Christopher Witt
@msbbirds.bsky.social
Prof & Curator @UNM, Museum of Southwestern Biology NM Wildlife Commissioner Studies: bird ecology, evolution, genetics, physiology, biogeography, & toxicology Enjoys: Birding, hunting, running Personal account, not representing UNM or State of NM
A staggering story with all kinds of implications, none of them good.
Max Kozlov@maxkozlov.bsky.social · 24h ago🚨 The NIH is moving to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in infectious-disease research projects to the DOD under a secret 10-year pact. Here’s what’s happening inside “Operation Prevailing Edge” 🧵👇 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The current NIH Director’s animus against NIAID to sign away much needed research funds so we can continue bombing another country is… a staggering betrayal of Congressional intentions and authority. Not surprising but still staggering.
Please repost! Drexel announced that it will close the Academy of Natural Sciences public museum- the oldest nat history museum in the US. There are 2 petitions to support the academy. Please sign both & come to our rally Tues. actionnetwork.org/petitions/pe... www.change.org/p/the-academ...
our in memoriam piece, celebrating the academic life and multifaceted, seminal scientific contributions of the great bob ricklefs is now out in the american naturalist www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
In Memoriam: Robert E. Ricklefs (1943–2026) | The American Naturalist: Vol 0, No ja
journals.uchicago.edu
Very excited to see our new paper in @Nature! Conifers introduced to the Southern Hemisphere grew up to 4× faster than in their native ranges and were also more resistant and resilient to drought. I’m honored to have been part of this fantastic international team.
Jeez this is a beautiful study. Bravo.
Peter Santema@petersantema.bsky.social · 4d agoNew #ornithology paper out in @royalsocietypublishing.org! We show that female dotterels can move across large distances within a single breeding season in search of mating opportunities, visiting up to five different sites (median: 3) and travelling up to 1000 km between sites (median: 71 km). 1/n
there is nothing - I mean this, nothing - as biologically cool to me as the fact that bird produce coherent plumage patches on their wings by overlapping portions of different feathers
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture@burkemuseum.bsky.social · 12mo agoIn the early 1980’s, we began preparing separate spread wings to help illustrate features of birds that had never been accurately drawn. Today our collection of spread wings is the largest in the world, preserving more than 40,000 specimens.
Genetic rescue stabilizes diversity in small isolated populations of Bonneville cutthroat trout www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Genetic rescue stabilizes diversity in small isolated populations of Bonneville cutthroat trout - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Genetic rescue stabilizes diversity in small isolated populations of Bonneville cutthroat trout
nature.com
As we were saying… youtu.be/BIvL14nkjYc?...
It's Time to Overturn Citizens United!
YouTube video by Lisa Guerrero
youtu.be
Stephen Moran.@moranstephen1000.bsky.social · 5d agoThe NYT has reported that $1 billion + in dark money from vested interests is flooding into the midterm election candidates campaign coffers & it ain't going to anyone in team Blue.
We don’t have a right to ask whether we’re going to succeed or not. The only question we have a right to ask is what’s the right thing to do?” --Wendell Berry
Look, y'all— this is not the worst outcome, but it's also not great. Framing this as gaining a notably large herbarium is spin; the reality is a historic, important herbarium has lost its identity. The specimens were never going to be trashed; Duke still voluntarily truncated their botanical legacy.
Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer.com · 5d agoUNC-Chapel Hill, Duke to combine herbaria, creating the third-largest university plant collection in the United States ncbg.unc.edu/2026/08/31/u...
New in PNAS today: we projected how climate change will reshape the body size of marine life across the entire ocean. 23,329 mollusc species, every ocean basin. The headline everyone expects is "life shrinks." The real answer is far stranger. 🧪 #marinelife www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Nonuniform resizing of marine life under climate change | PNAS
Global warming is often predicted to drive universal declines in animal body size, but empirical evidence remains equivocal. This is particularly t...
pnas.org
It matters beyond size. Shifts in the size structure of ocean life ripple into carbon storage, nutrient cycling, and the seafood billions of people depend on. And the gap between low and high emissions is enormous, so the scale of this is still ours to decide. 🧪 #marinelife
The Natural History Museum of LA is hiring a Curator of Marine Invertebrates! Come join an amazing team and contribute to stewarding the largest marine invert collection in the Western US. 🐙🪼🦐 workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...
Earth is a strange, and extreme place. In September 23, 2023 there was a collapse of 25 million tons of ice in east Greenland fjord. It resulted in a local megatsunami with waves 100-200 m high, which oscillated inside the fjord for 9 days! www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.... 🧪⚒️ #Geology
Todays song is Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues by Skip James. First recorded in 1931, here performed in 1967. James voice alone can break your heart. From the generation of classic Delta Blues players (b.1902), his ethereal voice gave his work a unique, uncannily modern sound. youtu.be/DoBxzb-8oPc?...
Skip James - Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues (Live '67) HQ
YouTube video by The Charity
youtu.be
One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “The ecology of Lyme disease: Long-term data, surprises, and a synthesis.” Explore the article here: https://ow.ly/TZCV50ZFWot For more trending articles, visit https://ow.ly/4FEI50ZFWow.
NEW: Evidence filed in a Colorado case reveals how ICE officers are arresting people without a warrant, which is illegal unless ICE determines the person is a flight risk. A man was dragged from his car after ICE showed him a warrant for someone else and refused to check his ID to see his identity.
These people had protected status. They lived here legally. They worked, they paid taxes. They made lives. Raised families. Now we’ve dehumanized them. Ripped away that protection and told them to get out. This is a stain on the soul of this Nation.
This is so terrifying. Will this finally motivate us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
Geoff Brumfiel@gbrumfiel.bsky.social · last wk.New from @vantortech.bsky.social. Absolutely astonishing images of the China-Nepal Gyirong Port/Rasuwagadhi border post. Literally nothing is left. (Before 19 April, After 27 Aug)
NEW: The federal government is suing the New Mexico Higher Education Department over a decades-old program that provides in-state tuition benefits, scholarships and grants to immigrant students. sfnm.co/4qJjKcn
U.S. sues New Mexico over law extending higher education benefits to immigrants
Similar lawsuits were also filed against three other states for tuition policies regarding undocumented students Thursday.
sfnm.co
It's an ethnic cleansing campaign, and was never about crime. If anything, pulls resources from fighting crime, and increased crime due to crimes by ICE officers. Also, this is NY Times at its best: highlighting an important issue up top, drawing attention to it, and including a useful data visual.
0%. At my promotion talk I literally said, “I hope none of you remember my job talk, because I didn’t do any of that!”
i know someone who went to jail for stealing a car who'd love to have only misused one
Solomon@solomonrmissouri.com · last wk.
Nepal sits between two biggest carbon emitters 1st and 3rd. China emits Nepal‘s annual carbon in one day. Nepal has more than 3000 Glaciers lake, many of them are vulnerable. Nepal needs world’s support to prevent these kind of events.
Prashant Ghimire@prashant-stork.bsky.social · last wk.Ice avalanche triggers catastrophic flood in Nepal; sweeps Downstream. “Where electricity, medicine, and development never find their way, the floods never miss us.” kathmandupost.com/national/202...
The Trump administration’s move to dismantle the #RoadlessRule could hasten the extinction of more than 400 threatened and endangered plants and animals protected under the #EndangeredSpeciesAct, according to the analysis we released today ⬇️
Resisting the Roadless Rule Rollback
Trump’s USDA wants to undo the landmark Roadless Area Conservation Rule. That would open about 58.5 million acres of wild, unfragmented national forests to road construction, logging, and other develo...
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