Zoe A. Xirocostas | Lightnews

Zoe Xirocostas

@zoexiro.bsky.social

1.4K followers 900 following 60 posts

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Environmental science 52%

Geography 13%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · 3d

Currently listening to: the snap, crackle and pop of ballistic seed dispersal 🎶 💥

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · 22d

Look at this monstrous beauty!!! Double headed hawk moth caterpillar 🐛 .. good luck with the metamorphosis buddy

A large green caterpillar with yellow stripe-like markings and small spikes covering its body. It is perched upside down on a stem and its tail appears like a second head.

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Sep 30

Me too :)

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Sep 30

Thanks Issy :)

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Sep 30

Some snaps from the field today in Heathcote National Park on Dharawal land 🌱

A person amongst grass-like vegetation putting small bags on plants to collect seeds.

An image of a mesh bag placed over a shrub with spiky leaves. A label on the bag reads “DO NOT REMOVE - RESEARCH”.

A flannel flower with white petals and a small beetle sitting in the middle of the inflorescence.

Two brown hemipterans mating with their abdomens touching. They are standing on top of a bright green leaf.

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Sep 24

Saw a red beardie yesterday (YES that's really one of its common names!!!) - or for the scientifically inclined, Calochilus paludosus🧔‍♂️❗

A striking orchid flower with green and burgundy petals and a distinctive dark red-brown labellum (lip) covered in fine, hair-like projections. The flower grows on a slender green stem among tall grass-like foliage, with a soft, blurred natural background.

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Sep 14

Ahh thanks for letting me know Ros!

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Sep 14

Spotted this big fella while teaching in the Blue Mountains with @ecologybrad.bsky.social

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Sep 12

Awesome! Congrats Suz and team!

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Sep 12

You nailed it Inna! Thanks for sharing your research with us. Our students wouldn’t stop raving about your seminar afterward :)

Reposted by Zoe A. Xirocostas

Yvonne Davila @ydavila.bsky.social · Sep 11

🐝🌸 With climate change, many organisms are shifting their ranges, but some are shifting in the opposite direction to what we expect.
Insightful and entertaining seminar by Inna Osmolovsky @innaosmol.bsky.social on "Climate Change and Shifting Interactions: Where Do Species Go from Here?"

Reposted by John W. Morgan, Zoe A. Xirocostas

Australian Journal of Botany @ausjbotany.bsky.social · Sep 10

🌱 New research from The Australian PlantBank reveals how 4 threatened Australian Grevillea species respond to temperature changes. Good news, 3 species show resilience to future warming, but G. iaspicula prefers cooler conditions & may struggle with climate change.

Read more 🔗 buff.ly/b4pbbgv

Reposted by Zoe A. Xirocostas

Australian Journal of Botany @ausjbotany.bsky.social · Aug 27

The "living fossil" Wollemi pine🌲can self-fertilise! New research from #CharlesSturtUni shows this critically endangered conifer produces viable seeds without cross-pollination - which helps explain their low genetic diversity in natural systems 🧬

Open access paper 🔗 buff.ly/l3yG5Rt

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Aug 19

Spent the past month in Greece 🇬🇷 on holiday and visiting family. But surprised to see so many reminders of Aus (Eucalypts) planted on so many islands! (could they be contributing to the wildfires Greece is being ravaged by? So many questions!)

Reposted by Arthur Geßler, Zoe A. Xirocostas

Methods in Ecology and Evolution @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social · Aug 9

📖Published📖

Arnold et al. propose a design that will allow ecologists to simulate more realistic heat events in the field by combining a controllable convection heater system with a semi-enclosed chamber with adjustable vents 🌍 🧪

buff.ly/k2GJSA2

Images of the chamber and active heating system. (a) Annotated detail image of the heating system, electrical components, and chambers (not to scale). Field photos from Mt. Hotham, VIC, Australia (Case study 1): (b) two polycarbonate chambers attached via black ducting to one heating system under a tarpaulin for protection from the weather; and (c) side view of a chamber with its semi-enclosed, overhanging lid with adjustable portholes, circulating fans, and Stevenson screen housing thermocouples. (d) Field photo from Perisher Valley, NSW, Australia (Case study 2). The heating system attached to three chambers showing improved insulative ducting and open tent protecting and ventilating the heating system. Note that chamber lids are transparent like the chamber sides but appear grey due to reflections of cloud cover.

Reposted by Zoe A. Xirocostas

Australian Journal of Botany @ausjbotany.bsky.social · Jul 22

A HIDDEN SABOTEUR: Pilostyles hamiltoniorum is a parasitic plant that lives INSIDE its host, only revealing itself through tiny flowers on the stems.
New research shows this endoparasite slashes flower production by 52% in its host plants, despite being almost invisible!
OA paper ➡️ buff.ly/gArS9tO

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Jul 14

Hot off the press 🌱🔥

Brad Murray @ecologybrad.bsky.social · Jul 14

Great fun working with Lyndle Hardstaff, Megan Murray, and @zoexiro.bsky.social on our latest flammability project

Toward a macroevolutionary understanding of live-leaf flammability in plant species of fire-prone forests

@botsocamerica.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1002/ajb2...

Reposted by Zoe A. Xirocostas

Brad Murray @ecologybrad.bsky.social · Jul 14

Reposted by Zoe A. Xirocostas, Korina Ocampo‐Zuleta

Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · Jul 11

🔥🌱 From the #AJB Special Issue: “Understanding novel #ﬁre regimes using plant trait‐based approaches" 🌱🔥

Toward a macroevolutionary understanding of live-leaf flammability in plant species of fire-prone #forests

By @ecologybrad.bsky.social, @zoexiro.bsky.social, et al.

doi.org/10.1002/ajb2...

A fire in dry sclerophyll forest in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney (New South Wales, Australia).

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Jul 9

Congrats Inna! and thank you for the invitation to collaborate :)

Reposted by Zoe A. Xirocostas

Inna Osmolovsky @innaosmol.bsky.social · Jul 8

🌎 My first paper is out in @globalchangebio.bsky.social ! We propose the Interaction Opportunists Hypothesis: changes in biotic interactions may drive species downhill, equatorward, or to shallower waters under #ClimateChange. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #RangeShifts #Ecology

Counterintuitive Range Shifts May Be Explained by Climate Induced Changes in Biotic Interactions

Climate change is expected to drive species uphill, poleward or into deeper waters. Yet many are shifting in toward the equator, downhill or to shallower waters, which is opposite to the expected dir...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Jun 26

This title 🤌

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Jun 26

link.springer.com/content/pdf/...

🦑

Reposted by Zoe A. Xirocostas

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Jun 26

link.springer.com/content/pdf/...

🦑

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Jun 13

Ooh! This will be so useful for species selection for my upcoming fieldwork :)

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Apr 29

Oh cool! Wasn’t expecting to get that right as a plant ecologist. Best of luck with the trapping!

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Apr 29

Mammal trapping perhaps?

Reposted by Ingolf Kühn, Flavia Montaño‐Centellas, Zoe A. Xirocostas

Fletcher Halliday @fletcher-h.bsky.social · Apr 22

As a special Earth Day gift, our new paper integrating decades of related, but siloed research on how changing biodiversity drives plant disease and herbivory is out today in TREE www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Thanks to @idiv-research.bsky.social for supporting our sConsume working group!

Towards an integrative mechanistic framework for biodiversity–consumer relationships

Terrestrial plant diversity plays a pivotal role in influencing the abundance, diversity, and impacts of herbivores and pathogens (collectively, plant…

www.sciencedirect.com

Reposted by Anne Ebeling, Malte Jochum, Zoe A. Xirocostas

Suz Everingham @suzeveringham.bsky.social · Apr 23

Our paper on the integration of biodiversity-disease and biodiversity-herbivore relationships is out now! Thanks to @idiv-research.bsky.social for supporting us through #sDiv working group funding to bring together two typically disparate fields in ecology! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Apr 22

Happy #EarthDay everyone 🌍 🌱 from a gloomy yet hopeful Sydney 🌈

Zoe Xirocostas @zoexiro.bsky.social · Apr 16

Hey y'all! I have a few ecology honours projects available in Sydney starting either in Spring 2025 or Autumn 2026.

Project details available at: zoexiro.com/research/
Please share widely 🌼

Research

Available Honours Projects Exploring the reproductive ecology and cross-compatibility of two colour variants of Lantana camara Supervisor/s: Dr Zoe Xirocostas & Dr Yvonne Davila Lantana camara,…

zoexiro.com

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