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Chris Anderson

@cnanderson.bsky.social
1.2K followers 2.1K following 330 posts

I study evolution, ecology, & behavior and teach at a Hispanic Serving Institution. Interested in Broadening Participation in STEM. Greater Chicago Area. He/him.

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Reposted by Chris Anderson
Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 20h
Good end-of-FY coverage by the Times. The amount of unspent funds has wiggled but it was pretty clear for some time now that NSF was simply not going to spend a substantial portion of its congressional appropriation this year.
nytimes.com
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress
The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.
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Dragonfly Society of the Americas @odonataamericas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
#Erpetogomphus eutainia is dragonfly with a scattered distribution ranging from Central America up into central Texas, where it is uncommon. Join Micah Shively as he encounters this species for the first time. 🇺🇸 www.dragonflysocietyamericas.org/en/blog 🇨🇴 www.dragonflysocietyamericas.org/es/blog
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Classic study: male beetles that have big weapons for fighting with other males have small genitals.
pnas.org
Evolutionary trade-off between weapons and testes | PNAS
It has long been recognized that male mating competition is responsible for the evolution of weaponry for mate acquisition. However, when females m...
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Sarah Primate @langurlover.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
📢🪶
phys.org
Biologists may have discovered two of the world's loudest birds
University of Massachusetts Amherst's Jeff Podos and his former graduate student João C.T. Menezes have identified two contenders for the title of world's loudest bird: the bare-throated bellbird and ...
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Chris Anderson @cnanderson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
One of my favorite ecology labs today. We are keying out Eurosta gall fly larvae and their predators. We’ll conduct some simple stats tests to see if mean diameters differ across gall fates. This webpage from Bucknell is a great resource. solidago.scholar.bucknell.edu
Some goldenrod galls and the insects that lived inside them.
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Chris Martine | Plant People FTW @martinebotany.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Field Botany at the Mohn Mill Ponds Wild Plant Sanctuary, key locality for the recently de-listed Scirpus ancistrochaetus.
Students in forest
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Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @donnag.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Dragonflies and Damselflies of Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces; available for pre-order on the Comstock website. Featuring the the incredible artwork of the late Paul-Michael Brunelle. cornellpress.cornell.edu/imp.../comst...
An ad for a new book on the dragonflies and damselflies of Maine and the Canadian Maritime provinces. The ad features a photo of the cover in the upper left corner, and then text describing the book.
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Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
restrictions like this hurt faculty members but are especially bad for junior scientists who would have otherwise been funded by this program. I've been fortunate enough to have NSF support essentially continuously over the past ~10+ years. Now I'm planning for a future where I may not have it again
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Anita Devineni @anitadevineni.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The Emory Biology department is hiring a tenure-track ecologist at any rank. Deadline is Nov 1, link below! As I've said many times before, I couldn't ask for a more supportive department. Our faculty colleagues, dept chair, and admin staff are truly awesome ❤️ apply.interfolio.com/191783
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
For the last 34 years I have been on the faculty of the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Biology and have never regretted that decision. This year we are hiring TWO new Assistant Professors in the broad area of Molecular, Cell, Developmental Biology 1/n bio.unc.edu
Front page of the website
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Most people have no idea how much international students are the lifeblood of higher education. But they’re about to learn. Sigh.
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Kind of amazing, and vaguely disappointing, that the brilliantly-marked young Aztec spur-throat matures into the most drab mid grasshopper you’ve ever seen. (Texas)
Macro photo of a brightly marked black, yellow, and orange grasshopper on a green leaf.Side view macro photograph of a brown grasshopper with large eyes standing on a prickly pear bud.
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
What's behind this tidal wave of epidemics? In the largest study ever conducted on emerging infectious diseases, we show that the popular explanation - "our relationship with nature is out of balance" - doesn't hold up. Out now in Nature, after half a decade of work: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The anthropogenic fingerprint on emerging infectious diseases - Nature
Emerging infectious disease outbreak risks are ubiquitous worldwide, and highest in landscapes where people, livestock and fragmented natural ecosystems coexist, but detection and data ...
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Chris Anderson @cnanderson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The Apple II GS: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_I... . I have a fond memory of gathering with my brothers watching my Dad's party enter Mangar's tower at the very end of The Bard's Tale.
en.wikipedia.org
Apple IIGS - Wikipedia
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judith00017.bsky.social @judith00017.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
www.highereddive.com/news/univers... #academicsky
highereddive.com
University of Maine preparing for staff and faculty layoffs
The public institution is trying to close a projected $19 million shortfall through budget cuts and improvements to enrollment and revenue.
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Stephanie! 💜✌🏻 @craniatology.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
We also saw a Texas coral snake while on mi-10 of our 16 this morning!! It was on the path and we gently encouraged it off trail so it wouldn’t get struck by a bike. I LOVE CORAL SNAKES SO MUCH 🐍🌿
Texas coral snake on a patch of bare ground near the greenway trail.
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Peter Nguyen @dptbirder.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
White-breasted Nuthatch giving its famous look 📷🌿🪶
White breasted nuthatch. A blue and white bird perched on the side of its tree
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A bit of drama around a thistle. Texas.
Photo of a blooming magenta thistle against a blurred, unfocused green meadow background with hints of distant yellow flowers. An airborne honey bee approaches from the left as an orange blister beetle rears up from the center of the thistle.
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
An army ant worker plugs a hole in the trail using her own body, allowing her sisters to run more efficiciently on their way to the raiding front. Amazonian Ecuador.
Macro photo of a small, dull black and orange ant spanning a hole in a dead brown leaf, with two larger ants running over her.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 16/09/2026
'We missed the 1.5c target so that means it's too late to stop climate change' Ah, we missed the 'zero road deaths' target this year. What a shame. Time to take the hummer out, squeeze my eyes shut and smash the accelerator in a pedestrian zone. Come on people, let's make some sense here
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Dr. Jessica L Ware @jessicalwarelab.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I love this new journal---https://journaloflostspecies.org/index.php/jls/index
journaloflostspecies.org
The Journal of Lost Species
A peer-reviewed record of the contemporary biodiversity crisis.
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Chris Anderson @cnanderson.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Literally just covered this yesterday in my intro ecology class. I like showing this animated clip from Chicago’s local PBS affiliate: www.wttw.com/chicago-rive...
wttw.com
How Chicago Reversed Its River: An Animated History | The Chicago Tour with Geoffrey Baer
Learn the story of how, more than 100 years ago, Chicagoans pulled off one of the most audacious engineering feats in U.S. history.
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Joe Mason @moreorloess.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
A piece of environmental history that's relatively well-known but could maybe use retelling is how Chicago diverted its sewage away from Lake Michigan and down the Illinois R, with major public health benefits but also devastating aquatic ecosystems and an important fishery on the Illinois River.
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Joe Mason @moreorloess.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
One of the earliest 19th century connections constructed between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi R system was the Portage Canal, between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, constructed between 1838 and 1851, used until 1951. The Ice Age Trail runs along it.
Stagnant water in the old Portage Canal, with a trail along one side and some small trees and shrubs on both sides.
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Graham Coop @gcbias.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I’m looking to hire an NIH funded postdoc to join our lab here at Davis (please RT). Ongoing areas of interest include: 1) polygenic signals of selection from time series, ARGs, GWAS, etc 2) The interpretation of GWAS, polygenic scores, & sources of confounding
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April Wright @wrightam.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
What an incredible labor of love for science overall
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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 07/09/2026
Rejoice with me, Internet! With the ID of Ord’s Kangaroo Rat, we have hit 200 species ID’d in the yard! 63 plants, 52 birds, 7 mammals and 68 insects. (Some are only to the genus level, mind you.)
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Pedagogy is not some new, unsolved problem awaiting its Silicon Valley disruptor. If you want good teaching in any given subject, it’s there to be had. If you just don’t want to pay for it, then all we’re really talking about is how much you want something for nothing. That’s nothing new, either.
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Marshall Abrams @marshall0i.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
"All [University of Chicago] social science Core classes will transition to an 'analog' approach for the upcoming academic year, restricting in-classroom technology use and banning AI-assisted writing and grading for students and professors." chicagomaroon.com/53262/news/s...
chicagomaroon.com
Sosc Core to Institute AI Ban, Technology-Free Classrooms This Fall
All social science Core classes will transition to an “analog” approach for the upcoming academic year, restricting in-classroom technology use and banning AI-assisted writing and grading for students...
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 28/08/2026
The good news: this year's COVID vaccines have been approved. The bad news: thanks to RFK Jr. / GOP antivax fuckery, it'll be a pain in the ass getting yours—and getting it covered by insurance—if you're not over 65.
nytimes.com
What to Know About New Covid Vaccines for Fall 2026 (Gift Article)
The shots have been approved for people 65 and older, and for younger people with underlying conditions. Others may be able to get them off label.
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Yesterday morning, 9am: give lecture to entomology class on arthropod origins and the emergence of hexapods. Yesterday morning, 10am: new paper drops, rendering the 9am lecture incorrect and obsolete
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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Superb Fairy-wren on my driveway. #birds
Photo of a small passerine bird standing on a rough driveway with gumnut caps and small patches of moss. It is looking at the viewer and is close enough for a shallow depth of field to be evident.

The bird has a cream belly and brown wings, a black head and throat with light blues crown, cheeks, and a light blue strip on its back. It has a long, narrow tail feathers of black and blue, held high. Its eyes and beak are black.
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Gwen Pearson @bug-gwen.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Those aren’t antennae. THESE are antennae
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Madison Plunkert (she/her) @madisonplunkert.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
See our new paper examining how monkeyflowers handle salt spray landing on their leaves! Salt spray lands on plant leaves in coastal habitats around the world, yet we know little about how plants survive this stress.
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Anna Allen @akallen10.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
New NSF BIO solicitation is live.... this replaces the previous IOS, MCB, DEB solicitation www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
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Emilie Ellis @e-ellis1.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
🦋 I’m recruiting a fully funded PhD student at the University of Helsinki: understanding how butterflies respond to climate change across Europe. Apply by 30 Sept: Full details: jobs.helsinki.fi/job-invite/5... Please share! #ecology #job #phd
jobs.helsinki.fi
Doctoral Researcher (PhD student) in Butterfly Ecology and Climate Change across Europe
Doctoral Researcher (PhD student) in Butterfly Ecology and Climate Change across Europe
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Jonathan Eisen @phylogenomics.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Job Opening. Faculty Position in Plant Evolutionary Biology at University of California, Davis in the Department of Evolution and Ecology (EVE, my home department). More detail here. recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07777
POSITION DESCRIPTION

The College of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Davis invites applications and nominations for a 9-month, tenure-track position in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at the ASSISTANT PROFESSOR level. The Department of Evolution and Ecology is seeking a plant evolutionary biologist with interests in the evolution of plants at any taxonomic, geographic, organizational, or evolutionary scale. Candidates must have a Ph.D. (or equivalent) in the biological sciences, evolutionary biology, ecology, genetics, or a related field, and will be expected to complement and build upon existing faculty strengths in the Department of Evolution and Ecology and across UC Davis.

We welcome applicants working on any group of plants and using empirical, computational, experimental, and/or theoretical approaches. Possible areas of study are broad, and include macroevolutionary research on plant diversification, trait evolution in a phylogenetic context, major evolutionary innovations, comparative genomics, and evolutionary developmental biology, as well as research focusing at or below the species level including population biology, quantitative genetics, adaptive evolution, speciation, biogeography, and the evolution of life histories or species interactions.

(truncated due to character limit)
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Amy Elizabeth @amyelizabeth.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I've added a section to my syllabus to address students recording their peers or class with their Meta glasses. I would love to know how other folks are handling this issue in their courses.
- To protect student privacy and maintain an open, respectful learning environment, students may not record, photograph, or otherwise capture audio or video of class without the prior consent of the instructor and all students who may be recorded.

- This policy applies to recordings made with phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, or 
any other device.

- Respecting the privacy and participation of classmates is an essential part of our classroom expectations. Unauthorized recordings may not be shared, posted, or distributed in any form.

-Any recording for an academic accommodation must be approved in advance by the instructor and handled according to school policy.
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Graham Coop @gcbias.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
More coverage of @jeffgroh.bsky.social's work on avocado flower mating morphs polymorphism
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Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Look at this little lump. It's a barely 2 mm. springtail (class Collembola), which are hexapods (6 legs) but not insects. This one was at almost ten thousand feet in the mountains of Montana, living its best gummi life under a rock. #BugSky 🌿🐙
A macro photo looking down at a dark blue-gray creature called a springtail, on the surface of a pale brownish-yellow rock. The springtail is oval shaped, kinda squishy looking, with multiple body segments and a few sparse, short hairs. It has two short thick antennae.
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George O'Toole (he/him/his) @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Pls share. Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences - Genetics/Genomics at Smith College. apply.interfolio.com/190342
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George O'Toole (he/him/his) @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Pls share: GRINNELL COLLEGE – BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT, TENURE-TRACK POSITION. Research and teaching interests might include but are not limited to organismal biology and ecology - apply by October 2, 2026. Please visit our application website at jobs.grinnell.edu
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Greg Priest @gregpriest.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Rosalind Franklin was born OTD in 1920. Her X-ray crystallography was key to discovering DNA’s structure (her student Raymond Gosling took photo 51). She also studied viruses. After her untimely death, a colleague Aaron Klug continued her work and won a Nobel. 🌱🐋🧪 #EvoBio #HistSTM #WomeninSTEM
Cartoon of Franklin with a microscope, while Crick and Watson drink beer and expostulate, at a bar stylized as a double helix. By Quentin Blake.
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Hawaiʻi Pacific Parks Association @hawaiipacificparks.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
A species of endangered Hawaiian damselfly was rediscovered on Hawaiʻi island last year after a century-long disappearance from the wild. The Hawaiʻi DLNR recently announced the unexpected finding of a pinapinao, Hawaiian damselfly (Megalagrion nesiotes): www.bigislandvideonews.com/2026/07/19/p...
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Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Murder muppet Ambush bug, just hanging around on a daisy for no reason at all and definitely not planning bug crimes
Close-up photo of a weird looking bug clinging to the yellow part of a daisy. It's dark brown and pale green, and all bumpy and lumpy, with big raptorial forelegs and pink compound eyes that look perpetually surprised and kind of goofy. Don't let that fool you though, because this bug loves to do MURDER.
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Jeremy Yoder says no war @jbyoder.org · 13/07/2026
Holy COW. Text analysis of comments on the OMB rule: overwhelming opposition, overwhelmingly not form letters. (But 9 in 10 comments supporting the rule ARE form responses, LOL) Whatever happens next, folks have stepped up.
Screenshot text: Between May 29 and July 9, roughly 51,000 comments were posted to regulations.gov (and over 200,000 more had been received but not yet published). The verdict on public sentiment is clear and lopsided: about 94 percent oppose the proposed rule and only 6 percent support it, with fewer than one percent marked as unclear. The opposition is overwhelmingly grassroots rather than orchestrated. Form letters make up only about 16 percent of all comments (roughly 8,400 comments across 210 distinct campaigns), and only about one in eight opposing comments came from a form-letter campaign. Support for the rule, by contrast, was almost entirely organized: nearly nine in ten supportive comments (about 2,500) came from a single form-letter campaign. Opponents mostly wrote their own comments; supporters mostly signed the same form-letter.
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Gwen Pearson @bug-gwen.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
It's always nice to have biological collections acknowledged as "irreplaceable evidence bases" and essential records of life on Earth. 🧪🪲 iucn.org/news/202607/...
iucn.org
From collections to conservation: the indispensable role of natural history museums
The IUCN Species Survival Commission has published a Position Statement on the vital role of biological collections in biodiversity conservation: a formal acknowledgement that natural history museums,...
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Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
So high, so far, and yet, unmistakably BOBOLINK 😊 #birds
A very fancy black bird with a pale yellow crown and white back is perched at the tippy-top of a very tall, very bare branch against a clear blue sky.
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Sarah Gollust @sarahgollust.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Did you write your comment yet on the OMB rules on federally funded science yet? No? Don’t worry, you can do it this weekend. Here are some resources that can help you get started.
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Chris Anderson @cnanderson.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Lake darner (Aeshna eremita). Sargent Mountain Pond. Acadia National Park, Maine. (At least I’m pretty sure it’s a lake darner - these mosaic farmers are tough).
A dragonfly with blue marking down its abdomen.A man standing next to a pond with a dragonfly on his arm.
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