Ashtyn Isaak
@ashtyn-isaak.bsky.social
PhD Candidate @Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, NZ | coral and macroalgal ecophysiology | ocean acidification | marine heatwaves | multistressor research | reef resilience | 🤿🪸🧪
New paper out! Really excited to have had the chance to work with such an awesome team on this. Link below!
Chris Cornwall@chrisecornwall.bsky.social · 8mo agoNew paper out yesterday by us and a large group of collaborators in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment. We discuss the persistence of coral reef structures under climate change. We highlight several possible futures for coral reef carbonate production: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Great talk by @ashtyn-isaak.bsky.social on her PhD work looking at effects of MHWs and thermal priming on coralline #algae 🪸 #ASPAB
For the second time this year, protesters gathered for “No Kings” rallies against the Trump administration. See more from the mass protests: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...
BREAKING: Scientists are staging a “science fair” in the lobby of a Congressional building to tell elected officials about the critical knowledge the US will lose because their research grants have been canceled.
PhD candidates @ashtyn-isaak.bsky.social & @hollykoch20.bsky.social are researching how ocean acidification and high light contribute to bleaching, which includes: 🧪36 tanks, 4 species, 12 treatments, 400+ samples 🧬2 corals & 2 crustose coralline algae 🔬 Drivers: light, temp, & 4 levels of PCO2
Calcium carbonate never looked so good. Can't wait to see what these beauties do in our latest experiment! #PhycologyFriday
Heat exposure on Western Australian coral reefs is literally off the charts. 24 Degree Heating Weeks now at Ningaloo - the highest ever recorded. 6-8 DHW is lethal for most branching corals. >20 is catastrophic. coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/product/vs/m...
Happy #worldseagrassday! Although seagrasses are not algae, I’ll let it slide and allow these marine plants to have a cute moment for #PhycologyFriday. (Some Ulva mixed in too so I think it counts!) Bodega Bay, CA
In light of everything happening, I wrote about how the KKK in the 1920s felt unstoppable, about the people that fought against them anyway, and about how fascism always fails. dansinker.com/posts/202…
Anyone who’s surprised by this hasn’t been paying attention. www.abc.net.au/news/science...
'First time on record': Coral reefs across half of WA are bleaching
Western Australia has been hit by marine heatwaves since August, and now coral is bleaching in large areas along the coast from World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef to Ashmore Reef.
abc.net.au
A cute baby abalone lounging on CCA in a nest of Macrocystis. Happy #PhycologyFriday from the lab!
I'm hesitant to report what the cuts are and where, so nobody tries to take advantage of the lack of rangers. But these reports are true and EMTs are being cut as well. The parks emergency services will be severely impacted.
Carolyn Barthel ❌👑@carolyncbarthel.bsky.social · 2y ago@publiccitizen.bsky.social @aclu.org @democracyforward.org @altnps.bsky.social @altyellonatpark.org This breaks my heart. Somebody has to sue.
Still time to apply to come work with us!
Dan Holstein, PhD@drdanholstein.bsky.social · 2y agoCome work with us! We are hiring a postdoc to assist in several ongoing projects in coral reef larval and disease ecology. Successful candidates will have interests in numerical modeling. Experience in coral larval husbandry/ex-situ spawning is a plus. Please reach out with questions, and repost!
Americans are about to discover how science agencies fund universities. In both red and blue states. Slashing science = slashing jobs. Period.
Brandon Bishop@brandontbishop.bsky.social · 2y agoVery clear the current regime has no intention of continuing to allow actual basic science in any form to continue with federal funding in the US.
Came across my first instance of removed public access data while working on a meta analysis this morning. The effects of data removal and funding freezes are sending shockwaves around the globe #opendata
Pull your climate data now before it's gone, like US health data.
DEI isn’t a feel-good slogan—it’s data-backed, peer-reviewed, and fundamental to better science. NSF bending to political pressure means ignoring decades of research. Science advances by evidence, not executive orders.
Somewhere in the U.S., there’s a scientist staring at their NSF/NIH grant application wondering why they bother. This post is for you. Science and society both need you. Hang in there and know there is a whole community supporting you.
Our next experiment’s army of coral frags ready to go. With 2 coral species and 2 CCA we will test physiological differences between thermal bleaching, light induced bleaching, and low pH induced bleaching using physiology, skeletal geochemistry, and gene expression at AIMS
