iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Eos @eos.org · 25/09/2026

Fast fires burn more area, and more of that area is severely burned. What’s more, new research finds, severely burned patches will struggle to find seeds to regrow the same tree types. 🔥🧪🌍 eos.org/articles/fas...

eos.org

Fast, Severe Wildfires Can Change How Forests Grow Back - Eos

These blazes can cause ecological shifts even in fire-adapted forests.

21714

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

aspbplantbiology.bsky.social @aspbplantbiology.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

📣#PlantBio2026 daily highlight: Development: Fire Ecology and Smoke Signaling in a Changing Climate Concurrent Session!🌱 plantbiology2026.eventscribe.net/index.asp #plantscience #plantsci

194

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Camouflage via leaf mottling among North American #Erythronium species increases with forest cover and #deer abundance New #AJB research by @nathankiel.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... #botany #plantscience #lily #Liliaceae

Yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum) in flower in a deciduous forest understory in spring. The plants mottled leaves, which may camouflage it from herbivores, are conspicuous in the background.

0143

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

I am grateful that a recent publication I led in collaboration with Eileen Mavencamp and @monicagturner.bsky.social received this year’s W.S. Cooper Award from the Ecological Society of America! More info in the press release below, and check out the paper here: doi.org/10.1002/ecm....

doi.org

141

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

#TansleyInsight: Diversity affects microclimate temperature and humidity: an overview of the evidence and major unanswered questions Alexandra J. Wright, J. English & C. Guimaraes-Steinicke 👇 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #LatestIssue #PlantScience

Fig. 1 We measured relative humidity every 5 min during the growing season in the Biodiversity, CO2, and Nitrogen (BioCON) experiment in central Minnesota in 2012 (Reich et al., 2001, Wright et al., 2015

095

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

New article with @dovciak-lab.bsky.social, Jordon Tourville, and Jay Wason out in Journal of Biogeography: “Conspecific adult dominance interacts with microsite factors to influence forest regeneration patterns across elevation” doi.org/10.1111/jbi....

1132

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Martin Dovciak🌳🌱🌻 @dovciak-lab.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Excited to share a short, behind-the-scenes video 🎥 interview highlighting my research & teaching in plant ecology @sunyesf.bsky.social—along with a look inside our greenhouses. Thanks to @tylerdorholt.bsky.social, Gavin Ellis, & Jason Kohlbrenner for the opportunity & support. youtu.be/66tkQacmqAY

youtu.be

Martin Dovciak Believes in the Power of Botany | Meet the Faculty

YouTube video by SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

1175

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Martin Dovciak🌳🌱🌻 @dovciak-lab.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Have you ever wondered if temperate🌳 & boreal🌲 tree seedlings🌱germinate & grow best in their own leaf litter, heterospecific litter, on moss, or on bare soil? If so stay tuned for more from Tee Atwater’s honors thesis experiment completed this Fall! @sunyesf.bsky.social @sunyofficial.bsky.social

3462

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

I enjoyed the opportunity to share my research with the Biology Department at Syracuse University this afternoon. Thanks Martin for the pictures and for excellent collaborations!

060

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Martin Dovciak🌳🌱🌻 @dovciak-lab.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Done! ✅ A new experiment now set up on our mountain 🏔️ forest 🌳🌲 site network in 4 Northeastern US states to test how seed rain, microsites, & herbivory interact to affect early stages of climate-induced tree migrations. Led by @nathankiel.bsky.social, a post-doc in our group @sunyesf.bsky.social 🌎🌐🧪

3455

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Happy to see my photo on the cover of this issue of Journal of Ecology!

020

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Journal of Ecology @journalofecology.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

❄️🌳Early snowmelt around the base of deciduous trees ("thaw circles") is likely not the proximate cause of improved plant performance and greater local abundance of the spring-flowering herb, Dutchman’s breeches.🌿 @nathankiel.bsky.social 👉 buff.ly/yUTaDe1

052

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

From June to August on Mt Moosilauke. Earlier this year, we set out TOMST microclimate sensors. Now, we are conducting a seed addition experiment across temperate and boreal forests on the mountain. But there’s always time to summit!

A selfie of me with the bald summit of Mt Moosilauke behind. Taken in June with the vegetation still green.

A selfie of me with the bald summit of Mt Moosilauke behind. Taken in August with the vegetation becoming brown.

040

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Mark Ranger @markr4nger.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

In 1988, wildfires razed one-third of Yellowstone National Park. While most park woodlands are regenerating, some have turned into meadows. A new study digs into why. 🧪🌿🌎

mountainjournal.org

Yellowstone’s 1988 Fires Eviscerated Forests. Will They Ever Recover? - Mountain Journal

While most park woodlands are regenerating, some have turned into meadows. A new study digs into why.

35826

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Martin Dovciak🌳🌱🌻 @dovciak-lab.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

🌎🧪🌐 My amazing field team @sunyesf.bsky.social led by my CoPI & postdoc @nathankiel.bsky.social have just completed the first week of installing #Tomst sensors to quantify microclimate across temperate-boreal 🌳🌲forest ecotones on mountains in the northeastern US. Exciting and…more to come❗️

1475

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Natural Areas Association @naturalareas.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

This is a challenging time for our community. That's why NAA is happy to make our Job Board FREE. Whether you are searching for your next career opportunity or are seeking quality candidates, the NAA Job Board is here to connect practitioners and employers. Link in profile.

011

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

New land conserved by the Southern Tier Land Conservancy! www.binghamtonhomepage.com/news/souther...

binghamtonhomepage.com

000

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Happy International Plant Appreciation Day! Here’s trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) in bloom at Powder Mills Park in Rochester, NY.

The small, white, five-petaled flowers of trailing arbutus.

A cluster of sunlit trailing arbutus, with small white flowers set against a mossy background.

1101

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Martin Dovciak🌳🌱🌻 @dovciak-lab.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

🎉 Congratulations to Rachel Hopkins on excellent MSc defense & seminar “Plants on the move: Tracking 60 years of vegetation shifts on Whiteface Mountain, New York State” @sunyesf.bsky.social. We celebrated hers & other lab members’ recent accomplishments @ Alto Cinco! Stay tuned for the papers! 🌲🪻⛰️

0142

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Martin Dovciak🌳🌱🌻 @dovciak-lab.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

🏆 Congratulations to our new MS student, Danny Wehner, for receiving Lowe-Wilcox Graduate Fellowship at @sunyesf.bsky.social @sunyofficial.bsky.social for his field research on the effects of mycorrhiza 🍄 on tree seedling 🌱 establishment across montane-temperate forest ecotones. Well done Danny!

081

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Botany @botanyjournal.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

We're thrilled to share that Botany, a @cdnsciencepub.com journal, will be joining the BlueSky community soon! Stay tuned for updates as we prepare to connect, share, and engage with researchers and science enthusiasts in this exciting space. See you soon! 🌟 #ScienceCommunication #BlueSky

0135

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Curious about which tree species could become more abundant in the northeastern United States with climate change? What about those that could be forced out? Check out this Shiny app! Current species ranges may help us infer future plant community change in the northeast and beyond.

nathangeraldkiel.shinyapps.io

Species Range Viewer

262

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Natural Areas Association @naturalareas.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

A new Natural Area Journal just dropped! Stay tuned for article highlights... bioone.org/journals/nat...

052

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

2024 was an exciting year professionally - I defended my dissertation, moved back to the northeastern U.S., and began a post-doc position at my alma mater! All while spending time with wonderful friends and colleagues, old and new. I’m looking forward to what 2025 has in store 🌳🌲

Me holding a (popped) bottle of sparkling wine shortly after defending my PhD dissertation.

Eight ecologists sitting around a dinner table in Long Beach, California, celebrating a successful organized oral session at the Ecological Society of America conference with fresh seafood!

Myself (back) and several friends and colleagues at SUNY ESF and Syracuse University standing in a forest ready for a day of fieldwork on Whiteface Mountain, New York.

090

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

International Journal of Plant Sciences @ijpsjournal.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Thanks for entrusting your work to us! Info about @ijpsjournal.bsky.social's fast-track submission option can be found here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/ijp... #PlantScience

journals.uchicago.edu

International Journal of Plant Sciences: Fast-track submissions

011

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Andrew Hipp @andrewlhipp.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

I'll be giving a free webinar Thurs, Dec 5, 7 p.m. Central time for the Minnesota Native Plant Society on the topics of #oak reproduction, #species, #hybrids, & #phylogeny / #treeOfLife, from my new book (press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...). Join us, and pls share! us06web.zoom.us/j/6977108818...

Title page from Oak Origins: From Acorns to Species and the Tree of Life, by Andrew L Hipp, illustrated by Rachel D Davis, with forward by Béatrice Chassé.

Title page features a Hill's oak leaf (Quercus ellipsoidalis) illustrated in pen and ink with watercolor wash by Rachel Davis.

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/O/bo236998258.html

59038

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez @frodsan.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

1/ Important read for anyone using, contributing, or building large databases by aggregating data sources. Discusses issues with data quality, duplication, credit attribution, etc, and includes recommendations for improvement doi.org/10.1111/gcb.... #ecopubs

Improper data practices erode the quality of global ecological databases and impede the progress of ecological research

The scientific community has entered an era of big data. However, with big data comes big responsibilities, and best practices for how data are contributed to databases have not kept pace with the collection, aggregation, and analysis of big data. Here, we rigorously assess the quantity of data for specific leaf area (SLA) available within the largest and most frequently used global plant trait database, the TRY Plant Trait Database, exploring how much of the data were applicable (i.e., original, representative, logical, and comparable) and traceable (i.e., published, cited, and consistent). Over three-quarters of the SLA data in TRY either lacked applicability or traceability, leaving only 22.9% of the original data usable compared with the 64.9% typically deemed usable by standard data cleaning protocols. The remaining usable data differed markedly from the original for many species, which led to altered interpretation of ecological analyses. Though the data we consider here make up only 4.5% of SLA data within TRY, similar issues of applicability and traceability likely apply to SLA data for other species as well as other commonly measured, uploaded, and downloaded plant traits. We end with suggested steps forward for global ecological databases, including suggestions for both uploaders to and curators of databases with the hope that, through addressing the issues raised here, we can increase data quality and integrity within the ecological community.

49939

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Thanksgiving in western New York!

A mossy rock ledge surrounded by trees at Rock City State Forest

Snow covered trees along side a rock ledge at Rock City State Forest

My partner and I walking outside in the snow at Rock City State Forest

1110

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Rupert Seidl @rupertseidl.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Important finding for impact modelers by @kornhuber.bsky.social et al.: Climatic extremes change faster/ more severely than anticipated by climate models. The consequences anticipated with impact models (based on climate model-driven forcings) might thus be conservative. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

pnas.org

Global emergence of regional heatwave hotspots outpaces climate model simulations | PNAS

Multiple recent record-shattering weather events raise questions about the adequacy of climate models to effectively predict and prepare for unprec...

23823

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

“What the heart wants: adaptive significance of cordate leaf morphology in Arnica (Astersceae)” is out now in Western North American Naturalist! doi.org/10.3398/064....

Figure 1. Example leaves from each study species highlighting differences in leaf morphology, namely the cordate leaf base in heartleaf arnica (Arnica cordifolia Hook., left) which is absent in broadleaf arnica (Arnica latifolia Bong., right).

Figure 2. Petiole-lead angle across variable canopy cover for basal leaves of heartleaf arnica and broadleaf arnica from individuals distributed across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Wyoming, USA.

Figure 3. Cordateness across variable canopy cover for basal leaves of heartleaf arnica from individuals distributed across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Wyoming, USA.

Figure 4. Petiole-leaf angles across variable cordateness for basal leaves of heartleaf arnica from individuals across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Wyoming, USA.

240

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Monica G. Turner @monicagturner.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Conveying results of #simulationmodels is tricky. We produced a video to help folks understand how #climatechange and #fire could affect the iconic landscape of Greater #Yellowstone. Would love to see this used for ecology classes and outreach. @ttkeller.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIp7...

youtube.com

Future landscapes of Greater Yellowstone

YouTube video by UW-Madison Campus Connection

24617

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Ellen Damschen @edamschen.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

Accepting graduate student applications for Ph.D. student in Fall 2025 to work on community assembly mechanisms and prediction in restoration of plant communities. damschenlab.zoology.wisc.edu/2024/10/21/a...

038

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Martin Dovciak🌳🌱🌻 @dovciak-lab.bsky.social · 10/02/2024

🧪🌍📜New research award to our lab @ SUNY ESF to study "The effects of seed dispersal & seedling 🌱establishment limitations on climate-driven 🌦️ tree species 🌲🌳 range shifts in the northeastern U.S." together w/ @nathankiel.bsky.social & Laura Kenefic @ USFS❗🙂 Stay tuned for more details.

2263

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 02/01/2024

If a forest doesn’t come back after wildfire, what comes back instead? I’ve spent the last few years studying plant communities in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks to find out: www.nps.gov/articles/000...

0183

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 15/10/2023

New paper with Bill Romme and Monica Turner: “Snag-fall patterns following stand-replacing fire vary with stem characteristics and topography in subalpine forests of Greater Yellowstone”, out now in Forest Ecology and Management www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

030

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 20/09/2023

All photos taken within one hour of each other

030

Reposted by Nathan Kiel

Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 18/09/2023

This was such a cool study, I threw out my planned schedule to write about this instead. Ecologists worked with art historians to find out if it’s possible to study landscape changes by looking at art from the nineteenth century. 🧪 🐡

forbes.com

Art Historians Join Ecologists To Study Landscapes Of The Past

Ecologists worked with art historians to find out if it’s possible to study landscape changes by looking at art from the nineteenth century.

10273118

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 14/09/2023

Smith Fellowship application complete, now onto the next (and the next, and the next…)

Screenshot of Smith Fellowship cover page with the title “The role of seed dispersal and seedling establishment limitations in forest tree species range shifts in the northeastern U.S.”

010

Nathan Kiel @nathankiel.bsky.social · 29/08/2023

Hi all! I’m a plant ecologist and PhD candidate in the Ecosystem and Landscape Ecology Lab at UW-Madison. Professionally I’m interested in forest disturbance ecology, understory plant communities, teaching, and science communication. Personally I love photography, hiking, and minor league baseball.

150