Max Fontaine
@maxfontaine.bsky.social
Botanist & PhD student @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social & @rbgkew.bsky.social | Interested in the chemical defences of tropical trees and the origins of plant diversity 🌳🍃🐛
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Max Fontaine
@maxfontaine.bsky.social
· May 6
Very late considering i got here almost two weeks ago, but made it to Danum Valley, NE Borneo 🥳. 438km2 of pristine primary lowland rainforest, and my home for the next 3ish months. Keeping track of all the cool things I’ve seen is a challenge - I’ll attempt to post them here as i go.
Hi All 👋 I’ll be at the incredible Danum Valley in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo conducting botanical fieldwork for the PhD until late July 🌳 Happy to take, and encouraging, any ID suggestions on posts. Especially for anything that isn’t a plant 😄
Kopsia pauciflora, Apocynaceae. One of the first flowers we found in the forest 😁.
May 9, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Kopsia pauciflora, Apocynaceae. One of the first flowers we found in the forest 😁.
Reposted by Max Fontaine
🌾 It’s #PlantHealthWeek! Think you’ve got what it takes to keep our plants healthy? Try our Plant Doctor quiz and prove it! 👩🔬🌿
💡 Learn, play, and celebrate plant health 👉 www.bspp.org.uk/plant-doctor...
#BSPP #PlantPathology #PlantsMatter
💡 Learn, play, and celebrate plant health 👉 www.bspp.org.uk/plant-doctor...
#BSPP #PlantPathology #PlantsMatter
May 6, 2025 at 7:19 AM
🌾 It’s #PlantHealthWeek! Think you’ve got what it takes to keep our plants healthy? Try our Plant Doctor quiz and prove it! 👩🔬🌿
💡 Learn, play, and celebrate plant health 👉 www.bspp.org.uk/plant-doctor...
#BSPP #PlantPathology #PlantsMatter
💡 Learn, play, and celebrate plant health 👉 www.bspp.org.uk/plant-doctor...
#BSPP #PlantPathology #PlantsMatter
Fruit and flower of Goniothalamus roseus, Annonaceae. Native to Borneo. Distinct, bright red/pink apocarpous (unfused) fruit with lots of baby fruitlets (yes the whole thing is one fruit).
May 8, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Fruit and flower of Goniothalamus roseus, Annonaceae. Native to Borneo. Distinct, bright red/pink apocarpous (unfused) fruit with lots of baby fruitlets (yes the whole thing is one fruit).
Welcome week parade of Long-tailed macaques passing by my front door 🐒
May 7, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Welcome week parade of Long-tailed macaques passing by my front door 🐒
Hi All 👋 I’ll be at the incredible Danum Valley in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo conducting botanical fieldwork for the PhD until late July 🌳 Happy to take, and encouraging, any ID suggestions on posts. Especially for anything that isn’t a plant 😄
Very late considering i got here almost two weeks ago, but made it to Danum Valley, NE Borneo 🥳. 438km2 of pristine primary lowland rainforest, and my home for the next 3ish months. Keeping track of all the cool things I’ve seen is a challenge - I’ll attempt to post them here as i go.
May 6, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Hi All 👋 I’ll be at the incredible Danum Valley in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo conducting botanical fieldwork for the PhD until late July 🌳 Happy to take, and encouraging, any ID suggestions on posts. Especially for anything that isn’t a plant 😄
Very late considering i got here almost two weeks ago, but made it to Danum Valley, NE Borneo 🥳. 438km2 of pristine primary lowland rainforest, and my home for the next 3ish months. Keeping track of all the cool things I’ve seen is a challenge - I’ll attempt to post them here as i go.
May 6, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Very late considering i got here almost two weeks ago, but made it to Danum Valley, NE Borneo 🥳. 438km2 of pristine primary lowland rainforest, and my home for the next 3ish months. Keeping track of all the cool things I’ve seen is a challenge - I’ll attempt to post them here as i go.
Figured maybe i should slowly start sharing all these pictures of plants I’ve been hoarding in my camera roll.
Lollipop plant - Pachystachys lutea (Acanthaceae). Native to Peru. BTW, Yellow structures are bracts , not flowers
David Welch Winter Gardens, Duthie Park, Aberdeen.
Lollipop plant - Pachystachys lutea (Acanthaceae). Native to Peru. BTW, Yellow structures are bracts , not flowers
David Welch Winter Gardens, Duthie Park, Aberdeen.
March 13, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Figured maybe i should slowly start sharing all these pictures of plants I’ve been hoarding in my camera roll.
Lollipop plant - Pachystachys lutea (Acanthaceae). Native to Peru. BTW, Yellow structures are bracts , not flowers
David Welch Winter Gardens, Duthie Park, Aberdeen.
Lollipop plant - Pachystachys lutea (Acanthaceae). Native to Peru. BTW, Yellow structures are bracts , not flowers
David Welch Winter Gardens, Duthie Park, Aberdeen.
Reposted by Max Fontaine
Scientists from our institute and @uni-kiel.de led by @sunsicker.bsky.social show that endophytic fungi boost the chemical defenses of poplars by producing their own alkaloid to fend off herbivores. They alter insect communities and influence aphid-ant interactions.
www.ice.mpg.de/491257/PR_Wa...
www.ice.mpg.de/491257/PR_Wa...
Hidden allies
An endophytic fungus of the genus Cladosporium fungus which lives inside the leaves of black poplar, not only increases the production of defensive substances in the trees, but also produces an alkalo...
www.ice.mpg.de
February 26, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Scientists from our institute and @uni-kiel.de led by @sunsicker.bsky.social show that endophytic fungi boost the chemical defenses of poplars by producing their own alkaloid to fend off herbivores. They alter insect communities and influence aphid-ant interactions.
www.ice.mpg.de/491257/PR_Wa...
www.ice.mpg.de/491257/PR_Wa...
Reposted by Max Fontaine
Only 6.6% of conservation funding goes to plants (and only 0.2% to algae and fungi!!). Almost all goes to vertebrates, especially big well-known ones. Where do people think animals live and what do they eat? Picture with article has 2 rhinoceroses - and thousands of plants!
February 27, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Only 6.6% of conservation funding goes to plants (and only 0.2% to algae and fungi!!). Almost all goes to vertebrates, especially big well-known ones. Where do people think animals live and what do they eat? Picture with article has 2 rhinoceroses - and thousands of plants!
Reposted by Max Fontaine
IT IS TODAY! The Quarter Finals of Botanical University Challenge starting 2pm GMT watch on our YouTube Channel! Good luck to our eight plantastic teams! #BUC2025 @bucbotany.bsky.social
February 26, 2025 at 7:55 AM
IT IS TODAY! The Quarter Finals of Botanical University Challenge starting 2pm GMT watch on our YouTube Channel! Good luck to our eight plantastic teams! #BUC2025 @bucbotany.bsky.social
Aberdeen team Taxon, Taxoff first place after round one of #BUC25 🥳 So proud of our team, lots of very high scores on the leaderboard 👏 Bring on round two next week!
@bucbotany.bsky.social @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social
@bucbotany.bsky.social @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social
February 12, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Aberdeen team Taxon, Taxoff first place after round one of #BUC25 🥳 So proud of our team, lots of very high scores on the leaderboard 👏 Bring on round two next week!
@bucbotany.bsky.social @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social
@bucbotany.bsky.social @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social
Reposted by Max Fontaine
#JustIn on Plantae - Classical Botany in the Shadow of Molecular Science: Why It Still Matters. In this piece, Plantae Fellows, @kesmaio.bsky.social @carlosgonzsanz.bsky.social and @vedjiwan.bsky.social discuss the decline of the term and education of botanical sciences https://plantae.org/classica…
Classical Botany in the Shadow of Molecular Science: Why It Still Matters | Plantae
The Decline of Classical Botany Though many of us may recognize the word ‘botany’, we may also associate it with dusty books and 18th century science. ‘Botany’ is not used frequently in our…
plantae.org
January 30, 2025 at 9:03 PM
#JustIn on Plantae - Classical Botany in the Shadow of Molecular Science: Why It Still Matters. In this piece, Plantae Fellows, @kesmaio.bsky.social @carlosgonzsanz.bsky.social and @vedjiwan.bsky.social discuss the decline of the term and education of botanical sciences https://plantae.org/classica…
Reposted by Max Fontaine
As someone working in conservation and ecology, I want to add that learning to see the world differently, with new eyes, is one of the most beautiful and rewarding aspects of ecological training and expertise. We live in a world of wounds AND wonder, both of which are often invisible to others.
#Ecologists suffer from a burden of knowledge unlike that of most careers... Not only are we often underpaid, but we are also forced to watch the things we most care about be destroyed by apathetic or malicious humans who live blissfully ignorant to the importance of the natural world.... #ecogrief
November 23, 2024 at 8:45 PM
As someone working in conservation and ecology, I want to add that learning to see the world differently, with new eyes, is one of the most beautiful and rewarding aspects of ecological training and expertise. We live in a world of wounds AND wonder, both of which are often invisible to others.
🤯
Super cool research from @wildcru.bsky.social - Ethiopian wolves doing pollination work. Wolfination work.
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
🧪 🦊 🐝 🌸
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
🧪 🦊 🐝 🌸
November 22, 2024 at 10:13 PM
🤯
Reposted by Max Fontaine
Fully-funded PhD position available on the cultural evolution of tea!
With me, Sabine Parrish, and David Burslem at the University of Aberdeen (🏴), come combine anthropology and biology to think about why people drink tea and how that may change in the future.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
With me, Sabine Parrish, and David Burslem at the University of Aberdeen (🏴), come combine anthropology and biology to think about why people drink tea and how that may change in the future.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
People and tea: past, present, and future at University of Aberdeen on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - People and tea: past, present, and future at University of Aberdeen , listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
October 29, 2024 at 12:16 PM
Fully-funded PhD position available on the cultural evolution of tea!
With me, Sabine Parrish, and David Burslem at the University of Aberdeen (🏴), come combine anthropology and biology to think about why people drink tea and how that may change in the future.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
With me, Sabine Parrish, and David Burslem at the University of Aberdeen (🏴), come combine anthropology and biology to think about why people drink tea and how that may change in the future.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Max Fontaine
November 19, 2024 at 1:15 AM
Reposted by Max Fontaine
Absolutely gorgeous male Archduke butterfly. Those metallic blues are sensational
November 17, 2024 at 2:14 AM
Absolutely gorgeous male Archduke butterfly. Those metallic blues are sensational
Reposted by Max Fontaine
Ok, let's repost this here.
Types of plant systematics papers.
Types of plant systematics papers.
November 18, 2024 at 8:05 AM
Ok, let's repost this here.
Types of plant systematics papers.
Types of plant systematics papers.
Reposted by Max Fontaine
November 10, 2024 at 4:15 PM