part of London Rivers Week 2025! 📊💦

🗓️ 28th May - online training session
🗓️ 6th June - sampling at numerous locations along the Brent and its tributaries.

book.plinth.org.uk/e/IVny4WFfDK...

#thames21 #lrw2025

I'm interested and will join!

A very interesting paper about the potential of #algae & #mussels to remove #psychopharmaceuticals from freshwaters. More research on this topic is needed, because some are pervasive (e.g. ibuprofen) & can't be removed in water treatment plants pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/A...

Two months ago, I took like 30-50 #waterfleas from a #pond and dropped them in our allotment pond. Thanks to the mild weather in the UK, the population has exploded! & they are doing a great job in clearing the water by feeding on the algae!

When you think you are about to film a Algae Case Chironomid Midge larva sticking it head out and.....you get the opposite!

@flygirlnhm.bsky.social #bugsky @riverflies.bsky.social @freshwaterscience.bsky.social @freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Oxygen Levels in Earth's Lakes Are Plummeting, Study Reveals Earth's lakes are experiencing an alarming drop in oxygen levels, new research shows.

Alarming drops in oxygen found in 80% of 15,535 lakes examined worldwide since 2003.

Such drops across waterways have increased mass wildlife asphyxiations events, including deaths of thousands of eels in NZ, Murray cod in AU & mussels in EU in just the last few years #NatureWriting #WildOz 🧪 🌏 🦑

Visiting Osterley House today (West London), I found this big #freshwater #mussel in the pond, about 18 cm long. Probably 𝘈𝘯𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢 𝘤𝘺𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘢 (Swan mussel) #taxonomy

This orange sphere is the infective larval stage (cystacanth) of an Acanthocephalan (thorny-headed worm), that has developed in the hemocoel of the Gammarus. The adult stages of these #parasites live in the intestine of the final host (fish and birds) #macroinvertebrate #taxonomy

The larva of 𝘌𝘶𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘺𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴 (Scarce Black, Stratiomyidae), a rare species associated with ancient woodland. They live in small rot-holes in broadleaved trees, such as beech, ash & oak. I found this one on the Hamble Brook, a very nice chalk stream! #taxonomy #macroinvertebrates #chalkstream

This is 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘢 sp. (genitalia, tibial spur, last antennal segment) from the Okavango Delta (Botswana). I'm working on several publications about different life stages of non-biting midges in this area #diptera #chironomidae #taxonomy

EPCN - the European Pond Conservation Network just arrived to Bluesky!
@epcn.bsky.social
You can now also find them along with several pond researchers in the Pond Ecology starter pack!
go.bsky.app/4xGTu74
Let me know if I missed you and you would like to be included in it! 🐸🐟🐚🦠🪷

Oh to be a little Tardigrade scratching its back on a bubble. 🫧🐻🧪

amazing!! this is so much work! but needed

Today, the USDA lost experts in Psylloidea, Thysanoptera, Cerambycidae, Hymenoptera, Pseudococcidae, and Malacology. This is a devastating loss of expertise, occuring without warning. Their union's official statement on the issue can be found here: aginspectors.org/2-14-2025-a-... #entomology 🧪

Figure 2. Measuring changes in insect biodiversity (centre column 'Metrics' and 'Trends') can be achieved by focusing on drivers that directly or indirectly impact insect biodiversity metrics and trends (left column 'Drivers of Change'). Where data on insect populations specifically are unavailable, data from other species and ecological processes can provide inferential support for changes in insect biodiversity (right column 'Indicators of Change').

*New paper* Denialism campaigns are growing in attempts to discredit science, scientists, and the scientific process generally. Biodiversity loss denial is a new phenomenon that needs our attention.
-With @alexanderlees.bsky.social + Eliza Grames!
#CommSky 🧪🌏 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This is how the pearl rows in the wing sheaths look like. They are very useful to identify exuviae and pupae of some #chironomid genera (like 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘺𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘢) #taxonomy #entomology

Unraveling the genetics of underwater caddisfly silk Hundreds of thousands of arthropod species use silk to capture prey, build protective structures, or anchor eggs. While most silk-producers are terrestrial, caddisflies construct silken capture nets a...

Our review on caddisfly silk genetics is out in @cp-trendsgenetics.bsky.social. We’re excited about new developments in the field and we were stoked to have the chance to cover them in a review. We hope it is useful resource for people interested! www.cell.com/trends/genet...

1st record in the south of England since the 1970s! 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘴. Very similar to 𝘙𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘴. Differences: pecten epipharyngis with 5 teeth, premandibles with wider inner tooth, mentum with dark median tooth, no fine striae on VPs #macroinvertebrates #chironomidae #taxonomy 🧪🌍

A picture of a larva of Brillia longifurca (Diptera, Chironomidae)

A picture of the head capsule of Brillia longifurca (Diptera, Chironomidae)

A picture of the head capsule of Brillia longifurca (Diptera, Chironomidae) showing part of the mentum, right mandible, labrum and premandibles

A picture of the mentum of Brillia longifurca (Diptera, Chironomidae) highlighting the outer teeth, long and well separated

This is the larva of 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘢 Kieffer (Diptera: Chironomidae) from the River Ash. The postmentum is the same colour as the rest of the head capsule & the outer laterals are long & well separated. This last feature isn't described in the guide by Cranston (1982) #chironomidae #entomology 🧪🌍