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Kathryn Flinn

@kathrynflinn.bsky.social
1.2K followers 729 following 33 posts

Ecologist | Writer | Educator | Professor of Biology at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio. Investigating northeast Ohio’s natural heritage & how humans shape it. kathrynflinn.com AKA Katie

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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Fun adventure today as we found the most famous sycamore tree in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It's 7 feet in diameter and completely hollow, so you can hide inside it like a cool, dark cave, but it still has three living branches.
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Looking forward to speaking and listening at BW's Ideas Summit all day March 21! It's a showcase of 24 short, powerful presentations by BW faculty on all kinds of ideas, a way to experience the intellectual energy of BW in one place! Free and open to the public. www.bw.edu/events/2026/...
bw.edu
BW Shares: The Ideas Summit
Join us for a dynamic showcase of 24 short, powerful presentations by BW faculty exploring the ideas shaping our world.
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Looking forward to the Ecological Society of America-- Great Lakes chapter meeting April 10-12 at Cleveland State University! Hope you can join us! esa.org/greatlakes/c...
esa.org
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
My @baldwinwallace.bsky.social Ecology students helped plant hundreds of trees today with Cleveland Museum of Natural History. We were happy to be part of the amazing restoration of Mentor Marsh. Everyone enjoyed dibbling!
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
.@baldwinwallace.bsky.social's ginkgo trees lost all their leaves in one day, leaving a gold carpet.
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
It has been a privilege to mentor Skyanne as she grows into a scientist!
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Yep that's my grad school buddy who has explained everything with his new book!
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
So proud of my lab's first paper with the first author a @baldwinwallace.bsky.social undergraduate. Another fruitful collaboration with Cleveland Metroparks, informing forest conservation in northeast Ohio. Congrats Skyanne! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Forest diversity and composition changed over 120 years of post-agricultural succession in Cleveland Metroparks, Ohio, USA - Plant Ecology
Changes in land use have radically impacted forests in the USA over the past several centuries. This study examined how the long-term effects of agricultural land use shape the vegetation structure, d...
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
I really hate being captain science buzzkill. "That science-y thing you're all talking about and excited about? Actually it's not true. But please still care about science!" Ugh. It's no fun. But it's not true! And it matters that it's not true! Someone should say so!
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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
A friend gave me some buckeyes, the lovely peanut butter and chocolate candy. Ohio buckeye is the most toxic tree in our flora, with potentially lethal doses in all plant parts. There is some irony that the candy is delicious but the actual nut can kill you, and that the Ohio state tree is toxic.
Buckeye candies, round balls with chocolate on the outside and peanut butter in the middle, sitting in a dish. Ohio buckeye fruits and seeds scattered on the ground. The fruits are round, spiky, yellow spheres with white interiors. The nuts are dark brown with a buff-colored center.
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Nature Ecology & Evolution @natecoevo.nature.com · 17/03/2025
A global analysis of altered species compositions and climate change reveals the extent to which ecosystems, including in protected areas and biodiversity hotspots, are exposed to novel conditions due to anthropogenic forces rdcu.be/edTpA
rdcu.be
Widespread ecological novelty across the terrestrial biosphere
Nature Ecology & Evolution - Even outside urban and agricultural areas, ecosystems are vastly transformed as a result of human activities. Here the authors map patterns in climate change,...
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Mica Jorgenson @micaamy.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
The link between war, fire, and climate explored in the Guardian today. #envhist #envhum #wildfire www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...
theguardian.com
Forest fires push up greenhouse gas emissions from war in Ukraine
Emissions estimated at 55m tonnes in 2024 and nearly 230m tonnes in three years of war
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Chris Martine | Plant People FTW @martinebotany.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Now in print: Observations of an incursion of katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) + heavy seedling recruitment during COVID-related reductions in campus landscape maintenance. If u have a bunch of mature trees, heads up. #trees #invasive #undergradresearch castaneajournal.com/article/scie...
Cover page and photo plate for paper in the journal Castanea on an incursion of katrusa tree in central Pennsylvania. Lead author is an undergrad at Bucknell University.
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Journal of Vegetation & Applied Vegetation Science @jvs-avs.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Ecologists seek to understand how species distributions relate to environmental factors, but often these relationships have been radically human-altered. This new paper by Flinn et al. uses historical data & SDMs to understand the presettlement distributions of forest trees. doi.org/10.1111/jvs....
doi.org
Presettlement Tree Distributions and Forest Types of Northeast Ohio, USA, Mapped With Species Distribution Models
Using species distribution models to map the presettlement vegetation of northeast Ohio, we found that tree distributions depended largely on elevation and slope. Fagus grandifolia had the largest ar...
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
Ecologists seek to understand how species distributions relate to environmental factors, but often relationships are radically human-altered. Our new @jvegsci.bsky.social paper uses historical data in niche models to understand presettlement distributions of forest trees. 🧪🌿🌎 doi.org/10.1111/jvs....
doi.org
Presettlement Tree Distributions and Forest Types of Northeast Ohio, USA, Mapped With Species Distribution Models
Using species distribution models to map the presettlement vegetation of northeast Ohio, we found that tree distributions depended largely on elevation and slope. Fagus grandifolia had the largest ar...
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 12/06/2024
Spread the word... All 1938 aerial photos of Cuyahoga County, Ohio are now freely available to everyone in this digital archive: libguides.bw.edu/c.php?g=1379... 🌿🌎🧪
libguides.bw.edu
LibGuides: 1938 Aerial Photos of Cuyahoga County: Overview
LibGuides: 1938 Aerial Photos of Cuyahoga County: Overview
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Terry McGlynn @hormiga.bsky.social · 12/12/2023
Imagine our profession was built so that you could advance your career without moving all the time. Isn't this a huge piece of the equity and access problem? Yes, it is.
open.substack.com
Needing to move is a huge barrier to broadening representation in the sciences
Science will be more inclusive and equitable when we stop expecting people to uproot their lives every few years
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 28/11/2023
Our new analysis of land use change in Cuyahoga County, home of Cleveland, Ohio, published today in Urban Ecosystems. We trace how urbanization has impacted our native forests over the past 220 years, providing context for current growth. Highlights in thread: 🌿🧪🌎
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Neelima Vallangi @neelima.bsky.social · 20/11/2023
There's a deep sense of sadness and loneliness seeing this record shattering graph. November 17, 2023 was the first day in recorded history when the earth's surface was a whole 2°C hotter than pre-industrial times. Yet, there's barely any chatter about this staggering breach.
Graph showing daily temperature anomaly hitting peak of 2.06°C  on November 17th, 2023 for the time period starting from 1940 to 2023.
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 10/11/2023
@danirabaiotti.bsky.social Hi Dani, may I be added to the What's Science contributor list? Thanks!
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 26/10/2023
Spotted my first lanternfly, at Cleveland Metroparks' Lakefront Nature Preserve, which is a peninsula in Lake Erie. This invasive crop pest recently arrived in northeast Ohio and lives primarily on tree of heaven. How did she get here? 🌿🌎
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 25/10/2023
How lucky that my birthday coincides with the persimmon harvest! I'm making persimmon pudding with fruit I gathered from this native tree. Find a persimmon tree if you can... yes, they're seedy and squishy, but the flavor is worth it and like nothing else. 🌿
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 23/10/2023
New here, so an introduction: I'm excited to be here and connect with fellow scientists & naturalists! 🌿🌎🧪 I am a plant ecologist using historical ecology to understand how ecological communities have changed over the past ~300 years or so in my home landscape of northeast Ohio, around Cleveland.
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 23/10/2023
I experienced the katsura smell for the first time! The yellowing leaves smell fruity, malty, caramelly... like cotton candy, apple cake or a fruity beer. As they decay, they release maltol. Beautiful, old weeping specimen @ Secrest Arboretum. 🌿
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 21/10/2023
@friel.bsky.social Hi John! Could you add me to the naturalists feed? Thanks!
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Kathryn Flinn @kathrynflinn.bsky.social · 20/10/2023
Katsura tree leaves in fall smell like caramelized sugar. Who has experienced this and how would you describe it?
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