Excited to share our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com We synthesize causal discovery & inference approaches across traditions (regression adjustment, quasi-expts, SEMs, Granger causality, convergent cross-mapping, and more) into a unified workflow for ecologists. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Me. I'm a mad scientist. (Paul Noth cartoons)

The impasse among the states is pushing Glen Canyon Dam closer to the brink. "Aridification is rendering the dam obsolete, at least as a water storage savings account," @landdesk.bsky.social writes: www.landdesk.org/p/the-colora...

Field job in the beautiful mountains of NE Oregon doing passive acoustic monitoring and woodpecker demography just went live. Please share! jobs.rwfm.tamu.edu/view-job/?id...

I feel so seen

The U.S. Forest Service documented this vegetation plot near Spirit Lake in 1979—a careful species-level inventory of an old-growth forest. After May 18, 1980, they returned to the same coordinates and put up another marker. Same spot. Different planet.

Did you know that because roly polies are terrestrial crustaceans and not actual bugs they breathe through adapted gills even though they live out of water.

New paper from our lab, led by Leah McTigue We reviewed 40+ years of research on drought affects on wildlife: 66% of single-species responses were negative, only 2% positive. As droughts intensify under climate change, wildlife are in trouble. 🌍🌐🧪 📄 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Where will novel fire regimes threaten birds? Our paper in @natcomms.nature.com shows that most bird diversity hotspots facing future high-sev fire occur in places that historically burned at low severity - a critical mismatch. These are the spots to focus restoration. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Vertebrates are worthy of study too despite their long neglect in favor of spineless science

New paper from our lab, led by Leah McTigue We reviewed 40+ years of research on drought affects on wildlife: 66% of single-species responses were negative, only 2% positive. As droughts intensify under climate change, wildlife are in trouble. 🌍🌐🧪 📄 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

With the increase of recreation on public lands, there is an increasing need for data on how recreation affects wildlife. We ask whether wildlife responses to recreation depended on previous exposure to recreation Paper, led by @markdittmer.bsky.social here www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

NEW EPISODE of #FireEcology Chats! 🔥Alyssa Worsham and Jonathan Coop discuss how the right kind of fire can shrink the gap between existing and ideal conditions in U.S. wilderness areas #SNFECO Listen here: https://fireecology.org/feco-podcast/ep82

if the Colorado snowpack numbers from SNOTEL stations (52% of median) aren't low enough for you, they get even worse when looking at data across all elevations. Using the University of Arizona's SWE dataset, we're now below one-third of the usual snowpack (32.5%) as of February 9. #cowx

Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs xkcd.com/3204/

Let me introduce Ornimegalonyx oteroi, the Cuban Giant Owl, which stood up to 1.1 m high (3.6 ft) and weighed between 9 and 30 kg (20-66 lb). It went extinct about 6,000 years ago. During the Miocene, they likely hunted mammals: seal pups and large rodents.

Ospreys, also called seahawks, are majestic raptors found on coasts, lakes, and rivers around the world. They are the only hawk or eagle species that can submerge completely to catch fish, then take to the air again thanks to their specialized wings.

That's a Giant Kelp holdfast or base clinging to rocks on a shallow part of a reef. The mass migration of urchins seeking food is called an "urchin stampede". The holdfast is only a fraction of the mass of a kelp stand so this behavior is very destructive. This happens when their predators are gone.

There’s a wolf in LA for the first time in 100 years. A collared gray wolf entered the mountains of north Los Angeles County yesterday. Known as “BEY03F” she traveled hundreds of miles from her pack in Plumas County crossing highways, mountains, creeks and valleys. www.latimes.com/environment/...

This mountain snow in the U.S. West is desperately needed--snowpack has reached record low levels for time of year in many locations & will fall even further behind until early next wk, when there will likely be *some* recovery. TBD just how much; the existing deficits are huge.

“From Dec. 1 last year to Jan. 15, temperatures were up to 15 degrees above normal in the Rockies, the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada. Colorado is having its warmest winter since 1895.” 🌎 www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/s...

A Mountain Bluebird bringing a splash of color to the desert. #birds #nature #wildlife #photography

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Happy Birthday to the US Forest Service: “In the administration of the forest reserves it must be clearly borne in mind that all land is to be devoted to its most productive use for the permanent good of the whole people, and not for the temporary benefit of individuals or companies.”

OK, as we go into February, I'm officially worried about our snowpack numbers across the Western US. Less snow means dryer soils and fuels heading into the summer and I don't like fire years where the high country comes online early.

Friends, please help spread the word about our microbiology REU program at Montana State University. www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/ Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided. Details in the attached pic--Feb 14 deadline 🧫🧪🦠#microsky

How many STEM Ph.D.s were lost from the U.S. federal government last year? My colleagues @mghersher.bsky.social and @policyhound.bsky.social dug into a recent data release to find the answer. A @science.org exclusive. www.science.org/content/arti...

It’s Penguin Awareness Day which seems like a great excuse to post the greatest ever Wikipedia edit.

rspatialdata: a repository of spatial datasets & tutorials for spatial analysis & visualization in #rstats, supporting real-world applications such as estimating air pollution, quantifying disease burden, and monitoring progress toward the SDGs🌍💻📊 👉 rspatialdata.github.io

Fast-moving & destructive wildfires--some burning into populated areas in/beyond the urban interface--have occurred across many of the Southern Hemisphere's fire prone regions (including Chile & Argentina, South Africa, & SE Australia) over last 3 weeks.

Come work with us in beautiful Santa Barbara!

As the climate data for 2025 continues to be released, it's time to update various data visualisations. First - the global climate stripes for 1850-2025. A third darkest red stripe is added. The last 11 years have been the warmest 11 years on record. A sequence that is unlikely to be broken soon.

Road builders in Brazil dismantle ancient coastal middens in the 1940s-'50s. Random bones and artifacts sent to local museum, boxes stored for decades without being studied. Now, researchers finally look and discover oldest-known whale harpoons, pointing to Indigenous open-sea whaling 5000 yrs ago!

Funny Numbers xkcd.com/3184/

Please repost! The LOC Lab @UCSB is recruiting a #PostdoctoralScholar in forest ecology and data science to develop data-driven models of forest resilience to compound disturbances (e.g., fire, drought, insects). 🌱🍁🌏🧪🌐 Applications due Feb 5 Apply here: www.landscapesofchangelab.com/were-hiring-1

Keeping rats out of our toilets seems like an important yet heretofore unexplored climate action talking point.

New Weather West post: As warm atmospheric rivers slide gradually southward along Pacific Coast, a return to rain and end to tule fog in NorCal later this week–but don’t expect much mountain snow (at least initially).

I'm teaching Statistical Rethinking again starting Jan 2026. This time with live lectures, divided into Beginner and Experienced sections. Will be a lot more work for me, but I hope much better for students. I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...

I’m recruiting a PhD and MSC student for fall 2026 working on the movement ecology and conservation of Mexican spotted owls in SW forests and rocky canyonlands. Exciting partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory. Great vibrant lab group, high impact research! 🦉 gavinmjones.com/opportunities/

I'm very sad to say William Bond, of the University of Cape Town & Fellow of the Royal Society (@royalsociety.org ), has passed away. It is a great loss. He was an enthusiastic ecologist and a critical thinker. I learned a lot, and I still had a lot to learn from him. RIP. 😢 🧪🌎🔥🌿🌳🪴🌐 #PlantScience

Happy #BatMas everyone! Follow this thread ⬇️ or check out the hashtag to find out about a new bat species everyday, for 25 days! 🦇🌎🧪 #BatSky🧵

Valid link to the paper: mapress.com/zt/article/v...

Norman et al. The role of AI in ecology’s computational carbon footprint esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #AI #ecology #CarbonFootprint

“Choosing to write is also choosing to make meaning. Studies suggest that having a sense of agency is both a prerequisite for, and an outcome of, writing.” ChatGPT isn’t mentioned once in this article but it’s impossible not to read it as a powerful critique.

Despite the general perception, global emissions from biomass burning have shown a decreasing trend over the last 23 years, a pattern that is reversed in North America. 🧪🌎🔥🌲🔥🌳🍁🌐 wildfire

Some important news this week that fell below the headlines or other news www.nytimes.com/2025/11/22/c...

🤯 Wild shit here. They put biologgers on greater noctule bats and found them pursuing, capturing, and eating birds in-flight. The recording of a European Robin getting blasted and snacked on is nuts. Sci Am story: www.scientificamerican.com/article/this... Paper: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Join us at CU Denver Biology! We have an open search for an assistant professor in cell and molecular biology to support our research and teaching mission. cu.taleo.net/careersectio...

A Magellanic penguin making sure the seals were asleep before walking past them..