“Land of No Fences,” my reconstruction of late Holocene California grizzly in the South Coast Range 300 years ago. Blue oak savanna and nodding needlegrass (Nassella cernua). Oil on cotton rag paper primed with shellac, 1997.

Special edition figure for all of you! This fig. is NOT in the blog (linked below), but was made with the primary data in the big Table. Where is your state on this figure? Any thoughts about that? Learn more in the post! 👉https://tnature.substack.com/p/killing-the-sponge

Introduced [fish] species can wreak havoc on native ecosystems. Many states are flooding their waterways with them. www.vox.com/climate/4831...

That's alot of zebra mussels. For context, 24 kg/ha is roughly the annual production rate of largemouth bass in most waterbodies. So drum are eating the equivalent of an entire bass population in zebra mussels.

DYK, skunk cabbage uses a chemical reaction to break down stored starch in its roots. This allows it to maintain temperatures around 15-22 C (60-70 F), melt snow, and produce scents that attract pollinators. Cool wetland plant!

I've actually never seen a juvenile buffalo before, so as I can recall. Buffalo are usually so old, and recruit so infrequently, you never see these little 'uns. Sweet looking fish!

Let's go! @solomonrdavid.bsky.social! tnature.substack.com/p/killing-th...

"my guess is that most people who are activists for wetlands, came to that place, by first being users of them. Hunting, fishing, canoeing, birdwatching, and more, are common activities because there is so darn much to see there." tnature.substack.com/p/killing-th...

We all need perspective from time to time. Everyone you've ever known or loved, dead or currently alive, is inside that blue marble. Artemis II astronauts aside. Earth is still our only home.

Special edition figure for all of you! This fig. is NOT in the blog (linked below), but was made with the primary data in the big Table. Where is your state on this figure? Any thoughts about that? Learn more in the post! 👉https://tnature.substack.com/p/killing-the-sponge

Excellent piece on wetlands, one of the habitats that experienced large losses and provides key #EcosystemServices

It’s easy to forget how much land used to be…wet. Like very wet. #Wetlands were the OG way to store/filter #water, while also sustaining #biodiversity & huge #ecosystems. But, like many great things, we killed it. New long-form essay: Killing the Sponge 👇🏞️ tnature.substack.com/p/killing-th...

Congratulations to Olivia Houpt on receiving the award for the best student presentation titled Thermal and Metabolic Constraints on Fish Passage for Small-Bodied Riverine Fishes at the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society meeting in New Orleans!

Migratory freshwater fish populations down 81% since 1970 (when they were *already* at a tiny fraction of their historic abundance, at least in North America and Europe). www.theguardian.com/environment/...

SFAAS' Dr. Andrew Rypel's comments here are a reminder that aquatic systems demand nuance. Decisions about hybridization and nonnative fish populations can affect ecosystem health, native species, and long-term outcomes. That's why SFAAS work matters. www.vox.com/climate/4831...

Check out the companion blog for our recent White Sturgeon paper 👇

So sad 📉 - they're just gone. www.dailykos.com/stories/2026...

I got interviewed for this piece @vox.com. The story of fish stocking in the US is definitely a complicated one! www.vox.com/climate/4831...

👀👀👇

Eagle Scouts are really the best.

In #ecology, some species matter because there are many. Others matter because there is only one. "Beatle Bob" was def an N = 1. New essay on #biodiversity, #weirdness, and cultural #homogenization 👇🎶🕺🪲 #Conservation #LiveMusic #EnvironmentalHumanities tnature.substack.com/p/beatle-bob...

Beautiful essay on Beattle Bob and the Delta Smelt. I wish I had met them both 😕

In #ecology, some species matter because there are many. Others matter because there is only one. "Beatle Bob" was def an N = 1. New essay on #biodiversity, #weirdness, and cultural #homogenization 👇🎶🕺🪲 #Conservation #LiveMusic #EnvironmentalHumanities tnature.substack.com/p/beatle-bob...

So sad 📉 - they're just gone. www.dailykos.com/stories/2026...

Excited to publish my second PhD chapter in Ecological Applications! Such a pleasure collaborating with @oldenfish.bsky.social, thank you the guidance and support!

It is really too bad the Sacramento Pikeminnow, and its relative the Northern Pikeminnow, are blamed for declining Salmon populations. On the West Coast, Salmon and Pikeminnow are clearly co-evolved. Salmon are declining primarily because of habitat issues.

The DRAFT Nature Record national assessment has dropped and is ready for comment! I'm proud to be one of the authors. This is the first comprehensive, independent, evidence-based assessment of how nature is doing across the U.S. Come read. Come comment. Come shape the record. naturerecord.org

Here’s what this gar actually sounds like, when encountered at the @audubonnature.bsky.social aquarium in New Orleans. Effectively embodies Fatboy Slim 😅

More work helping unravel how bad the 2022 San Francisco Estuary harmful algal bloom was for California’s white sturgeon.

Check out our new paper on White Sturgeon - an important and majestic species that is going to need a little help to stay around in California link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Getting Our Feet Wet: Bringing Photography Students into the Yolo Bypass  By Eliza Gregory . . . The first time I heard the phrase “flood-based ecosystem," I was in New South… https://californiawaterblog.com/2026/03/08/getting-our-feet-wet-bringing-photography-students-into-the-yolo-bypass/

Dr. Rex Dunham, Auburn University’s longest-serving active professor, has led catfish genetics research since 1978, helping revolutionize U.S. aquaculture. His development of hybrid catfish increased farmers' ability to grow more fish per acre. www.theplainsman.com/article/2026...

First largescale sucker of the spring.

Check out our new paper on White Sturgeon - an important and majestic species that is going to need a little help to stay around in California link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Let's go!

"For some families and communities, bluegill remain an affordable, local, and healthy source of food. Restricting food access to these communities in the name of producing larger recreational fish, is….well, hard to justify." tnature.substack.com/p/behold-the...

Not surprised that the 'Chimps are really into crystals' study was published in a Frontiers journal. 🙄 www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/s...

Been wanting to write this one for awhile! Conservation obsesses over rare species. But what about the common ones? Bluegill are the fish almost everyone knows & caught as a child. But, how much do we REALLY know? New long-form essay 👇 🎣 #InDefeseOfPanfish tnature.substack.com/p/behold-the...

Dawg if I was a cookie-cutter shark and found out that my species could have been known as the "demon whale-biter" instead I'd be fuckin' *pissed*. Absolute nomenclatural humiliation. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Been wanting to write this one for awhile! Conservation obsesses over rare species. But what about the common ones? Bluegill are the fish almost everyone knows & caught as a child. But, how much do we REALLY know? New long-form essay 👇 🎣 #InDefeseOfPanfish tnature.substack.com/p/behold-the...

Reminder that there's good reason they call him 'The Boss' Devils and Dust - still a great song! youtu.be/Gm-DcnhrMkY?...

Check out this 'Water Spirit' sculpture by Nicholas Mukomberanwa that I saw in the Atlanta Airport last week. Beautiful.

This seems to be an important study looking at the potential effects of 'wake boats' on lake ecosystems www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Smoothing over "rough" mismanagement: establishing protective harvest limits for native nongame fishes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.24.707793v1

Oyster farming along the Gulf Coast is becoming a big deal. Check out some of our School's interesting work on this topic 👇 It's a glimpse into how aquaculture can be altogether sustainable and profitable, while also contributing to valuable cultural and ecological resources. Neat stuff!

Many of life's potential opportunities resemble aspects of this situation!

Rockstars!

Another litter critter comic from the mind of Brittany Benson, 2013.

Reminder that one of the nine North American sturgeon species is only found in Alabama. Sadly, that species is on the verge of complete extinction. It is definitely the most imperilled of all these sturgeons.

Why do students join Auburn University’s SFAAS program? Because from waterways, to ecosystems, to the species in them, students graduate with real experience in aquaculture, fish health, and aquatic management that solve real-world problems in their next steps.