Rob Cooke

Five panelists seated on a stage engage in a discussion. Behind them, a large screen displays information about the event.

A diverse group of people attentively listening to a panel discussion in a modern, glass-walled venue, with a presentation screen visible.

A group of six people, including men and women, standing indoors, smiling at the camera. They are dressed in business casual attire.

Three people smiling in front of a UKCEH banner that reads, "Innovating with partners to turn science into real-world impact."

IPBES Insights – the value of taking part 🧩🗨️

On the eve of #IPBES12, we were thrilled to welcome 80+ guests to the UKCEH networking event at Manchester Art Gallery.

Thanks to all for a terrific evening of learning, connection & inspiration for the next generation of IPBES scientists!

We just released the latest update of the European Grassland Butterfly Indicator.
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
With nearly 50% decline since 1991 and the decline not reversing, this is again an urgent call for actions for bending the curve, restore habitat and protect biodiversity

Group of 11 people standing outside the entrance to the building hosting the IPBES12 plenary

Large screen above 3 people seated on a stage including on the right Prof Helen Roy from UKCEH

IPBES publications

Advertising banner displaying details of IPBES12

UKCEH is excited to be part of #IPBES12 in Manchester, the first IPBES Plenary in the UK. This brings scientists, policymakers & business together to connect #biodiversity science with policy.

Tonight we welcome IPBES Fellows and early career researchers to our Pathways to IPBES networking event.

So cool!! 🦤

Quantifying the unrecorded loss of avian phylogenetic diversity Humans have drastically reduced avian diversity, with the majority of extinctions occurring on islands. Previous studies have quantified various aspects of this decline, including both taxonomic and ...

🚨 New paper out in @ecography.bsky.social ! 📝

Led by Dr. Søren Faurby, we built upon the estimated unrecorded bird extinctions by @r-cooke.bsky.social et al. 2023 and try to estimate the corresponding unrecorded loss of phylogenetic diversity. 🦤🧬

Check the full paper here:
doi.org/10.1002/ecog...

Illustrations of insects representing Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Orthoptera, and Coleoptera with percentage reductions in abundance: 58%, 37%, 27%, 12% respectively.

First global analysis of its kind, led by UKCEH, has shown the impacts of invasive alien species on insects.

The study found the non-native animals & plants on average reduce abundance of terrestrial insects by 31% and species richness by 21%.

www.ceh.ac.uk/press/insect...

🧪 1/ #biodiversity

Do you like islands? And/or arthropods? Please get in touch with me (m.t.jezierski[at]bham.ac.uk) or another member of the supervisory team!

We will help you study island evolution in arthropods with a (funded) PhD @unibirmingham.bsky.social. 🪲🏝️🦋

centa.ac.uk/studentship/...

*Please share this!*

Interested in island life and arthropods? There's a new PhD project advertised at the University of Birmingham to study the evolution of 'island syndromes' in a chosen group of island arthropods, with both museum and fieldwork-based research are expected. More details at: centa.ac.uk/studentship/...

Butterfly abundance changes in England are well associated with extreme climate events Climate change exerts significant impacts on ecosystems through extreme climate events (ECEs), which are linked to various climate variables and can o…

Interesting paper using @ukbms.bsky.social data to examine extreme weather impacts on butterfly populations. Winter heatwaves and periods of high rainfall appear bad for many species. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🌍

What moths live on farmland?

Despite covering 67% of England, farmland is a biodiversity “dark zone”. Discover how AI & citizen science are revealing its hidden moth life in our FREE webinar:

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1496618569...

@ukceh.bsky.social @abigaillowe.bsky.social @mjopocock.bsky.social

Precision ecology for targeted conservation action Nature Ecology & Evolution - The fields of medicine and marketing use large data volumes and computational power to target individuals. This Perspective argues that applied ecologists should...

🚀 New paper led by Dr Becks Spake!

We make the case for precision ecology—using big data & predictive tools to tailor conservation actions to local contexts.

Can ecology learn from medicine & marketing to boost impact? We think so.

Read it here: rdcu.be/eoaR4
#Conservation #Ecology #BigData

Our new GLiTRS paper! 🎉🦗🦋🐝

A tricky paper (evidence synthesis is hard!) but one with bags of potential to improve our understanding of insect biodiversity change 📊

A Multithreat Meta‐Analytic Database for Understanding Insect Biodiversity Change Aim Widespread declines in insect biodiversity have been attributed to a diverse set of anthropogenic drivers, but the relative importance of these drivers remains unclear. A key reason for this unc...

New GLiTRS paper led by @joemillard.bsky.social 🚨📝

"Our database provides a framework for the first global meta-analytic overview of the response of insects to a range of major anthropogenic drivers"

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

New Natural England assessments reveal the appalling condition of Dartmoor’s Protected Sites Tony WhiteheadWithout so much as a whisper publicly, Natural England this week updated its assessment of Dartmoor’s protected sites, the three big Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) that cov...

Without so much as a whisper NE this week updated the condition assessments of all the Dartmoor Commons SSSIs - it really is not a pretty picture ... headline?

Of those newly assessed SSSI units, only 26ha of 22,494ha are in favourable condition.

www.dartmoornature.org.uk/post/sssicon...

New GLiTRS paper out today!

Identifying hotspots and risk factors for tick-borne encephalitis virus emergence at its range margins to guide interventions, Great Britain Background Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is expanding its range in Europe, with increasing human cases reported. Since the first detection of TBEV in ticks in the United Kingdom in 2019, one po...

Our new paper combines wildlife surveillance data and spatial risk modelling to map suitability for TBEV in GB. We identified key drivers linked to TBEV exposure in deer and produced risk maps, which can guide future surveillance and interventions. www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...

Emerging technologies for pollinator monitoring Efficient tools for monitoring pollinator populations are urgently needed to address their reported declines. Here, we review advanced technologies fo…

Great to be at the #FutureforButterflies. Tomorrow I will speak about this new paper and our work with #biodiversitymonitoring using #Insect #cameratraps and #AI as part of @mambo-project.eu @onestop-project.eu and @insectai.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...?

Screenshot from the cover page of the paper

A map of the world showing fly migration study locations and estimated routes

A close up photo of Eristalinus taeniops the stripey eyed hoverfly on a yellow flower in Cyprus

A close up photo of the locust blowfly Stomorhina lunata on a rock. My favourite fly

It's published!
The largest research work I've ever undertaken:

Lords of the flies: dipteran migrants are diverse, abundant & ecologically important

Published in Biological Reviews: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Thanks so much to co-authors @koralwotton.bsky.social & Myles Menz
1/x

Deadline tomorrow to apply for our paid internship on modelling restoration

Our new paper, based on data from 1,705 studies, shows that pesticides are toxic to organisms they are not intended to harm, including fungi, microbes, plants, insects, & vertebrates such as ourselves. Questions the wisdom of applying over 3 million tonnes of them every year...

Geospatial Analyst:South Kensington

Come and join us in @nhm-london.bsky.social's Biodiversity Futures Lab! We're looking for a geospatial analyst to join the #PredictsProject team for 12 months (with possibility to extend) to help us further develop the Biodiversity Intactness Index. #job deadline 3 Mar jobs.nhm.ac.uk/internal/Job...

As the clowns in charge of the American circus pull out of the #ParisClimateAgreement, the @who.int, and probably a host of other international agencies, I'm reminded of this paragraph we wrote in 2021 (from doi.org/10.3389/fcos...):

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Real-Time Early-Warnings of Human-Wildlife Conflict at University of Reading on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Real-Time Early-Warnings of Human-Wildlife Conflict at University of Reading, listed on FindAPhD.com

🚨 Interested in using #AI to help develop real-time early warnings of human-wildlife conflict?

Apply for a fully-funded #PhD supervised by Vicky Boult (University of Reading) and our own @robboyd.bsky.social

Part of the AI-INTERVENE programme. Deadline 27 Jan: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Quick thread on some new papers on the science of impacts of bird feeding since the publication of our papers here www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... and here britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti... #Ornithoogy #UKBirding🧵 1/

My own #OA contribution is "Bending the curve of #biodiversity loss requires a ‘satnav’ for nature". I argue we'll only reach the #KMGBF goals by combining model predictions of expected future outcomes of today's choices with rapid feedback from monitoring royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: Vol 380, No 1917

‘Bending the curve towards nature recovery: building on Georgina Mace's legacy for a biodiverse future’ - a special issue of Phil Trans R Soc B in honour of a very special biodiversity scientist - is published today by @royalsociety.org. royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...

🎄🎁 Need help navigating the mFD R package for your analyses of #functionaldiversity? The team has a Christmas present for you: an FAQ based on your most common questions since 2021!
➡️ cmlmagneville.github.io/mFD/articles...

+ New functions to work with functional entities (in the dev vers)📦

We are thrilled to announce that it has been agreed that #IPBES12 will take place in the United Kingdom, thanks to the UK’s kind offer to host the Plenary.

Thank you to UK Government, we look forward to launching the #BizBiodiversity Report in the UK.

Image of a Redstart alongside the wording: Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data now freely available. This includes over 7 million records! BTO, JNCC and RSPB logo bottom left. BBS logo top middle.

1/ Great news! 🎉BTO, JNCC and RSPB are making decades of Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data freely available for everyone in the conservation and research community. This includes over 7 million records! 📝 Find out more ⬇️ or read the paper➡️ bit.ly/_BBSData #Ornithology #UKBirding

Digital twins AND adaptive sampling! A @ukceh.bsky.social double bill at the poster session tonight B17.10/11 #bes2024