Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · 25d

Do we have a word yet for “fear of closing tabs”?

Reposted by Jess Hightower

Communications Earth & Environment @commsearth.nature.com · 26d

🌳🦟Indigenous territory extent in the Amazon biome can reduce the incidence of fire-related and zoonotic/vector-borne diseases in humans.

👉Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Indigenous Territories can safeguard human health depending on the landscape structure and legal status - Communications Earth & Environment

Indigenous territory extent in the Amazon biome can reduce the incidence of fire-related and zoonotic/vector-borne diseases, but only in certain contexts, according to an analysis of disease incidence...

www.nature.com

3 5

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Sep 7

A very cool story!

Matt Betts @mattbetts42.bsky.social · Sep 3

Science is rarely a linear path from hypotheses to published papers. Here, I tell the story of our many ups and downs during the discovery of pollinator recognition. Hope you enjoy it! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

3

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Aug 25

NYT coverage of Gaza was the last straw for me. I canceled my subscription. Infuriating that this is their normal approach to covering any news out of Gaza.

2

Reposted by Jess Hightower

Methods in Ecology and Evolution @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social · Aug 22

📖Published📖

Forrest et al. present deepSSF, an approach to fit and predict animal movement data using deep learning 🐃 🌍 🧪 Read the full article here 👇

buff.ly/BWQ3Oni

Conceptual overview of the deepSSF neural network used to predict animal movement.

1 8 14

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Aug 19

Ok I like it, Picasso.

1

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Aug 19

Need a brand name? Pick a word and remove a vowel (or two). So should I call my pretend business Ecolgy, Eclogy, Eclgy, Wld, Brds, Natr, Envro, BDvy?

1 1

Reposted by Jess Hightower

Mike Moore @moore-evo-eco.bsky.social · Aug 18

Are you looking for a PhD position and want to spend your summers in the Rocky Mountains?

My lab @cudenverclas.bsky.social is looking for 1 PhD student to work on a NSF-funded project to study elevational range shifts in Colorado! 🧪🌍🐙

Apply by Nov 1!

Details here docs.google.com/document/d/1...

2025 - Hypoxia PhD job ad

The Moore lab at the University of Colorado Denver is searching for 1 Ph.D. student to study the elevational limits of dragonflies in Colorado (http://moore-evo-eco.weebly.com). This position is fully...

docs.google.com

3 33 32

Reposted by Jess Hightower

Tommaso Jucker @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social · Aug 14

We have a #Tansley review out today @newphyt.bsky.social led by Becky Banbury Morgan in which we put forward a new framework that aims to explain how and why edge effects on forest structure vary across ecosystems and through time

📜 doi.org/10.1111/nph....

Graphical illustration of the four key stages of edge evolution following edge creation.

1 28 72

Reposted by Jess Hightower

Tyson Wepprich @tysonwepprich.bsky.social · Aug 8

Short paper showing how phenology responds nonlinearly to warming (and why summed degree-days are better than days/°C)
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Rethinking the interpretation of spring phenological temperature sensitivity - npj Science of Plants

npj Science of Plants - Rethinking the interpretation of spring phenological temperature sensitivity

www.nature.com

2 7

Reposted by Jess Hightower

Adam Sharp @adam-sharp.bsky.social · Aug 6

New article out today in Nature - intensified El Niño events under climate change appear to be chipping away at tropical forest arthropod diversity.

This is already leading to substantial losses in arthropod function in primary forests across the tropics.

rdcu.be/ezAxP

Stronger El Niños reduce tropical forest arthropod diversity and function

Nature - Time-series data from tropical forests tracking weather and declines in arthropod diversity and function show that fluctuations in species were largely dependent on their El Niño...

rdcu.be

16 23

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Aug 6

Invertebrates are declining even in pristine tropical forests and climate change is the culprit.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Stronger El Niños reduce tropical forest arthropod diversity and function - Nature

Time-series data from tropical forests tracking weather and declines in arthropod diversity and function show that fluctuations in species were largely dependent on their El Niño sensitivity and ecolo...

www.nature.com

4 8

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Jul 25

Ha, this makes me feel way better about planting catmint in front of my old rental. Land ladies mom moved in after me and I just left it for them to take care of the run away monster I’d created.

1 2

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Jul 24

Yeah, the link uses photogrammetry, but I’m pretty sure their digital imaging division has used/uses 3D laser scanners as well. When I was at UF one of the 3D printing lab guys helped me use a Wii to scan in a ginger flower 🤓

1 1

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Jul 24

Florida Museum at UF does a lot of this! I bet they would have some solid advice. They’ve got a whole digital imaging division. www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/envarch/fish...

Fish Photogrammetry Project

In collaboration with the Florida Museum Digital Imaging Division, the Environmental Archaeology Program's Fish Skulls Photogrammetry Project focuses on capturing detailed 3D images of neurocrania fro...

www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu

1 1

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Jul 23

I’d say I can’t believed they platformed that opinion, but unfortunately I can

1 1

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Jul 23

Based on title alone, I remain comfortable in my position of not supporting the NYT.

1

Reposted by Jess Hightower

Nature Ecology & Evolution @natecoevo.nature.com · Jul 23

Analysis of data on 971 bird species in Colombia finds that near-national-scale losses of bird diversity greatly exceed losses recorded at the local scale, suggesting that extrapolations from local studies will severely underestimate biodiversity losses
www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪

Tropical biodiversity loss from land-use change is severely underestimated by local-scale assessments - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Analysis of data on 971 bird species in natural habitat and cattle pasture in Colombia finds that near-national-scale losses of bird diversity greatly exceed losses recorded at the local scale, sugges...

www.nature.com

1 38 57

Reposted by Jess Hightower

Orlando Acevedo-Charry @oacevedocharry.bsky.social · Jul 23

Could we use community/citizen/participatory science data to estimate population extinction risk? Our results comparing the estimates from eBird and from a standardized survey suggest we can!!

#ornithology #ecology #conservation

See our detailed tutorial oaccolombia.github.io/vpm_eBird/vp...

5 10

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Jul 23

A much needed updated work. How does time fly by so fast? Looking forward to digging in.

Nature Reviews Biodiversity @natrevbiodiv.nature.com · Jul 23

New online! Drivers and solutions to Southeast Asia’s biodiversity crisis

Drivers and solutions to Southeast Asia’s biodiversity crisis

Nature Reviews Biodiversity, Published online: 23 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s44358-025-00064-7The terrestrial ecosystems of Southeast Asia are both globally important reservoirs of biodiversity, and a provider of resources and livelihoods for millions of people across the region. This Review summarizes the threats to biodiversity in Southeast Asia, and the conservation solutions required to ensure successful outcomes for biodiversity and people.

bit.ly

1 5

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Jul 11

This was blowing up on random TikTok accounts 🙄. I wish it was more like Reddit- where you can open the comments and the top comments will be someone explaining, with sources, why this is absolutely not correct.

3

Reposted by Jess Hightower

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · Jul 8

BREAKING: Scientists are staging a “science fair” in the lobby of a Congressional building to tell elected officials about the critical knowledge the US will lose because their research grants have been canceled.

1.1K 11K 41K

Reposted by Jess Hightower

Ethan Linck @elinck.bsky.social · Jun 26

ad to come, but I'm looking for an M.S. student to study the conservation genomics of swift foxes on the American Prairie Reserve in Montana beginning 9/1. this is a collaboration w/ Smithsonian & Justine Becker; strong candidates will have prior genomics experience and be up for remote fieldwork

1 19 28

Jess Hightower @jesshightower.bsky.social · Jul 7

Nice! I’m digging into swift foxes a bit more at the moment and was alarmed by what I was finding! And not much of a spotlight on them!

1

Reposted by Jess Hightower

Robert Fletcher @fletcherecology.bsky.social · Jun 23

Proud to share new research led by former MS student, Alfredo Gonzalez.

He determined the mechanisms behind nest failure for an endangered bird and its relevance to wetland management.

academic.oup.com/condor/advan...

Causes of nest failure vary with water depth, nesting substrate, and adverse weather in the endangered wetland-breeding Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus (Everglade Snail Kite)

ABSTRACT. Understanding the causes of nest failure is important for interpreting species interactions, drivers of population limitation, and wildlife manag

academic.oup.com

1 5