iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Mike Koontz, PhD

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 11h

Reason n+1 not to post things about children

Reposted by Mike Koontz, PhD

GrumpyUncleSean🔥 @grumpyunclesean.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I’ll be presenting a webinar on Tuesday, October 6 at 1pm (central time) on the fire deficit across North American forests—what it is and what it means for forest ecosystems, the future of wildfire, and the people and places at risk. 🔥 Please join me for the discussion!

oakfirescience.com

Webinar topic: Living With the Fire Deficit: Forest Resilience, Community Risk, and the Future of Fire - Oak Fire Science

Presented by: Dr. Sean Parks, Ariel Re UK Limited & US Forest Service (retired) Date: October 6, 2026, 1:00 – 2:00 PM (central time) Register here (required): <a href="https://umsyste...

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Reposted by Mike Koontz, PhD

Association for Fire Ecology @afe-fireecology.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Join a global community of scientists, educators, students, managers, practitioners, policymakers, and interested citizens helping to shape the emerging profession and growing field of fire ecology - become an AFE member today! 🔥 fireecology.org/joinrenew

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Mike Koontz, PhD @mikoontz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I think the insurance industry is one of the most interesting and impactful areas to apply PhD-level training in ecosystem science. I want ecology departments across the country to host more talks like this.

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Reposted by Mike Koontz, PhD

Vanessa Tobias @marshprincess.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

With all due respect, have you talked to any of us former FWS employees about why we left? The lack of hiring to replace us is a problem, but I think turnover will be high if the reasons we left aren’t addressed. I would guess other agencies have similar issues.

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Reposted by Mike Koontz, PhD

UCDavisPlants @ucdavisplants.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

🌲From Forest Ecology and Management: Larger lodgepole pines in the Intermountain West faced greater mountain pine beetle mortality, while higher snowpack and more nonhost trees reduced risk. (Jackson P. Audley, Andrew M. Latimer) ▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #PlantScience #Entomology

Fig. 4. Prediction plots of the most influential significant fixed effects from the fitted all-years (2005–2024) generalized linear mixed effects model. Prediction curves were generated using predicted values from the final model plotted over the entire range of observed values for each explanatory variable. Interactions include a prediction line for the lowest and highest values for each interaction factor (see legends). Fixed effects include: (A) individual tree diameter at breast height (dbh); (B) quadratic mean diameter (QMD); (C) dbh * average snowpack Nov-Mar; (D) dbh * average precipitation Apr-Aug prior year. Each x-axis displays scaled levels of the explanatory variable.

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Reposted by Mike Koontz, PhD

Michael Wara @michaelwara.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

We were in Santa Barbara last weekend and took the scenic route home. That allowed me to see the Plasket and Timber Fires and to be totally blown away by the work that has gone in there. I cannot imagine how hard it is to cut line, by hand, on slopes like these. Woah.

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Olivia Ross @olross.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

That’s a wrap on my second field season in the southern Sierra Nevada to better understand how conifer forests are recovering following high severity wildfire. 🌿🔥 Shoutout to this outstanding crew who continued to inspire me with their ongoing curiosity, resilience, and integrity. ✨

Undergraduate student Gypsy Tranquilla measuring post fire recruitment at a survey plot.

UCSB undergraduate students Kinley Renger and Gypsy Tranquila in Sequoia National Forest.

Amanda Gersoff and Kinley Renger measuring DBH at a survey plot in Yosemite National Park.

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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Forecast regarding soon-to-be major Hurricane Nolo (not to be confused w/current major Hurricane Polo) has become increasingly alarming. A close approach on Sat could bring extreme rainfall (>30 inches) to Big Island, w/risk of widespread & severe flash flooding & damaging winds.

Graphic from NOAA (National Hurricane Center) showing preliminary forecast rainfall amounts on Hawaiian Island chain due to Hurricane Nolo. Widespread rainfall totals of 15-30 inches are depicted on the Big Island, with a local maximum exceeding 35 inches and notation regarding the risk of catastrophic flash flooding. Other islands are show as having risk of very heavy, though somewhat lesser, precipitation.

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Monica G. Turner @monicagturner.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Take the time to nominate a colleague. It matters, and we all know deserving colleagues!

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 23/09/2026

Vought holds one of the most powerful jobs in D.C., and he’s used his position to wage a quiet war to change the shape of the entire U.S. government. Here's what you should know about Trump’s shadow president. (Published Oct. 2025)

propublica.org

What You Should Know About Russ Vought, Trump’s Shadow President

Vought is the architect of President Trump’s broader plan to fire civil servants, freeze government programs and dismantle entire agencies. Here are some key things to know about the D.C. insider who ...

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Reposted by Mike Koontz, PhD

Moi Expósito-Alonso (MOILAB) @mexpositoalonso.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Fantastic Asst Professor positions open across multiple UC Berkeley departments @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social Plant/Algae/Microb aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05522 Plant/Env aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05382 Gen/Dev/Evo aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05481 Eco aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05489

aprecruit.berkeley.edu

Assistant Professor – Plant or Macroalgae-Associated Microbial Communities and Interactions - Plant and Microbial Biology

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 11/09/2026

One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Recent high-severity wildfires in a dry-conifer landscape are unprecedented over five centuries and foretell future forest loss.” Read now: ow.ly/v1oR50ZM4BE For more trending articles, visit ow.ly/pH5050ZM4Aj.

Dry-conifer forest loss from high-severity fires in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico (1995–2023). (A) Photograph of dry-conifer forest from St. Peter’s Dome Lookout, facing south. (B) Repeat photograph showing the near-complete conifer forest loss (mortality and lack of regeneration) following two high-severity fires (1996 Dome Fire and 2011 Las Conchas Fire).

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Mike Koontz, PhD @mikoontz.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Can confirm they were successful in every part of this except “because they are increasingly viewed as the villains” — public support for Federal workers continues to climb. 💪 Still sucks they succeeded just by being a-holes, but glad that it’s not because they turned the public against Feds.

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 04/09/2026

“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected...When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down…We want to put them in trauma.” -Russell Vought

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Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Last year, I publicly complained multiple times (see e.g. elevanth.org/blog/2025/07...) that the open access movement had been captured by publishers, and we are now worse off than before open access. Well people got mad at me for saying it. But I think things are still getting worse.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

1/ Just in: An anonymous federal worker has filed a whistleblower disclosure warning that the U.S. Postal Service's attempt to create a system to regulate mail voting for the midterms has been "rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed." @propublica.org has the details 👇

Screenshot of the top of a whistleblower disclosure titled "USPS Rushed Implementation of New and Untested IT Systems Threatens U.S. Ballot Mail Delivery." Addressed to Senator Blumenthal, the first point details how the whistleblower has "significant concerns about the USPS's secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process for the creation and implementation of an entirely new and untested set of IT systems" intended for the 2026 midterms.

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Anna Kramer @annackramer.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

SCOOP: Trump officials are pressuring the National Park Service to find a way to give a small piece of Yosemite to a private developer. The land would be used for a road, to give the developer rare private access to the heart of the park.

notus.org

Trump’s Quietly Working to Give Part of Yosemite to a Private Developer

The National Park Service is under pressure to make an unprecedented deal that cedes a quarter-mile strip of the park.

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Matthew Hurteau @mhurteau.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I’m looking forward to seeing what the artists did with the download of information we gave them this spring over three days in the field!

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Brad Johnson @climatebrad.hillheat.com · 25/08/2026

The Trump Department of Interior is forcing out dozens of its most senior career staff, giving them two weeks to accept involuntary reassignments or leave. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, and more. www.notus.org/agencies/int...

notus.org

‘They Want Us All To Leave’: Interior Reassigns Dozens of Senior Staff

Around 30 top staffers have been reshuffled, with some people moving to teams outside their areas of expertise.

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Neil Lareau @neillareau.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Radar reconstruction of today's (8/22) plume development from the #HawkFire in Reno, NV. Notable transition to a hydraulic like flow late in the day (~00 UTC) linked to dangerous run into town. We were conducting onsite lidar scans during the transition.

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Association for Fire Ecology @afe-fireecology.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Registration for the Beneficial Fire Summit is OPEN! 🔥We're excited to see you in San Diego! Visit the event website for more details about registration, scholarships, and travel support: beneficialfiresummit.org/registrati…

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Association for Fire Ecology @afe-fireecology.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Read "Restoring fire sovereignty on California Indian allotment lands" by Nina M. Fontana, Beth Rose Middleton Manning, Dylan Moore, Landin Thunder Noland, Deniss J. Martinez Cortez, Jay B. Petersen, Jamie Belone, Ryan M. Boynton, and James H. Thorne in #FireEcology #SNFECO ow.ly/CLcB50ZC41L

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Mike Koontz, PhD @mikoontz.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

In case you need to hear this: SCAN YOUR FIELD DATA SHEETS as soon as possible! We lost 223 out of 224 mailed raw data sheets (only one sheet made it bc it got stuck on the envelope glue which otherwise failed and all other sheets fell out). Field scans saved GLORIA Great Basin this year.

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Association for Fire Ecology @afe-fireecology.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Thank you to the Beneficial Fire Summit sponsors! CAL FIRE, UC ANR Fire Network, California Fire Science Consortium, Indigenous Stewardship Network, Tall Timbers, and The Watershed Research and Training Center 🔥We welcome additional sponsors and exhibitors, learn more at ow.ly/pWeg50ZB5Ea

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Neil Lareau @neillareau.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

NASA’s #INSPYRE project captured extreme fire spread and pyroCu development on the #SandCreekFire in #MT on 8/11. MASTER imagery from the #ER2 blends IR and other channels to reveal the rapidly evolving fire front, smoke plume, and developing pyrocloud. Data processed by Roseanne Dominguez.

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Albert Ruhí @albertruhi.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

We're hiring an ecologist at UC Berkeley! The Dept. of Integrative Biology is hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Ecology. Plants/algae, invertebrates, microbes, or marine systems a priority. Come join us!! Apply by Oct 5, 2026. aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05489 PS: Please share!

aprecruit.berkeley.edu

Assistant Professor –Ecology- Integrative Biology

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

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Matthew Hurteau @mhurteau.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

We have a new microclimate modeling paper out. We identified physiological stress thresholds in microclimate data to evaluate severely burned landscapes. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I'll have much more to say about this during Monday's YouTube livestream, but it's really start time to start talking about and planning for the increased risk of coastal flooding (from elevated sea levels & wave action) & inland flooding (from heavy rainfall) this winter in CA.

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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Aug update from ECMWF predictive ensemble is genuinely extraordinary from extreme #ElNiño perspective. One implication: it is now indicating not only 70-100% odds of above avg winter precip California-wide, but also 70-100% odds of DJF 26-27 being among the top 20% of wettest CA winters (!).

Map showing ECMWF ensemble DJF 2026-7 predicted precipitation by tercile status (i.e., most likely well above, well below, or near-average). All of the CA coast is painted the brightest color, indicating 70-100% odds of a winter among the wettest third of all historical winters.

Map showing ECMWF ensemble DJF 2026-7 predicted precipitation. All of the CA coast is painted the bluest color, indicating well below average odds of a winter in the driest 20% of all winters.

Map showing ECMWF ensemble DJF 2026-7 predicted precipitation. All of the CA coast is painted the brightest orange color, indicating well above average odds of a winter in the wettest 20% of all CA winters.

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Mike Koontz, PhD @mikoontz.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Loved the intertwining of Hugh’s and Brian’s work in this piece!

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Dr. Joan Dudney @dudney-joan.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Check out @olross.bsky.social's new preprint on matching methods for field ecology! In our efforts to randomize plot selection, we've overlooked a more fundamental issue: the treatments themselves—e.g., disturbances—are rarely randomized! PSM provides a solution 🧪🍁 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Questions sparked by this story: 1) Could Rx & cultural burns reduce emissions and increase sequestration in the southern Sierra, or do they only flatten emissions peaks & troughs, w/ no added C storage? 2) Could Tribal burning initiatives generate revenue from the California cap-and-trade program?

australian.museum

Firing up carbon credits through cultural burning - The Australian Museum Blog

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Julian Resasco @julianresasco.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Aupa #ESA2026 ! Stop by poster 054 today (Tuesday) 5-6:30pm to learn about how climate change is affecting eguzkilore 🌻 a culturally important plant in the Basque Country

Man dressed like a basque shepherd standing by a poster at a conference

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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

There will not always be extreme wildfire outbreaks when exceptional heat and dryness occur, that is true. But such conditions greatly raise the ceiling on what is possible in a warming world--and sometimes, as is happening now, that increased potential will be realized.

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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Many of these fires, from British Columbia to the South of France, have exhibited extreme behavior even when ambient winds have been modest. This has largely been due to deep pyroconvective development, including full-fledged fire-generated thunderstorms.

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Jaclyn A. Siegel, PhD @jacasiegel.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Do I have any Northern California colleagues affected by NIH nonsense? Send me a DM!

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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

As Nahel discusses below, this event was caused by an extreme downslope (foehn) wind event--but that, in turn, was amplified by very warm & moist airmass generating huge snowfalls in high elevation Andes due to record-warm ocean waters in eastern tropical Pacific. #ElNiño

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gavin jones @ecologyofgavin.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I’m looking to recruit a postdoc to join my research group at University of Iowa to work on disturbance ecology and biodiversity! Start date flexible, lots of opportunity for skill development, collaboration, and mentorship. Will review applicants in mid-August! Link: gavinmjones.com/opportunities/

gavinmjones.com

Opportunities

BIG NEWS! The Jones Lab will be relocating to the School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability (SEES) at the University of Iowa in Fall 2026. Our work on disturbance ecology and conservation sc…

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gavin jones @ecologyofgavin.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

U. Iowa is hiring an open-rank TT prof. working on “environmental governance and policy in the context of the environmental, social, and/or economic drivers related to climate change from local to global scales” Join this vibrant and growing academic unit! More here: jobs.uiowa.edu/faculty/view...

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James Lamping @jameslamping.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

New paper in Fire Ecology: what actually makes a wildfire "extreme"? Current definitions rely on rigid thresholds that don't hold up across ecosystems. We argue for judging fire behavior, ecological outcomes, and social impacts against historical baselines. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.com

Roadmap for the future of extreme wildfire events - Fire Ecology

Background Extreme wildfire events (EWEs) represent a growing threat globally, posing substantial risks to ecosystems, human communities, and infrastructure. Despite increased recognition of their eco...

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Association for Fire Ecology @afe-fireecology.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Read "War, climate change, and land use shape wildfire dynamics in Ukraine, 2001–2024" by Anastasiia Zymaroieva, Serhii Sydorenko, Olha Kunakh, Jens-Christian Svenning, and Olexander Zhukov in the #FireEcology Journal #SNFECO link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s…

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Jaclyn A. Siegel, PhD @jacasiegel.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Oh hello FIRST STUDY I WILL TEACH ABOUT THIS FALL

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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

The #AspenAcresFire, still burning quite actively along southern Colorado Front Range & having destroyed ~200 structures thus far, has become an exceptionally complex & challenging event from a firefighting perspective due to a confluence of climate, weather, & geography. [Thread]

Screenshot of current Aspen Acres Fire and active satellite-detected hotspots from Watch Duty.

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Adam Mahood 🌻 @adm0n.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

New article! We went to Tucson for a few weeks back in 2019 and looked at some plants and took quite a few soil samples. We found that buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) invasion was associated with lower plant diversity, and soil carbon. authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me

Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) invasion is associated with reduced plant diversity and changes in carbon storage in the Sonoran Desert

Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) is a perennial bunchgrass, invasive in arid ecosystems of the United States, Australia, and Mexico. Buffelgrass invas…

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Reposted by Mike Koontz, PhD

Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

NOAA has extended the highest-tier "extremely critical" fire weather risk into Saturday, and shifts the maximum risk zone eastward from the Great Basin to Rocky Mountain western slope. Multiple new wildfires, most likely lightning holdovers, are currently popping up in Utah.

Map from NOAA SPC depicting today's (Friday's) fire weather risk across the Western U.S. There is a broad region of elevated risk, and a large bullseye of "extremely critical risk" centered on Utah.

Map from NOAA SPC depicting tSaturday's fire weather risk across the Western U.S. There is a broad region of elevated risk, and a large bullseye of "extremely critical risk" centered on eastern Utah and western Colorado.

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Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥 @zacksteel.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

New paper documenting impacts of drought on birds in the already arid SW US. 🦉🌐🌎 TLDR: It's not good. * Abundance declines in response to drought for most species * In this region drought-related declines in the south may be pushing ranges northward conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Long‐Term Drought Exposure Shapes Declines and Range Shifts in Aridland Birds

Climate change increases drought frequencies and intensities, posing risks to biodiversity. Species inhabiting arid regions may be vulnerable to drought because they live near their physiological lim...

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