Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ryan Stephens

Ben R Lee, PhD @benrlee.com · 5d

🚨 Please repost widely!🚨

I am recruiting a PhD student to join my lab next fall to work on forest and climate change ecology projects in southern Appalachia! Come join me in one of the most beautiful, biodiverse, and understudied parts of North America. Details below and happy to answer questions

An ad for a PhD position to start fall 2026 working with me at ETSU. For more info, please email at LeeBR1@etsu.edu.

A close-up picture of dimpled trout lilies active in early spring, still largely surrounded by the previous year's senesced tree leaves.

A beautiful vista of the Blue Ridge Mountains from on top of Carver's Gap on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee.

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Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · Aug 18

You know your Google Scholar alerts are keyed in when it suggests your own papers and your student's theses!

Reposted by Ryan Stephens

Scott LaPoint @scottlapoint.bsky.social · Aug 15

I'm hiring! Please share!
Join me this winter as a #wildlife #ecology technician. 6 months at $18/hr and subsidized housing available. Maintain a #cameratrap array, #bobcat and #fisher live trapping transects, and telemetry. More: blackrockforest.org/work_with_us

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Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · Aug 16

Dang!

Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · Aug 16

Nice, thanks! Was actually just looking at that one this afternoon.

Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · Aug 16

annihilated*

Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · Aug 15

I'm #teaching an introduction to research class in #biology for undergraduates this term. Anyone have a good suggestion for a short paper or text on questions, objectives, and hypothesis with a biology focus?

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Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · Aug 15

Looks salvageable. We had an 18 inch white pine that absolutely initiated one of ours.

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Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · Aug 11

Thanks! Wish we had more voices like yours here in the USA!

Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · Aug 11

I'm giving a talk on Tuesday about carnivores as dispersers of mycorrhizal fungal spores as part of a special session on fungal spore dispersal. Come check it out if you are here in Baltimore and like fungi, carnivores, or trophic interactions. #ESA2025

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Reposted by Ryan Stephens

New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · Aug 8

“…when organisms interact can largely determine how they interact.”

#Viewpoint: Is it all about timing? Identifying the symbiosis critical points that govern interactions among #bacteria, ectomycorrhizal #fungi, and land #trees

By Louis Berrios 👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Mechanisms that potentially contribute to the maintenance of interactions between bacteria, ectomycorrhizal fungi (EcMF), and land trees across varied developmental periods.

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Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · Aug 4

Congrats!

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Reposted by Ryan Stephens

Dr. Bala Chaudhary @balachaudhary.bsky.social · Jul 29

Our new global study led by @smriti-pehim-limbu.bsky.social is now out in @pnas.org. TLDR: Certain spore traits were linked to climate AND species range sizes! YES we can use traits to gain insight into env adaptations for microbes.

#mycorrhizas #spores #NSFfunded
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

How climate shapes soil fungal traits

Many soil microbes play a vital role in ecosystems, as they help plants access nutrients and water and assist in stress tolerance such as during drought and to defend against pathogens. One such group...

www.eurekalert.org

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Reposted by Ryan Stephens

Alessio Mortelliti @alessiomortelliti.bsky.social · Jul 17

Our review led by S. Savazza "Measuring Personality in Wild Small Mammals: A Review of Methods and Proposal for a Standardised Approach" is out, free open access, in mammal review
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Measuring Personality in Wild Small Mammals: A Review of Methods and Proposal for a Standardised Approach

We provide a systematic review of methodologies used to study personality in small mammals. We propose adopting ‘Standardised Experimental Design’ and ‘Behavioural Measurements’ to effectively compar...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Ryan Stephens

Jeff Bowman @jeffcbowman.bsky.social · Jul 14

New from Rebekah Persad and the Kawartha Flying Squirrel Project: Home range size, habitat selection, and mycophagy of sympatric North American flying squirrels esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

A map showing telemetry and roost locations of sympatric northern and southern flying squirrels at a location in Ontario, Canada

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Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · Jul 9

Big day in the lab. Noah, successfully defended his thesis (my first student) and knocked it out of the park! I also submitted a manuscript from a project that we have been working on for about 6 years.

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Reposted by Ryan Stephens

Sara Mendes @sarammendes.bsky.social · Jul 3

New paper out! 🏙️ We found that urbanisation simplifies and homogenises seed dispersal networks. 🪴🐦‍⬛ Non-native plants dominate in cities, accounting for 61% 😔 of interactions in the urban network vs just 15% in forests! 🪻🌿🌴
Check it out: doi.org/10.1111/cobi...
🌐🧪🌍🍁

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Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · Jul 2

#Truffles are out! We found some nice Tuber and Destuntzia collections, among others.

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Justine Karst 🇨🇦 @j-karst.bsky.social · Jun 19

Forestry trials set up decades ago are key to understanding long term outcomes of management. This study looks at recovery of EcM fungi nearly 30 years (!) post harvest. Nice work👍from a great team.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Ectomycorrhizal fungal community succession and fragmentation across forest edges nearly three decades postharvest

Forest management for wood products involves the conversion of primary forests to younger plantations. This has an immediate impact on biota such as ectomycorrhizal fungi, a diverse symbiotic fungal ...

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Ryan Stephens

Laura van Galen @laura-vangalen.bsky.social · Jun 10

Our paper shows that most ectomycorrhizal fungal species (83% of OTUs) are "dark taxa": species we detect in DNA, but can't match to known species names. We map global "darkspots" - the parts of the world most in need of more research. @spun.earth @ethz.ch www.cell.com/current-biol...

The biogeography and conservation of Earth’s ‘dark’ ectomycorrhizal fungi

In this review, van Galen et al. use global soil metabarcoding databases to evaluate current estimates of the total number of ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungal species on Earth, outline the current state o...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Ryan Stephens

Observable @observablehq.com · Jun 5

Histograms are incredibly useful, interpretable, and common in BI. But building histograms that work well out of the box — no matter the data — is trickier than it sounds. We share some of the challenges faced, and decisions made, when designing histograms for Observable Canvases:

Designing better out-of-the-box histograms

Given how common histograms are in BI tools, you might think they’re easy to design. Think again. We share challenges we encountered, and how we handled them, while designing better out-of-the-box…

buff.ly

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Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · May 2

Last day of Animal Ecology today and my students surprised me with bear hats. I’ve been complaining about all the damage they do to our field sites and it’s been a running joke all semester. Of course every student presentation today also had bears.

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Ryan Stephens @ryanbstephens.bsky.social · May 1

Well deserved!

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Bryan McLean @sousliks.bsky.social · Apr 10

Ahhhhhh Spring. A time to replenish, revive, and…. REGROW YOUR BONES?!?

a🧵on a new paper

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Alessio Mortelliti @alessiomortelliti.bsky.social · Mar 24

"Over the limit: Consequences of gray squirrel personality on the shifting range limits of oak and hickory species" led by Maisie Merz is now out (open access) in Global Ecology and Conservation. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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