Dani Crowley 🏳️‍🌈🇮🇪🇵🇸

Nature Reviews Biodiversity - Volume 2 Issue 2, February 2026 Soil biodiversity—including microorganisms, microfauna, mesofauna, and macrofauna—contributes to ecosystem function across scales; inspired by...

Our February issue is now live! This month featuring articles on:
🪱 Soil biodiversity
🦈 Shark and ray conservation
🌊 Climate-smart marine spatial planning
🌎 Area-based conservation and data justice

Find the issue here:

Bending back the curve of shark and ray biodiversity loss Sharks and rays are sentinels of the state of the ocean. Since the mid-twentieth century, overall abundance has declined by nearly 65% and over one-third (37.5%) of species are threatened, causing widespread changes in community structure. This crisis stems from unregulated fisheries expansion coupled with inadequate catch-and-trade monitoring that fail to account for the complexity of shark and ray products, their use and global trade flows. In this Review, we assess the state of shark and ray populations worldwide, remedies to reverse their decline, and challenges and barriers to conservation. Stark geographic and taxonomic biases persist in essential data, requiring integrated species distribution modelling, data mobilization, trait prediction and new threat maps of fishing mortality. Addressing management gaps requires regulatory and market-based approaches that must ultimately reduce fishing mortality, link international frameworks to national fisheries management tools, and implement a mitigation hierarchy of management actions through sound compliance management across supply, trade and demand chains. Case studies reveal strengths and weaknesses in management effectiveness and demonstrate successful recoveries for wide-ranging and restricted-range species. Finally, we identify 6 key challenges and propose 25 research questions and actionable recommendations to bend back the curve of shark and ray biodiversity loss. Global shark and ray populations have declined sharply, driven by expanding fisheries and inequitable gaps in catch, trade and distribution data. This Review assesses global status, highlights drivers of decline, and outlines the regulatory, market-based and conservation actions needed to reduce mortality and reverse shark and ray biodiversity loss.

February issue: A Review from Nick Dulvy and colleagues assesses the status and decline of shark and ray biodiversity loss and outlines essential conservation actions.
Readcube: http://dlvr.it/TR1tl2
Weblink: http://dlvr.it/TR1tl3

On this day that supports inclusive futures for women and girls in science, let's not forget all the women that were sidelined, ignored, or forced out of science because they:
- had children
- prioritised family/caring
- did science differently
- questioned boundaries & norms
- fought the patriarchy

Given how academia shields abusers are we surprised

Proud of my fellow Bangor students today ✊️❤️

The debating society made the right call, you never have to entertain fascists crying "debate me". Reform are dangerous, unhinged, and petty, and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near government or universities or indeed North Wales

In April, #PrideinSTEM turns 10! We will have a celebration for it, and we would like to recognize individuals who have had a positive impact on LGBTQIA+ People in STEM, here in the UK!

Do you know someone who fits that description?

Nominate them here:

prideinstem.org/2026/01/27/n...

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🧪🔭

Democratizing the arts looks like universal income, low-barrier grants for both emerging and working artists, well-funded municipal arts & recreation programs, vibrant third spaces, and a well-funded public school system with progressive curriculum.

Not a free pass for corporate-owned slop engines.

@linneansociety.bsky.social

We're here, science is queer, and we're not going anywhere! And most importantly we're not alone. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

burden of safety and educating others and advocating for yourself, and the heavy weight of being (as one speaker said) a pioneer. This conference allowed me to acknowledge that weight, and set it aside, just for a day...

This was my first time giving a plenary, chairing, and organising a conference at all, and I'm so glad it was this one. Science expects us to hide, to be exceptional, especially if you're an "outsider" to the norm, and it's easy to forget that you're carrying that burden, and the ...

Slide saying Exploring Queerness in Natural History

Connor and Dani presenting, they're both wearing blazers and laughing

Connor and Dani in front of a slide asking why our view of nature so biased

Photo of a pregnant seahorse giving birth

Still buzzing from the amazing Exploring Queerness in Natural Symposium at @linneansociety yesterday, what a day! So many great talks and chats, and the most warm and joyous atmosphere of any conference I've ever been at...

Thanks Ross! And yes for sure, pencil me in 🥰

Dani and Connor presenting at the Linnean Society, they are both smiling. In the backround is a historic chair and portrait of Carl Linnaeus.

Close up of someone cutting out a picture of a bird for a zine page. In the background are a colourful array of pens and materials to make a collage

A group of people, all smiling, on the stage together at the Linnean Society

We had a wonderful time yesterday at Exploring Queerness in Natural History.

We're writing up it up to share in a future blog post, but for now here are some pictures of our fantastic curators @aquadan1.bsky.social and Connor Butler, the lunchtime zine-making, and our afternoon panellists.

Happening next week!

I mourn science twitter everyday for the loss of connections and news and fun, but especially because now if you want to have a science online presence you need to be a video based influencer instead of a bit of a weirdo who could write funny tweets on occasion

Screenshot of a phone calendar appointment that says: Friday: Bone temple 7.15pm

Very excited to see the new installment in the 28 Days Laters saga but also it's very funny to see it in the calendar. Love to have an appointment at the bone temple

I've been feeling the same, I don't use this nearly as much as twitter because there isn't that breadth of community! And I'm sick of just seeing US news everytime I open my feed, even when following a wide range of people

Symposium | Exploring Queerness in Natural History A one-day, interdisciplinary symposium centring LGBTQ+ inclusion in the environmental sector.

The programme is out for our Symposium, Exploring Queerness in Natural History, on 5 February.

We're excited to hear from our Symposium Curators, Connor Butler and @aquadan1.bsky.social, as well as talks from Simon Goldhill, @canopyrobin.com and @rossbrooks.co.uk. (1/3)

buff.ly/jc6Unz7

I've made it a personal goal to stop using the term "content" when referring to media made by artists. The word implies mass-produced filler and calling someone's hard work their "content" has started to feel kinda like an insult. Like human art made strictly for quick consumption

AI-Generated Animals Are Distancing Us From Nature | Atmos Cuddly polar bears and hyperrealistic chimeras may seem harmless on social media, but experts worry AI animal content can be harmful.

An AI-generated video showing a capybara, a South American rodent, in a bathtub, "could boost people’s interest in keeping such animals as pets and fuel the illegal trade of such species." Fab piece by Katarina Zimmer on the perils of AI-generated animals:

atmos.earth/science-and-...

Is Nanotyrannus a baby T. rex, or is it its own species? @shamini.bsky.social has been finding out!

Landmark report confirms that the UK's Cost of Living Crisis is being aggravated by climate change. — Scientists Warning Europe - Inspiring science-based climate action A landmark economic report published by the climate science charity Scientists Warning Europe confirms that the UK's Cost of Living Crisis is being aggravated by climate change.

In 2021, the chance of 40C heat in the UK by 2040 was estimated at 0.02%

In 2022, multiple regions hit 40C

This is one example of a systematic underestimation of climate risks in UK and internationally

Important new report @paulbehrens.bsky.social
www.scientistswarningeurope.org.uk/cost-of-living

a man in a room with the word hackerman on the screen ALT: a man in a room with the word hackerman on the screen

When you change the console colours on the programming software you use

Super late but had such a blast returning to @linneansociety.bsky.social to deliver an evening event on Queer Ecology featuring trailblazing scientists from the past, animals outside our human binaries, and the challenges facing us today. Thank you! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

Petition: Do not introduce Digital ID cards We demand that the UK Government immediately commits to not introducing a digital ID cards. There are reports that this is being looked at.

The Starmer government is REALLY running scared of this petition, now at 2.75 million, to the extent that it has responded 3 months early, in a transparent attempt to spike it.

So please, under no circumstances should you sign it and share it widely. Starmer & his boss McSweeney would not like it.

Aww thank you, so glad you enjoyed it!

A presentation slide on light blue background. Along the left are 8 different Pride Flags, with each stripe containing an animal or plant. The text on the right side of the slide reads: Welcome to The Linnean Society Queer Ecology Evening.

Had a lovely evening at @linneansociety.bsky.social, listening to @aquadan1.bsky.social and generally being nerdy about #QueerNature, queer people in the sciences and why it's important to talk about both. Always great to hear different perspectives, Thank you! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Tonight! 😍🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️