Eric LoPresti
@ericlopresti.bsky.social
Bugs, Plants, Bikes https://loprestieric.wixsite.com/lopresti-lab https://www.strava.com/clubs/EEBikes - nature nerds on strava...
Really, really, really proud of Eli for this fantastic study (his master's thesis). So much effort to sort out just one thorny evolutionary history problem in California plants.
Botanical Society of America@botsocamerica.bsky.social · 4w agoA case of budding speciation in the California Floristic Province & infraspecific divergence in desert-sand #verbena New #AJB research by Eli Allen, Eric LoPresti, Matthew Johnson & Oscar Vargas doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... #botany #plantscience
Charley is probably the best naturalist I've ever met - every time in the field with him has been eye-opening/mind-blowing (he's a wonderful person, too!). Nice to see so many @inaturalist.bsky.social users appreciating him in the comments users on this post: www.inaturalist.org/blog/124811
Identifier Profile: @ceiseman
This is the twenty-ninth entry in an ongoing series profiling the amazing identifiers of iNaturalist. An iNaturalist observation records an encounter between an observer and an organism or recent evid...
inaturalist.org
fuck bad drivers, fuck the cop who watched this happen
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
So pleased to have been included on this paper, which is all PhD candidate Sierra Jaeger from the LoPresti lab! @ericlopresti.bsky.social
Botanical Society of America@botsocamerica.bsky.social · 8mo ago🌼🎨 From the upcoming #AJB Special Issue: “Paradigm Shifts in #Flower Color" 🎨🌼 #Pollinator, herbivore, & climatic selective pressures differ across a floral color transition zone By Sierra Jaeger, et al. doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... #botany #plantscience #herbivory #pollination @aeberardi.bsky.social
now its Frontiers in Plant Sciences' turn... 3,288 articles this year so far (most are fine - many are not) english.elpais.com/science-tech...
The fall of a prolific science journal exposes the billion-dollar profits of scientific publishing
One of the 15 publications that put out the most studies globally has been expelled from the indexing system for irregularities. Its publisher, Elsevier, has a 38% profit margin that reached $1.5 bill...
english.elpais.com
my post-break brain couldn't do any serious writing today... but i got through a lot of moths!
flannel moth caterpillars (megalopygids, puss caterpillars) are amongst the strangest we have. but, even stranger is the fact that they make LITTLE BOWL-SHAPED POOP. how have i not learned this? why does this not seem to be all over the internet?
google scholar alerted me to a paper citing a (great) Abronia paper - weirdly it was on fish biology. and with that i have happened into my first published and obviously used AI for referencing paper...
8 emails later, no resolution and the springer OA people are giving me the run around. $3900!
Eric LoPresti@ericlopresti.bsky.social · 10mo agoI had a solicited commentary "accepted" at a Springer Journal and now they are asking me to pay a publication fee. What an utterly sleazy move - here, do something for us and we'll make you pay for it.
I had a solicited commentary "accepted" at a Springer Journal and now they are asking me to pay a publication fee. What an utterly sleazy move - here, do something for us and we'll make you pay for it.
A couple years ago, I found a weird wasp moth - sent it to Bill Taft and Anthony Cognato at Michigan State and lo and behold, it is a new species. Introducing Synanthedon nielseni!
A+ bike commuting and A+ bikes in the lab today (flat bar road bike! crosscheck with tri bars! old mtb gravel conversion! a small wheeled 80's Terry!)
Psuedoscorpion hitching a ride on a moth that I pinned yesterday!
Our research got a really nice write-up in the Post and Courier today (excellent work Toby for the article and Andy for the photos!!!)
The legendary USGS Bee Lab is being shut down. The 2026 budget proposal defunds the Ecosystem Mission Area, which supported the lab. If their science helped your work, there’s still time to make your voice heard. Read below. (1/4) 🧪 #pollinators #Pollinators #USGS #Entomology #Hymenoptera 🪲🪳
USGS Bee Lab at the Eastern Ecological Science Center
The USGS Bee Lab supports research on native bees. As part of that program we and our co-located USFWS partners develop identification tools and keys for native bee species, take public access hi reso...
usgs.gov
I finally conquered Gravity's Rainbow during a many month field season in Peru (2011). I had to read it maybe 6 times to finally get through - and *get* - it, but ended up appreciating it. Wish I could spend days of undivided attention on this one. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/b...
Thomas Pynchon to Publish a New Novel This Fall
Featuring a Depression-era private eye, “Shadow Ticket” will be the 87-year-old writer’s first book since 2013.
nytimes.com
If anyone in Charleston wants to see me blabber about moths and natural history, come say hi!
A tropical moth ended up in my trap in South Carolina last weekend! While these are known to occasionally wander, never really thought seeing one was a possibility. (Eudocima apta - a "fruit-piercing" moth).
First lab paper out in a long time - this one looking at pollination/pollinators/floral volatiles of an AWESOME species of sand verbena from South Texas. All credit to my wonderful grad student Sierra and collaborators. (more photos below) www.pollinationecology.org/index.php/jp...
Even if most of what I am quoted here is for calling these caterpillars cute, I am a real scientist, I swear. www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/n...
Don’t touch this ‘adorable’ insect, it’s one of the most venomous in NC. What to know
“They look like toupees.”
charlotteobserver.com
As my friend @drshepherd2013.bsky.social says, asking why we need a National Weather Service when we have apps and the Weather Channel is like asking why we need potato farmers when we can buy fries at McDonalds.
NSF accomplishes its mission primarily by giving grants. In a $10B budget request, NSF asked for $500M in 'Agency Operations and Award Management', so that's already HIGHLY EFFICIENT... >95% of funds go to research and STEM education programs nationwide. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00_NSF...
Jonathan Lambert@jonlambert.bsky.social · last yr."I don't know what NSF is going to be now, but it's not more efficient. It's just a mess." My story on today's firings and their impact. www.npr.org/2025/02/18/n...
Two Way Street. A reworked version I made from a police produced victim and youth blaming PSA.
Ways I spelled this one moth's name in my database. None of them are right.
Rest In Peace, Tom Robbins, and long live goofiness!
The world sucks, but my Gunnar is back on the road. Little victory.
My take on listing #monarchs under the #ESA cornellsun.com/2025/02/04/a...
AGRAWAL | The Monarch’s Edict
Since we're in the 90 day comment period before monarchs would officially be listed under the Endangered Species Act, I thought I would publicly offer my thoughts on the beautiful subjects of my life'...
cornellsun.com
