Conservation ecologist. PhD candidate (seabirds) @unswbees. Birds, wildlife, most things... E: [email protected]
Sydney, New South Wales
Joined November 2015
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Simon Gorta retweeted
First PhD chapter published🥳 field study over 1 year looking at how increased temperature impacts soil bacteria and the buffering role of groundcover types
Big thank you to everyone I worked with on this @nathali_micro @MiriMunozRojas + Richard Kingsford
dx.doi.org/10.1002/sae2.7002…
An important news article on recent seabird mortality events in eastern Australia (Short-tailed Shearwaters).
Evidence-based, scientific explanations are key to understanding what's going on.
For more details, see also: utas.edu.au/about/news-and-s….
Thousands of dead seabirds are washing up on Australia’s beaches. Researchers want to know why theguardian.com/environment/…
New research in @ConLetters from @AlexJB497, @MarsKlaassen, Richard Kingsford, @rohanclarke01, and I demonstrating the potential for HPAI H5N1 virus transmission via food-theft (kleptoparasitism) in seabirds: conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.c…
Pic: David Tipling
And our piece in @ConversationEDU: theconversation.com/pirate-b…
Simon Gorta retweeted
Very grateful to have joined the @CES_UNSW @unswbees on their pelagic excursion to survey the sea birds out at the continental shelf. We observed 12 species and over 200 indivs! I may sit in the lab or at my comp most of the day, but I love the field 😍. Thanks @GortaBirds!
Quite the spectacle today watching Short-tailed Shearwaters migrating north off Seal Rocks, NSW, AUS. Appeared to be largely juveniles on their first cross-hemisphere trip to the North Pacific. We rarely see the northward migration at sea or from land.
ebird.org/checklist/S1723503… – at Seal Rocks, New South Wales
Simon Gorta retweeted
We need your help recording #MyrtleRust across Australia to track its spread. Hop onto @inaturalist, join Gum Tree Guardians, and upload your pics! All data feed into @atlaslivingaust for researchers to use.
More info here: spr.ly/6017X3RLP
@DavidPocock @_Alyssa_Martino
Simon Gorta retweeted
Net zero policy for new gas projects abandoned after industry objected by @_LisaMCox theguardian.com/australia-ne…
Great to see an evidence-based summary which cuts through the noise of what we do and don't know about the current short-tailed shearwater wreck occurring along Australia's east coast.
In Oct & Nov, horrified beachgoers often find dead & dying muttonbirds washing up. It's called a #seabirdwreck & it's happening now along our east coast beaches! @DrLaurenRoman explains what do we do & don't know about wrecks & what to do if you see one 🪶 bit.ly/Shearwater-wrecks
Some of the ~6000 pairs of Sooty Terns on Phillip Is. (Norfolk Is.).
Humpback Whales are still moving through, black-winged petrel numbers are building, and we picked up a Long-tailed Cuckoo stopping over on the island before heading to NZ to breed.
Tough gig out here.
New open access paper out in @GlobalChangeBio:
"Multi-taxon biodiversity responses to the 2019–2020 Australian megafires"
doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16955
Pic of Pink Flannel Flowers by John Porter
We emphasise that our findings are at a broad scale, spatially and taxonomically, and do not in any way test nor contradict prior findings of local or species-specific responses to these or other fires.