#invertebrates — Public Fediverse posts

Cressida cressida, the clearwing swallowtail or 'big greasy' butterfly. Large and conspicuously coloured - it is toxic to potential predators. Toxins are absorbed from the food that it eats as a caterpillar. Seen in Cape York. FNQ.

#nature #photography #australia #wildlife #insects #butterflies #invertebrates

Cressida cressida, the clearwing swallowtail or 'big greasy' butterfly. Large and conspicuously coloured - it is toxic to potential predators. Toxins are absorbed from the food that it eats as a caterpillar. Seen in Cape York. FNQ.

#nature #photography #australia #wildlife #insects #butterflies #invertebrates

Cressida cressida, the clearwing swallowtail or 'big greasy' butterfly. Large and conspicuously coloured - it is toxic to potential predators. Toxins are absorbed from the food that it eats as a caterpillar. Seen in Cape York. FNQ.

#nature #photography #australia #wildlife #insects #butterflies #invertebrates

Cressida cressida, the clearwing swallowtail or 'big greasy' butterfly. Large and conspicuously coloured - it is toxic to potential predators. Toxins are absorbed from the food that it eats as a caterpillar. Seen in Cape York. FNQ.

#nature #photography #australia #wildlife #insects #butterflies #invertebrates

Cressida cressida, the clearwing swallowtail or 'big greasy' butterfly. Large and conspicuously coloured - it is toxic to potential predators. Toxins are absorbed from the food that it eats as a caterpillar. Seen in Cape York. FNQ.

#nature #photography #australia #wildlife #insects #butterflies #invertebrates

Busy Beavers - The Turbidity Signature Of Ecosystem Engineers At Work
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https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70661 <-- shared paper
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H/T @alan Puttock
“Beavers are the quintessential ecosystem engineers. In slow-flowing streams, they create complex wetlands with ponds by building dams and canals that can positively impact biodiversity, hydrology and water quality. These activities can interchangeably capture or release sediment along the watercourse. To date this has not been quantified at the resolution of rainfall events or beaver activity. This study used 15-min frequency, sustained monitoring upstream and downstream of a newly establishing beaver wetland to measure episodic changes in water turbidity at an event resolution. Monitoring showed no significant differences between upstream and downstream turbidity over 160 days when the first pair of beavers, known not to be building dams or canals, were resident. Shortly after introduction of another beaver pair, however, dam building, burrows and canal excavations were quickly observed, resulting in the creation of a complex beaver wetland between 2021 and 2024. Monitoring over 375 days during this period showed significant differences. Downstream turbidity was significantly higher overall than upstream: 13.1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) compared to 4.2 NTU. Stochastic spikes in downstream turbidity during the study period not recorded upstream were associated with dam building and burrowing. Overall, there was no significant difference in turbidity loads, which was at least partially explained by a reduction in discharge downstream, particularly in higher flows, during the dam building period. This demonstrates a complex system with the trapping of influent sediment, the storing of water and the periodic release of beaver wetland sediment leading to net balance in loads. These results help provide context for other studies which have used temporally discrete sampling campaigns rather than continuous high-frequency monitoring. They provide a unique insight into the downstream impacts of a rapidly developing beaver wetland over its first three and a half years in a landscape that hasn't had beavers for over 400 years…"
#hydromorphic #water #hydrology #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #biodiversity #ecology #benefits #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalScience #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #valleysreborn #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal

Weighing An Octopus Starts With a Laundry Basket 

https://onlinemarketingscoops.com/2026/07/14/weighing-an-octopus-starts-with-a-laundry-basket/

Eager Beavers - Rodents Engineer Czech Wetland Project After Years Of Human Delay [ecosystem engineers]
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/beavers-save-czech-taxpayers-by-flooding-ex-army-training-site <-- shared technical media article
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver-engineered_dam_in_the_Czech_Republic <-- shared wiki technical page
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https://phys.org/news/2025-02-fine-beavers-czech-treasury-million.html <-- shared technical article
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https://youtu.be/GSTw8qmBP4Y?si=XK2Iy2pAltW91flj <-- shared video (Czech)
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H/T @ScienceGirl
"We don't expect any conflict with the beaver in the next 10 years," ~ Bohumil Fiser from the Czech Nature Conservation Agency
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“For seven years, planners struggled to complete a $1.2 million wetland restoration project in the Brdy region of the Czech Republic. The goal was to build a dam that would improve water management and bring back valuable wetland habitat, but the project remained trapped in a maze of permits and approvals.
Then a family of eight Eurasian beavers did what engineers had planned… without permits, machinery, or a budget.
The beavers built a network of dams in almost the exact area chosen for the proposed project, naturally restoring the wetland system officials had spent years trying to create. After seeing the results, authorities decided there was little point continuing with the original human-built dam.
Although some reports suggested the beavers completed the work overnight, experts say their construction likely took several weeks. The reason it seemed sudden is that the animals quietly worked away until their finished dams became impossible to miss.
Beavers are known as “ecosystem engineers” because their behaviour can reshape entire environments. By cutting trees and blocking streams, they create ponds and wetlands that support countless species, including fish, amphibians, insects, birds, and mammals.
Their wetlands also act as natural water reservoirs, helping during droughts, reducing flood risks, filtering water, storing carbon, and keeping landscapes wetter during wildfires…
Once heavily hunted across Europe, beaver populations have been recovering thanks to conservation efforts, proving that sometimes nature can solve problems humans spend years trying to fix…"
#water #hydrology #KlabavaRiver #Czech #BrdyRegion #protected #CzechRepublic #armytraining #military #beaver #Eurasianbeavers #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #restoration #biodiversity #crayfish #wetland #ecology #benefits #Beavers #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #Agroforestry #EnvironmentalScience #Conservation #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #EcosystemEngineers #nature #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flood #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #agriculture #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #drought #wildfire #valleysreborn #slowdetermination #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #ecosystemengineers #watermanagement

Day 5 of the 2025 #dragonfly #AdventCalendar. Large Red Damselfly is our first species to emerge in serious numbers, in April or even late March. It's not really spring until I've seen one of these. This one was at #Ravensroost Meadows #Wiltshire #WildlifeTrust reserve in May. #DragonflyAdventCalendar #invertebrates #ukwildlife #wildlife #insects #invertebrates #wildlifephotography #photography

Day 3 of the 2025 #dragonfly #AdventCalendar. Four-spotted chaser, one of our commonest species and very easy to spot as the males fight over possession of ponds. They're one of several species that mate while flying, the female flying upside down and backwards! This one at my favourite #Wiltshire site, #Ravensroost Wood Wiltshire #WildlifeTrust nature reserve in June.
#DragonflyAdventCalendar #invertebrates #ukwildlife #wildlife #insects #invertebrates #wildlifephotography #photography

The “chemization” of aquatic habitats

“Mapping chemical footprints of organic micropollutants in European streams. There is increasing awareness that chemical pollution of freshwater systems with complex mixtures of chemicals from domestic sources, agriculture and industry may cause a substantial chemical footprint on water organisms, pushing aquatic ecosystems outside the safe operating space.” >>
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041202300644X

Polluter pays
Mandated advanced treatment of micropollutants in wastewater
"But the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, which are responsible for most of those contaminants, are now pushing back." >>
https://e360.yale.edu/features/europe-water-micropollutants
#water #pollution #AquaticEcosystems #AquaticOrganisms #micropollutants #runoff #regulation #delayism #chemicals #pharmaceuticals #cosmetics #agriculture #lobby #consumers #rivers #platypus #invertebrates #fish #wildlife #PlanetaryBoundaries

More observations from May:
An Opisthoncus, a Proszynellus, an Arasia mollicoma, and a Plautia.

#salticidae #jumpingspider #spider #arachnid #arachnology #insect #entomology #shieldbug #stinkbug #invertebrates #arthropods #bugs #australia #photography

Time for some more #Dragonfly action. Last weekend was a bit of a washout but earlier I got to my favourite #Wiltshire #WildlifeTrust nature reserve, #Ravensroost Wood. A Four-spotted Chaser, one of several fighting over possession of the meadow pond. #UKWildlife #invertebrates #photography #insects #odonata

Day 3 of the 2024 #dragonfly #AdventCalendar. Large Red #Damselfly is the first species to emerge each year in most of the UK. This mating pair was at #Ravensroost Meadows #Wiltshire #WildlifeTrust reserve, in early May. They usually first appear in April. #DragonflyAdventCalendar #invertebrates #ukwildlife

Day 11 of the 2023 #dragonfly #AdventCalendar. Four-spotted Chaser is common, bulky and males are fond of fighting over ponds. Which makes them great to watch and a frequent food-source for hobbies. They also mate in flight, during which they're joined into a circle, with the female flying upside down and backwards. It's quite a sight. This male was at #Wiltshire #WildlifeTrust #Ravensroost Meadows in June. #DragonflyAdventCalendar #wildlife #insects #wildlifephotography #invertebrates

Day 9 of the 2023 #dragonfly #AdventCalendar. Common Emerald #Damselfly. This is a newly-emerged male, with bright green colouring, no blue patches yet and the wing spots still very pale. Sadly these aren't as common in the UK as they once were. In the rest of Europe this would be called Common Spreadwing rather than Common Emerald. At #Wiltshire #WildlifeTrust #Ravensroost Meadows in June. #DragonflyAdventCalendar #wildlife #insects #wildlifephotography #invertebrates

Day 4 of the 2023 #dragonfly #AdventCalendar Time for our first #damselfly and it's the Large Red, which is generally the earliest to emerge each year in April. This one was at the great #Wiltshire #WildlifeTrust reserve #Ravensroost Meadows, in early June. #DragonflyAdventCalendar #wildlife #insects #wildlifephotography #invertebrates

Horehound Longhorn, Nemophora fasciella Canon 5D II EF 100 2.8 f/5 1/320 iso: 250 Srbsko, Czech Republic 6/21/2019 #mothsMatter #fairyMoths #LonghornMoths #Lepidotera #Adelidae #insects #Invertebrates #insectphotography #canon #canonphotography #macroworld #macromood #macro_vision #macro_kings #macronature

Water Availability Creates Global Thresholds In Multidimensional Soil Biodiversity And Functions
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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02071-3 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #water #mapping #water #hydrology #biogeography #phylogeography #geography #global #environmental #biodiversity #productivity #agricultural #agriculture #farming #plant #microbe #soilscience #soilhealth #soil #soilfertility #soilconservation #soilmanagement #ecosystems #EnvironmentalThresholds #survey #fieldsurvey #climate #vegetation #watermanagement #waterconservation #rainfall #precipitation #EV #evaporation #evapotranspiration #biogeochemical #geochemical #bacteria #fungi #protists #invertebrates #model #modeling #soilcarbonsequestration #wateravailability #sustainable