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Jonny Behrens

@jonnybehrens.bsky.social
707 followers 380 following 30 posts

Urban + freshwater + ecosystem scientist, science policy enthusiast. Post doc in Oak Ridge, alum of #dukerivercenter. Opinions are own, not of employer. tinyurl.com/jbehrens

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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Save Science 🧪 , Protect the Health of All People and the Planet 🌳, Defend Democracy ✊. Find a local event to attend near you March 7! If you’re in Knoxville help me plan ours 😆 ❤️ @standupforscience.bsky.social
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
A fascinating read that everyone should check out! “By looking more closely at the locust, the enterprise can begin to examine how power people, powerful interest, and ideologies affect the landscape of science” @issuesinst.bsky.social issues.org/locusts-fede...
issues.org
The “Terrible Engine of Destruction” That Inspired Federal Science Funding
What can we learn about the relationship between science and the American public from the story of plagues of locusts in the 1870s?
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Gretchen Goldman, PhD @gretchentg.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
The fact that air pollution protections save lives (and thus dollars) has long been an inconvenient fact for those who want polluting industries unfettered. This move is indefensible and dangerous. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
nytimes.com
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Honored to volunteer today with #HourOfCode teaching code to 3rd graders! They were excited to learn coding and how I use it daily to study our environment (e.g., monitoring oxygen in rivers for fish)! Thx UT-Battelle for the opportunity @battelleactual.bsky.social @departmentofenergy.bsky.social
Jonny talking in a classroom
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Ecotoxicology lab RC One Health Ruhr @ecotox.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Exciting collaboration with colleagues from the US and Frederik de Laender - lead by S. Rumschlag and Mike Mahon - on how climate change has lead to alterations in US fish diversity over the last decades. Paper just out: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Diverging fish biodiversity trends in cold and warm rivers and streams - Nature
In the past three decades, fish abundance, richness and uniqueness have diverged across cold and warm streams, and the effects on native fish communities of stream warming and increases in introduced fishes have magnified each other.
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Climate at the National Academies @climate.nationalacademies.org · 17/09/2025
Our new report explores the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on the U.S. health and welfare. Read more: nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/2923...
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Excited to share our new article w/ @drbiogc.bsky.social published in @freshwaterscience.bsky.social on the gravity defying act aquatic insects 🦟 undertake moving themselves and heavy metals from urban stream ecosystems into the waiting mouths of terrestrial predators 🐸🕷️!
journals.uchicago.edu
Community structure and metals concentration together determine aquatic-to-terrestrial metal subsidies in urban and forested streams | Freshwater Science
Abstract Watershed urbanization leads to a characteristic set of physical, biological, and chemical stressors that reduce the biological diversity of aquatic insect communities. We examined how aquati...
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
One week away from Durham’s BeaverQueen Pagent! Celebrate the diversity of our human and wildlife communities during 🏳️‍🌈 month (& support an awesome watershed association). I’ll be voting (early & often!) from a distance 🦦🏞️
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Nicolas Gonzalez @nicosgonzalez.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
USGS’ biological research arm could vanish next week www.hcn.org/articles/usg... via @highcountrynews.org
hcn.org
USGS’ biological research arm could vanish next week - High Country News
Trump is on a multipronged mission to eliminate a science agency that conservationists, toxicologists, universities and more call irreplaceable.
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Excited to share today at @freshwaterscience.bsky.social #SUSE7 the amazing collaborative effort we undertook at/after SUSE6 to develop a framework of tools and principles to help communities preserve headwater streams!
Stream with flowers in channels and grasses on banks
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
I’m devastated to hear from EPA researchers that they expect to loose their jobs in the coming weeks as EPA ORD is closed. PLEASE spend a minute today to call your elected officials to share why this research is so important (article below overviews the importance of EPA’s research arm)
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Research funded by EPA ORD gives water managers across the nation the data + knowledge they need to provide safe drinking water to every resident, regardless of zip code. Thanks @newrepublic.com for spending time to talk and for this well written article! newrepublic.com/article/1936...
newrepublic.com
Trump’s EPA Cuts Are Going to Poison His Own Voters
“It’s practically inevitable” that people will get sick, a current EPA employee said.
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Research at EPA ORD inspired me to pursue a career to study/protect our drinking water resources so that every city, regardless of if they vote blue or red, has access to safe drinking water. EPA ORD is one of few agencies that fund research to ensure air is safe to breath + water safe to drink. 💔
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
The USGS plays a critical role in monitoring rivers nationally. As scientists we rely on the data to understand, for example, how streams that had historic flooding during Hurricane Helene are recovering (& the people who rely on them). Ask your reps to keep them open! ww2.aip.org/fyi/usgs-fac...
ww2.aip.org
USGS Faces Potential Office Closures
At least 30 USGS buildings appear to be on the Trump administration’s chopping block.
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Dabble in stream metabolism and attending #SUSE7? We’d love to see you at the urban stream metabolism workshop/working group! Details forthcoming, but we are excited to collaborate with everyone on a synthesis 😁
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
The NSF postdoc fellowship is one of the most scientifically competitive programs that funds the next generation of scientists…the new administration’s policies left them without pay @statnews.com
statnews.com
National Science Foundation suspends salary payments, leaving researchers unable to pay their bills
An NSF online payment system remained down after the federal funding freeze was lifted, leaving early-career scientists scrambling to pay bills
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
📣Looking for a postdoc in watershed biogeochemistry? Apply to join the WaDE project and explore 🌳 terrestrial/💦 aquatic links + transport of metals and nutrients! Join a diverse team working at the cross-section of field sampling, lab analyses, and process-based models. jobs.ornl.gov/job/Oak-Ridg...
jobs.ornl.gov
Postdoctoral Research Associate- Watershed Environmental Biogeochemistry
Postdoctoral Research Associate- Watershed Environmental Biogeochemistry
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
For those at #AGU24, looking forward to sharing my research on #PFAS and chemical contaminants in urbanized watersheds at poster H51Q-0944 Friday (tomorrow) morning! 💧🛣️ Come by and say hello 😄
An ecologist in an urban stream by a storm pipe
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
A heads up that this is today at #AGU24! Looking forward to an awesome conversation at 12:30 in Salon B 😄
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Fellow #agu24 NC/VA/GA/TN/etc. watershed scientists (& friends) - check out this late breaking townhall Tuesday (TH23N) @ 12:30 to brainstorm ways to collaborate and study (from field to satellite) how our watersheds/ecosystems are responding after Hurricane Helene
Picture promoting the late breaking session: TH23N - Scientific opportunities and needs post-Huricane Helene, Dec 10 12:30-13:30 at AGU.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 23/11/2024
Makeup, floss and hair dye use in pregnancy leads to more PFAS in breast milk – study
theguardian.com
Makeup, floss and hair dye use in pregnancy leads to more PFAS in breast milk – study
‘Forever chemicals’ pose health threat to developing children and linked with preterm birth, shorter lactation Higher usage of personal care products among pregnant or nursing women leads to higher levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in their blood…
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
With Hurricane Helene's devastation to Appalachian communities, we are starting to see how the destruction has changed the landscape, wildlife, and water quality nearby. Satellite images (👀 link) show massive amounts of sediment moved by the flood waters in Erwin, TN. www.planet.com/stories/erwi...
Imagery of Hurricane Helene flood impacts (before and after) in Erwin, TN.
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Erin Hotchkiss @fluvialbenthos.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
New co-authored article led by Ahmed Monofy & Stan Grant is online today in #AGUAdvances! "Toward a Universal Model of Hyporheic Exchange and Nutrient Cycling in Streams" agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/... 💧🧪🌎 #hydrology #biogeochemistry #hyporheic #OA #AGU
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Toward a Universal Model of Hyporheic Exchange and Nutrient Cycling in Streams
Several ubiquitous hyporheic exchange mechanisms can be represented by an exponentially decaying diffusivity The reference diffusivity and mixing depth can be calculated from a stream's permeabil...
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
ww2.aip.org
Science Policy Outlook for the Second Trump Presidency
Hostility to China, equity initiatives, and the federal bureaucracy will be key forces in the new administration.
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Erin Hotchkiss @fluvialbenthos.bsky.social · 12/08/2024
Are you or someone you know looking for a funded MS or PhD position in freshwater ecology starting August 2025? Consider applying to work with me & collaborate on a project linking river oxygen dynamics with freshwater biodiversity. More info/how to apply: www.hotchkisslab.com/opportunitie... 💧🌎👩‍🔬
Conceptual diagram showing our funded research plan, from ecosystem ecology to population and organismal ecology, focused on understanding the influence of climate change and deforestation on reach/microhabitat biogeochemistry, hellbender population density and age structure, and individual hellbender fitness and behavior (parental self-care vs. self-maintenance, cannibalism). Images show reach-scale river microhabitats that support fish, mussels, and hellbenders with dissolved oxygen sensors deployed at the stream bottom and within the water column; different ages of hellbenders in a population; different life stages of hellbenders; and predictive plots for how dissolved oxygen will vary over space and time due to respiration, declines in population density and increasing % of old adults with cannibalism, the trade-off between self-maintenance and parental care with changes in dissolved oxygen due to predicted increases in cannibalism with decreasing oxygen levels.
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Tony Jordan @tonyjordan.bsky.social · 14/08/2024
A group of rail, transit, and urbanist advocates are organizing a Zoom call this Thursday at 4pm PT in support of the Harris-Walz ticket. Will you join us? RSVP: tinyurl.com/trainlovers4hw
Graphic promoting the 'Train Lovers for Harris Walz' event on August 15. The design features a stylized train route with three stops labeled 'Hope,' 'Triumph,' and 'Progress.' The names 'Harris' and 'Walz' are prominently displayed with 'H' in a red circle and 'W' in a blue square, mimicking train line symbols. The text reads: 'Train Lovers for Harris Walz. Join us! August 15. tinyurl.com/trainlovers4HW.' Social media handles included are Twitter: @trainlovers4HW and Instagram: @trainlovers4hw
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 09/04/2024
Excited to 📣 I'll be giving my public PhD defense talk on April 30th @ 3:30 PM (ET)! Hear how urban & forested stream ecosystems move energy (& pollutants) + implications for humans & wildlife! Zoom link coming, for those interested 💦🐛
researcher conducting field work in a stream
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Jason Dinh @byjasonpdinh.bsky.social · 26/02/2024
Duke is closing its legendary herbarium—the oldest and largest ever to be abandoned by its host. the decision is "just appalling" given the "diabolical crisis regarding diversity and climate," the herbarium director said. Hannah Seo on why this matters for all of us, scientist or not 🧪🌎
atmos.earth
The Lady Gaga Ferns Are Losing Their Home. It's Surprisingly Tragic for Science and Society.
Duke University is closing its century-old herbarium—a legendary plant collection and training ground—to the outcry of many.
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 19/01/2024
Join me and AGU scientists to call on Congress to pass a bill to ensure all student & post-doc scientists are financially supported! I wouldn’t be able to pursue my PhD in science without a livable wage - this is what makes science accessible to many. p2a.co/D9WWcmY
p2a.co
Thank your House Representative for Supporting the RESEARCHER Act
I just asked my legislators to support the RESEARCHER Act, helping provide better support to graduate students in the US. Ask your legislators to support HR4002: [@campaign]!
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Jonny Behrens @jonnybehrens.bsky.social · 08/01/2024
First post on Blue sky! Excited to connect with people interested in environmental sciences and policy. For fun, a photo of a turtle thriving in the urban stream I study - against all the stress we place on the ecosystem! 💦🐢
Happy turtle in an urban stream
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