The roadside apple’s bite The ground cricket’s high trill Fading goldenrod light Late August evening chill #poetry 🌿

New paper of mine just dropped, on the effectiveness of the Conservation Reserve Program's Primary Nesting Season regulation on mowing and grazing for protecting breeding grassland birds. 27 million acres are CRP - one of the largest PES programs on earth. 🧪🌎🌿🦉🦤🌱

Primary nesting season designations on Conservation Reserve Program lands: Grassland bird breeding phenology and stakeholder perspectives

Primary nesting season (PNS) dates under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) span the peak breeding of most grassland bird species, but some initiate breeding before and some continue after PNS, i....

conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

In marshy prairie The wild rice whispers. The kayaks drifting Indian Canal, Where Oswegatchie And Grasse Rivers meet. Waxwings and swallows Harry the skeeters. Egrets, one by one Head east to their roost. #poetry

I dreamed that I forgot to go to my calculus class for a month and likely missed the exam - the only remaining course needed for my degree.

If you think parasites are cool and are the true rulers of our planet, I have a new book coming out that will solidify that argument. Unveiling my first popular science book due out in December. #parasites #parasitology #popularscience #SciComm cup.columbia.edu/book/puppet-...

Puppet Masters of Evolution | Columbia University Press

For centuries, parasites have been seen as nature’s freeloaders—organisms that exploit their hosts without contributing anything in return. But what if w... | CUP

cup.columbia.edu

Suppressing the data and analysis, and working to keep the American public ignorant of what is happening, will not stop climate change in the Arctic.

Trump administration pulls support for annual Arctic environmental report

Move by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is latest government rollback of climate science activity

theguardian.com

Introduce yourself as what almost killed you. A spitting cobra in the kitchen.

The HOWL Podcast: Fighting with snakes in West Africa

Two stories from West Africa, plus Ethan tells us about calling in reinforcements when a weasel broke into the house.

northcountrypublicradio.org

My local public radio station reran a story about an ongoing study that my students and I are a part of monitoring mosquito population dynamics and arbovirus prevalence. The station recently won a Public Media Journalist Association national first place award in science/technology for it. 🧪🌍

How trapping mosquitoes in St. Lawrence County is preparing the North Country for climate change

Last year, mosquito-borne illnesses erupted in New York State. It pushed public health officials in St. Lawrence County to start a mosquito surveillance program.

northcountrypublicradio.org

A short, good common-sense guide to doing your own research about health topics.

How to do your own online health research like a scientist – a biostatistician’s step-by-step guide

Here’s how to sift through complicated studies without getting overwhelmed.

theconversation.com

With first goldenrods And the Joe Pye Weed, Red leaf swamp maple, Katydid chatter, North Country August Is herald of Fall. The emails arrive. Faculty meetings, Grim convocations, ‘Helpful reminders’ To post syllabi And update moodle. #poetry

One meeting with the ESA Board, presenting and moderating one special session, presenting one Inspire, two panels, two hours of mock interviewing, one research talk. Ecological Society of America 2026 Annual Meeting at Salt Lake Series is over, and I'm tired and ready to go home. #esa26

US is so on-brand.

US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference

State department ‘takes full responsibility’ for erroneous, widely shared chart displayed at Aids conference in Brazil

theguardian.com

Looks like a great week ahead in Salt Lake City at the Ecological Society of America annual meeting.

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · last mo.

A new heat dome — predicted to strengthen on Saturday into the most powerful one on the planet at that time — is expected for the Plains and Rockies. See where record-toppling temperatures of 110 degrees are possible through next week:

Note that one of the newsboys in the picture is a girl. Girls were part of this exploitative business, and were part of the Newsies Strike.

Erik Loomis@erikloomis.bsky.social · last mo.

This Day in Labor History: July 18, 1899. New York newsboys went on strike over newspaper companies forcing them to pay for their unsold papers. The Newsies Strike got national attention, both because of its target and for exposing the terrible poverty of the young boys forced to sell papers!!

Alligator Gars serving as indicators of Mississippi River floodplain health and restoration! Floodplains are vital to aquatic ecosystem function, and also mitigate floods in places we don’t want them (like residential areas). www.nfwf.org/media-center...

Giving alligator gar a lifeline in the Lower Mississippi River

At dawn, the woods are hushed and damp. River water meanders between towering trees, and a long shadow glides just beneath the surface. A flash of silver breaches the surface before sliding back into ...

nfwf.org

A new paper on the history of the Ecology Society of America's Education Committee. ESA is the world's largest professional association of ecologists. I am proud to currently be chair of the committee, and coauthor on this paper. esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

A Century of Learning: The Story of <fc>ESA</fc>'s Education Committee, 1918–2025

The Education Committee and its precursors have been highly influential within the Ecological Society of America. Here we document the Education Committee's history, from its origins in reviewing cur...

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Best outcome: Team USA doesn't play Balogun and wins. Next best outcome: Team USA doesn't play Balogun and Belgium wins. Next next best outcome: Team USA plays Balogun and Belgium wins. Worst outcome: Team USA plays Balogun and wins. #FIFA #WorldCup

I say it often but once again: By granting them borrowing privileges and protecting their privacy, public libraries afford children a form of civic standing and respect that has few parallels in our “free” society, which mostly treats children as chattel. Vociferously defend public libraries. 📚

the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.

Another exhausting day teaching a course in Kenya.

Cool, quiet evening in the Nairobi suburb of Karen, listening to the weird vocalizations of lesser bushbabies and tree hyraxes, and the chirps of bats. The noises of urban traffic are in the distance. The Kenya Guinness tastes nice.

I ran into this while bringing my students to Nairobi National Park. It's very disappointing.

Reuters@reuters.com · 3mo ago

Kenya police fire tear gas, arrest ex chief justice at national park protest reut.rs/3PNJy9d

It's no exaggeration to say that this will badly damage US scientific research. Scientific funding decided by political commissars has never worked out well.

elizabethginexi.bsky.social@elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule. Russell Vought is going destroy American Science. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...

www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪🌎

Did this scientist go too far trying to save Ecuador’s wildlife?

Alejandro Arteaga’s efforts to identify and protect tropical reptiles and amphibians have entangled him in controversy

science.org

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw helped name two contested ideas in U.S. politics — intersectionality and critical race theory. Her memoir chronicles the personal and legal framework for her thinking. n.pr/4ncrJge

A legal scholar and 'Backtalker' defends critical race theory -- a term she helped coin

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw helped name two contested ideas in U.S. politics — intersectionality and critical race theory. Her memoir chronicles the personal and legal framework for her thinking.

n.pr

Today - a great opportunity to hear ecology colleagues share their stories of failure in research, and what they learned from it. Today (Apr 30) at 3 PM EDT on zoom.

Ecological Society of America@ecologicalsociety.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This unique conversational opportunity -- to address failure in your scientific work -- is coming up tomorrow!

Co-author on a new pub about fish movements in different designs of experimental fish passage structures. This is meant to help improve designs of nature-like fishways. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Movement behavior of juvenile salmonids in boulder-dominated channels: effects of boulder dispersion, flow, and species

Instream boulder placement is a widely adopted technique for restoring degraded streams to enhance instream complexity, aquatic habitat quality, fish passage, and overall ecological value. However,...

tandfonline.com

Fellow ecologists - we have all done it. Failure and mistakes in research are part of the process, but can also be very hard personally and professionally. This ESA watercooler is a chance to share and support one-another. Thursday, April 20th at 3 PM EDT by zoom. @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social

A big loss with the passing of Peter Raven. He was very encouraging of botany geeks like me; we once had a nice discussion about asexual reproduction in Danthonia and Hieracium two species I studied in my PhD

🍁 Alex Smith 🍁@alexsmithants.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Bad news Monday 🧪 RIP Peter Raven. news.mongabay.com/2026/04/pete... news.mongabay.com/2007/03/biod... is a good interview from several years back. 🧪

As I turn the dirt Friable, wormy Black and sweet-smelling I think about soil Tilth is an apt word It rings of wealth Not of base metal But fertility And tilth echoes tithe What we owe the soil For providing us With a rich harvest #poetry 🌱