1st pub from Phd student Alicia Formanack synthesizing tree ring widths in drought-killed trees to show that, nope, there are no universal patterns. We present a framework combining previously described syndromes: flashy, decoupled, or declining?🌏🌐
doi.org/10.1111/nph....
@newphyt.bsky.social

New paper led by PhD student Elise Pletcher! Forecasts from simple, density-dependent population models are highly transferable to new sites. Adding env. covariates does little to improve prediction in-sample and worsens forecasts out-of-sample. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Excellent piece by @kristinayoung.bsky.social on the critical threat facing the USGS's Southwest Biological Science Center. We must rally and fight this senseless attack on science!!

A bit late but excited to see our new TREE paper out on integrating PSFs with resilience theory!
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

🚨 New paper, led by Cristina Barber. We used high-resolution aerial imagery to study tree mortality in a tropical landscape. Large, isolated trees were most likely to die--alarming finding! @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

The monkey flowers are good there this year. We were just there last week surveying the buckwheat populations.

Yale School of the Environment is hiring an open-rank professor in temperate forest resilience! Come be my colleague!!!!!

environment.yale.edu/jobs/faculty...

A nice summary from Nevada Today of our recent paper on Pinyon-Juniper woodland dynamics in @pnas.org. Check it out!
www.unr.edu/nevada-today...

Dioecious plants have separate male and female individuals, and temperature sensitivity may vary between sexes. A study of a dioecious grass species, Texas Bluegrass, shows that poleward shifts will be shaped by male heat intolerance. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

We mention this in the paper, but our analysis can really only speak to what allowed for increasing density in stands that predate 1800, but not what allowed for expansion into new areas. But increases in density after 1850 in these stands are largely predictable given pre-1850 demographic rates.

Hydrology Paper of the Day @bkshriver.bsky.social on why woody plants are apparently more prevalent in dryland areas: long-term increases in tree population are responsible for more young trees, and low rates of tree establishment over the past 400 years in the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau.

I'm hiring a postdoc! Themes: long-term data, plant reproduction, mast seeding, synthesis, macosystems biology. Also, reproducible tesearch. Target submission deadline: 22 June (for priority review). 1-2 year position, $60K/year. 🌲 🌲 🌲
www.higheredjobs.com/faculty/deta...

There is still time to apply for this position! If you have some spatial modelling skills and interest in wildfire, please consider applying.

Thanks, Trevor!

Finally, and importantly, we show the pattern we observe in PJ woodlands does not apply everywhere. Using a dataset from a ponderosa pine ecosystem in AZ, we show that unlike PJ there is clear evidence of increasing establishment rates associated with fire exclusion in this system.

Our results have broader implications for how we interpret forest and woodland histories. Stand age data are the net result of multiple processes: establishment rates, survival rates, and total population size. Interpreting stand histories from these datasets requires accounting for these processes.

We use age structure data from PJ populations across the western US. All of these populations are dominated by young trees. But using simple population models, we show that observed increases in tree establishment are highly predictable using pre-1800 tree establishment rates.

Why has woody plant density been increasing in dryland ecosystems? In a new paper in @pnas.org we show that increasing tree density in pinyon-juniper woodlands could largely be a result of long-term population growth, rather than recent anthropogenic effects. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

We begin reviewing applications next week!

Hi Folks! Myself and the Barberan Lab at U of A are still looking for a PhD student to work on an NSF funded project exploring effects of fire and invasion on soil microbes. We are looking for someone to start in Fall! SOON! Email me if you are interested! PLS Repost!

@EsaSeeds

The New Mexico Reforestation Center is hiring a director. We are looking for a dynamic leader that can develop and execute a plan to establish NMRC as a leader in science-based reforestation. Please help advertise the position and reach out if you have questions.

careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/dir-new...

Please spread the word - I am looking for a postdoc to join my lab at @osubpp.bsky.social to study diversity and interactions of plants and pathogens in wild and working landscapes!

More information here: agsci-labs.oregonstate.edu/diseaseecolo...

Realized I somehow forgot to include the link to the position. Here it is: nshe.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UNR-external...

Plus endless destinations for weekend trips. The SF Bay area and coast, eastern Sierra, Yosemite, Lassen, and the Great Basin all nearby.