Tuliptree flowers are still close to peak but that’ll likely end this week with warm temperatures in the forecast. I’ve enjoyed them!

Hello little paw paws!

Indiana University, not the UD Department of Agriculture, ordered the Inness lab to be locked down. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Very cool version of this monthly global average surface temperature anomaly chart showing both El Niño and La Niña years

More on the immediate effects of the institution’s support of the attack on Roger Innes www.ipm.org/news/2026-05...

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

Check this new paper out! by Kersti Leppä et al ! Interpreting inter- and intra-annual environmental signals in tree-ring δ18O using isotope-enabled modeling academic.oup.com/treephys/art...

Take a look at our new paper! Opposing seasonal trends in source water and sugar dampen intra‐annual variability in tree rings oxygen isotopes - Szejner - New Phytologist - Wiley Online Library nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Peak tuilptree flowering season. What I personally consider the start of summer!

The yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea) trees on campus are blooming this year. They have a strange range and only flower every 2-3 years. To best of my knowledge, no one knows why. IU has a population in a forest on campus. Yellowwood state forest nearby is the greens spot in IN on map

What drives tree growth after a hurricane? 🌀🌳 Hot off the press in @pnas.org today! We tracked 1,082 trees in Puerto Rico and found that pre-disturbance growth outperformed crown biomass loss and competitive release as a predictor of post-storm growth. The paper: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Redbud trees are spectacular early-flowering trees in the Bluegrass and much of the Eastern Deciduous Forest. They beautiful, and also have some complex flowering behavior that I don't fully understand. Have a look at the story (open to everyone).

First year the yard redbuds and pawpaws bloomed!

Did my annual pilgrimage to the local valley of the bluebells today. Never disapoints!

Fewer, larger daily precipitation events in observations and models

Cyclone Narelle is the most insane cyclone I have ever seen in Australia! x.com/backpirchcre... #Storms #OceanHeat #RapidIntensification #Precipitation #Floods #DestructiveWinds #ExtremeWeather #Oil #Coal #Gas #FossilFuelPollution #AnthropogenicGlobalWarming

I started working on leaves and climate in 2012...still at it with some new tools (plant hydraulics - the plumping of the terrestrial biosphere) to try and predict interannual variation. Response to drought suggests an adaptive acclimate to leaf shedding. eos.org/editor-highl...

Very interesting study challenging previous estimates of the magnitude of C storage difference between boreal primary forests and managed secondary forests in Europe.

New paper where we assess how reliable estimates of aboveground biomass from tree rings are compared to permanent monitoring plots in forests where management interventions affect dynamics and growth #ForestEcology #ForestManagement #Management doi.org/10.1016/j.fo...

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/

In Central Europe, forest management shapes post-disturbance recovery mostly through what’s left behind (disturbance legacies 🪵🌱) than impacting forest growth rates 📈 + Set-aside forests regrow canopy height as fast as managed forests New paper out in ForEcolMngt 🌳 doi.org/10.1016/j.fo...

Old-growth Forest Research Assistants We are seeking old-growth forest research technicians to study and document old-growth forests in Spring & Summer 2026 Virgina. See the attached images for the job description and how to apply.

Excited to have this paper out showing a strong coupling between Central American tree-ring oxygen isotopes and ocean–atmosphere dynamics (interbasin SST gradients, ITCZ, CLLJ... ). Many thanks to all co-authors! agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Pinus radiata releases seeds when the temperature goes above 45°C (113°F). Sometimes that threshold temperature can be reached by passive solar heating of the cones if they are exposed to sunlight on the tree or on the ground. They can open even without fire. #Pinaceae #serotiny #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Pinus banksiana cones are strongly serotinous in populations in the center of the species’ range, but less so at the edges of its range (where fires are less frequent). It's a bet-hedging strategy to ensure seedling establishment. 📷: Taylor Justason CCBYNC4. #Pinaceae #serotiny #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Save the date! 48th New Phytologist Symposium: Forest interactions 📅 13–16 October 2026 📍 Leysin, Switzerland www.newphytologist.org/events/48-nps #PlantScience

Scientists have long relied on tree rings to learn about solar storms. A Tansley review published this week shows that trees don’t all record this carbon in the same way. Understanding those differences is key to interpreting Earth’s history of space weather. www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Reversibility of Interannual Tree Growth Variability in Southern Boreal Forest 🔗 buff.ly/mcdoyhS

Fast-growing trees are set to dominate the #forests of the #future — but at a cost🌳 Our Nature Plants (@natplants.nature.com) study shows a global shift toward "sprinter" tree species, while slow-growing, functionally critical #trees face elevated #extinction risk. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Led by Roel Brienen, our paper in @natcomms.nature.com "Contrasting pathways to tree longevity in gymnosperms and angiosperms" is finally out and formatted. Other bluesky folks contributing to the paper were @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social and @rmtrr.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ancient pine trees growing in eastern Spain have quietly recorded more than five centuries of Mediterranean weather. Analysis of tree rings clearly shows that todays storms and droughts are becoming more intense and more frequent than almost anything the region has experienced since the early 1500s.

We need some more tree-posting on this app. This is the oldest known living Douglas-fir in Oregon (and maybe in North America?) I cored it to near the pith in 2006 and was able to re-visit it recently with some other forest scientists. It is at least 1015 years old, but probably ~1050.

Final version published @forestecosyst.bsky.social 📰The overlooked role of individual variability in autumn xylem phenology and carbon sequestration www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

More diverse forests have greater productivity, but do they use more water? A new meta-analysis by Shovon et al. in @journalofecology.bsky.social suggests not. 🌐🌏🧪 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#Evolution of #conifer seed cones 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #TansleyReview by @kmatsunaga @WileyPlantSci #PlantScience

Spent yesterday sampling in the snow in eastern IN. Probably the oldest trees were 200 years and were likely the beech and black walnut. Tulipree was maybe 150. Not much oak in this forest though there were one or two nice bur oaks that were likely 200+

We found that when temps hit 30°C+, C3 plants start struggling - their carbon metabolism gets disrupted, they burn through sugar stores faster, and even their isotope signatures change. Meanwhile C4 plants? They're basically chilling like "this is fine" 😎 www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Yes, there are conifers in Greenland! 🌲 500 yr-long Juniperus tree ring-based temperature reconstruction with oldest living shrub 367 yo! 💪 Striking here: 1/3 of corpus is from archive (collected end of 19th c) Highlights importance of reanalysing old samples using modern analytical techniques! 👏

Nice analysis of high res (10-25km) simulations shows super-CC scaling of precip extremes, driven by mesoscale dynamics not well captured by coarser models Mesoscale systems are an interesting challenge for ML, since they need non-local schemes + some memory www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Excited to be a small part of this new publication led by Quan Zhang. We examine the theoretical links between iWUE and tree productivity. While increases in CO2 lead to increases in iWUE, it is unlikely to lead to more tree growth due to environmental and physiological influences. rdcu.be/eRvbS

Went back to Tribbetts Woods today to sample. Swamp white oaks rough visual count put them at 250+. We sampled Nyssa and found some over 1m in diameter! No clue how old they are yet but could see some small rings.

Temperate deciduous forests are found in three global regions. We compared taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of forest plant communities among these regions in a new Ecography article led by Javier Loidi and Josep Padullés Cubino: doi.org/10.1002/ecog... @ecography.bsky.social

Today’s local fieldwork was colder but older! I think we may have found some 300 yr old beech and sweet gum! Will be going back to this site in the future, some nice oak and Nyssa as well.

Some local fall fieldwork in southeast Indiana. Sample some 200-250yr old black gum, sweet gum, American beech, and white oak! Great weather but will be colder tomorrow.

This time of year some the trees look like lanterns in the mornings and evenings.

5pm EDT Oct 27th Key Messages for Category 5 #Hurricane #Melissa: #Jamaica: Remain in your safe shelter & do not venture outside. Catastrophic, life-threatening flash flooding & numerous landslides through Tuesday as Melissa's core moves ashore. hurricanes.gov

🍃 Functional traits best predict tree growth when age and leaf habit are considered–growth relationships shift over time and between deciduous and evergreen species🌿 @meganedeziel.bsky.social @alainpaquette.bsky.social Read more:https://buff.ly/2d9ppq9

A fabulous #postdoc opportunity to work with my colleague Nick Ward at PNNL on forest trace gas cycling, studying a poorly constrained component of the Earth system! Please share widely: careers.pnnl.gov/jobs/10985?l...

🪵 Diameter drives short-term biomass gains, but long-term carbon storage hinges on wood density, especially in humid forests. To improve accuracy, biomass models should account for radial wood density variation and climate ☁️ 🔎 Find out more: buff.ly/kZFoh9B