Opwall Science

Welcome to Opwall Science! This account is dedicated to sharing research news from our global network of fieldwork sites, as well as to highlight news and stories that might be of broad interest to the biodiversity and conservation science community.

Largely migrating this account over to Bluesky - great if you want to follow us there (same handle). Will still post new science updates on here but perhaps less frequently.

Great thread by @MHCNeateClegg on a new paper examining demographic rates of birds across an elevational gradient in our Cusuco National Park research site. This paper was recently published in @OrnithApplic and can be found here: doi.org/10.1093/ornith…

🚨New species alert!🚨Two more new spider species described from our Madagascar research site; Larinia foco and Larinia mariaranoensis are introduced to the world in a new Arachnology paper by Jaime Escobar-Toledo & Brogan Pett: bioone.org/journals/arach…

A good week for new species descriptions! Another new plant species (Besleria hondurensis) described from Daniel Kelly's collections from Cusuco National Park, bringing the number of species described from our sites to 81! tinyurl.com/4cwthyd7

New paper in @AI_Journal by Katie Murray et al. describing three new species of Jumping Spider from our site in the Mariarano forest, Madagascar (and taking the number of species described from Opwall sites up to 78). africaninvertebrates.pensoft.net/article/126810/

Great review article led by Josh Phangurha in @RandAJournal summarizing records of herpetofaunal ectoparasites (ticks, mites, and leeches) in Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Mexico made over a 10-year period: tinyurl.com/2pw3vphd 📷Joseph Oakley

Important new paper on global bird extinctions (and consequential impacts on functional and phylogenetic diversity) just out in @ScienceMagazine (with some analyses completed by Opwall scientists). science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

New paper in Restoration Ecology, examining survival of Acroporus corals in restoration areas off Hoga Island. Results show morphology of original coral fragments is a strong driver of survival, and that bushy Acropora fared much better than other species. tinyurl.com/45zmh69e

Finally putting labels and barcodes on the material collected from the @opwall Peru trip in March This was the amazing Forcipomyia sp. specimen engorging herself for the sake of her offspring! @NHM_London @dipterists @ChrisBorkent - one for your Dad!

New job opportunity within our growing research department! Principal responsibilities involve leading sections of our terrestrial research projects (with a particular focus on the neotropics), and managing aspects of our education program. Join the team! environmentjob.co.uk/jobs/102676-re…

New paper out in Dipterist Digest by Mark Welch et al. describing the first record of the fly species Megaselia limpachensis in the UK (and the second record ever) from Opwall's site on the Knepp estate. dipterists.org.uk/digest

Exciting new research lab @RARElab_org specializing in the study of lost and poorly-studied species has launched - very much an area of interest to us!

New review paper in @japplecol, produced in collaboration between the University of Nottingham and Opwall, summarizing the merits of different parts of the technological "tool kit" for sourcing data useful for the calculation of biodiversity credits: tinyurl.com/5n7uebzz

🚨New species alert! Jeff Stallman et al. describe in #Mycologia Chlorosplenium cusucoense from the cloud forests of Cusuco National Park, Honduras. This represents the 74th species description from an opwall site! tinyurl.com/yrwuap3y @dhaelewa @jeff_stallman

Interesting podcast detailing some of the Morelet's crocodile research Frederico Barroso has been completing with us in Mexico (in Spanish): open.spotify.com/episode/7xJHhY…

New paper by @JoeyWayman out in @AnimalEcology using long-term BTO data to examine the (very complex) processes of biotic homogenization and heterogenization in UK bird species. Key outcome is homogenization isnt always "bad" - it depends on the context: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/13…

New paper by Ben Titus et al. in Systematic Biology examining speciation processes in Cleaner Shrimp. Results show evolutionary history in the species group is complex, being influenced by large-scale biogeographical processes and major tectonic events: doi.org/10.1093/sysbio…

Congratulations to everyone involved with getting these important publications out!

Next, Alex Laking et al. present the herpetofaunal inventory for the park - an undertaking that has been 17 years in the making (with new species being detected in most years)! Overall the park supports 105 species, including many highly threatened species neotropical.pensoft.net/article/120902/

Not one but two great new science articles from Cusuco National Park just published in the @NeotropicalBio Central America special issue! All issues in this special issue are open access: neotropical.pensoft.net/issue/4231/