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  My Royal Institution lecture about soil biodiversity is now live on the RI's YouTube channel! What an incredible privilege to speak in the historic Faraday Lecture Theatre, and to such a wonderfully engaged and packed crowd too. Watch the video to learn about the creatures that keep our planet running: Springtails that leap faster than an eye blink, slime moulds that recreated Tokyo’s rail network, armoured mites that have gone without males for around 100 million years, and the colony o...

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  These two stunning forest floor giants are separated by about 80 million years of evolutionary isolation and roughly 1,500 miles of ocean (AKA the Tasman Sea). For scale, this Tasmanian 'dragon' springtail is on an Australian two-dollar coin (20 mm diameter), and the chunkier New Zealand 'giant' springtail is on a NZ one-dollar coin (26.5 mm diameter). The Kiwi species have the record for largest springtail in the world, but I think the Tassie ones aren't far behind! They p...

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  Did you know that the 21st October is an international day devoted to celebrating earthworms?! 🪱🌍 The Earthworm Society of Britain nominated an October date to honour the father of earthworm ecology, Charles Darwin, as this is the month that his book 'The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Actions of worms' was published in 1881! How did you celebrate #WorldWormDay this year? #Nature #SoilScience #SoilEcology #Biodiversity #Earthworm

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  Have you ever wondered something about soil life, but never had anyone to ask? Well, I literally wrote a book about it! Drop your question or thoughts in the comments and I'll get to work. Better yet, buy my new book 'The World Beneath our Feet' and find out the answer for yourself! P.S. This is me dipping my toe into making video posts, so be gentle with me! #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet #Book #Books #Soil #Nature

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  Hello fine people of Mastodon! I'm Frank: a soil ecologist, popular-science nonfiction author, nature macrophotographer and science communicator (and a very tired new father). Through my research and outreach, I'm determined to raise awareness of the tiny organisms that keep our soils (and our world) working! Make sure you've tapped the follow button if you want to learn more about: 🪱 Life in soil 📸 Nature macrophotography 🎙️ Science communication 📚 My debut (award-winning) scient...

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  As a reward for putting up with all my book promotion, please feast your eyes upon this smörgåsbord of Tasmanian 'dragon' springtails! These outrageous creatures are related to the New Zealand giant springtails that I've been utterly obsessed with for the past three years. I'm so pleased that I got the opportunity to visit Hobart at the weekend to go on a dragon hunt! That's not all I saw, however: I'll be adding more photos very soon, including fluffy mites and Tasmani...

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  Only two days until my Aotearoa / New Zealand book launch! Come join me this Thursday at Scorpio Books in Ōtautahi / Christchurch, for an author Q&A. I'm looking forward to your questions! 🪱📚 The event is free, but needs an RSVP: https://www.scorpiobooks.co.nz/event/book-launch-the-world-beneath-our-feet-by-frank-ashwood/

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  IT’S PUBLICATION DAY!! (UK) How better to spend it than at an earthworm research conference 🪱 I’m so excited to see this labour of love finally out in the world, and I really hope you enjoy it. With any luck, my infectious love for soil biodiversity will pass on to those who browse its pages. A huge thank you to everyone who has already supported the book through preorders! If you’re in the UK and Commonwealth, THE WORLD BENEATH OUR FEET is in a bookshop near you now! Coming very soon to Nor...

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  Less than 3 weeks to go until the UK release of my debut book THE WORLD BENEATH OUR FEET! And only a month later, it'll hit bookshops across the US and Canada 🥰 There's still time to reserve your own copy of the hardcover (preorders are super important!), so you can enjoy it on the day of release! And if you're coming to one of my UK events, I'll very happily sign your copy. I can't stop looking at my early copies, they're just so pretty. Though I can't claim the cr...

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  I recently gave a NerdNite talk about the weird and wonderful ways soil animals survive the challenges of life, and their complex (and sometimes quite romantic) love lives. I had an absolute blast, and the recording is now up on YouTube! Warning: this was an evening talk in a pub setting, so it has some adult humour and might not be for everyone. But, if you can stomach talk about slugs chewing off their own penises, and mites constructing 'love gardens' out of their own semen, then thi...

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  The cosmopolitan 'moss' springtail (Neanura muscorum) navigating a miniature forest of fungi on a decaying log. But it isn't alone — all those transparent blobs on its body are in fact curled-up, hitchhiking nematode worms (you can see these better in the second photo)! Much like the baby mite in my last post, these tiny worms are using a larger animal to help them disperse to new environments. It's thought that this 'phoretic' behaviour might be a stepping stone in how...

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  How about a cheeky bit of mite-on-mite action to help with the midweek slump? This hard-bodied oribatid mite has an uninvited hitchhiker taking it for a ride. The stowaway is a juvenile dust mite (Astigmatina), which is using a special pair of suction pads to keep it tightly clamped onto its host. It’s so well adapted for hitching a lift, that it has entirely given up on feeding during transit, with its mouthparts reduced and its digestive system effectively shut down. The baby mite will stay...

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  This adorable little creature is one of New Zealand's endemic giant springtails, but it's not just ANY giant springtail... I first discovered this springtail population two years ago, living up in the few remaining patches of native forest in the Port Hills of Christchurch. This put them on the map - nobody had ever seen them near the city before, so it was a wonderful surprise to find them there! They appear a lot smaller than other members of their species that I've found elsewh...

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  Did you know that the European mole (Talpa europaea) has a toxin in its saliva which paralyses earthworms, their favourite food? This means that the moles can then store the paralysed earthworms in special 'larder' chambers within their burrows, where they are kept alive and fresh until later consumption. These larders have been reported to contain many hundreds of earthworms at a time! When it's time to visit their larder for a snack, these moles have a clever trick to make sure th...

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  Turn over any rotting log and you might find these beautiful structures, although you'll need a decent lens to appreciate them. Known as the common coral slime (Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa) based on its coral-like appearance, this slime mold species is truly cosmopolitan, with a global distribution (this photo was taken in New Zealand). The common coral slime was first described in 1729 by Pier Antonio Micheli, the Italian botanist who discovered fungal spores and is considered the 'foundi...

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  It's only two months now until the UK/Commonwealth and EU release of The World Beneath our Feet, and the US release is just a month after that! It's all feeling very real all of a sudden. I'll be back in the UK in September, with lots of exciting book promotion on the horizon. Pre-orders are SUPER IMPORTANT, so if you or someone you care about would like a book about soil and the incredible life it contains, please go reserve a copy from your preferred book seller now! (PS: It'...

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  Adventures of a tiny white gummy bear. When you're a springtail this smol, microfungi are perfect drinking vessels, and slime mold sporangia are towering trees. I've not been out with my camera much lately; with parenthood, work and book edits taking up all my time. But I hope to pick back up with the macrophotography very soon! New Zealand's hidden soil treasures await discovery! #Macrophotography #NaturePhotography #Soil #SoilBiodiversity #Entomology #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet

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  @alexwild@mastodon.online The middle paper on the bottom row cut me very deep!

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  I appreciate all the love for my previous post, so, here's a little more velvet worm / Peripatus cuteness to start your weekend off right! Beneath that adorable little eye, you can see the stumpy glue cannon, which it uses to subdue prey! #SoilEcology #Macrophotography #SoilBiodiversity #Entomology #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet #Onychophora #Peripatus

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  The final proofs of THE WORLD BENEATH OUR FEET are in, so it's almost time for this labour of love to go to the printers! My popular science-style book about the incredible life in soil is now available for pre-order EVERYWHERE, so please go bag yourself a copy! Now I just have to decide the shortlist of my photographs to go into it... #Soil #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet #SoilBiodiversity #Author #NatureBooks

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  I recently discovered this incredible creature while on a night walk in the NZ bush. Known as a 'Velvet Worm', this adorable invertebrate is actually an active predator which immobilises its prey with organic glue fired from turrets on its head! Basically unchanged in about 400 million years, they are so wonderful that of course they get more than a few mentions in my upcoming book 'The World Beneath Our Feet' (coming later this year). #SoilEcology #Macrophotogr...

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  Want to learn how to start doing soil animal macrophotography? Or how to improve your current macrophotography? Perhaps you just fancy a rare glimpse into mine and Andy Murray's enigmatic minds? Well, here you go! A new perspectives article has just dropped in Soil Organisms journal, where Monica Farfan digs into mine and Andy's love for documenting and communicating soil biodiversity using photography! It was a very fun interview, jammed full of macrophotography tips and photo...

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  If you go down to the woods today, you might see a GIANT EARTHWORM! 🪱 In New Zealand it’s time for the second round of the global soil biodiversity monitoring project ‘SoilBON’, and some incredible native earthworms turned up during fieldwork yesterday! #SoilBiodiversity #WormWednesday #Soil #Earthworm #Nature #Entomology