@martyn-kelly.bsky.social
The second post in a short series of why filamentous algae are flourishing in British rivers, co-written with Bill Brierley can be found at this link: bit.ly/4qX9aOp. In this one, we try to show how factors other than nutrients also play a role. One more post on this topic will follow shortly ...
The greening of our rivers (2) …
This is the second post in a short series, co-written with Bill Brierley, explaining why rivers sometimes turn green, and what this means for the ecosystems they support. The changes we described i…
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November 16, 2025 at 4:18 PM
The second post in a short series of why filamentous algae are flourishing in British rivers, co-written with Bill Brierley can be found at this link: bit.ly/4qX9aOp. In this one, we try to show how factors other than nutrients also play a role. One more post on this topic will follow shortly ...
Copenhagen Central Station: the last time I was here was 2011 when the Icelandic volcano grounded flights and everyone was making their way home overland. The platform was crowded with people, many clutching H&M carrier bags because we’d all run out of clean undies.
November 3, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Copenhagen Central Station: the last time I was here was 2011 when the Icelandic volcano grounded flights and everyone was making their way home overland. The platform was crowded with people, many clutching H&M carrier bags because we’d all run out of clean undies.
My latest post is co-written with Bill Brierley and is the first of a short series where we try to explain why filamentous algae proliferate in our rivers, and why nutrients are just one component of a more complex problem: bit.ly/4opRFou
The greening of our rivers (1) …
Several posts from this year and last year have addressed the question of why filamentous algae proliferate in rivers (see: “Understanding verdant rivers (I) …” and six subsequent posts, “Blinded b…
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November 1, 2025 at 1:50 PM
My latest post is co-written with Bill Brierley and is the first of a short series where we try to explain why filamentous algae proliferate in our rivers, and why nutrients are just one component of a more complex problem: bit.ly/4opRFou
Another post, another new diatom species. This one, though, has been hiding in plain sight for a long time. Sometimes new discoveries just involve rearranging the neurons in our visual cortex and temporal lobe: bit.ly/4pvaFCG
Right under our noses …
I was quite excited by the discovery I wrote about in the previous report. It is not often that we find a new record quite as intriguing as this one, and it captures the essence of my message in “…
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September 20, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Another post, another new diatom species. This one, though, has been hiding in plain sight for a long time. Sometimes new discoveries just involve rearranging the neurons in our visual cortex and temporal lobe: bit.ly/4pvaFCG
Nature continues to surprise us, and this post describes the discovery of an unusual chrysophyte growing in a chalk stream this summer (I normally associate them with remote mountainous areas in winter): bit.ly/48gEbpD
Stranger things …
As the previous two posts show, those of us who study algae are still apt to be surprised from time to time. This is not a group where basic understanding of organisms and their distribu…
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September 14, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Nature continues to surprise us, and this post describes the discovery of an unusual chrysophyte growing in a chalk stream this summer (I normally associate them with remote mountainous areas in winter): bit.ly/48gEbpD
This summer has turned our rivers into an "all inclusive resort" where algae can sunbath on river beds and generally enjoy life. They are not necessarily a homogeneous mass, and this post describes the variation I found in one river in northern England: bit.ly/4g8dLs1
September 6, 2025 at 9:26 AM
This summer has turned our rivers into an "all inclusive resort" where algae can sunbath on river beds and generally enjoy life. They are not necessarily a homogeneous mass, and this post describes the variation I found in one river in northern England: bit.ly/4g8dLs1
Long, warm summer days create the perfect conditions for filamentous algae to grow in lakes and rivers. What does this mean for the anticipated spread of data centres to fuel our appetite for AI? bit.ly/4fYxt9J
Blinded by the light …
One of the themes of this blog is of the importance, for an ecologist, of making repeated visits to a site in order to see it in all its moods and tempers. And so it was that I cam…
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August 26, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Long, warm summer days create the perfect conditions for filamentous algae to grow in lakes and rivers. What does this mean for the anticipated spread of data centres to fuel our appetite for AI? bit.ly/4fYxt9J
Those who have followed my "verdant rivers" series on www.microscopesandmonsters.wordpress.com may be interested to see this newly published paper. Well done to Hannah and thanks for including me in the team:
aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
www.microscopesandmonsters.wordpress.com
August 13, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Those who have followed my "verdant rivers" series on www.microscopesandmonsters.wordpress.com may be interested to see this newly published paper. Well done to Hannah and thanks for including me in the team:
aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reflections on why #Vaucheria mats proliferate in some types of British river in my latest post:
bit.ly/3JaKela
bit.ly/3JaKela
August 10, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reflections on why #Vaucheria mats proliferate in some types of British river in my latest post:
bit.ly/3JaKela
bit.ly/3JaKela
Never able to resist a diversion, this post continues from my explorations of hot springs in Tunisia last year with some evidence that Augustine of Hippo was also aware of life in these extreme habitats, and that this may have informed his (and, therefore our) conception of hell: bit.ly/4kAhJKw
Gateway to hell …
This is a brief postscript to the posts I wrote based on my visit to a hot spring in Tunisia last year (see “Life in hot water …” and “hot diatoms …”) prompted by a reference to hot springs in the …
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July 14, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Never able to resist a diversion, this post continues from my explorations of hot springs in Tunisia last year with some evidence that Augustine of Hippo was also aware of life in these extreme habitats, and that this may have informed his (and, therefore our) conception of hell: bit.ly/4kAhJKw
"The perfect storm" is quite a good metaphor for the way several factors combine to cause algal proliferations in UK rivers. Except that the absence of storms (and associated spates) is part of the problem:: bit.ly/4nS2TCn
July 7, 2025 at 5:18 AM
"The perfect storm" is quite a good metaphor for the way several factors combine to cause algal proliferations in UK rivers. Except that the absence of storms (and associated spates) is part of the problem:: bit.ly/4nS2TCn
I'm trying to write some posts that give Cyanobacteria their due respect as natural components of freshwater ecosystems, rather than as perpetual "villains" of the eutrophication franchise. This post describes the formation of oncoids - mini stromatolites - in a Cumbrian quarry: bit.ly/4487Cb4
Living rocks, gently rolling …
A trope in film noir where the protagonist is seduced by a femme fatale which came to mind when I was in Ambleside earlier in June. There were signs of a surface cyanobacterial scum in Windermere…
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July 1, 2025 at 7:30 AM
I'm trying to write some posts that give Cyanobacteria their due respect as natural components of freshwater ecosystems, rather than as perpetual "villains" of the eutrophication franchise. This post describes the formation of oncoids - mini stromatolites - in a Cumbrian quarry: bit.ly/4487Cb4
Exploring the beautiful microscopic world of Rivularia in my latest post, and wondering how we can communicate the positive roles that cyanobacteria play in ecosystems to the wider public: bit.ly/4l2zao4
A garden of sub-visual life-forms …
We are inclined to overlook the very small that dwell among us; yet, without them we ourselves could not exist; for every one of us is a Garden of sub-visual life forms … Think of them as God’s tin…
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June 21, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Exploring the beautiful microscopic world of Rivularia in my latest post, and wondering how we can communicate the positive roles that cyanobacteria play in ecosystems to the wider public: bit.ly/4l2zao4
I describe a record of the diatom Distrionella asterionelloides from the Shetland Islands in my latest post. But is this genuinely "rare" or just under recorded or overlooked? bit.ly/4ky4paI
Diatoms from remote places …
Back in December, I wrote a post about a small and obscure diatom that I found during analysis of a slide from the Shetland Islands (see: “Blending in with the crowd …”). This post is about anothe…
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June 4, 2025 at 10:12 AM
I describe a record of the diatom Distrionella asterionelloides from the Shetland Islands in my latest post. But is this genuinely "rare" or just under recorded or overlooked? bit.ly/4ky4paI
Reflections here on how the statement "“In the end we will only conserve what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught” applies to the much-maligned Cyanobacteria: bit.ly/3H0cKVA
Teesdale’s unseen natural history …
We followed on of our favourite walks through Teesdale a couple of weeks ago, finishing at Widdybank Fell, beside Cow Green Reservoir, where sapphire blue spring gentians were sprinkled across the …
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May 19, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reflections here on how the statement "“In the end we will only conserve what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught” applies to the much-maligned Cyanobacteria: bit.ly/3H0cKVA
A tale of an ecologist and a stream both suffering from a mild lurgy in my latest post: bit.ly/3Z3N9kD
Sick note …
The recent brief hiatus in posts was due to my annual trip to China to visit family. We spent the last weekend of our fortnight together in Xi’an, a fascinating city, home to the Terraco…
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May 3, 2025 at 3:00 PM
A tale of an ecologist and a stream both suffering from a mild lurgy in my latest post: bit.ly/3Z3N9kD
More speculation about the life of a shade-loving diatom in my latest post: bit.ly/41TbPhO
March 31, 2025 at 3:30 PM
More speculation about the life of a shade-loving diatom in my latest post: bit.ly/41TbPhO
Just found my 1980s version of ggplot …
March 22, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Just found my 1980s version of ggplot …
Here's a puzzle: a Eunotia that has many small discoid chloroplasts, rather than the two plates that the (limited) literature on live diatom identification tells us to watch out for. bit.ly/3Rd2qLH
March 17, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Here's a puzzle: a Eunotia that has many small discoid chloroplasts, rather than the two plates that the (limited) literature on live diatom identification tells us to watch out for. bit.ly/3Rd2qLH
Stumbled across some Eunotia formicina during recent field work and started wondering why it occurs in a few locations, but is absent from similar sites upstream and downstream. No answers, just a few ideas ... bit.ly/4h44jox
Darkness at the edge of streams …
The snow dusting the tops of the Lake District fells as we drove towards our field sites presaged a day of brutally cold conditions although, thankfully, the long period of high pressure that has s…
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February 27, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Stumbled across some Eunotia formicina during recent field work and started wondering why it occurs in a few locations, but is absent from similar sites upstream and downstream. No answers, just a few ideas ... bit.ly/4h44jox
Latest instalment in my "Diatoms 101" tackles the thorny but basic task of putting names onto shapes: bit.ly/4hY0ySx. With some help from www.diatoms.org.
The gateway to enlightenment …
My recent posts “Diatom taxonomy in five paradigm shifts …” and “What you see is not what you get …” were, in effect, extended apologies, on behalf of my fellow diatomists, for making the task of l…
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February 12, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Latest instalment in my "Diatoms 101" tackles the thorny but basic task of putting names onto shapes: bit.ly/4hY0ySx. With some help from www.diatoms.org.
Latest post showcases the research of Alex Innes Thomson from SAMS, who has been searching for snow algae in the Scottish highlands: bit.ly/40OMDZ6
In search of red snow …
A recurring theme of this blog is that natural history happens all year round, even if natural historians are less enthusiastic about stepping outside during the colder periods of the year. I’ve …
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January 26, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Latest post showcases the research of Alex Innes Thomson from SAMS, who has been searching for snow algae in the Scottish highlands: bit.ly/40OMDZ6
We’ve all heard people say “I saw history happening” in response to an event. Yesterday, I think we saw histiography happening in front of our eyes too.
January 21, 2025 at 11:17 AM
We’ve all heard people say “I saw history happening” in response to an event. Yesterday, I think we saw histiography happening in front of our eyes too.
What effect might AI have on our rivers? Some iffy reporting by @theguardian.com unpicked in my latest post: bit.ly/4g1aMQI. Yes, it might have an impact, but not the one that they suggest.
In hot water …
We have all read about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) might change our lives but here’s a new angle: how might AI change our rivers? An article in The Guardian was headlined “Fears of water and …
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January 17, 2025 at 1:59 PM
What effect might AI have on our rivers? Some iffy reporting by @theguardian.com unpicked in my latest post: bit.ly/4g1aMQI. Yes, it might have an impact, but not the one that they suggest.
I contributed to two multi-authored papers that, by coincidence, both appeared this week, lnkd.in/e6Bbe3_X and lnkd.in/e6YdJsJy, with authors from no less than 24 countries spread across five continents. That's a nice way to start 2025.
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January 10, 2025 at 4:35 PM
I contributed to two multi-authored papers that, by coincidence, both appeared this week, lnkd.in/e6Bbe3_X and lnkd.in/e6YdJsJy, with authors from no less than 24 countries spread across five continents. That's a nice way to start 2025.