Behavioral convergence: Urban wildlife exhibit similar behavior across species and cities Behavioral Convergence in Urban Wildlife https://urbanevolution-litc.com/2026/03/20/behavioral-convergence-in-urban-wildlife/ #UrbanEvolution
Emily Blackwell
@emilyablackwell.bsky.social
Urban ecologist | PhD Student NYU Biology | MS CSULB | Smith College '22 | she/her
Excited to share our new review in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com, coauthored w/allstar postdocs @vale-alaasam.bsky.social @annainthefield.bsky.social @anthonysnead.bsky.social Bridging island biogeography & evolutionary processes, we explore how eco-evo dynamics play out in the urban mosaic rdcu.be/e4tcj
Eco-evolutionary dynamics shaping biodiversity in the urban mosaic
Nature Reviews Biodiversity - The urban mosaic is a complex assimilation of habitats, biotic and abiotic factors with eco-evolutionary influence on local and regional biodiversity. In this Review,...
rdcu.be
honored to welcome A. Frog back to the pages of Defector for what might have been his final blog defector.com/is-this-the-...
I Shall Never Mess Up Again | Defector
How do you mend a broken three-chambered heart? This question tailed me as I wandered lost and lonely from the burrow of the frog I once loved most ardently. It is true she endeavored to devour me, re...
defector.com
A bit of good news today: Mote Marine recorded a record number of sea turtle nests in Sarasota County this season! www.sarasotamagazine.com/travel-and-o...
Mote Reports Record Sea Turtle Nesting Numbers for 2025
This year saw more 1,366 more sea turtle nests on local beaches than last year, including some incubating into November.
sarasotamagazine.com
2025. Rainforest animals are using tourist walkways, offering clues for conservation design phys.org/news/2025-10...
Rainforest animals are using tourist walkways, offering clues for conservation design
Look up in the woods and you may see a familiar sight: squirrels using tree limbs like a leafy highway, crossing a patch of land without putting their paws on the ground.
phys.org
This crucially important and obviously visionary work makes me feel vindicated for having said the same thing last year, albeit with much less evidence, while being mercilessly mocked by the city and its residents. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Rodent indent not self-evident: a case of mistaken identity of the ‘Chicago Rat Hole’ | Biology Letters
The ‘Chicago Rat Hole’ is a remarkable full body impression ostensibly created by a brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) crossing fresh concrete in Chicago’s Roscoe Village that became a viral sensation. Whi...
royalsocietypublishing.org
A team of researchers analyzed the anatomical dimensions of an infamous imprint on a Chicago sidewalk, sifting through photos and measuring mammal specimens in museum collections to put what they were seeing in context. Their conclusion? The Chicago Rat Hole was not made by a rat.
The Chicago Rat Hole Was Not Made by a Rat
A statistical analysis of an infamous indentation in a sidewalk suggested a 99 percent likelihood that another rodent made the mark.
nyti.ms
The #NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program #GRFP solicitation is coming soon! The due date for Life Sciences proposals is 27 October 2025. For more info: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
nsf.gov
Really enjoyed this post on @litc-urbanevo.bsky.social this week. Very cool to learn about the history and uncertain future of this staple of urban street trees! urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/08/26/b...
Beyond the Shade: The Growing Disadvantages of the London Plane
When I was younger, I remember thinking to myself: “This tree is losing its skin, is it dying?” I believe I can’t be the only child that thought this when first looking at a London plane. Little di…
urbanevolution-litc.com
I’m at #ESA2025! But just for today. I’m giving an inspire talk this afternoon on urban evolutionary ecology. Come find out what I think about when people ask me “if wildlife are adapting to cities, will evolution solve all our problems?”
Last fall, I attended the premiere of a film that meant a lot to me. In late January, all of its hundreds of planned screenings were canceled without explanation. For @defector.com, I went digging:
Why Did National Geographic Disappear Its Own Documentary About A Queer Climate Scientist? | Defector
If you’re not a particular kind of mountain sports nerd, you might not be familiar with the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour. But for people who live their lives in the overlapping circl...
defector.com
Managed to lasso this stunning Puerto Rican blue-tailed ameiva (Pholidoscelis wetmorei) yesterday! 🦎💙
One week ago, we wrapped up another successful field season in Puerto Rico! We completed the 8th season of my mark-recapture surveys for three species of Puerto Rican anole. We also added another 10 sites to our PR anole niche space project, bringing our total to 30 sites. Yay data! Yay anoles! 🦎🦎
Protect transgender scientists | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Protect transgender scientists
Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGnC) people are a primary target of the Trump administration. Multiple executive orders seek to erase TGnC protections; mandate denial of gender identity; and ba...
science.org
Want a depressing fact? Google announces they’ve purchased a property near Columbus Ohio for a new data center. That undeveloped business park is one of the only places around here that hosts Grasshopper Sparrows, a rapidly declining state-endangered bird.
Fun new things starting in the lab this summer as we dive deeper into the intersection of urbanization and invasion! This is an invasive wall lizard from NYC, a project being led by postdocs @annainthefield.bsky.social & @anthonysnead.bsky.social along with our summer REU students and NYU undergrads
From Emily Blackwell: Raccons may be more susceptible to heat stress, given their responses (site occupancy & activity patterns) to urban heat islands #IUWC2025
a raccoon sticking its pink tongue out
ALT: a raccoon sticking its pink tongue out
media.tenor.com
"Scientists and citizens assessed the effectiveness of two wildlife underpasses installed under a road in Monkton, Vermont. The results were striking: an 80.2% reduction in amphibian deaths." Glad to see this new study proving the utility of herp crossings! #roadecology www.uvm.edu/uvmnews/news...
Amphibian Road Mortality Drops by Over 80% with Wildlife Underpasses, Study Shows | UVM News | The University of Vermont
A new UVM-led study shows that wildlife underpass tunnels dramatically reduce deaths of frog, salamanders and other amphibians migrating across roads.
uvm.edu
Getting excited for #IUWC2025! I'll be presenting my Master's research on the impacts of artificial light and urban heat islands on urban mammals. Plus, I'll have zines 👀
If the House GOP spending plan becomes law, the California State University system's 400,000+ undergraduate students would lose $200m+ in Pell grants (~40% of CSU students get this). 60% of CSU students would lose some or all Pell funding.
CSU Underscores Impact of Potential Pell Grant Cuts | CSU
The CSU is warning of the potential impact to thousands of its students in the House budget reconciliation bill.
calstate.edu
🚨New paper alert!🚨 We show that hummingbird beaks have changed in shape & size since around WWII, driven by the rise of commercialized feeders! 🧵 📄 Paper: dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.... #ornithology #evolution #GlobalChangeBiology
Supplemental Feeding as a Driver of Population Expansion and Morphological Change in Anna's Hummingbirds
Bird beaks are highly adaptable, with the potential to undergo rapid morphological shifts in response to environmental change such as climatic variation or food availability. Anna's Hummingbirds (Cal...
dx.doi.org
Arguably the goofiest goose #cameratrapping photo we have collected in over 15 years of biodiversity monitoring throughout #Chicago. Be on the look out for laser eyes here in Humboldt Park! 🧪
Grateful as always for Craig Pittman's thoughtful reporting on Florida conservation and environmental policy news
Julie Hauserman@jhauserman.bsky.social · last yr.👍 @craigtimes.bsky.social details fights to protect #Florida endangered species in Florida Phoenix News floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/24/j...
Very happy to use my first bluesky post to share this work surveying mammals in Hansen Dam that was just published! Huge thank yous to Amanda Zellmer, Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, and our partners at USGS for their collaboration and support on this project! checklist.pensoft.net/article/1290...
Terrestrial mammal diversity at Hansen Dam (Los Angeles, California, USA): flood control area acts as habitat in a human-dominated landscape
Urban expansion is a prominent threat to biodiversity, particularly for terrestrial mammals, which are significantly impacted by disruptions in habitat connectivity and loss. It can also lead to incre...
checklist.pensoft.net
check out this piece i wrote about my thesis project investigating invasive species in marine protected areas! www.slideranch.org/ranchthymes/...
Invasive Species in the Intertidal — Slide Ranch
slideranch.org
I have a confession . . . I was an “overhead cost”. I was a beaker washer, agar plate pourer, research secretary. I was paid by “overhead cost” fees. Loved it. Those “overhead cost” jobs allowed this rural kid to become a physician. Please tag how #OverheadCostJob impact u.
This is how you do it. Thank you @sicbjournals.bsky.social Read their whole email to membership here mailchi.mp/sicb.org/sic...
Had a great doing fieldwork in Puerto Rico for two weeks! I joined the most amazing team and I can't imagine a better start to the semester.
