In North #Cameroon, in the Mandaras Mountains, the #Mofu live a unique relationship with #insects, sharing with their homes & cultivations. A drought hit the region & #termites, usually a precious ally to the Mofu, have left the fields & invaded the huts and granaries.
To fight back, the Mofu people call for #Jaglavak. This ferocious army ant has the body of a dragon can chase termites out of the village.
375,000 NATIVE ANIMALS KILLED by One Program in 2023
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's notorious #WildlifeServices program just put out its required tally of #killings for last year: 375,045 native animals. The federal extermination program targets a long list of wild creatures, chiefly at the behest of #agricultural interests in states like #Texas, #Colorado and #Idaho.
According to the report — which almost surely understates the actual numbers —
"Taxpayer-funded wildlife slaughter lets livestock operators and the agriculture industry ignore problems that lead to conflict instead of fixing them. #WildlifeServices should focus on implementing commonsense #coexistence measures like cleaning up livestock carcasses that attract wolves and bears.”
In the last several years, litigation and community opposition curtailed Wildlife Services operations in numerous states
We joined the amazing #ECEM23 in Leipzig last week! Christian Guill and Louica Philipp talked about the effects of self-organized pattern formation on #coexistence and functional #diversity. Thanks to everyone in the feedback loop session (@KorinnaAllhoff) and beyond for an inspiring conference!
(And of course the inevitable happened: just after clicking „submit“ I spottet another minor thing. 🤦♀️ So here is a challenge for you: I’ll invite you for coffee if you read the paper and spot it as well! Until then I will tell no one… Link will follow soon!)
Competitive hierarchies in diverse ecological communities have long been thought to lead to #instability and prevent #coexistence. However, in our latest paper we show that competitive hierarchies in fact mitigate #network instability by keeping short and long #feedback loops relatively weak. A bit of a brain twister, I know, but such a cool story. I'm beyond proud of Franziska Koch, PhD student in my team, for pushing this one out the door!
My session proposal for the European Conference on Ecological Modelling (#ECEM23) has been accepted! Please get in touch in case you would like to participate!
The ECEM will take place in Leipzig (Germany) on September 4-8. The title of my session is: "Like a boomerang: How #feedback loops affect #ecosystem#stability and species #coexistence". More infos can be found on the conference website:
Update: The abstract submission for the European Conference on Ecological Modelling (#ECEM23) is open until 1st of April. We hope to see you there so we can discuss about #feedback, #stability, #coexistence, #networks, #ecoevo, etc.!!
The ECEM will take place in Leipzig (Germany) on September 4-8. More info can be found on the conference website: