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Keller Kopf

@kellerfish.bsky.social

Ecology - Conservation - Rivers - Fish and Fisheries Senior Lecturer Charles Darwin University

2,262 Followers  |  1,028 Following  |  75 Posts  |  Joined: 22.11.2024  |  2.1025

Latest posts by kellerfish.bsky.social on Bluesky

The Power of Art in Conservation
YouTube video by Bill Sutherland's Conservation Concepts The Power of Art in Conservation

The Society of Wildlife Art have a wonderful project at Massingham Heath rewilding project, Norfolk. Here Amie Haslam and Brin Edwards explain the project. youtu.be/hiCQiSHuaG4?...

08.08.2025 06:48 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Nice photo; I grew up near there and spent many summer days as a kid floating old tractor tire intertubes downstream in the Platte

06.08.2025 11:54 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The brain fires up immune cells when sick people are nearby When people viewed virtual avatars with coughs or rashes, their brains triggered an immune response.

This is fascinating - the brain fires up immune cells when sick people are nearby
πŸ§ͺ

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

02.08.2025 08:27 β€” πŸ‘ 118    πŸ” 31    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 6
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Why did some #megafauna survive? 🦣🦘🦌
Our new study shows #extinction risk was higher for larger, flat-footed, island speciesβ€” and lower for those closely related to tropical African/Asian fauna, likely filtered by earlier human impacts πŸ‘£πŸ–
πŸ“„ doi.org/10.1111/geb....
#hominid #hunting #evolution

02.08.2025 22:39 β€” πŸ‘ 83    πŸ” 19    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Supersized stick insect discovered in high-altitude trees in Australia The 40cm-long insect, named Acrophylla alta, weighs slightly less than a golf ball and may be the heaviest insect in Australia

Like the old-growth coastal redwoods that host whole other ecosystems in their spires, these extraordinary Australian stick insects reveal not only the richness and mystery of mature forest canopies but how vital their protection is for countless forms of life.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

31.07.2025 09:20 β€” πŸ‘ 28    πŸ” 14    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2

Albatrosses make distinct flight hops when following fishing vessels 🎣

In this blog post, Jonathan Rutter discusses a new behaviour-based method to detect previously hidden interactions between seabirds and fishing vessels πŸ›°οΈπŸŒπŸ§ͺ

πŸ‘‡
appliedecologistsblog.com/2025/07/31/a...

31.07.2025 14:02 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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'Communities' of strange, extreme life seen for first time in deep ocean A Chinese-led research team captures pictures of life at depths of more than 9km in the northwest Pacific Ocean.

There's so much life in the deep ocean, and there's still so much to discover! #deepocean #marinescience πŸ§ͺ
www.bbc.com/news/article...

31.07.2025 16:29 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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To fill or not to fill: Comparing imputation methods for improved riverine long-term biodiversity monitoring πŸ’­πŸŒŽ

Suggests gap filling in biodiversity data can distort trends as more missing years mean easier fits but higher uncertainty πŸ“ŠπŸ§ͺ

πŸ”— doi.org/10.1111/1365...

29.07.2025 10:14 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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1500 km2 of tropical savanna dotted with crystal clear water holes. Camping off the beaten track in Litchfield National Park is pretty special

12.07.2025 02:22 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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An ecological trait matrix of Neotropical freshwater fishes - Scientific Data Scientific Data - An ecological trait matrix of Neotropical freshwater fishes

An ecological trait matrix of Neotropical freshwater fishes

@gymnotus.bsky.social et al. 2025 Scientific Data

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

05.07.2025 15:26 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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a gold trophy with a laurel wreath around it and the words well done on a gold ribbon ALT: a gold trophy with a laurel wreath around it and the words well done on a gold ribbon

Title of the year.

26.06.2025 11:34 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Figure 3. Maximum-likelihood (IQ-TREE 2) phylogeny based on all mitochondrial protein-coding genes of riverine Lamprologus species analyzed in this study (in bold) along with additional lamprologine species with available partial mitogenomes

Figure 3. Maximum-likelihood (IQ-TREE 2) phylogeny based on all mitochondrial protein-coding genes of riverine Lamprologus species analyzed in this study (in bold) along with additional lamprologine species with available partial mitogenomes

Specimen of Lamprologus lethops (c. 70 mm long) on a hand. Photograph by the American Museum of Natural History, used with permission and courtesy of Melanie L. J. Stiassny.

Specimen of Lamprologus lethops (c. 70 mm long) on a hand. Photograph by the American Museum of Natural History, used with permission and courtesy of Melanie L. J. Stiassny.

Novel complete mitochondrial genomes of eight riverine Lamprologus species (Actinopterygii, Cichlidae) suggest in-situ speciation of the blind cichlid L. lethops in the lower Congo River

Jimenez et al. 2025

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

22.06.2025 12:31 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Portail Emploi CNRS - Offre d'emploi - Offre de post-doctorat en Γ©cologie (H/F)

Please pass along - postdoc position! with our working group on #FunctionalTraits and rarity. This is part of the FREE (Functional Rarity in Ecology and Evolution) working group led by Cyrille Violle in Montpellier France πŸ§ͺ🌐🌾 emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

17.06.2025 20:40 β€” πŸ‘ 72    πŸ” 84    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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Amazing paper by He Zang and colleagues showing the (truly!) long-term decline of tigers in Eastern Asia
Chinese difangzhi, and other historical documents, are used to describe range loss since the 16th century with an increadible spatial precision
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

11.06.2025 08:54 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Silky sharks - sleek oceanic predators that were once one of the most abundant shark species in our oceans - are now considered vulnerable on the IUCN Red List due to their decreasing population. They are threatened by overfishing, and are the second most commonly caught shark in global fisheries.

10.06.2025 17:13 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Intraspecific body size determines isotopic trophic structure of a large river fish community The body size of individuals within species plays an important role in determining trophic structure, yet many ecological models and tests of theory assign species-level values to define trophic posi....

Happy to see our new paper published exploring size-based trophic dynamics in Australia’s largest river system

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

09.06.2025 12:02 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Simple, Universal Rules Predict Trophic Interaction Strengths Two simple, universal rules derived from energetic arguments predict the parameters of predator functional responses that underlie the strengths of trophic interactions. Furthermore, theory developed...

Simple, Universal Rules Predict Trophic Interaction Strengths #scaling #allometry #bodysize πŸ§ͺ🌐https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ele.70126?campaign=woletoc

28.05.2025 09:59 β€” πŸ‘ 31    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Repeated and widespread evolution of biofluorescence in marine fishes - Nature Communications Biofluorescence is widespread in fishes. Here, the authors compile data on biofluorescence presence across teleost fishes and demonstrate that it may have originally evolved in eels 112 million years ...

Repeated and widespread evolution of biofluorescence in marine fishes

Carr et al. 2025 Nature Comm.

459 known biofluorescent teleosts (the majority are associated with coral reefs); estimate biofluorescence evolved multiple times but first ~112 mya

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

26.05.2025 20:19 β€” πŸ‘ 64    πŸ” 31    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 6
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Adaptations to marine environments and the evolution of slow-paced life histories in endotherms - Nature Communications The evolution of a slow life history may be due to reduced extrinsic mortality and allometric effects. Here, the authors suggest that adaptations endotherms needed to return to marine life are associa...

Adaptations to marine environments and the evolution of slow-paced life histories in endotherms www.nature.com/articles/s41...

14.05.2025 10:35 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Inforgraphic showing how marine life hase changed from the 1960s to the 2010s

Inforgraphic showing how marine life hase changed from the 1960s to the 2010s

Our latest paper highlights changes in the marine community at Shiprock in Sydney over half a century. #sydney_science #SAEF_ARC #marineexplorer πŸ§ͺπŸ¦‘
Open access: doi.org/10.1071/MF24...

12.05.2025 20:31 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Floodplain wetlands in Barmah Forest are bouncing back after the removal of more than 700 feral horses between 2020 and 2024 by Parks Victoria.

13.05.2025 05:35 β€” πŸ‘ 32    πŸ” 14    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1
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Angling for answers, this saltwater fishing group boosts research for better conservation Saltwater fishing is both big business and a pastime in the U.S., with millions of Americans working in the industry – from commercial trawlers to professional fishing guides and gear manufacturers –…

β€œUntil we came along, there was no voice for those saltwater anglers who cared about conservation.”

Though anglers aren’t generally thought of as environmentalists, many people who fish are conservation minded, whether because it’s an outdoor pursuit, or because they wish to ensure future harvests.

13.05.2025 11:21 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Wonderful cover, and amazing research by Zhang et al. - they used classic Chinese poetry that mentions the Yangtze finless porpoise (724 poems in total!) to estimate the range contraction of the species over the last 1400 years. Such a creative approach to generate truly novel data!

09.05.2025 13:37 β€” πŸ‘ 80    πŸ” 29    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Graphic by the UN Environment Programme showing glowing jellyfish with the text "OCEAN FORECAST: marine heatwaves – Ocean heat increase since the 1970s." It highlights the impacts of marine heatwaves including coral bleaching and reef degradation, loss of marine biodiversity, and increased likelihood of extreme weather events.

Graphic by the UN Environment Programme showing glowing jellyfish with the text "OCEAN FORECAST: marine heatwaves – Ocean heat increase since the 1970s." It highlights the impacts of marine heatwaves including coral bleaching and reef degradation, loss of marine biodiversity, and increased likelihood of extreme weather events.

According to the @ipcc.bsky.social, marine heat waves have doubled in frequency and have become longer-lasting, more intense, and more extensive since the 1980s.Urgent #ClimateAction is needed to #SaveOurOcean and ensure a sustainable future for all.

05.05.2025 05:12 β€” πŸ‘ 33    πŸ” 18    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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How Greenland sharks live for hundreds of years without going blind Greenland sharks show no signs of retinal degeneration despite living for up to 400 years, and scientists have identified genetic adaptations that may explain how

Greenland sharks, the longest-lived vertebrates in the world, show no signs of physical deterioration in their retinas even after living for hundreds of years.

04.05.2025 12:28 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Temperature influences how quickly aquatic animals adjust their physiology to a change in salinity Sigurd Einum, Tim Burton This is a plain language summary of aΒ Functional EcologyΒ article which can be found here. Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of organisms to adjust their traits in respon…

πŸ“°PublishedπŸ“° Temperature influences how quickly aquatic animals adjust their physiology to a change in salinity πŸŸπŸ¦€

buff.ly/RyRgPHG

πŸ§ͺ🌍

26.04.2025 11:01 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Review of evidence that foxes and cats cause extinctions of Australia's endemic mammals Abstract. Over half of Australia's threatened and extinct endemic mammal species have been attributed to introduced red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and cats (Fel

A recent paper claims, opposed to what conservation science has known for decades, that there is no evidence that foxes and cats were a major driver of Australia's mammal extinctions. Turns out there are quite a few issues here. Strap in for a looong thread πŸ§ͺ

academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

17.04.2025 02:12 β€” πŸ‘ 80    πŸ” 29    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 10

Incredibly rare leucistic sailfish!!

16.04.2025 12:46 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

That is incredible. Have never seen that in billfish or even large Pelagics

16.04.2025 12:45 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Impacts of water resource development on tropical flow-dependent fisheries: a case study of northern Australia

Important new review synthesising impacts of river development on fisheries

rdcu.be/ehZzy

16.04.2025 11:57 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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