Tim Curran

Ping @darwinnernz.bsky.social

UN recognition is latest boost to restoring spekboom across South Africa’s semidesert Karoo “Spekboom is everywhere, it’s all anyone talks about … what used to be an Angora goat farming town is now a spekboom town,” says field ecologist Rae Attridge. In the past two years, Nat Carbon, the ca...

news.mongabay.com/2026/02/un-r...

New Zealand bug of the year: moth named Avatar after mining threat crowned winner Arctesthes avatar moth, which won nearly half of the votes, was discovered in 2012 and is critically endangered

New Zealand bug of the year: moth named Avatar after mining threat crowned winner

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Great photos, @frankashwood.bsky.social!

More women are professors, but gender gaps continue to plague NZ universities New Zealand universities are slowly closing the pay gap, but men are still more likely to fill senior leadership roles in the highest pay brackets.

More women are professors, but gender gaps continue to plague NZ universities
theconversation.com/more-women-a...

The natural architecture of oyster reefs maximizes recruit survival - Nature Survival of reef-building oysters peaks at specific combinations of fractal dimension and height that reduce predation, showing how optimal three-dimensional habitat geometry can guide more effec...

Cool study on an important and tasty species.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Colonists dredged away Sydney's natural oyster reefs. Now, scientists know how best to restore them New research has identified optimal design for artificial habitats to support restoration of oyster reefs, based on a detailed understanding of natural oyster reef geometry. Published in the global jo...

phys.org/news/2026-02...

Endangered banksia ecosystem in Perth faces destruction with no adequate offset, expert says Proposal to replant inside a different type of protected woodland would not replicate diversity of cleared sites used by threatened cockatoo species, conservationists say * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Property developers in Perth plan to bulldoze an endangered banksia ecosystem used by threatened black cockatoo species, and conservationists have warned the damage cannot be mitigated by proposed offsets. The developers want to replant the banksia ecosystem within a different type of protected woodland – a proposal that a leading botanist said was doomed to fail. Continue reading...

Endangered banksia ecosystem in Perth faces destruction with no adequate offset, expert says

Climate change is here. NZ isn't ready Analysis: A serious approach to climate adaptation requires reckoning with the grim reality the future holds: more storms, more floods, more heat.

NZ must reckon with the grim reality of our future: more storms, floods and heat.

This is a confronting situation. And yet, if we are to shield our communities, our infrastructure and our economy from the worst excesses of climate change, it is one we must confront.
newsroom.co.nz/2026/02/18/c...

Wildfire research focuses on beech forests | Bioeconomy Science Institute New wildfire research is putting the litter bed flammability of New Zealand’s beech forests under the microscope.

Wildfire research focuses on beech forests

Here's what PhD student Georgia Stevenson has been up to...

@bioeconomyscience.bsky.social

www.bioeconomyscience.co.nz/news-and-eve...

Global Trends in Drought Impacts on Wildlife—A Review We reviewed peer reviewed literature pertaining to instances of anomalous drought (any drought event that deviates from standard conditions (e.g., dry season) when compared to a long term average) an...

New paper from our lab, led by Leah McTigue
We reviewed 40+ years of research on drought affects on wildlife: 66% of single-species responses were negative, only 2% positive.
As droughts intensify under climate change, wildlife are in trouble. 🌍🌐🧪
📄 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Species on east-west coastlines are more likely to go extinct than those on north-south shores – new study 500 million years of fossils reveal how ‘escape routes’ along coastlines can decide who survives climate change.

theconversation.com/species-on-e...

This is wrong on so many levels: treating grad students as a production line, thinking that AI will be better than grad students and the scientists that they become, succession (like you point out), to name just a few...

Developing evidence briefs for landscape fire management For evidence briefs to provide value to the ecological management and natural hazards community and to the broader public, researchers and practitioners need clear guidance on how briefs must be deve...

Humbled to bea part of this paper on principles for developing evidence briefs for landscape fire management. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Vegetation flammability contributes to alternative stable states in arid Australia

Cool project led by Boyd Wright

connectsci.au/wf/article/3...

House

This is disappointing, to say the very least...

Environment (Disestablishment of Ministry for the Environment) Amendment Bill

Merger with Ministry of Housing & Urban Development, Ministry of Transport, & the local govt functions of the Dept of Internal Affairs

bills.parliament.nz/v/6/27caed65...

Bark traits and their influence on thermal resistance to wildfires: an experimental study across six tree species common in Central Europe - Fire Ecology Climate change is increasing the probability of wildfires in the non-fire-prone forests of Central Europe. Systematic knowledge on tree resistance to fire would help to improve the future management o...

Bark traits and their influence on thermal resistance to wildfires: an experimental study across six tree species common in Central Europe

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Bethann, do you have links to some of these reports? I kick off my field course tomorrow with a new workshop discussing why learning to write is so important and beseeching the class to not succumb to the temptations of leaving it all to AI.

Your chapter is great help here.

TIA.

Collaborating Across Continents to Understand Fire and Savanna Dynamics Dr Imma Oliveras Menor shares her research on vegetative phenology and fire response strategies in the Brazilian Cerrado.

This week, the Ecosystems Lab welcomed back @ioliverasmenor.bsky.social. During her visit, she shared updates from her research on experimental fire reintroduction and reflected on years of collaborative work in the Brazilian Cerrado. Read more here: www.oxfordecosystems.org/post/collabo...

NZ needs to pay power firms to build renewable generation – professor

Though often seen as a clean-energy success story, NZ is lagging other countries that are reaching 100 percent renewable power. Jamie Morton reports.

Analysis of vegetation clearing in New South Wales 2010 – 2023 A spatial analysis of the impacts of land clearing on biodiversity in New South Wales.

Analysis of vegetation clearing in New South Wales 2010 - 2023: Implications for biodiversity.

Public vegetation clearing data in NSW indicates that almost 700,000 hectares of native vegetation were cleared between 2010 and 2023.

wentworthgroup.org/2026/02/anal...

a map of southern south America showing the location of burning fires with lots of red dots.

Patagonian wildfires show how denying climate change & pushing environmental destruction make the reality of climate change much worse. Threatening the destruction of trees that have been alive when the bronze age collapsed. @wwattribution.bsky.social www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-chan...

Importing gas locks NZ into fossil fuels for longer – just as clean energy surges Even as the US steps back from Paris and New Zealand flirts with imported gas, the global energy transition is gathering speed.

theconversation.com/importing-ga...

hunterlandcare.org.au/whats-in-a-n...

17 incredible Australian women in botany - Australian Geographic Australia is home to many talented botanists, many of whom are women. Here are just a few of their stories.

www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2019/03...

Western quoll joey born in the wild after conservation program success Once thought to be extinct in NSW, the small, spotted, and highly photogenic western quoll is making a hard-fought comeback to the wild.

Once extinct in NSW, the chuditch or western quoll is now breeding in the wild thanks to a conservation program.
The animals were released into an area, the size of 11,000 football fields, within the Sturt National Park in 2024. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

So, in summary, we know that buffel grass is an invasive weed in Australia and elsewhere in the world, which impacts biodiversity, culture and fire regimes.

The NT government should continue to recognise it as such and seek to manage it across land tenures, guided by expert knowledge.

Above and belowground effects of buffelgrass invasion in the Sonoran Desert - Biological Invasions Invasive species pose a significant threat to biodiversity, particularly in arid ecosystems where extreme environmental conditions limit the capacity for rapid vegetation recovery. Buffelgrass (Cenchr...

Buffel grass isn't just a weed in Australia, it's a problem elsewhere, including North America.

Here's a taste:

'Buffelgrass (Cenchrus ciliaris) is one of the most noxious and detrimental invasive species to the integrity of the Sonoran Desert'

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) eradication in arid central Australia enhances native plant diversity and increases seed resources for granivores Buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris L.) is a drought-adapted invasive plant of arid and semi-arid grassland and woodland systems globally. This research demonstrates that buffel grass removal at localise...

We also know that if you can eradicate buffel grass in arid Australia, you get a return of the native understorey plants and provide much more seed for granivorous (seed-eating) native fauna such as ants, birds and small mammals:

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...

Long‐term and landscape impacts of buffel grass on arid plant communities: Ecosystem shifts and acceleration by fire Plant invasions drive biodiversity loss, transform ecosystems, and promote positive-feedback cycles between invasion and fire. However, the long-term impacts of invasive grasses across landscapes wit...

Long term research has shown how buffel grass negatively impacts native plant community composition:

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Ranking buffel: Comparative risk and mitigation costs of key environmental and socio‐cultural threats in central Australia This manuscript compares the risks to biodiversity and culture of central Australia posed by buffel grass and feral animals and fire. Our analyses show that the threat from buffel is at least as seri...

This is deeply disappointing. Buffel grass is a globally significant weed. Recent science found threats to biodiversity and culture from buffel in arid and semi-arid areas of Australia are at least equal to those posed by invasive animals and perhaps higher

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...