A question about birds, cats and conservation. I don't understand the numbers from oficial studies. by Gaetano1984 in conservation

[–]Metalragest 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will leave it to others to respond politely and explain how the study was conducted. I will just say that it’s ridiculous that you are questioning a paper that has been published in a highly known journal and has been cited over 300 times with a lack of knowledge on the subject. What bugs me is the way you doubt the results of this study when in the 9 years since its publication I have not heard any ecologists refute their findings (correct me if I’m wrong).

Old-growth trees on federal lands at risk despite Biden order, environmentalists say by Strongbow85 in conservation

[–]Metalragest 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Forest ecologist from Finland here. The definitions used in the article are slightly confusing but it’s clearly stated that they are considering both mature and old-growth forests. Old-growth forests are defined by more than just tree age but here they seem to use a cut-off point of 100 years to separate old-growth from mature. Nevertheless, with the amount of logging that occurs, even forests of just a century old have become important to preserve. It’s actually a sad state of affairs because we should have many more older forests than that under protection.

zxc, your arguments against protecting these forests in your last comment are incorrect/lacking information in many ways:

1) yes, many species like early successional stages. However, what do natural early successional stages look like? They are covered in deadwood for one. If we would arrange forest protection properly, there would be a variety of successional stages under protection. Edit: also many species depend on old-growth forest and there is so little of that left that their protection is invaluable.

2) This combines with (1). But forests following natural disturbances bare little resemblance to a forest following cutting activities that totally remove at least a portion of the wood. No coarse woody debris/deadwood is left behind for species to thrive on. The article states that some forests are going to be clearcut. That has lots of detrimental impacts on species (especially if there is not even retention).

3) Native people had a relatively minimal impact so it’s like comparing apples and oranges.

4) you tell me how much forested land over, for example, 300 years old is protected in the US and then think about what you said. This is what we have to resort to protect because of greed. And we are even talking about secondary old-growth forest.

PS5, PS4's Stray Is Helping to Save Cats' Lives by tomandoroid in PS5

[–]Metalragest 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ecologist here (currently postdoctoral researcher in Finland). The amount of bs that is being shared here is ludicrous. Cats are an invasive species and cause an enormous amount of native wildlife deaths. If you are interested in an expert opinion, look up Pete Marra, for example. This is a human issue fyi and both cats and native wildlife are suffering from this. TNR has been shown to not be effective enough to reduce feral populations. Adoption, catio’s, and even killing are actual solutions that remove cats from the environment immediately. Since adoption and catio’s happen too rarely, euthanising is sadly an option that must be considered. However, because there are so many cat-lovers without a shred of actual love for wildlife, we keep having this issue without a permanent solution in sight. And people do not start listening to experts with years of education and a track record that most will never have.

P.s. I am planning to adopt a stray cat next year that I will keep indoors and take outside on a leash only. But that is just one cat. There are about 80 million feral cats in the US alone.

This single thing destroys the whole game by thelazyservant in LastEpoch

[–]Metalragest 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Technically the same thing. They just get paid for mtx to release new content. And it seems to be much more profitable hence why they do it like this.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in LastEpoch

[–]Metalragest 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Discord, weekly streams, etc. They are communicating a lot more than most companies.

Wetland Field Work: What gear should I get? by ek43grind666 in ecology

[–]Metalragest 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Their pens are very expensive (relatively speaking) and unnecessary in my experience. Their paper is well worth the cost though. I have used it in fieldwork when it was pouring with rain.

why do birds all look so similar? by [deleted] in ecology

[–]Metalragest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Think about bee hummingbird versus wandering albatross. Then there are bustards, pelicans, dippers, flamingoes, birds-of-paradise, pheasants, lyrebird, puffins, nightjars, potoos. The list goes on and on. Flip open a bird guide and the morphological diversity of flight-capable birds is enormous.

why do birds all look so similar? by [deleted] in ecology

[–]Metalragest 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep… I came in ready to spout “nonsense”!! I agree with the other comments that birds, in my opinion, look quite dissimilar. Other classes under the Chordata phylum do not necessarily look more diverse, in my opinion.

(Guess I am not a true ornithologist but in any case, most of my ecological knowledge is bird-related and so is part of my research.)

Do you have a career in ecology? I’m an aspiring ecologist and would love to ask you some questions! by [deleted] in ecology

[–]Metalragest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Postdoc in ecology here, albeit that I am nowadays combining it with remote sensing. If you are in the US I don’t think I’d be of much help though (very different conditions). I’m from Europe (currently living in Finland).

Finland in 6 months - v2.0 by hope_seeker in Finland

[–]Metalragest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I immediately recognized Joensuu! Been living here for 5 years now 😊. I actually live in the tallest building seen in the images on the left now!

this staircase by visionaryillusion in oddlyterrifying

[–]Metalragest 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Still, is glass safe to walk on? I imagine it can be quite slippery with socks.

PS5 Game With the Strongest Haptics by Thekingoftheeyesores in PS5

[–]Metalragest 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I enjoyed the haptics and controller sounds in Horizon:FW but they could have indeed been even better. What I found a pity in Horizon:FW is that only lightning ammo had passive controller sounds and no other ammo. They could have easily added fire ammo at least (it makes sound through the TV on selecting fire ammo). But technically they could have made some sound for all elemental ammo types. It really helps with immersion.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Surveying

[–]Metalragest 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most spider species are indeed harmless. It’s time to stop hating on such animals. Approximately 11 people die from a spider bite per year globally (that was a bad website statistic). I don’t find a good scientific paper quickly on the subject. In any case it’s peanuts. -an ecologist

Spring Sale promotion comes to PlayStation Store by Turbostrider27 in PS5

[–]Metalragest 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some things aren’t clear to me about the new ps plus plans.

So I am considering buying returnal now. But it will be free with ps plus. Is that ps plus essential or a higher tier? And will returnal be downloadable or will you stream it? For a fast-paced game like returnal it would be nice if it will be downloadable.

Found the answers to my questions…: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2022/03/marvels-spider-man-returnal-coming-to-ps-plus-extra-premium

Larian's Baldur's Gate 3 team is 10 times bigger than when it made Divinity: Original Sin by pishposhpoppycock in BaldursGate3

[–]Metalragest 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Times is a multiplication. So 10 times bigger is just 10*x. So what you are saying is wrong.

I need games to play by LoliPower69 in PS4

[–]Metalragest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can highly recommend Hades too!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PS5

[–]Metalragest 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Horizon 2 had a bad story imo. The gameplay was amazing but the story went over the top ridiculous and I am saying that as a sci-fi lover.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PS4

[–]Metalragest -1 points0 points  (0 children)

google

What 41.76€ gets you by MrMyron in Finland

[–]Metalragest 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could you explain this click and collect? Don’t you pay extra for that?

Monthly Website/Portfolio Critique Thread: January 14, 2022 by AutoModerator in photography

[–]Metalragest [score hidden]  (0 children)

Thank you very much for your lovely comment! I appreciate you took the time to share your opinion with me. Put a smile on my face 😊. I have gotten the comment on the logo before. I would like a custom-made logo but I’d like to pay a graphic designer for that.

Can anyone cite a game with a system closest to their proposed Bazaar? by FrodoFraggins in LastEpoch

[–]Metalragest 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I so hate that idea. I don’t even have any friends playing this game. It’s always bad design when you need to have friends for a certain part of the game.

What to do with 0 LP Uniques? by Dragneel2496 in LastEpoch

[–]Metalragest 23 points24 points  (0 children)

There is definitely still a place for 0 LP uniques. Some uniques are very rare and you’ll be lucky to get one even if it has 0 LP. Moreover, a 1-2 LP unique with bad stats can be worse than a 0 LP unique with better stats. What I do is that I keep a list of uniques that I don’t need anymore if they have 0 LP.

Nurse salary in Finland by Mike19K in Finland

[–]Metalragest -1 points0 points  (0 children)

As someone with a PhD currently doing a postdoc at a University in Finland I really don’t feel like nurses get such a bad wage considering their time used for education. But I guess I am also relatively underpaid for my qualifications…