Morgan Tingley
@mwtingley.bsky.social
Professor @UCLA @UCLAEEB Studying ecological effects of global change (range shifts, #phenology, and #wildfire) on #birds and occasionally other organisms. Proudly LGBTQ (he/him) Tweets entirely my own
Today I learned the hard way that evidence synthesis is about to get a whole lot harder with AI-generated fake publications. Particularly unpleasant: I learned this while hunting down a climate change impact attribution study for a systematic review.
I looked back at more than 100 years of TV and movies and charted how birding and birders have been portrayed over time in a new piece for @audubon.org There are distinct eras! The Golden Years! The Bleak Years! Lots of bow ties! Popeye! Angela Lansbury! Much more! www.audubon.org/magazine/his...
How Movies and TV Made Birdwatchers Uncool—and Then Cool Again
A century of screen history shows how heroic conservationists became tweed-clad caricatures, and when Hollywood finally started to ditch the tired trope.
audubon.org
I'm getting several of these emails a day now: an AI agent has found my online profile and emailed me a manuscript, trying—poorly—to make a case that the work is somehow central to my research program. More and more of the papers are themselves utter AI slop. DON'T FUCKING DO THIS, PEOPLE.
Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 2mo ago1. Recently I’ve received lots of emails from people I don’t know personally, asking for my feedback on their books or papers. They explain the connection between my work and theirs and ask me to take a look. The catch, of course, is that the emails are transparently, obviously, written by AI.
For those wanting just a taste, Chapter 10, "Fecundity", in "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" remains seared in my brain 30 years later. Her meditation on merciless, prolific reproduction in nature haunts me still, while also providing an important perspective to modern conservation challenges
The New York Times@nytimes.com · last mo.Breaking News: Annie Dillard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the modern classic “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,” has died at 81.
With all the wildfires this year, it was great speaking with @audubon.org about our ongoing work studying the impacts of smoke on birds. Read it in print in the current issue, or here: www.audubon.org/magazine/smo...
Smoke from Wildfires Is a Growing Health Threat to Both People and Birds
Catastrophic wildfires are stalling decades of clean air progress. Now scientists are asking: How can we help birds navigate a hazier future?
audubon.org
Are you an ornithology student or postdoc thinking about a career at a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI)? Register for this webinar hosted by @amornith.bsky.social to hear from myself and several other PUI ornithologists. We'll give you all the dirt! americanornithology.org/calendar/fac...
You might have seen the paper @science.org last week on the solar panels decreasing bird biodiversity. Our reanalysis, led by the talented Yangkang Chen, found fundamental, retraction-worthy flaws in their results, especially from the citizen science data and their models… (1/6)
bioRxiv Ecology@biorxiv-ecology.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe devil in citizen science data: observation processes invalidate the causal inference that photovoltaic policy reduces bird diversity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.25.746390v1
🪶Cool new research on female Passerines by @joannaxwu.bsky.social and colleagues at IBP and UCLA. Read more about it here-> bit.ly/4zfjbdY
As smoke chokes eastern US cities (again), this is your daily reminder that as recent as 2023, an NSF panel rejected our grant about wildfire smoke impacts because they did not see the connection between wildfire smoke and climate change.
I just submitted my formal comment on the disastrous proposal to transform essentially all U.S. federal grantmaking--affecting every sector of American science, technology, education, & health--into an overtly partisan political process. Full text here: weatherwest.com/wp-c...
Illegal fireworks can cause devastating burn injuries, spark wildfires, and carry serious criminal penalties, including fines and jail time. Today, we joined our partners ahead of the Fourth of July to deliver one unified message: illegal fireworks cause real harm and real consequences.
Don’t forget to take action on the proposed OMB rules! Public comments, contacting your societies or environmental nonprofits, contacting your Congresspeople, etc.
Jacquelyn Gill@jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 5mo ago🧵 Public science in the US has taken some heavy hits over the last year, but the White House OMB is proposing a series of changes that will result in a TKO for science as we know it unless we fight back. Here's what's happening, and why it matters. 1/n
"The ultimate deciders of these grants will be the political employees at the agencies,” Duncan* noted in testimony. *nominee for OMB Deputy Director, i.e., Vought's #2. When research is decided by politicals, then the ultimate cost will be paid by the public. www.politico.com/live-updates...
OMB nominee touts plan to give Trump appointees power to kill grants
The administration is expected to finalize the proposed changes as soon as this summer.
politico.com
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a journal retraction with so much detail, including about the authors pushback. H/T dynamic ecology. 🧪 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
RETRACTION: Native Plant Diversity Generates Microbial Legacies That Either Promote or Suppress Non‐Natives, Depending on Drought History
RETRACTION: Z. Tao, K. Zhang, R.M. Callaway, E. Siemann, Y. Liu, and W. Huang, “Native Plant Diversity Generates Microbial Legacies That Either Promote or Suppress Non-Natives, Depending on Drought H....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Come join us on the campus of @umassamherst.bsky.social this summer for AOS 2026! It's shaping up to be a great meeting -- cool science, fun events, and great nearby birding opportunities. The Woodcock Waddle 5k, in particular, shouldn't be missed!!
a small brown and white bird with a long beak is standing on the ground .
ALT: a small brown and white bird with a long beak is standing on the ground .
media.tenor.com
American Ornithological Society@amornith.bsky.social · 7mo agoRegistration is now open for #AOS26 from 3-7 August 2026 in Amherst, Mass. Join us! Discounted early-bird registration rates end on 31 May 2026. Details: meeting.americanornithology.org/participate/...
We figured we could all use some beautiful birds today. 🪶
Been thinking about this post all morning. For trainees out there who struggle with writing: it will get easier over time, but it will never be easy - there is no one who finds writing easy; what you will be left with is a comfortable friction that means you know when you're cooking.
gavin jones@ecologyofgavin.bsky.social · 8mo agoIn a sea of opinions about the role of LLMs in academics I offer my own. Apart from being harmful, exploitive plagiarism machines, LLMs rob us of the opportunity to experience the gift of friction in writing, which changes how we think. We must not give away that gift. doi.org/10.1002/fee....
In case you missed it: For Audubon, I wrote about some new research putting together the cascade of ecological events that leads to salmonella outbreaks at urban birdfeeders. 🪶 www.audubon.org/magazine/sur...
The Surprising Connection Between Spruce Trees, Pine Siskins, and Salmonella Outbreaks
New research linking climate, conifer seed production, and siskin irruptions could provide an early warning system for dangerous salmonella outbreaks at bird feeders and among people.
audubon.org
I think Bluesky is currently the best social media platform for keeping misinformation to a minimum, maybe because it’s not popular enough to be a target yet Half the shit my friends, including fellow academics, share on Facebook is made up crap that they believe is real Threads is atrocious too
We have published a new pre-print showing a decline in great tit adult and nestling mass of around 1 gram in 47 y. [rate of approx. -0.040 Hadanes] With @ellafcole.bsky.social, @devisatarkar.bsky.social, Sam. Crofts, @mcmahok.bsky.social & @sheldonbirds.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics? 1) Write NSF 2) Write your Congressperson 3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
Our point in this research is not that bird feeding causes zoonotic spillover, but that we can actually *predict* when spillover is likely to occur, so that we can adjust our behavior (e.g., bird feeding) when the risk supports us making a change.
Alexander Lees@alexanderlees.bsky.social · 9mo agoNew paper links Salmonellosis disease dynamics to avian irruptions mediated by transmission at bird feeders - with subsequent spillover to humans causing severe illness and death 🪶🌎 #ornithology #UKBirding www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #BirdFeeding #Rethink @mwtingley.bsky.social
Unbelievable. This would be a terrible blow to American science, writ large. It would decimate not only climate research, but also the kind of weather, wildfire, and disaster research that has underpinned half a century of progress in prediction, early warning, and increased resilience.
USA TODAY@usatoday.com · 11mo agoExclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
“The math is brutal and the juxtaposition stark: millions for OpenAI while pink slips go out to longtime lecturers. The CSU isn’t investing in education—it’s outsourcing it, paying premium prices for a chatbot many students were already using for free.“ www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
currentaffairs.org
POSTDOC JOB AD: I'm hiring a Bayesian ecologist to build a (IMO, extremely fun) model of humpback whale spatiotemporal dynamics in California 2-year position starting fall 2026. in-person in Santa Cruz; collab w with Mevin Hooten's lab at UT Austin. ask me Qs or apply: recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF02003
Fredston Lab: Postdoctoral Scholar
University of California, Santa Cruz is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.ucsc.edu
Less than 1 month left to submit abstracts for what is always the *best* conference on climate change impacts on biodiversity. Intimate conference size but truly global participation; highly recommend for 1st-timers and returnees.
Species On The Move 2026@sotm2026.bsky.social · last yr.✨🌏 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS 🌏✨ ⏰ Deadline: November 10, 2025 🗣️ Oral Presentations | 📋 Poster Presentations 🔗 Guidelines & Submissions: www.speciesonthemove.com/abstract/inf... 🇹🇼 Can't wait to welcome you to #Taiwan! #SpeciesOnTheMove #SOTM2026 #Taiwan #SunMoonLake #ClimateChange #Biodiversity
🚨🚨🚨 And THREE stood up! Penn has joined MIT & Brown in rejecting Trump’s loyalty oath compact. When we join together and fight back, WE WIN! No amount of federal bribery is worth surrendering the freedom to question, explore, and dissent. LET’S GO! #DefendHigherEd @aaup-penn.bsky.social
Penn rejects White House proposal for special funding treatment
With the decision, Penn becomes the third university to decline the offer.
thedp.com
