Heather Neilly
heatherneilly.bsky.social
Heather Neilly
@heatherneilly.bsky.social

2024 ARC Industry Fellow. 2021 ESA Wiley Next Gen Ecologist. Arid zone. Rangelands. Ecological restoration. Plants. Animals. Soil. The whole shebang @FedUniAustralia Calperum Station. Nanya Station. Thoughts my own

Environmental science 80%
Geography 20%

Reposted by Heather Neilly

Some more Sentinel Hub images of the Little Desert (Victoria, Australia) wildfires, showing the breadth of impact. The fire spans about 55 km from east to west. Some unburnt patches remain within the fire boundary, but there are also extensive areas with no unburnt refuges.

Great, thank you I will check it out

We have used Dodonaea viscosa (sticky hop bush) which is local/native, but considered a ‘woody weed’. It grows quickly and takes over disturbed sites, and so we thinned it from other restoration sites and transported to these sites (without seeds of course). A win win for both spots!

Yes that is the next paper 😉

Sure does! plus reduces herbivory from kangaroos and goats, a major barrier to restoration in this part of Aus (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...)
‘Branching’ with complex coarse woody debris reduces herbivory on recovering erosion scalds
Coarse woody debris (CWD) has many benefits in restoration, including protecting seedlings from herbivory, and it is often reintroduced where CWD is depauperate. At Calperum Station on the Murray Riv....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Oh lovely thank you!

Hello Melbournians #ESAus2024 any brekky place reccos near the conference?

You did a great job!

Wow what a project! Teaching crocs and goannas to not eat invasive and poisonous cane toads via taste aversion. Congrats to all involved on such an ambitious, collaborative project in remote northern Aust #DCBA #MacquarieUniversity #BunubaRangers #ESAus2024

How’s the serenity?

How cool is this from the City of Melbourne?! Are searchable planting guides available for other Aus cities? #ESAus2024

A fantastic talk by @drkyliesoanes.bsky.social on urban biodiversity and working with practitioners. But more importantly a masterclass in how to deliver an engaging plenary #ESAus2024 #scicom

Oh I missed this talk! Will have to go check out your poster

Cities are making brushtail possums sick! Check out Tara’s poster 168 and speed talk at 5:20pm at the Nature in Cities symposium @ESAus2024

A traditional smoking ceremony to welcome us to Wurundjeri country for #ESAus2024 Looking forward to a week of inspiration and connection

Reposted by Heather Neilly

Have you packed your most fabulous animal prints for #ESAus2024? We'll be snapping pics of people's style each day of the conference for the chance to win best-dressed! #ecology

Please add me!
Three must read papers for PhD students. #scisky #PhD #science #research #academicsky

1. The importance of stupidity in scientific research

Open Access
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Reposted by Heather Neilly

Strongly agree with this letter in Science arguing that field-based research should be more highly and fairly valued in academia. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The value of field research in academia
From anthropology to zoology, immersion within communities, cultural settings, and study systems is integral to research and learning (1, 2). Fieldwork, the direct observation and collection of data i...
www.science.org

A rare treat in the aussie desert! 50mm (and counting) of soft soaking rain. Enough to shut most tracks and cancel fieldwork. Better get started on that data entry I guess #caleprum #wildoz #officebound

Reposted by Heather Neilly

Final catch of the day, what a beauty! The apex predator Burton’s legless lizard (Lialis burtonis) wrapping up an amazing week, many thanks to @harrison-kent.bsky.social @hannah-churches.bsky.social @rebeccaarnold.bsky.social and the formidable @drdunnart.bsky.social and her team of legends!

When you can no longer tell the student from the sand dune #phdlife #mallee #fieldrat

Catch of the day: a sweet little coral snake (Brachyurophis australis) #calperum #wildoz

Very excited to get these Tomst soil moisture and temp loggers into our erosion scald ‘branching’ (aka woody debris addition) experimental plots on the Murray River floodplain. These scalds are the result of 100 yrs of sheep grazing. Can you tell the difference between our control and treatment?!

Catch of the day: double dunnies! Common dunnart (Sminthopsis murina) lucky @drdunnart.bsky.social is here #calperum

Catch of the day Desert Skink Liopholis inornata aka ‘bulldog’ @hannah-churches.bsky.social #calperum