Cassy Vogel
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cassyvogel.bsky.social
Cassy Vogel
@cassyvogel.bsky.social
880 followers 610 following 23 posts
Postdoc|agroecologist|landscape ecologist @_SLU working on the resilience of biocontrol 🪲🐞 | previously investigating biodiversity conservation 🐥🪲🐜🕷️🐝🦋🦠🐛 and ecosystem services 🌱 in smallholder farms 🐢 #firstgen
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Reposted by Cassy Vogel
stairwaytokevin.bsky.social
You’re telling me SpringerNature doesn’t need to charge $13,000 a paper for Nature Plants? I’m shocked!
paolocrosetto.bsky.social Paolo Crosetto @paolocrosetto.bsky.social · 2d
What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma.

It's *scientific publishing*.

We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.

Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...

Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
November 12, 2025 at 11:56 AM
cassyvogel.bsky.social
This informative thread is essential reading for anyone in science, in my opinion!
hansonmark.bsky.social Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 3d
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 12, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
jbyoder.org
"Specialist" and "generalist" are surprisingly slippery categories— biology abhors a binary— but quantifying the shared evolutionary history of plants eaten by insects introduced to North America let these authors predict their plant-damaging impacts
What Is a Specialist? Quantifying Host Breadth Enables Impact Prediction for Invasive Herbivores
Herbivores are commonly classified as host specialists or generalists for various purposes, yet the definitions of these terms, and their intermediates, are often imprecise and ambiguous. We…
buff.ly
November 11, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
markscherz.bsky.social
Today we described three new toad species that give birth to fully formed toadlets, from the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania! 🇹🇿🧪🐸

vertebrate-zoology.arphahub.com/article/1670...
A fine black toad with bright white fingers, toes, and lips, and brown pustular blobs along its legs, resting on a dark green leaf. A black and white toad on a green fern frond. The head and limbs are grey, and the body black. A toad looking at the camera over a brown leaf, its black body splotched with yellow and white. It is very Halloween-core. A black toad with huge yellow glands on its legs, head, arms, and parts of the back. Jack Skellington himself could hardly have painted a more Halloween-flavoured toad.
November 6, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
charliezoology.bsky.social
Just out! 📄

The labs of @nicrodemo.bsky.social (Uppsala) and Emily Baird (Stockholm) studied the temperature sensitivity of bee buzzes 🐝

Key findings:

- Frequency is driven by thorax temp

- Air temps > 25 C affect muscle function

- Little/no effect of species

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Increasing temperatures affect thoracic muscle performance in Arctic bumblebees - Nature Communications
Increasing temperatures threaten cold-adapted pollinators such as Arctic bumblebees by disrupting their physiology. This study found that thorax acceleration during non-flight vibrations peaks at 25 °...
www.nature.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
politicalbeauty.bsky.social
Was wir an der Hautfarbe anderer Menschen erkennen können: zu 100% nur unsere Vorurteile.
November 3, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
fdbrckx.bsky.social
www.linkedin.com/posts/fdbrck...
Community is important. We spent 2 days teambuilding, discussing careers, statistics, and hot topics in ecology. Thanks to everyone who participated and contributed to the postdoc/early career… | Fede...
Community is important. We spent 2 days teambuilding, discussing careers, statistics, and hot topics in ecology. Thanks to everyone who participated and contributed to the postdoc/early career researc...
www.linkedin.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
katzyna.bsky.social
“Restoration isn't just about bringing animals back, it's about bringing back what they do," says Ty Loft, lead author of new research on decreasing trophic energy flows suggesting collapse of ecosystem functions by animals like primates & terrestrial herbivores in Africa phys.org/news/2025-10...
Africa's wildlife has lost a third of its natural 'power', study warns
Africa's ecosystems are running on less than two-thirds of the natural energy they once had, according to new Oxford-led research published today in Nature. The study reveals a dramatic loss of wildli...
phys.org
November 1, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
rachelnuwer.bsky.social
After 263 African elephants were moved from one national park to another, the animals began wandering out - destroying property and killing people. My latest for @biographic.bsky.social, on the complexities of conservation in an increasingly crowded continent.

www.biographic.com/the-wild-ele...
The Wild Elephant in the Room
Conservationists seeking to restore elephant populations in a Malawian national park inadvertently upended human lives, revealing the risks of large-mammal translocations.
www.biographic.com
October 30, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
mta-lace.bsky.social
#Publication: Led by Tomáš and Robi, with Niki and Marci, our paper in Ecological Entomology, "Solar parks provide heterogeneous habitats for winter-active predatory arthropods". doi.org/10.1111/een....
Solar parks provide heterogeneous habitats for winter‐active ground‐dwelling predatory arthropods
Forest provides stable temperature and high humidity, harbouring mainly forest-associated winter-active ground-dwelling predatory arthropods. Grassland and abandoned farmland experience extreme temp...
doi.org
October 15, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
fboetzl.bsky.social
Very excited to share our latest paper: We investigated landscape-scale predictors of #insect pest damage to #sugarbeet showing that the species’ ecology is determining their responses making unified approaches difficult #agroecology #pestcontrol www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 14, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
ecoinvasions.bsky.social
Quote: "It is very hard to interpret big data in ecology in meaningful ways if you do not know anything about who the organisms are and what they do in the environment."
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
A place for natural history in the 21st century
Natural history provides an important basis for observing interactions between organisms in their environments. Biotropica recently inaugurated a new paper category called “Natural History Field Note....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 12, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
dominiqueberteaux.bsky.social
We publish in Ecology 30 years of Arctic wildlife monitoring on Bylot Island (Nunavut, Canada)! Our long-term dataset tracks 35 species across 400 km² of tundra, providing rare insights into community dynamics, food webs, and climate responses. Open data for all at bitly.cx/OnOI2 🌍🦊🦉🦑 🧪🌿🌐
Arctic fox on Bylot Island (Nunavut, Canada). Picture by Louis-Pierre Ouellet.
October 10, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
speld.nl
3 vermoorde vrouwen afgelopen week kennelijk niet om het leven gebracht door een asielzoeker - 'Dan hadden we het wel gehoord'
3 vermoorde vrouwen afgelopen week kennelijk niet om het leven gebracht door een asielzoeker
Er zijn in iets meer dan een week tijd weer drie vrouwen in huiselijke sfeer vermoord.
speld.nl
October 6, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
chasingbugs.com
Entomologist 1: Hmm, what should we name this one?

Entomologist 2: Well, its red spots make it look as though it’s been stabbed. Twice.

Entomologist 1: Perfect, we’ll call it the twice-stabbed lady beetle.
A round black beetle with two prominent red spots rests on a brown branch against a dark background.
September 23, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
speld.nl
Is het nog wel verstandig om mannen ’s nachts alleen te laten fietsen?
Is het nog wel verstandig om mannen ’s nachts alleen te laten fietsen?
speld.nl
August 22, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
arusch.bsky.social
📣 🪲 Check out this paper led by @tperrot.bsky.social, which provides a clear demonstration that the intensive use of pesticides can be more detrimental than beneficial for crop production due to their negative impacts on natural pest control.
August 21, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
drnwillburger.bsky.social
For #MosaicMonday this fantastic photo of a mosaic (and a lovely fish 🐟) that was discovered in the submerged ruins of #Roman Baiae.

Photo: Parco Archeologico Campi Flegrei
The photo was taken underwater. It shows a partially uncovered mosaic on the ground of the sea and a fish swimming above it.
August 18, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
niooknaw.bsky.social
New publication: The development of #insectdiversity and #ecosystemcomplexity on #greenroofs: A review.
#biodiversity #urbanecology
doi.org/10.1111/icad...
Graphical abstract Drukker et al. (2025): A classification system of different roof types is presented to improve consistency in green roof research. Landscape and green roof characteristics influence ecosystem development, but can be further explained by ecological concepts, like neutral and niche theory. Network analysis is a useful tool to understand deterministic processes like soil–plant–insect interactions and further analyse ecosystem development on green roofs
August 15, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
handle.invalid
Thrilled to share our article in Journal for Nature Conservation on Potential impacts of climate change on the geographic distribution of Dionysia diapensiifolia Boiss., a rare and endemic species in Iran: Implications for conservation.

Full text :
doi.org/10.1016/j.jn...
August 8, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
gaius.bsky.social
I honestly can’t believe there are still any AI skeptics out there. This tech is obviously revolutionary
Al Overview Willem Dafoe is not in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but he has appeared in other Star Wars films, including The Last Temptation of Christ (1988).
August 8, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
accuweather.com
Just a crab getting a ride from a jellyfish 🦀🪼
August 5, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
thecrobe.bsky.social
🌾 New PhD chapter OneEarth @cp-oneearth.bsky.social

For decades, crops were thought to yield better outside their centers of origin by escaping native pests and diseases.

Using AI and remote sensing, we found no yield advantages for crops outside origins.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Crop yields are not greater outside centers of origin
Scientists have long posited that crops achieve higher yields outside their centers of origin by escaping pests and pathogens. However, this assumptio…
www.sciencedirect.com
June 23, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
jgpausas.bsky.social
Climate warming is not a recent phenomenon; it has had detectable impacts on plants for at least 134 years!

The onset of phenological plant response to climate warming @newphyt.bsky.social
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

🧪🌎🌿🌐🌳 🍁 #PlantBiology @cideinvestiga.bsky.social @csic.es
Phenology changes for the Japanese cherry tree (Prunus jamasakura) in Kyoto. Left: Day of the year of the flowering peak for the period between 812 and 2024. Right: Relation between March mean air temperature (°C) in Kyoto and the day of the year of the Japanese cherry tree peak flowering for the period between 1890 and 2024. https://jgpausas.blogs.uv.es/2025/06/11/134-years-of-climate-warming-effects/
June 11, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Cassy Vogel
hausfath.bsky.social
Scientists have been publishing climate models since ~1970.

A good way to evaluate their skill is to compare what they expected to happen in the years after the model was published to observed climate changes.

It turns out most models were pretty spot-on:
May 14, 2025 at 11:23 PM