Phil Martin
@philmartin.bsky.social
Ikerbasque research fellow at BC3 - Basque Centre for Climate Change | applied forest ecology | evidence synthesis | Associate editor @jappliedecology.bsky.social | foodie | music fiend | twin dad
It was great to host @julenastigarraga.bsky.social at BC3 today. He gave a fantastic talk about improving predictions in ecology and the role of mechanistic models in predicting change in forests. Hoping we can keep the conversations going and collaborate in the near future!
November 6, 2025 at 5:43 PM
It was great to host @julenastigarraga.bsky.social at BC3 today. He gave a fantastic talk about improving predictions in ecology and the role of mechanistic models in predicting change in forests. Hoping we can keep the conversations going and collaborate in the near future!
Great talk by @rupertseidl.bsky.social today at BC3 on the past, present, and future of forest disturbances in Europe and what this means for biodiversity and ecosystem services. Especially interesting to see how forest recovery is rapid in most of Europe, but not in Central and Southern Iberia.
October 28, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Great talk by @rupertseidl.bsky.social today at BC3 on the past, present, and future of forest disturbances in Europe and what this means for biodiversity and ecosystem services. Especially interesting to see how forest recovery is rapid in most of Europe, but not in Central and Southern Iberia.
Great day out in the field with our guest at BC3 this week @rupertseidl.bsky.social! Today we've been looking at a salvage logged site damaged by windthrow with some retention & an experimental harvest site, both in Álava. Nice to discuss similarities & differences in forest management.
October 27, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Great day out in the field with our guest at BC3 this week @rupertseidl.bsky.social! Today we've been looking at a salvage logged site damaged by windthrow with some retention & an experimental harvest site, both in Álava. Nice to discuss similarities & differences in forest management.
Has anyone actually ever clicked on this?
October 23, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Has anyone actually ever clicked on this?
I'm Phil, based near Bilbao, Spain. I work out how to better manage & restore forests for biodiversity. I've often used evidence synthesis to answer applied questions, but I'm increasingly interested in working at local scales with managers, NGOs, and landowners phil-martin-research.github.io
August 21, 2025 at 5:47 PM
I'm Phil, based near Bilbao, Spain. I work out how to better manage & restore forests for biodiversity. I've often used evidence synthesis to answer applied questions, but I'm increasingly interested in working at local scales with managers, NGOs, and landowners phil-martin-research.github.io
Finally, this work was an absolutely enormous effort for which we screened ~20,000 papers to find the relevant studies. Here's just part of the amazing team that helped with this work as part of the Horizon project @holisoils.bsky.social . Big thanks!
July 23, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Finally, this work was an absolutely enormous effort for which we screened ~20,000 papers to find the relevant studies. Here's just part of the amazing team that helped with this work as part of the Horizon project @holisoils.bsky.social . Big thanks!
So, what does this all mean? Well, because the evidence base for each disturbances is different, the solutions to the problems they face is also different (see the table). Broadly we need more studies: (1) in boreal and tropical forest; (2) on earthworms, nematodes, termites & multi-taxa studies
July 23, 2025 at 1:16 PM
So, what does this all mean? Well, because the evidence base for each disturbances is different, the solutions to the problems they face is also different (see the table). Broadly we need more studies: (1) in boreal and tropical forest; (2) on earthworms, nematodes, termites & multi-taxa studies
Studies were normally relatively short, small (apart from studies of fire), conducted at shallow depths, & rarely reported the intensity of disturbances,(aside from precipitation changes). This impedes synthesis of long-term effects & the impacts of different disturbance intensities.
July 23, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Studies were normally relatively short, small (apart from studies of fire), conducted at shallow depths, & rarely reported the intensity of disturbances,(aside from precipitation changes). This impedes synthesis of long-term effects & the impacts of different disturbance intensities.
Most studies used observational rather than experimental methods to assess impacts, apart from studies of precipitation change where experiments were common. This means our estimates of precipitation change are more robust, but potentially less realistic than those for other disturbances
July 23, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Most studies used observational rather than experimental methods to assess impacts, apart from studies of precipitation change where experiments were common. This means our estimates of precipitation change are more robust, but potentially less realistic than those for other disturbances
Studies mostly focussed on relatively simple biodiversity metrics such as abundance and alpha diversity, but where more studies were undertaken, measurement of more complex metrics was more common. More work on food webs would aid our ability to assess the stability of multiple ecosystem functions
July 23, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Studies mostly focussed on relatively simple biodiversity metrics such as abundance and alpha diversity, but where more studies were undertaken, measurement of more complex metrics was more common. More work on food webs would aid our ability to assess the stability of multiple ecosystem functions
Studies focussed on a small number of taxonomic groups & on only one body size class. This limits more holistic assessments of impacts and our ability to project how soils may respond to climate change, since body size is linked to the resilience of organisms to disturbance
July 23, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Studies focussed on a small number of taxonomic groups & on only one body size class. This limits more holistic assessments of impacts and our ability to project how soils may respond to climate change, since body size is linked to the resilience of organisms to disturbance
For taxonomic biases, there were large numbers of studies for groups like beetles, spiders, springtails, and mites, but few studies of important groups like earthworms & nematodes. Accounting for global estimates of biomass again highlighted that earthworms & nematodes appear understudied
July 23, 2025 at 1:16 PM
For taxonomic biases, there were large numbers of studies for groups like beetles, spiders, springtails, and mites, but few studies of important groups like earthworms & nematodes. Accounting for global estimates of biomass again highlighted that earthworms & nematodes appear understudied
For geographic biases we found that temperate and Mediterranean forests were well studied, relative to the area affected by disturbances, but boreal and tropical forests weren't. This is a particular problem for fire and precipitation change which affect large regions of both these biomes.
July 23, 2025 at 1:16 PM
For geographic biases we found that temperate and Mediterranean forests were well studied, relative to the area affected by disturbances, but boreal and tropical forests weren't. This is a particular problem for fire and precipitation change which affect large regions of both these biomes.
Abstract submission is now open for my favourite conference in the world - The BES annual meeting in Edinburgh! www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/bes-... If you want to go & aren't a BES member yet, here's a 50% discount code for membership - it makes registration much cheaper. #BES2025
July 17, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Abstract submission is now open for my favourite conference in the world - The BES annual meeting in Edinburgh! www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/bes-... If you want to go & aren't a BES member yet, here's a 50% discount code for membership - it makes registration much cheaper. #BES2025
Really interesting robust systematic review investigating impacts of bird perches on assisted natural forest regeneration. Seed density seems to increase in most areas and this is reflected by higher seedling density, but not richness, in grasslands & shrublands link.springer.com/article/10.1...
June 17, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Really interesting robust systematic review investigating impacts of bird perches on assisted natural forest regeneration. Seed density seems to increase in most areas and this is reflected by higher seedling density, but not richness, in grasslands & shrublands link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The reporting in some of this @theguardian.com article is really troubling. Its numbers on insect biomass declines are taken from a heavily criticised review, which I now use in classes to show the dangers of doing bad science. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
June 4, 2025 at 7:48 AM
The reporting in some of this @theguardian.com article is really troubling. Its numbers on insect biomass declines are taken from a heavily criticised review, which I now use in classes to show the dangers of doing bad science. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
If you're at #SIBECOLAEET2025 come and see my poster on biases in forest restoration and their impact on estimating restoration effectiveness in the 'More human impact and restoration' section. It's our first day output from the BES-funded working group that I'm leading.
June 3, 2025 at 4:30 PM
If you're at #SIBECOLAEET2025 come and see my poster on biases in forest restoration and their impact on estimating restoration effectiveness in the 'More human impact and restoration' section. It's our first day output from the BES-funded working group that I'm leading.
Hey people, this week I'm at #SIBECOLAEET2025 where I'll be representing our team at BC3 and @jappliedecology.bsky.social. I'll be taking over the J Applied Ecology account shortly and will do my best to say on top of talks etc. I'll also be at the BES stand during breaks if you want to say hi!
June 2, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Hey people, this week I'm at #SIBECOLAEET2025 where I'll be representing our team at BC3 and @jappliedecology.bsky.social. I'll be taking over the J Applied Ecology account shortly and will do my best to say on top of talks etc. I'll also be at the BES stand during breaks if you want to say hi!
Xinran Miao gave a great talk about the potential leakage effects of forest restoration in sub-Saharan Africa, finding that natural regeneration and active restoration leads to local reductions in forest loss, while agroforestry results in small increases in forest loss.
May 23, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Xinran Miao gave a great talk about the potential leakage effects of forest restoration in sub-Saharan Africa, finding that natural regeneration and active restoration leads to local reductions in forest loss, while agroforestry results in small increases in forest loss.
David Coomes details the massive contraction in the carbon credit market caused by research and investigative journalism on the additionality of carbon projects.
May 22, 2025 at 4:20 PM
David Coomes details the massive contraction in the carbon credit market caused by research and investigative journalism on the additionality of carbon projects.
My favourite talk of the day so far is Gianluca Cerullo who spoke about balancing different environmental and economic priorities for wood production at landscape scales. He and his team did masses of data collection in different production systems in Borneo to find that...
May 22, 2025 at 2:08 PM
My favourite talk of the day so far is Gianluca Cerullo who spoke about balancing different environmental and economic priorities for wood production at landscape scales. He and his team did masses of data collection in different production systems in Borneo to find that...
Bruno Barcante from Birmingham University highlights the apparent regeneration crisis in UK woodlands - causes not totally clear but probaby a combination of deer, drought, and pathogens. Nice to see a field site we sampled back in 2014 (Denny wood) being resampled for this work!
May 22, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Bruno Barcante from Birmingham University highlights the apparent regeneration crisis in UK woodlands - causes not totally clear but probaby a combination of deer, drought, and pathogens. Nice to see a field site we sampled back in 2014 (Denny wood) being resampled for this work!
Dave Edwards kicks off the Centre for Global Wood Security symposium by talking about the urgency of the centre's focus given that last year was a record year for tropical forest loss caused by fires.
May 22, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Dave Edwards kicks off the Centre for Global Wood Security symposium by talking about the urgency of the centre's focus given that last year was a record year for tropical forest loss caused by fires.
Sad to see a little patch of secondary forest near to our house being cleared away for housing development... I guess it was always going to happen, but it's still upsetting to see what was probably the most natural forest in the town go.
March 21, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Sad to see a little patch of secondary forest near to our house being cleared away for housing development... I guess it was always going to happen, but it's still upsetting to see what was probably the most natural forest in the town go.
Last day of our workshop on bias in forest restoration! The best day so far - had a fantastic time thinking about evidence use by practitioners with our great, great team. Feeling mentally destroyed but so satisfied. All topped off with some celebratory cheesecake. Perfect day.
February 21, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Last day of our workshop on bias in forest restoration! The best day so far - had a fantastic time thinking about evidence use by practitioners with our great, great team. Feeling mentally destroyed but so satisfied. All topped off with some celebratory cheesecake. Perfect day.