Kevan Walter Jones

Learning Adviser at The University of Queensland.
Plant pathologist. Agricultural scientist. Mycologist. Banana doctor.

Ex-Squire of Belswagger Morris.

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@thomas_violence there's quite a few BORLFF fans in Morris dancing - if you ever wanted to do uh BOMFH (Brisbane Only Morris Folk Horror), you could easily summon real Morris dancers

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

Yes, especially in imaging and microscopy

[Tanentzapf Lab @TanentzapfLab]

We must work very hard to normalise showing raw data, ugly data, noisy data in papers, talks, & grants. Right now it's terrifying showing data that isn't "pretty" because reviewers will focus on that to the detriment of the story. Let us represent biology in its full messy glory.

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@wisebeck @sthcrft Ah third space! This is relevant to my interests, cheers

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@Chelsea_Janke PTSD flashbacks to 2011. I lost six months of banana research. Plants survived the flood, but were cooked when the sun came out and the glasshouses went 60C+

[Joey Santore @JoeySantore]

The world's only parasitic conifer, Parasitaxus usta, in the incredibly dark & humid forests of New Caledonia in February '20. This plant parasitizes another member of the family Podocarpaceae, Falcatifolium taxoides. It lacks chlorophyll & its berry-like cones are sky-blue.

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@filthydancer Same. I'm an inch away from becoming a social-media recluse living in a cave.

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@AlanLevinovitz Many, many plant disease outbreaks. They're rarely taken seriously until they become an actual problem. Then it's too late.

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@DoctorKarl Also, look into "Karrikins". The plants often don't need fire, they need smoke (i know that's a tedious semantic distinction, but it's interesting stuff!)

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@DoctorKarl Many grasses around the world evolved to do this. Grow -> become flammable -> catch on fire -> kill all other plants around you -> re-colonise faster -> push out other plants. Bit of an ecological dick move, but very successful, evolutionarily.

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@razda5 Yes! It's so unnecessarily obtuse.

[Elizabeth Brennan @amoeaba]

Whilst this whole COVID-19 hoo-ha is rocking along, two other not-so-great things have happened:

- African Swine Fever has hit PNG https://t.co/vsVCFRrOtp

- Fall Armyworm has been detected in Kununurra https://t.co/5oGcFjHEhU

Biosecurity is JUST as important as food security!

[Dr Brad McKay @DrBradMcKay]

"Everything we do before a pandemic will seem alarmist. Everything we do after will seem inadequate" - Michael Leavitt #COVID19

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@AndrewBartlett Green are unripe. They spend less time being grown so therefore cheaper to produce. Yellow (ripe) take longer to grow therefore more expensive.

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@joshgnosis So much of the best Simpson's humour is tied up in the animation

[Jawad Sakarchi @sakarchi_]

Dunno if this will pass review but here’s the most parsimonious phylogeny of baked goods I made for some reason.

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@isobelroe I work in Brisbane - I just wear skirts. I have a collection of 'casual' kilts (slate grey and pin-stripe etc) i wear that are "business appropriate".

[Andrew McGuire @agronomistag]

No, compost is not the secret.
Compost is just importing biomass from a large area and applying it to a smaller area. Of course it works, but it does not scale and ignores the effects on the land that originally produced it.

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@DoctorKarl Basically - more C02 = more plant. But it won't necessarily be the plants we want (ecologically or agriculturally)

[Kevan Walter Jones @KevanWJones]

@DoctorKarl The world will get greener with more C02. But - not all plants 'eat' C02 the same way. Some will thrive more than others. It will unbalance competition in plant ecosystems. More agricultural yield? Sure, but also means chonkier weeds that cancel out the yield increase etc.