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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Apr 20

What Douthat misses are two other great extinctions - the extinction of global biodiversity and the extinction of human experience of the natural world. Both are as tragic as the loss of human institutions. The loss of biodiversity is also irreversible whereas human institutions can be reborn.

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Apr 20

@nytopinion.nytimes.com, @DouthatNYT - Ross Douthat's recent column on living in an age of extinction is well worth reading and I think he is spot on about how the digital age is leading to extinctions of many human institutions. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/19/o...

Opinion | An Age of Extinction Is Coming. Here’s How to Survive.

Everything is under threat. What you care about can make it to the other side.

www.nytimes.com

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Apr 14

Species communicate many ways in nature, often across large differences in taxa. There is so much we need to learn to better understand and preserve the world. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Embedding information flows within ecological networks - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Ecological network research has typically focused on flows of matter and energy, but species also exchange information signals and cues that influence behaviour and movement. This Perspective argues t...

www.nature.com

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Mar 26

Mary Elizabeth Banning, a 19th century mycologist, finally gets her due recognition. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/s...

A Fungi Pioneer’s Lifelong Work on Exhibit (Gift Article)

Mushrooms in 19th-century watercolors: The paintings of a self-taught female mycologist are featured at the New York State Museum.

www.nytimes.com

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Mar 10

If correct, this data on microplastics in plants is really bad news. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Microplastics hinder plant photosynthesis, study finds, threatening millions with starvation

Researchers say problem could increase number of people at risk of starvation by 400m in next two decades

www.theguardian.com

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Mar 6

Rephotography helps to document our rapidly changing environment. And it is changing a lot - even in 24 years. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/t...

150 Years of Change: How Old Photos, Recaptured, Reveal a Shifting Climate

In the heart of Utah’s Uinta Mountains, a team of scientists is re-creating historical pictures to study how much, and how quickly, ecosystems are changing.

www.nytimes.com

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Mar 4

Sea otter's role as keystone species varies with location due to different suites of species in the two locations. Sea Otters are always important actors, but some places they are more important than others. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Mar 4

This article has beautiful video of fungal networks expanding and moving material within their bodies. It is incredible stuff. So much of our world depends on the actions of fungi. Watch and be amazed. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/s...

How Fungi Move Among Us (Gift Article)

Underground fungal networks are “living algorithms” that quietly help regulate Earth’s climate. Now scientists know what makes them so efficient.

www.nytimes.com

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 27

Non-migratory bird reproductive strategies are related to annual climatic variability. Lots of annual variation - reproduce quickly with lots of offspring. Little annual variation - reproduce more slower. Climate change might mess up those strategies. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Environmental Variability Shapes Life History of the World's Birds

Theory suggests life history plays a key role in the ability of organisms to persist under fluctuating environmental conditions. Synthesising a collection of global data resources, we demonstrate a l...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 26

Ah, it is good to see how things spread - like ripples across the surface of a pond. Thank you

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 25

The good news - rainfall in the Amazon basin may be more robust to deforestation than originally thought. So perhaps rainforest can become re-established following deforestation. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Muted Amazon Rainfall Response to Deforestation in a Global Storm‐Resolving Model

This study is the first to explore the response of Amazon precipitation to complete deforestation using a global storm-resolving model Despite a strong decrease in evapotranspiration, mean Amazon...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 22

a man in a blue shirt and tie is asking are you sure

ALT: a man in a blue shirt and tie is asking are you sure

media.tenor.com

Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 22

Thank you Dan - I haven't used that line for a while. I need to go back to it.

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 22

a man in a blue shirt and tie is asking are you sure

ALT: a man in a blue shirt and tie is asking are you sure

media.tenor.com

Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 22

Science writer Ed Yong reflects on the complexities of life and understanding the world we live in. And he provides a beautiful quotation to help us carry on - "Hope is a discipline." www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/m...

‘The Interview’: Ed Yong Wants to Show You the Hidden Reality of the World (Gift Article)

The Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer talks about burnout from covering the pandemic and how bird-watching gave him a new sense of hope.

www.nytimes.com

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 20

Orchids are fascinating. This species can parasitize wood decomposing fungi to gain nutrition while remaining photosynthetic and thus growing more vigorously. Cool stuff. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Subterranean morphology underpins the degree of mycoheterotrophy, mycorrhizal associations, and plant vigor in a green orchid Oreorchis patens

The evolution of full heterotrophy from photosynthetic ancestors is a longstanding question in evolutionary ecology. Our study demonstrates that coralloid rhizomes in a photosynthetic orchid p...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 14

While not a surprise, this is a valuable study that reveals urban tree health and potential benefits vary with conditions in urban areas. Those closer to water and green spaces do better than those more surrounded by hard-scaping. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Canopy Temperature Reveals Disparities in Urban Tree Benefits

Using canopy temperature as a proxy, we show that urban tree health and function varies across Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Trees in more urbanized areas and areas further from blue/green spaces exhi...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 13

You just never know what may surface from the deep ocean. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/s...

A Deep-Sea Fish of Nightmares Strays Into Shallow Waters

A scary-looking creature with “devil” in its name was spotted close to the surface off Tenerife, a Spanish island.

www.nytimes.com

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 10

Keep going researchers and writers! We need the National Nature Assessment to be published. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/10/c...

Trump Killed a Major Report on Nature. They’re Trying to Publish It Anyway.

The first full draft of the assessment, on the state of America’s land, water and wildlife, was weeks from completion. The project leader called the study “too important to die.”

www.nytimes.com

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 7

Coordinated responses by experienced professionals can help limit the extent of disastrous wildfires. However, the current group in Washington would prefer to fire as many experience professionals as possible. How will they respond then? www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/m...

The L.A. Fire Where Something Went Right

While some Angelenos cast around for someone to blame, a whole cooperative emergency-response system whirred to life.

www.nytimes.com

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 6

Centipede shape - or perhaps dendritic - in the ice on a driveway after yesterday's freezing rain.

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 4

Northern boreal forests will probably experience significant changes in the next century - moving further north and increasing in density in colder areas. The southern edge of the forests will become less dense. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

www.pnas.org

Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Feb 4

Excellent bubbles in the ice on Lake Sharvy at the Green Oaks Field Research Center. You can't tell in the photo but the shallow bubbles are about 6 inches down, the deepest bubbles about 10 inches down.

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Jan 31

Bad news for biodiversity - there is evidence for widespread declines in genetic diversity even in species that do not appear to be experiencing population decline. www.science.org/content/arti...

Wide range of Earth’s species are showing a decline in diversity

The loss of genetic variation means species may be less resilient to climate change and other stressors

www.science.org

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Stuart Allison @stuarta.bsky.social · Jan 30

It is amazing how tiny birds survive harsh winter weather. I'm always glad to see them flock to my bird feeders. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/r...

How Birds Survive Winter Cold: Adaptations and Behavioral Strategies (Gift Article)

Their feathers, roosting behaviors and adaptability help birds survive the cold, “nature’s proving ground.”

www.nytimes.com