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 photos.

It's completely free to access:
https://www.soil-organisms.org/SO/article/view/504/517

#SoilBiodiversity #SoilFauna #Macrophotography #Entomology #Soil #Nature #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet

YEAH! 🎉
Today #BEN-EAF kick-offs as collaboration of Eurac Research, South Tyrol (#AlpSoil_Lab) and the James Hutton Institute (#EnB group), Scotland.

We will identify alpine #SoilFauna in the Highlands using traditional and modern #eDNA methods.

Stay tuned!
https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.18172.50561

#SoilBiodiversity #MountainSoils #MountainsSoilBiodiversity #Scotland #AlpineSoils #SoilMacroFauna #SoilMesoFauna

The #GreenLitter and senescent litter (Cinnamomum camphora) generated by #TropicalCyclones exhibit distinctly different distribution patterns on the lawn and soil microhabitats.

#UrbanForest | #EnvironmentalHeterogeneity | #LitterDecomposition | #SoilFauna

https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtaf151

Some exciting life news... I am now a lecturer in Entomology and Ecology at Lincoln University in New Zealand!

We took the Entomology students on a fieldtrip over the weekend, and saw some of my favourite invertebrates: Velvet worms (Ooperipatellus) and giant springtails (Holacanthella)! Always a joy to see these incredible creatures.

#Entomology #SoilBiodiversity #SoilFauna #Ento #Macrophotography #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet

There are few soil animals as adorable as springtails!

This Platunurida sp. is a cousin of the famous 'giant' springtails in New Zealand. Instead of colourful spines, it has a flattened body, so it can squeeze into cracks in decaying logs, where it lives. They're surprisingly fast at escaping into the cracks, so it's difficult to get a good photo of them!

#Entomology #Macrophotography #SoilBiodiversity #Nature #SoilFauna #NaturePhotography #Soil #SoilEcology #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet

I am very happy to be part of and to see this review on #Isopoda and #Oniscidea (woodlice, terrestrial isopods) published in the #SoilOrganisms journal.

Many thanks to Konstantin Gongalsky & Pallieter De Smedt for leading this excellent work! 🎊

Read/download the review: https://doi.org/10.25674/466
And if you have Oniscidea data: SHARE THEM!

#OniscidBase #Isopods #Critters #SoilFauna #SoilMacroFauna #CallForData

Very helpful #preprint on #authorea from on "Standardised protocols for soil fauna extraction and a call for cross-lab implementation" 🪱🕷️🐞

doi.org/10.22541/au....

#SoilFauna #SoilBiodiversity #SoilLabs #Soil

【🎉Latest accepted article】
Typhoon-induced litter on lawns and soil surfaces exhibit divergent decomposition patterns

#TropicalCyclones | #UrbanForest | #EnvironmentalHeterogeneity | #GreenLitter | #LitterDecomposition | #SoilFauna

https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtaf151

SOIL BIODIVERSITY SPECIAL ISSUE!

Are you researching the conservation, ecology or taxonomy of soil and litter invertebrates?

Then consider submitting your paper to this Special Issue of the New Zealand Journal of Zoology, edited by me, Carlos Barreto and Andrew Barnes (what a dream team!).

Just send me preliminary manuscript info by 30 November 2025.

More information: https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/news/nzjz-soil/

#SoilBiodiversity #SoilEcology #SoilFauna #Soil

I've been largely absent from social media lately, as it would be an understatement to say I've got lot on at the moment... with a draft book manuscript due in two weeks (Eeeeek!), and a lot of research work to complete before a brand new baby Ashwood arrives in five weeks (even more Eeeeeek)!!

Time is a scarce commodity right now, send positive vibes please!

#Macrophotography #SoilBiodiversity #SoilFauna #SoilBiology #Entomology #Fatherhood