Tried using Claude Opus 4.8 to look for a reference that reports leaf turgor pressure diurnal cycles in tropical forests, but all it can find me are papers on phytoplankton community composition because it has memory of me asking these questions. I refuse to be replaced by something not even wrong
Wu Sun
@wu-sun.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Ecology at the University of Georgia | Biosphere–atmosphere interactions 🛰️🌲, photosynthesis ☀️🍃, global carbon cycle, climate change impacts https://ecology.uga.edu/ 📍Athens, Georgia, USA & 🌎
Tried using Claude to do a literature search, and found out that it cannot tell the difference between "subpolar" and "subtropical." Had to babysit it and ended up spending more time than doing a normal Google Scholar search. Guess my job remains safe to AI
Well, the ridiculous mid-March heat has officially arrived in the Western U.S., with quite a few locations in California already reaching/breaking all-time monthly records today. Believe it or not, the heat will further intensify and become even more widespread later this week.
The upcoming SW USA heat dome is predicted to be so anomalous that the 500 hPa heights over the entire region will exceed every historical daily max (1990-2025) from now until JUNE. This may be a short lived event, but the consequences for snowpack, water supply, and drought will be felt all year.
NCAR represents what is possible when a nation chooses to invest in science as a public good, writes @carlonimbus.bsky.social of @ucs.org. #SaveNCAR eos.org/opinions/wha...
What Americans Lose If Their National Center for Atmospheric Research Is Dismantled - Eos
Five ways dismantling NCAR will cost the American people, and two ways to save it.
eos.org
Attention folks in the weather, climate, disaster, wildfire, and Earth science communities: NSF has just published a new "Dear Colleague" letter inviting feedback (by Mar 13) on the proposal to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). www.nsf.gov/funding/...
Before the 1990s, plane crashes caused by microbursts used to kill planeloads of people fairly regularly. Dr. Ted Fujita and NCAR scientists figured out how to detect microbursts and warn pilots about them. Since then? Zero airliner crashes from microbursts.
Exclusive: 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.
Collatz, Berry, Clark, Sellers and colleagues practicing open data policies since the mid 90s :-)
Just published this new paper, with a bunch of fantastic colleagues, with many suggestions for "Improving the representation of plant water stress and water use in Earth System Models." Access is free online. We have some great figures, thanks to Victor Leshyk. 🧪🌐🌳🌎
Improving the representation of plant water stress and water use in Earth System Models Dukes et al. @dukesjeff.bsky.social @changliao.bsky.social @richphillipslab.bsky.social @scottmcadam.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
This is a great opportunity for US based early career scientists to build international research collaborations. Please spread the word.
The 2026 FLUXNET Secondment Program is open for applications! The program supports extended visits of 2 - 6 weeks for early career scientists based in U.S. institutions to an international host institution to conduct research with eddy covariance data. Apply here: fluxnet.org/community/se...
Our "Joshua tree is CAM" paper is finally out: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Data collection started back in 2021, when we saw weird results in some RNAseq that made me stop and wonder if Joshua trees, long thought to be C3, were actually...CAM!
Cryptic CAM photosynthesis in Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia, Y. jaegeriana)
Joshua trees are long-lived perennial monocots native to the Mojave Desert in North America. Composed of two species, Yucca brevifolia and Y. jaegeriana (Asparagaceae), Joshua trees are imperiled by...
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Applications for Fall Meeting AGU-B DEI Travel Grant for up tp $1500 (with a minimum award amount of the cost of graduate student early bird registration) ARE OPEN and close September 10th! Apply here. (docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...)
AGU Biogeosciences DEI Travel Grant 2025
This is the application for the 2025 AGU Biogeosciences DEI Travel Grant. Please submit by September 10th to be considered for the award. More information can be found here: https://connect.agu.org/bi...
docs.google.com
Seriously, in 2025? Submitting an abstract is not waiting in line for a restaurant. I can't believe our membership fees couldn't afford a modest AWS plan to deal with queuing and concurrency
1. Kevin Gross and I just posted a new science-of-science preprint. This one explores the looming peer review crisis. As many of you know, it's becoming significantly more difficult for journal editors to find scholars willing to serve as peer reviewers for submitted manuscripts.
Will anyone review this paper? Screening, sorting, and the feedback cycles that imperil peer review
Scholarly publishing relies on peer review to identify the best science. Yet finding willing and qualified reviewers to evaluate manuscripts has become an increasingly challenging task, possibly even ...
arxiv.org
Interested in how plant intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) responds to rising CO2? Our new paper shows that CO2-enhanced iWUE is mainly driven by reduced canopy conductance, while stimulation of ecosystem photosynthesis is less detectable given current data length. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reduced water loss rather than increased photosynthesis controls CO2-enhanced water-use efficiency - Nature Ecology & Evolution
A machine learning approach using long-term observations of eddy covariance finds that the increase in plant intrinsic water-use efficiency under higher CO2 levels, across diverse ecosystems, is drive...
nature.com
US Earth Science people: Our June webinar felt so good, we’re making it a series. Join us next Tuesday 7/15 (and again in Aug & Sept) to hear from NSF staff and to get (most of?) your questions answered. www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-d...
NSF Division of Earth Sciences Informational Webinar
nsf.gov
Proposed NOAA budget zeros out ALL climate laboratories and cooperative institutions. GFDL, NSSL, GML, etc. This appears to also end the US greenhouse gas sampling network, including at Mauna Loa, the oldest continuous carbon dioxide monitoring site on Earth. www.commerce.gov/sites/defaul...
What a tragedy this is even being proposed on paper... 💔 NOAA FY2026 Congressional Justification: www.noaa.gov/sites/defaul...
The US Global Change Research Program a next target of Trump's destruction campaign. My sources report that globalchange.gov will go dark Monday. NOAA is archiving the National Climate Assessment at NCEI.
U.S. Global Change Research Program | GlobalChange.gov
globalchange.gov
Now online: "Permafrost, Peatland, and Cropland Regions Are Key to Reconciling North American Carbon Sink Estimates" by Kelsey Foster et al., including @avnimalh0tra.bsky.social w/ Stanford, PNNL, NAU, and NRC colleagues agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Permafrost, Peatland, and Cropland Regions Are Key to Reconciling North American Carbon Sink Estimates
Additional sink inferred by inversions in just 16% of North America accounts for the discrepancy between top-down and bottom-up estimates Statistically significant differences between top-down an...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
🌍New paper out today!!! Global variation in vegetation carbon use efficiency inferred from eddy covariance observations @xiangzluo.bsky.social @natureportfolio.nature.com 🔗👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Global variation in vegetation carbon use efficiency inferred from eddy covariance observations - Nature Ecology & Evolution
The efficiency with which plants use carbon assimilated through photosynthesis has a key role in determining natureʼs capacity to offset carbon dioxide emissions. This study leverages global eddy cova...
nature.com
Climate.gov, a major US government website supporting public education on climate science, will likely shut down after almost all of its staff were fired. What would be worse is if the website were co-opted to publish climate denial content.
Major US climate website likely to be shut down after almost all staff fired
Exclusive: Climate.gov, which supports public education on climate science, will soon no longer publish new content
theguardian.com
US Earth Scientists: We know you have questions, come get them answered directly from NSF/EAR POs! Tuesday, June 17, 2p Eastern. Register here: www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-d...
NSF Division of Earth Sciences Informational Webinar
nsf.gov
Biogeosciences Early Career Seminar - Recording available. Don’t worry if you missed the seminar on May 7th – a recording is available on AGU’s YouTube! www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQPG...
DOE ASR program manager just sent a colleague an excerpt from the WH DOE budget that was stealthily dropped: “BER activities in environmental system sciences, atmospheric system research, earth system modeling, data management, and the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement User Facility are terminated."
"The Great Wave" of carbon dioxide (CO₂) #ClimateChange #ScienceArt Graphic produced by robbieandrew.github.io
Breaking from @science.org: The Trump administration wants to kill off a host of active and healthy NASA climate and planetary spacecraft. It would be a "leaner, more focused" agency, they say -- and one far less capable of studying the Earth and exploring space.
Dozens of active and planned NASA spacecraft killed in Trump budget request
Proposal would end nearly all new major science missions
science.org
Exciting news! 🎉 We’re thrilled to announce the speakers for our Early Career Seminar happening on May 7th! Stay tuned—more details coming your way in the days ahead! Registration 🔗: agu.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
"To envision the disastrous impact of this plan, one only needs to see what NOAA research has provided to the U.S. taxpayer and imagine where we would be without it." "Now is the time to reach out to your elected representatives." "Stand Up for NOAA Research" - @nwas.org and @ametsoc.org statement
Stand Up for NOAA Research – The Time to Act is Now
The AMS is a global community committed to advancing weather, water, and climate science and service.
ametsoc.org
NOAA just announced a long list of datasets that are going away🧪⚒️🌊: www.nesdis.noaa.gov/about/docume... Download what you need asap and send comments to: ncei.info@noaa.gov
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nesdis.noaa.gov