iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

If you are in the Portland (OR) area, I will be giving a talk this week at PSU on the tropical-temperate forest ecotone in Bhutan. Thursday 10/9, 3:30-4:25, Cramer Hall room 53. Open to the public. #Bhutan #biogeography #Rhododendron #ecotone #forest #ecology #Himalayas #PDX #mountains

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Been busy writing, apologies for my hermit-like tendencies as of late.

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Check out Rhododendron taxifolium or R. ericoides! Their leaves are needle like. rhodygarden.org/unique-folia...

rhodygarden.org

Unique foliage – Rhododendron taxifolium – Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden

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Kate Johnson @kateplantphys.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Showing off our figure of global conifer leaf-widths & leaf silhouettes highlighting that conifers can be broad-leaved & angiosperms can be narrow/ needle-leaved! 🍃 Our paper: tinyurl.com/mss2me7v @newphyt.bsky.social @vallicrosah.bsky.social @botanykat.bsky.social & Matilda Brown

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Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd. It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.

Graphs showing 25 years of budgets for the National Institute of Health, NASA, and the NSF. In all cases, the proposed budget for next year is far, far below any year of the previous quarter century.

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Anthony (Tony) J. Martin @ichnologist.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Oldest known fossil evidence of lepidopterans (butterflies & moths), from the Triassic (~236 mya) of Argentina! Scales from the wings of these insects were preserved in dicynodont coprolites, & were likely on plants eaten by the dicynodonts. www.science.org/content/arti... #PoopScience 🧪💩🪨🦋

science.org

Ancient poop yields world’s oldest butterfly fossils

Tiny wing scales suggest the proboscis evolved 100 million years before flowers

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audhalbritter.bsky.social @audhalbritter.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Interested in #OpenScience, #reproducibility, #FAIRdata, #GBIF, #biodiversity data, and #AI? In November, we are organizing a course for early career ecologists in the home of the reindeer! 🌱🏔️🐑🦌🦋🦇🐞🌾💻 www.uib.no/en/rg/EECRG/...

uib.no

Open, Reproducible and Transparent Science in Ecology

Course on reproducible workflows to manage, produce, use, and reuse FAIR data

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Mike Melton @mikemelton.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

I was sitting quietly in the forest this morning, watching a Royal Flycatcher nest when this wonderful Keel-billed Motmot perched near me for a few minutes. These are one of the toughest motmots. They're quiet, small, and love the dark forest. At @tapirvalley.bsky.social #costarica #birds #nature

A colorful bird with green and brown plumage perches on a branch, its long tail ending in two racket-shaped feathers. The background is a soft blur of green foliage.

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Any tips for writing in the summer? Nice days outside, yet computer time awaits. I miss the rain.

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Rhododendron @heyrhododendron.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Rhododendron Research Network Virtual International Convention May 29-30 2025 Rockin' Around the Clock Visit the world's major Rhododendron biodiversity regions Physiology, horticulture, ecology, evolution, conservation For a general audience Registration medeiroslab.com/2025-virtual... 🧪🍁🌺🌱🌏🌐🌿

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Rhododendron @heyrhododendron.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

2025 Rhododendron Virtual Convention NORTH AMERICA SESSION May 29th 9am-3:30pm EDT KEYNOTE SPEAKER Dr. Melissa Whitman Investigation of flower characteristics and pollinator guilds across elevational and longitudinal gradients #PlantBiology 🌏🧪🌱🍁🌺🌐 Register at medeiroslab.com/2025-virtual...

A woman with brown hair wearing glasses smiles in front of a wall of purple rhododendron blooms

Rhododendron versteegii, a tropical epiphytic Rhododendron of Section Schistanthe, also known as Vireyas. Two small flowers are photographed at close range, they are pendent bell shaped flowers, with long red throats and a flare at the bottom accented by patches of bright yellow

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Thus far I do not like the 2025 bingo card of stupid events.

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Géza Meszéna @gezam.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

@iite-ecotheory.bsky.social 📆Join us next Tuesday for our next free online seminar: Uli Brose (iDiv) will present: ⭐The internet of nature: integrating food webs with information flow⭐ Zoom link: iite.info/seminar/ Global Times: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/f... See you there! 🧪,🌍,#ecoevo

iite.info

Theoretical Ecology Webinar • International Initiative for Theoretical Ecology

We operate an international seminar series on Theoretical Ecology via Zoom since September, 2020. With some exceptions, the hour-long events are held on every other Tuesday at 9 a.m. Pacific […]

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Thanks, I was reading over misc papers and noted that most mentioned datasets w/ a signal close to 1 (and then worried about my data). I will look into tip.fog. My guess is that low signal reflects the direction of spp. range expansion downwards (e.g. upper elev had sig. values ~1, lower elev ~ 0).

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Yay for Cynorkis, lovely little orchids

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GBIF @gbif.org · 26/03/2025

🎥 Better than the original: New SQL-based service enables download of occurrence data cube GBIF has enabled an easy-to-use service for creating and downloading species occurrence cubes based on GBIF-mediated data. Collaborators: @b-cubed.eu led by @inbo.be gbif.link/data-cubes

green graphic with various biological drawings

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Another hOUwie pondering @omearabrian.bsky.social... when choosing factors, does it matter if there is strong vs weak phylogenetic signal (Pagel's lambda or Blomberg's k)? My continuous factor has a lambda close to zero, would this cause problems? The signal for the discrete character is unknown/TBD

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Kelsey J.R.P. Byers @plantpollinator.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

Really excited to say that my lab's paper on color transitions in Mimulus sect. Erythranthe is out! We found that some traits demonstrate evolutionary convergence in phenotype & genotype, while others are divergent, & that - as Bob Vickery found - bees prefer yellow! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Within-species floral evolution reveals convergence in adaptive walks during incipient pollinator shift - Nature Communications

During evolution, how adaptive walks cross fitness valleys remains unclear. This integrative study on monkeyflowers reveals that convergence in large steps (floral color and gene expression) drives a ...

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Thanks, that makes a little more sense for why the process takes so long (at least compared to other random shuffling techniques that I am more familiar with) and what goes on in the black box

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Nature Plants @natplants.nature.com · 24/03/2025

The March issue is now fully online: www.nature.com/nplants/volu...

An orchid on the cover of the March issue of Nature Plants.

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Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Global patterns in community-scale #leaf mass per area distributions of extant woody non-monocot #angiosperms and their utility in the #fossil record New #AJB research by Alexander Lowe, Dana Royer, Daniel Wieczynski et al. doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... @stromberglab.bsky.social #botany #plantscience

Four-part graphic showing leaf dry mass per area (LMA) central moments among diﬀering climate types.

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ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

The botanist Al Gentry changed tropical ecology and helped create the global science of today. This new article celebrates Gentry's unique innovations, achievements and lasting influence, more than 30 years after his untimely death. rainfor.org/wp-content/u... annals.mobot.org/index.php/an...

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Nice, I did research on some of the orchids of (granite) outcrops in the highlands many years ago. Really interesting area of the globe.

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Yet another #hOUwie question @omearabrian.bsky.social does the program work via changing or reconstructing the branching of the tree (but keeping discrete tips constant) or is it the other way around (keep the tree constant but shuffle the discrete tips)?

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Evan Frost @wildwoods.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

Old-growth, fire-resistant Douglas-firs marked for logging as part of the Paul's Payoff timber sale, on the BLM's Medford District (sw Oregon). Square this w/the agency's official statement that "they don't log old-growth"...?

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Desirée L. Narango @dlnarango.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Spring is here! (Well some places not quite VT) We’re getting 2025 observations for our Pollinator Interactions on Plants project! We know much more about herbaceous flowers than we do tree flowers but trees are incredible floral resources! Watch your trees and submit data to help us learn more!

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Growing amongst the canopy would allow for similar light levels as upper montane shrublands, despite slow growth and shorter heights as compared to other woody flora. With prelim results, there is strong phylogenetic signal at the upper elevational boundaries but not the lower, which is interesting

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Which is the most recent area of establishment, which would explain the upwards movement results. Simultaneously the genus has shifted from terrestrial to epiphytic growth forms, which facilitates downwards expansion into tropical rainforests, but with loss of tolerance to freezing conditions. 3/n

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Counter to most woody plants, they originated in temperate latitudes and recently expanded into the tropics, most likely colonizing montane areas first because of similarity of temperatures. However, the Sundaland bioregion has fewer mountains with shorter summits, as compared to Sahul (PNG) 2/n

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Thanks for the insights. Quite a bit to ponder, when I am back at my computer I will try running the replicates using the lowermost elevational boundaries (these results were for the upper most boundaries). The data is for equatorial Rhododendron of Malesia, which are wonderfully quirky. 1/n

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Are the theta units (future) the same as the expect mean units (now)? If so, then the plants are moving on up in the world (blasting off to the moon in the future) as compared to current distributions along a mountain.

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Also here is the plot output (using the tutorial code w/ my data). It looks like a big difference in Theta (still trying to understand what this is), expected mean (looks like epiphytes, which are shown as values of 1, are at lower elevations), and expected var (not sure what this is).

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

So...I am not sure how to look at the details of the hidden state, but this model was at least better than the CID+ models. Is that what you mean?

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Or is more that the rates of evolution differ by growthform+elevation?

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Thanks. Another question, I just finished model selection and the best model was OUM, but I am not clear what that means (only that BM1, OU1 means no link; BMV rates differ). The data includes epiphytism (discrete) and elevation (continuous). Does that mean optimal elevation differs by growthform?

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

The people who produce this Mauna Loa atmospheric CO₂ record have a lab in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, about 50 miles (80 km) from the observatory. By closing the lab, it'll be really difficult to maintain the CO₂ observations.

$A line graph showing atmospheric CO2 levels at Mauna Loa Observatory from 1955 to 2025. The y-axis represents CO2 mole fraction in parts per million (ppm), ranging from 320 to 420 ppm, while the x-axis is years.$

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

I've been reading the tutorial, but I don't quite understand where values for "p" (fixed set of parameters) comes from. If running the code w my own data, how do I determine what "p" numbers to use? Are these numbers randomly generated, or based off of a hypothesis, or a summary of the tree somehow?

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Sean Michaletz @seanmichaletz.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Fully funded PhD in Plant Ecophysiology at UBC in Vancouver 🍁! Possible topics include leaf physiology, thermal ecology, microclimates, scaling, tree physiology, forest ecology & more. Start Jan/May/Sept 2026. michaletzlab.org Please share! #PlantEcoPhys #Ecology #Botany #PhDposition #GradSchool

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Does hOUwie work with two continuous traits or just the combo of continuous plus discrete? Currently I am doing PGLS (trait ~ environment + discrete 1 + discrete 2) but I am curious if there are other analyses that better reflect correlated evolution, rather than just accounting for phylo relateness

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

I am wrapping my head around how hOUwie works, is it essentially Pagel's test for cor. evolution but with three traits (two discrete traits plus one continuous one)? Does it also differ based on added bells and whistles (e.g. allowing for differences in rate of evolution)? @omearabrian.bsky.social

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Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Phylogenetic relationships & repeated loss of traits associated with #sicklebill #pollination in Centropogon subgenus Centropogon New #AJB research by Janet Mansaray, Ana Bedoya, Laura Frost, Olivia Degreenia & Laura Lagomarsino bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #botany #plantscience

A six-part photo showing morphological and habit diversity of eucentropogonids.

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William (Bill) Sutherland @billsutherland.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Barriers to dispersal are key to understanding biogeography, the pattern of life across the planet. Here Daniel Field explains Wallace’s line using Wallace’s actual specimen of greater bird-of paradise. youtu.be/L_FQ4tYkVoY?...

youtu.be

Biogeography: explaining the patterns of life across the planet

YouTube video by Bill Sutherland's Conservation Concepts

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Anyone know where I can find a super big gigantic list of all nectarivorous bird species, spanning from Malaysia to PNG? My added wish-list bonus would be any natural history observations of flower species visited, or maybe photos of beaks w/ a scale bar #sunbird #honeyeater #lorikeet #flowerpecker

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Laura Boeschoten @lauraboeschoten.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

I'll be presenting my work on tree growth in an everwet forest in Puerto Rico at the ForestGEO seminar next week! Mar 19, 2025 09:00 AM, EST time. Register here for the link: smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

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Saimi Hanma ⚔️ サイミ @saimihanma.northsky.social · 11/03/2025

Ghost pipe flowers I have met Monotropa uniflora is a parasitic plant and utterly enchanting.

long stems of white with white flowers, turning black around the tips

a cluster of long white stems with small flowers turning black

a large cluster of pure white flowers bowing down on long stems

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Reminding myself to enjoy spring, the scent of red current flowers, pink of cherry blossoms, random clusters of crocus in purple yellow white.

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Chise @sailorrooscout.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

THIS IS HUGE! Researchers at Stanford University have developed a dual-antibody treatment that remains effective against ALL SARS-CoV-2 variants by targeting a less-mutable part of the virus. This breakthrough could lead to longer-lasting therapies that OUTPACE viral evolution. 🧪🧵⬇️

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Did you know that the genus Rhododendron includes over 300 tropical species in SE Asia, with interesting parallels to orchids such as epiphytism, small wind-dispersed seeds, and strong symbioses w/ fungi?

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Science Magazine @science.org · 06/03/2025

An analysis of forest plant traits from across the tropical Americas suggests that forests are not changing fast enough to keep up with #ClimateChange. Learn more in this week's issue of Science: scim.ag/3QLYhyc

In Mesoamerican cloud forests, such as this one in the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, climate change and deforestation are leading to plant species moving upslope. However, an analysis of forest plant traits from across the tropical Americas suggests that forests are not changing fast enough to keep up with climate change.

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