New paper out today in @royalsocietypublishing.org Biology Letters, led by undergrad superstar Laina Weiss! An experimental test of theory on the effects of temperature and resources on carrying capacity. So proud 🥹 tinyurl.com/yvmzmt9a @integrativebiology.bsky.social

My @newphyt.bsky.social Tansley Insight is now published in an issue: Trait-based island biogeography as a tool for studying future ecological communities I provide an overview of recent advances in integrating plant traits into island ecology and highlight key themes for future research.

How should the discipline of ecology and the community of ecologists respond to the ecological crisis? Is it time that these were put on something more akin to an emergency footing? www.cell.com/action/showP...

Sometimes when an idea isn't working as expected, it's not failure, but an opportunity to realize something even more interesting is going on. ...maybe it's failure.

How do you ensure generalizability in Ecological Applications? Jennifer L. Funk says explaining why something works allows others "to transfer the findings" across different taxa and systems. Read the interview: https://ow.ly/B0Nr50XGZNk ESA Journals #Ecology

Ecologists recognize the importance of integrating across scales, yet our models often target specific scales. Our new paper presents models of population growth that scale up to explain community-level patterns, including interactions of temperature, light & nutrients. doi.org/10.1002/ecm....

Really happy to share that the Second Edition of our book, "Spatial Ecology and Conservation Modeling", is now out and available online! We provide a foundation for applied spatial ecology with a focus on learning-by-doing. @camzoology.bsky.social @conservation.cam.ac.uk

Reining in large for-profit academic publishers and valuing researchers for quality over quantity must be central as we reimagine the future of scholarly publishing.

The Georgia Coastal Ecosystems Long-Term Ecological Research program is looking for a postdoc with expertise in wetlands and biogeochemistry. Please pass this along to likely candidates!

We are entering that time of year when it’s good to remember that, the editors & reviewers of your favorite society journals are your peers, so they’re also overwhelmed by end of the semester stuff & would like to spend time with family during holidays.

Exciting new 🧪 work by Kai Huang on #soil N emissions after warming a forest for 6 years @pnas.org www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Had an amazing time the last two days visiting and giving a seminar at UC Davis! Such great conversations, especially with students, and got to meet people who I've been inspired by since I was a student. Thank you Susan Harrison for hosting me, and to everyone else for your hospitality!

This is a reminder that @asn-amnat.bsky.social publishes abstracts in both English and your native language, using your native alphabet. You can see and read those online. Here is a screenshot of a great example. Love seeing this in my favorite journal.

First year disturbance treatments are done in our new #DRAGNet site in Riverside, California! Yes, we were crazy enough to do it by hand ... literally blood, sweat, and tears went into this today.

🆕 in "Ecological Monographs": Static models miss the mark—adding nonlinear, density-based facilitation helps predict coexistence, persistence, and realistic community dynamics 📄Neighbor density-dependent facilitation promotes coexistence and internal oscillation doi.org/10.1002/ecm....

Thanks for this contribution to "Ecology"!

Another amazing paper from Tara Christensen - with a surprising result that nectar generalists (butterflies) are declining more than specialists. esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Caterpillar guts are like grasslands: immigration and selection determine gut microbial communities. Thanks @chriscatano.bsky.social for leading this exciting project, and for showing that niche selection is important in caterpillar microbial ecology! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

New paper showing how immigration alters the ecological processes structuring the assembly and variation in #Monarch caterpillar gut #microbiomes. w/ @jaapderoode.bsky.social, @gabe-dubose.bsky.social, Joselyne Chavez, Lydia Fuller-Hall Ecology Letters onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Did you know "Ecology" publishes Statistical Innovations papers? These articles spotlight cutting-edge methods that tackle pressing ecological questions and advance data analysis in the field. Learn more in our author guidelines: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/...

This looks like an important one! Nice work all!

New paper out today in Ecology Letters! In this synthesis we dive into the equilibrium assumption in ecology - why it's everywhere in ecological theory, the evidence for it in nature, when meeting the assumption is important, how to achieve it in empirical research, and more! tinyurl.com/yh6kyysm

“We fundamentally believe that publishing less – but better – is essential for the health of the entire research system worldwide,” the authors of the report state.

Interested in resource competition theory, mutualism, spatial patterns or temporal dynamics? I'll be giving a talk in the IITE online seminar series tomorrow summarizing our recent work on microbial cross-feeding that includes all these ingredients.

Our lab's first trip together to the field in SoCal! So fun to explore and talk remote sensing, plants, pollinators, and ecosystem restoration with my new grad students.

New paper led by former post-bac researcher Isabelle Turner, with @chriscatano.bsky.social: Seeding density alters the role of soil moisture in structuring plant abundance during prairie restoration onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I'm developing a grad course on experimental design (study design generally) & data analysis in biology. What topics, papers, etc. do you think are most important? If you teach something similar, I would love to hear what/how you teach (if you are willing to share a syllabus that would amazing!).

🌱📚Excited to share my journey and experiences in academia, the ups, downs, and everything in between! Hope it sparks good conversations! @plantaeofficial.bsky.social @aspbofficial.bsky.social @plantpostdocs.bsky.social @plantgrads.bsky.social

My department is searching for a new Microbiologist!!! Come join us at the University of South Alabama. We are broadly defining microbiologists, so microbial ecologists, human health, environmental microbiologists, etc encouraged to apply www.southalabama.edu/departments/...

But if i change the terminology... 🤫

I know about the Freshamn 15, but no one told me about the Assistant Professor 15...

"Biologists often become alienated from mathematics at an early stage in their career under the misconception [...] that biology is not a mathematical science. The claim is also often made that mathematical theory is overly simplistic, ignoring the [...] complex nature of biological systems." 1/

Absolutely! I'm experiencing the same thing as AE for a few journals. Authors are getting frustrated with me (I feel awful), and often, the additional burden shifts to me to provide a second review. 😒

As an Associate Editor, this is what I'm going through. It can take *months* just to get 2 people to agree to do a review. Many don't respond to the invitation at all, prolonging the process further. People are busy, that's understandable. Please respond, and if "no", suggest alternative reviewers.

Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.

I made the mistake to open my email on a Friday evening. It's eight review requests... Eight! We need a system that shows automated unavailability if you have two accepted requests. It's just not okay.

PLEASE respond to review requests! Saying "No" as soon as you can is helpful so we can move to the next invitation. Each ignored invitation can delay the process by around 2 weeks. Be considerate of your peers relying on this process!

After 18 months of writing on Substack, I put together a bit of a highlights post for new readers. It's a good place to start if you're interested in future focused writing on biodiversity, climate and water. predirections.substack.com/p/why-i-writ...

As always, Ted Chiang is great in this interview. cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...

The study can be found here. All the more reason to recreate nature, even if it is small patches in your own yard. Replace those lawns with native plants, and let your kids get their hands dirty! 🧪 www.mdpi.com/2673-4834/6/...

Shocking but perhaps unsurprising finding by @findingnature.bsky.social that human connection to nature has declined precipitously. This is bad for our health and for the preservation of nature. The solution? Regreen, and take your kids outside. 🧪 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

If you're doing mentoring right, your mentees will argue with you. And when they win one - that's a great day! scientistseessquirre...

Happy to share new work from the lab and a wonderful group of co-authors: We argue that conservation biology needs to move beyond the current focus on species richness metrics. While this has been argued before, we highlight the unappreciated impacts of using richness for a variety of problems:

What is spectral biology? We explain in this synthesis article on “Spectral biology across scales in changing environments” esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/R6QXPK www.spectralbiology.org

Are you a PI in a biology field looking for students to join your lab as a PhD student? I made a Starter Pack to help PIs and potential PhD students connect! If you would like to be added to this pack, please let me know! go.bsky.app/EFj87fi

It was great to be back at my Alma Matter, Washington Univ. in St. Louis and the Tyson Research Center, to catch up with good friends and present at the Tyson Environment Research Conference. Tyson is an amazing community supporting great research and people. Thanks @jamyersecology.bsky.social

How can we reform science? I have some ideas. But I am not sure you’ll like them, because they don’t promise much. elevanth.org/blog/2025/07...

You would not judge a hammer by how well it drives a screw; likewise, do not blame a spread metric for failing a richness test. Functional diversity is multifaceted and needs a toolbox, not a universal index.

Work from our lab shows that non-native milkweed can allow monarch development into the winter, creating butterflies during a season where they can no longer migrate or breed. If you want to help monarchs, plant native milkweed only. 🧪 #plant-insect #nativeplants academic.oup.com/jinsectscien...