Frank Ashwood

@frankashwood.bsky.social

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Remembering the time I successfully photographed a tardigrade! There's very few non-microscope photos of these tiny creatures out there. They're toughest animals on Earth: able to go into a dormant ‘tun’ state & withstand extreme temperatures, desiccation, radiation, and even the vacuum of space! 🧪

Nature can be rather disturbing at times, but amazing too! Here are a couple of examples of entomopathogenic fungi I've seen across New Zealand - that's fungi which infect and kill invertebrates (yep, 'The Last of Us' style). Can you tell what the unfortunate hosts were? #Entomology 🧪

Absolutely delighted that one of my photos picked up 'Specially Commended' in the @royentsoc.bsky.social 2023 Photo Competition! Congratulations to everyone else who picked up wins in this year's competition. Let's support #insectweek & show some love for the little creatures that run this world! 🧪

Oribatid mites such as this Damaeidae species are mostly detritivores or fungivores, playing an important role in regulating the breakdown of dead plant material. Because of their diets, they’re particularly abundant & diverse in litter-rich forest soils and decaying wood! 🧪 #SoilBiodiversity

*NEW PAPER ALERT* Do the public and scientists look for earthworms in different places? Do they therefore find different species? Are 'rare' earthworm species really just living in overlooked habitats? YES to all of the above! Find out more (open access): www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Earthworm records and habitat associations in the British Isleswww.sciencedirect.com The National Earthworm Recording Scheme (NERS) is the most comprehensive national database of earthworm species occurrence records for the British Isl…

Alright, let’s see how this goes! Good luck to everyone submitting photos to CUPOTY this year! 🍀 #MacroPhotography

You're probably familiar with termites, but have you ever heard of 'Nasute' termites? They are most recognisable by the soldier caste, which have a horn-like head projection called a 'Fontanellar gun'. From this they can forcefully shoot gluey, terpene-rich chemicals at their enemies! 🧪

Here's a type of springtail you don't often see, because they're absolutely TINY - only about 0.5 mm big! The order Neelipleona contains the world's smallest springtail species, which generally live in caves, soil & litter. This is Megalothorax incertus, one of NZ's three known Neelidae species! 🧪

Did you know, there's earthworms that aren't truly 'earth' worms, because they LIVE UP IN TREES!! 🌳🪱 Here's a European 'corticolous' (tree-living) species, Dendrobaena attemsi. They can be found in organic pockets up in canopies, which they reach by using little spines on their bodies to climb! 🧪

I forked out for an Olympus TG-7 tough camera as a grab-and-go option for times when I can't take my normal macro kit. The question is, how does the macro on the TG-7 compare to my Nikon D850/Laowa lens setup? Well, I took it for a spin at the weekend, so let's find out... #Macrophotography

!! SPRINGTAIL CUTENESS OVERLOAD !! Here's more globular springtails than you can shake a blade of grass at! Enjoy! #Macrophotography 🧪

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Frank Ashwood

Pleased to announce that my West Coast Wikipedian at Large project with Development West Coast won Gold and Silver awards at the 2024 PRINZ Awards and was one of six finalist for the top prize. prinz.org.nz/2024-prinz-a...

2024 PRINZ Awards Supreme Winner - PRINZ - Public Relations Institute of New Zealandprinz.org.nz MEDIA RELEASE

In macrophotography, one of the key tricks is to get the eyes of your subject in focus... But what do you do when the subject doesn't have eyes? You just aim for whatever they have instead! For example, this Oribatid mite's head has 'trichobothria' - pits with a thick sensory hair poking out. 🧪

A reminder that New Zealand and other land masses in the south-west Pacific are home to LEAF-VEINED SLUGS! Unlike their omnivorous European relatives, these slugs eat only fungi. They breathe mainly through the skin of the back, which is kept moist by secretions passing along the many grooves. 🧪

I was just sent this photo of when I first started doing macrophotography - exactly 4 years ago! Here's my first ever macro photo of a snout mite, compared to a recent one. It's reassuring to see how my skills and kit have developed! I'd love to see your 'then' & 'now' photos! #macrophotography🧪

Delighted for my photos to feature in @nytimes.com writeup of this* recent research paper! 🧪 www.nytimes.com/2024/05/24/c... *Martin, P. A., et al. (2024). Meta-analysis reveals that the effects of precipitation change on soil and litter fauna in forests depend on body size. Global Change Biology.

Life in the Dirt Is Hard. And Climate Change Isn’t Helping.www.nytimes.com Heat and drought are taking a toll on the tiny soil creatures that help to lock away planet-warming carbon, according to a new analysis.

I can finally announce it... I'm writing a book!! Buckle in for a safari through the soil - meeting all the wondrous creatures that keep our world ticking over. I can't believe how lucky I am to be working with such an amazing editorial team, so exciting! 🧪 www.thebookseller.com/rights/hodde...

Hodder's 48-hour pre-empt for soil ecologistwww.thebookseller.com Hodder Press has pre-empted soil ecologist Frank Ashwood’s first book The World Beneath Our Feet, a microscopic tour of the layers of soil our world is built upon.

Nice to see the recent Christchurch City Nature Challenge and my Macrophotography covered in Western News, NZ. Some well-deserved credit for the organising team in this article, including Rob Cruickshank, who did an amazing job of engaging with the local community 🧪 www.yumpu.com/en/document/...

Do you love Springtail Saturday, but feel it's always over too soon? Dry your eyes, my friend. They said it couldn't be done. They said that dedicating more than one day a week to springtails was impossible, merely the arrogant pipe-dream of a madman. But, guess what? It's #SpringtailSunday 🧪

Let's start the weekend off the right way, by observing #SpringtailSaturday with this lovely Lepidocyrtus moorei! The name 'Lepidocyrtus' stems from Greek 'lepis' meaning 'scale' and 'kyrtos' meaning 'convex' - referring to the thousands of beautiful iridescent scales covering its body! 🧪

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Frank Ashwood

hi scientists 🧪 i'd love to hear your thoughts on bluesky! • what groups/people in science aren't here yet, that you want to see? • what can bluesky do to make it a better place for science comms? • what external tools do you use that should integrate bluesky support? • anything else!

Why I love soil ecology - where else on Earth would you find something so bizarre as this? Ptyctimous mites like this are the ultimate tanks of the mite world, capable of retracting their legs back into their heavily-armoured body, so there's nothing exposed for predators to nibble! 🧪

newsline.ccc.govt.nz/news/story/w...

Web of biodiversity spun during City Nature Challengenewsline.ccc.govt.nz Dr Frank Ashwood plunged his hands into a compost pile and scattered the decaying material onto a sheet, then waited and saw movement.

What's this? Wrong answers only! #SoilBiodiversity 🧪

Send help, my brain is still playing Rim Tim Tagi Dim on repeat… 🐈 #Eurovision

I finally managed to get back out with my camera for some macrophotography this weekend, and found some amazing soil invertebrates. First up, this juvenile globular springtail (Calvatomina superba)... What a cutie! I'll share the rest over the coming week, and hopefully also some exciting news! 🧪

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Frank Ashwood

YA BOY WROTE A SPIDER BOOK

What a lovely surprise to win the 'Inspiring Invertebrate' award tonight at the iNaturalist Christchurch/Ōtautahi #CityNatureChallenge2024 celebration event at Tūranga Library! Well done to everyone involved in the challenge this year - it was the biggest one yet! Looking forward to next year 🕷️🪱 🧪

I've been a bit distracted from posting on here lately, but it's for a very good reason - stand by for some extremely exciting news coming very soon!

Mmmm forbidden candy floss... #SlimeMold 🧪