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Caitlin MacKenzie

@cmacmtns.bsky.social
2.9K followers 687 following 368 posts

Plant ecologist, lover of tiny alpine communities on small mountains, faculty at Bennington College, Plant Love Stories co-founder, she/her

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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
one of my students literally ran to grab his banjo when we started this activity
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AFP News Agency @en.afp.com · 23/09/2026
Polls open in the only American election that really matters: Fat Bear Week u.afp.com/S9o4
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
My forest ecology students are getting into structure-biodiversity relationships today so at the end of class we'll be listening to Pete Seeger and writing new green grass grows all around verses about bark microsites & epiphytes and coarse woody debris & winter wrens
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Kate Marvel @drkatemarvel.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
My hot take on AI and climate change is that I would not like to be killed by either of them
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Researchers across the country are turning to side hustles to fund their work. Behind the cuts sits a bigger shift: whether American science can still sustain durable research capacity. @lindseydcameron.bsky.social and I examine the stakes in a new piece @science.org: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
The wrong platform for science
Daniel Blumstein recently sat in a Colorado meadow waiting for yellow-bellied marmots to appear, as the ecologist and evolutionary biologist had done many times before, the New York Times reported. Bu...
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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Look, y'all— this is not the worst outcome, but it's also not great. Framing this as gaining a notably large herbarium is spin; the reality is a historic, important herbarium has lost its identity. The specimens were never going to be trashed; Duke still voluntarily truncated their botanical legacy.
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
made a friend in the alpine
A selfie of a smiling scientist on top of a mountain in New Hampshire. To her left, a raven sits on a rock and looks at the camera.
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jessamine finch @seedystudies.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
📣Atlanta Botanical Garden is hiring a Field Biologist! Come be my colleague🌿 🎓 Bach. req'd, master's pref'd 🥾 2 years of post-degree fieldwork req'd 🏵️ familiarity with SE US flora & nat. communities 🗺️ proficient in ArcGIS #botanyjobs #conservationjobs recruiting.paylocity.com/Recruiting/J...
recruiting.paylocity.com
Atlanta Botanical Garden Inc - Field Biologist
The Field Biologist will be part of the Conservation & Research Department team within the Southeastern Center for Conservation at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. They will work under the direction ...
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
preparing to revisit alpine plant survey plots next week and I'm re-reading the datasheets from last year... Can't wait to see this "protected secret gnome garden"
messy handwriting from an ecologist on a datasheet "microhabitat description: protected secret gnome garden among krummholz, mossy slope surrounded by boulder fields LUSH"
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
my campus office got fresh paint and waxed & buffed floors this summer and as much as it sucked to move out (i.e. tetris everything in my lab next door) I really enjoyed the first part of moving back in today, setting up, and re-organizing all the books and field guides
a view of a very clean ecology faculty office with freshly painted walls (white), a very clean blackboard, bookshelves full of newly organized books, a freshly vacuumed rug on a freshly waxed and buffed linoleum floor, an immaculate clean desktop and sun streaming through extremely clean windows.
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jessamyn @librarian.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful
An aircraft passenger oxygen mask: a drop down passenger mask with air bag and yellow plastic mouth and nose cover, oxygen tube has been cut; Demonstration model used by flight attendant crew for passenger instruction. Has text on the side indicating that it's non-functional.
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I want to hear about what early-mid-career ecologists and botanists have done on sabbaticals, especially "stay-baticals"
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Found the best Kerry Woods figures in this paper from 1984. I love these illustrations so much. The original tree emojis.
A figure from a forest ecology paper published in 1984 that features stick-figure-style illustrations of a hemlock tree and adorable sketches of helmock needles, maple leaves, and beech leaves to represent the distribution of sapling species under a hemlock canopy in different old growth sites. The figure shows that hemlock saplings are almost always more prevalent under hemlock canopy than the maple and beech saplings.
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Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
EEB Mentor Match is now open! But apps due soon (8/17). Mentees: get help applying for grad school or fellowships in ecology & evolution. Mentors: senior grads, post-docs, or faculty in these fields willing to give advice Org by Diversity Cmte of @asn-amnat.bsky.social Pls share! eebmentormatch.com
eebmentormatch.com
EEB Mentor Match
Visit the post for more.
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Just read and really enjoyed "Spark, Scaffold, Substrate" (the @asn-amnat.bsky.social paper on natural history in EEB research recommended by @hormiga.bsky.social) and I have two notes...
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 26/07/2026
When I advise my faculty colleagues to diversify their funding beyond their traditional NSF/NIH grant portfolio, this isn't quite what I had in mind, but maybe where we're headed www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/s...
nytimes.com
‘OnlyMarms’: Marmots Are on OnlyFans to Raise Money for Research
A team of scientists uploaded videos of the squirrel-like rodents in the wild on the adult-content site OnlyFans to raise money amid government budget cuts.
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
The art museum in my home town has a fantastic exhibition on climate change this summer. I totally stumbled into this multimedia space while taking my kid and my niece to see the armor down the hall and we were mesmerized. www.worcesterart.org/exhibitions/...
worcesterart.org
Fever Dreams of a Cool-Breathed Earth | Worcester Art Museum
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I guess I've been at Bennington long enough that I'm no longer the "new Kerry Woods" but I am totally taking advantage of Kerry's emeritus status this fall and teaching a senior reading seminar on old growth forests... we're reading Kerry from the 1970s through 2020s
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Can we take a moment to appreciate the many services @doctorzen.net has provided for our community? Starting with the Better Posters blog, and now this lovely curated AI slop collection. A true champion for the people.
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
This fall my intro to forest ecology methods course will include an ecological restoration project in the campus forest and I'm so into these examples of teaching restoration principles with bicycles (Speldwinde 2010) and artifacts (Lundholm and Larson 2004). www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
This is a great conversation! I was so psyched that I was able to watch it live last week in the midst of some fieldwork, but we wrapped up Mt Mansfield early in the day and I practically skipped across the ridge to get home in time for a shower & #Botany360.
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Just treated the field vehicle to a carwash after wrapping our week in the Green Mountains (lots of dirt roads) and the morale-boosting among the undergrad field assistants was off the charts. College students love a carwash.
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I think I've seen this film before... During the first Trump admin, my colleagues and I analyzed the public comments about de-listing National Monuments. Though back then, 95% of humans, form letters AND bots all supported protecting Nat'l Monuments conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Recurrent neural network reveals overwhelming sentiment against 2017 review of US monuments from humans and bots
In the United States, the conservation of federal lands reflects a social history of public advocacy, public policy, and public comments. US federal agencies solicit public comments to scope for idea...
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Submitted my comment this morning before packing up equipment with undergraduates from my small, rural college to spend the day on Vermont's tallest peak downloading microclimate data from sensors that we installed last summer as part of an NSF-funded project.
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
For folks asking why bother commenting because the OMB won't care: comments help build cases for the courts by explicitly laying out harms. That's why it's really important to have your comments be as specific as possible. Also, contact your senators and reps! They actually do care about this.
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
I'm reading through the Tables of Contents on back issues of @newphyt.bsky.social for a lit review project and the cover photos for this journal are phenomenal. Gorgeous plants. Just beautiful.
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Our Environmental Studies program threw a cook-out for Senior Night and the faculty grilling for the students was super fun and a bit cheaper than expected. How should we spend down the rest of our program budget?
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Three weeks left to apply to our postdoc position on alpine plant resilience! Us: Three years of funding, an awesome collaborative team, a gorgeous study system, blueberry pie, unionized postdocs. You: A PhD and experience in ancient DNA, paleoecology, and/or plant genetics and genomics.
fa-ewca-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com
Postdoctoral Research Associate
The University of Maine is a community of more than 11,900 undergraduate and graduate students, and 2,500 employees located on the Orono campus, the regional campus in Machias, and throughout the stat...
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
OMB is run by Project 2025 architect Russell Vought. Did you know that the Director of the OMB can be impeached? Congress has historically supported science—it’s why they keep rejecting Trump’s budget cuts. Vought is trying to do an end-run around Congress. There’s an easy fix for that.
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Dr. Carly Kenkel @drcarl.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The list of Ecology/Evolution/Marine Bio Labs recruiting grad students for Fall 2027 is live! PIs enter your position info here: forms.gle/MAGd4ohyPeoY... students (and PIs not recruiting) share the composite list: docs.google.com/spreadsheets... Please share widely! 🧪
forms.gle
Ecology/Evolution/Marine Biology labs recruiting for Fall 2027
Please complete this form if you are a PI recruiting graduate students for a Fall 2027 start. If you are NOT recruiting, feel free to share the response sheet with prospective students looking for lab...
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Several people have asked for possible content and structure for comments regarding the proposed OMB regulations. With some suggestions from others, I have posted on example (as a Word document) for downloading). jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g... I hope this is helpful.
jeremymberg.github.io
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
to be clear, this is a comment on the current moment's dumpster fire that is higher ed and scientific research funding
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
i fund my lab by joining my college's wellness incentive step contest with cash prizes while training for a half marathon.
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闵娅(Min Ya; Minya) PhD @minyaaa.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
This spring I took over and redesigned the only Gen Ed on plants here #IB103. We walked through every core aspect of plant bio in lectures & labs, but also through art & design. I had a blast, the evaluations are rewarding (4.9/5), the redesign got an award from the college, and a little press too!
screenshots of the press coverage from the siebel center for design. The link to the article will be in the commenta pic of me yapping at the design center
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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
It's June, which means even though it's not technically summer, it's basically summer. Which means it's gonna get hot out there. Which means you better look hot out there. With a shrimp shirt. Nothing hotter, in MY opinion, than fashion involving marine invertebrates. Get a shirt: SquidFacts.net
A cream colored shirt with a red and blue design featuring 9 crustaceans and a fly. A scuba diving Fly Says a”am I shrimp too?” A pistol shrimp wearing a cowboy hat says “bang bang” a mantis shrimp says KO, the title says a”shrimp city and friends” a hermit crab uses a skull as a shell, a jumbo shrimp is labeled himbo shrimp, and a yeti crab is labeled “snack bacteria cafe”. The fly has an asterisk next to him and underneath the whole design it says *the latest research shows that bugs is actually shrimp”
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
i love vermont but it's the season of the wool long underwear under my borrowed regalia at commencement
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elizabethginexi.bsky.social @elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Calling all Scientists! Research Administrators! Deans! Fans of Science! No one is coming to save us. Here is your assignment. I have written a step by step, easy to understand "how-to" document to help you comment on the proposed OMB rule. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/what-we-ne...
elizabethginexi.substack.com
What We Need to do NEXT: OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule (OMB 2026-10817)
What OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule Means in Practice
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 29/05/2026
NEW: A lot of bad has happened to American science over the last year but nothing comes even close to what’s about to happen if we don’t speak out in opposition to the OMB rule changes and I hope @aaas-socsci.bsky.social @apsphysics.bsky.social and others will launch public campaigns about this. 🧪🔭⚛️
news.chanda.science
It's the End of American Science As We Know It
We have 45 days to express our opposition to catastrophic changes.
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New England Botanical Society @nebotanical.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Registration is open! Join NEBS for our August 1-2 Away Meeting in Rhode Island, featuring field trips throughout the state, a presentation, and a tour of the Brown University Herbarium. rhodora.org/meetings/ (Photos by Doug McGrady, Isabel Tribe, Bill Holmes)
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
More than 10% of my students listed Kate Furbish among their favorite class readings that linked art and the herbarium. The catch: there was no Kate Furbish reading. I just talked about her constantly, hyped her lousewort, invoked her ghost, and used her watercolors in lectures all term. ❤️🎨🪻
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New England Botanical Society @nebotanical.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Congratulations to the 2026 recipients of the Graduate Student Research Award and the Les Mehrhoff Botanical Research Award! Visit our website to read about the impressive projects rhodora.org/awards/
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
For one of our final Herbarium classes I want to have students pair up and read from Craig Baxter's play "Re: Design — Adaptation of the Correspondence of Darwin and Gray" Obviously I need to make an Are you a Darwin or Are you a Gray flow chart to assist with casting.
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
my whole heart to this community. we'll try to carry on the wonderful, weird torch in southern vermont. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/16/m...
bostonglobe.com
A buoyant mood, and some dark humor, at soon-to-close Hampshire College’s commencement - The Boston Globe
Graduates were euphoric as the last major commencement of Hampshire College.
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Just thinking about re-writing Allen Ginsberg's "A Supermarket in California" to be about Linnaeus searching through GBIF
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Dominique Berteaux @dominiqueberteaux.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
In our just released paper (urls.fr/LDFfBZ), we show that collared lemming abundance can be indexed from urine left on white plastic cards placed at tunnel entrances. I think their urine colour comes from their food plants, mainly purple saxifrage, illustrated below (photo Audrey Le Pogam). 🧪🌿🌎🦊
Collared lemming eating purple saxifrage in the polar desert of Alert, Nunavut, Canada. Photo: Audrey Le Pogam.
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🌾 Dr. Liz Anna Kozik 🌾 @chaseprairie.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Shout out to the class I'm teaching tonight for finally giving me excuse to make the "Flowers" vs "forbs" slides I've always meant to make Grasses flower! Sedges and rushes flower! When you say "flowers and grasses", you probably most accurately mean "forbs and graminoids"!
"Everyone flowers .... even lawn grass" a slide made in the style of "Everyone poops" but with sedges and grasses, especially Carex richardsonii, Bouteloua curtipendula, Sorghastrum nutans, and Poa pratensisa slide showing Graminoids (grasses, sedges and rushes) and Forbs (prairie smoke, sisyrinchium, ruellia humilis, and Polemonium reptans)
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Just want to share a class activity I tried yesterday and my thoughts on how to improve it. The class is The Herbarium: Research, Art & Botany (yes I teach ecology at a weird little liberal arts college). The topic was Linnaeus and how he developed his ideas about plant taxonomy...
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
I gave my students notebooks (the late bloomer series from field notes) for reading responses (1 point/week) instead of collecting them from an outline board and at this point in the semester I just love recognizing them by handwriting.
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Mason Heberling @jmheberling.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Exciting new undergraduate research opportunities here at Carnegie Museum in Botany! Applications due March 1. drive.google.com/file/d/1jNNy...
four people happy in the forest with trillium flowers everywhere
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Caitlin MacKenzie @cmacmtns.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
"The soil in our part of the neighborhood was even sandy and acidic...A lot of trees don’t like the sandy soil because it drains too much, but we love it...We started playing together pretty seriously in high school, and released our first album right before graduation." 😂
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