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Neil Pederson

@yellowbuckeye.bsky.social
2.3K followers 2.1K following 271 posts

I study old-growth forests and climate change from trees to regions and seasons to centuries. A colleague termed it RetroEcology - broadleafpapers.wordpress.com Love music in 3/4, 6/8, 5/4, 11, & other offbeat signatures (no real pun intended)

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Dr Hannah M. Rowland @hannahmrowland.bsky.social · 12h
Hope your day was better than Darwin’s, on this day 165 years ago
I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody &everything.

Charles Darwin
Letter to Charles Lyell
1st October 1861
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Climatologist49 @climatologist49.bsky.social · 17h
September temperature time series for the Contiguous U.S. September 2026 broke the record previously set in 1998 by 0.3F.
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Maybe time for those who don't experience this directly to return to this thread (which I posted when PTSD was being weaponized to relieve Graham Platner of responsibility for his actions).
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Anne Helen Petersen @annehelen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is *the* piece. Kate Manne, professor of philosophy at Cornell, speaks truth to the totality of failures at the university — and why students protesting the war in Gaza have faced far harsher consequences than any of the Cornell 7: www.thecut.com/article/what...
thecut.com
What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now
As a professor at the Ivy League school, Kate Manne has known many, many victims. There’s a palpable feeling on campus, she writes, that this is big.
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Grant Witness @grantwitness.org · 29/09/2026
NOAA studies and monitors our coasts, the deep sea, weather, climate and even outer space. It has endured staff firings, suppression of scientific reports, budget cuts and grant terminations. This week we're adding it to Grant Witness's tracking. grantwitness.org/noaa/updates... 🧪
grantwitness.org
Grant Witness is tracking NOAA Terminations and Funding
Tracker and Submission Form is now available on our website
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Jessica Valenti @jessicavalenti.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
In 2014, I interviewed a Columbia University student who went from class to class carrying the mattress she was raped on—a protest performance piece to remind college administrators what they put on her shoulders. Twelve years later, we still expect women on college campuses to carry that weight.
jessica.substack.com
Carrying That Weight—Again
I can’t stop thinking about the Cornell rape case
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
A gallery of tree-dwelling ants.
alexanderwild.com
Arboreal Ants: Life in the Treetops - Alex Wild
In the warmer regions of the world, a rich and colorful ant fauna lives entirely in the trees.
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Tim Osborn @timosbornclim.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I’ve updated the long-running (starts 1866) CRU Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). This lets us compare the currently developing El Niño with earlier events including 1877-78. 2026 has developed very quickly, similar to the 1997-98 one. Thick line is 3-month running mean, with y-axis reversed.
1866-present timeseries of Climatic Research Unit SOI with some major El Niño events marked.
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Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I will be presenting "Ancient Trees Bring New Knowledge in Our Rapidly Changing World" as a part of the Hofstra University's Science Night Live public lecture series on Tuesday night, October 20th. If you live on or near Long Island, RSVP here: www.hofstra.edu/academics/cu...
A young woman coring a large Eastern White Pine in an old-growth forest in northern Minnesota.
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Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 23/09/2026
Updated version of the impacts map that incorporates the latest runs from 13 dynamical models to refine the areas affected by this year's event:
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Felix Hamer • electricfelix @electricfelix.eurosky.social · 22/09/2026
It gets better: refrigerated trailer⚡️⚡️⚡️ #amsterdamelektrisch #electrictruck
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Tuomas Pernu @tuomaspernu.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Hence "strategic conformity becomes a rational career path". Yes indeed. However, I don't see this as a mere early-career problem. The problem is bigger and more pervasive.
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Tuomas Pernu @tuomaspernu.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
"Contemporary scientific systems progressively constrain high-risk and conceptually innovative research while being increasingly structured around short funding cycles, productivity-based evaluation criteria and risk-averse frameworks that favour predictable and non-transformative research outputs."
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Nature Human Behaviour @nathumbehav.nature.com · 03/09/2026
How contemporary academic structures constrain scientific creativity and hold back early-career researchers
dlvr.it
How contemporary academic structures constrain scientific creativity and hold back early-career researchers
Nature Human Behaviour, Published online: 03 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41562-026-02575-5In this Perspective, Haubrock et al. argue that today’s scientific structures constrain creativity and that strategic conformity is a rational response. They discuss how this holds back early-career researchers from reaching their full potential as scientists.
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AGU Science Policy @aguscipolicy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🚨NSF seeks community input on future ocean observing priorities 🌊 Read the NSF Dear Colleague Letter here: spklr.io/63326ErWSG Submit your response by 9/30 using this form: spklr.io/63328ErWSy
spklr.io
Request for Input on Future Ocean Observing Priorities
Dear Colleagues, On June 18, 2026, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced its intent to continue operations and maintenance of the NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) and to issue this Dear Colleague Letter soliciting perspectives on what ocean observation capabilities NSF should provide.
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Earth and Planetary Sciences at ETH Zurich @eth-eaps.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at ETH Zurich invites applications for the position of Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) of Earth and Planetary Evolution. ethz.ch/en/the-eth-z... Please apply online. The closing date for applications is 15 December 2026.
ethz.ch
Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) of Earth and Planetary Evolution
The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (www.eaps.ethz.ch) at ETH Zurich invites applications for the above-mentioned position.
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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I talked to Gillian Brockell about the DHS Inspector General’s report on the use of “the box” at Alligator Alcatraz, why detainees’ descriptions of its size and use are likely more accurate than those in the report, and how “the box” has a long history in concentration camps around the world.
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Anthony Ricciardi @ecoinvasions.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Quote: "One of the greatest biological invasions [the Great American Biotic Interchange] highlights how biogeographic processes and biotic interactions can shape continental diversity."
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Nature Ecology & Evolution @natecoevo.nature.com · 14/09/2026
Obituary: Robert Ricklefs (1943–2026) www.nature.com/articles/s41... Polymath ecologist whose research and textbooks integrating ecology and evolution have inspired generations of students. Free to read: rdcu.be/D33fLgYcv4Ba
nature.com
Robert Ricklefs (1943–2026) - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Polymath ecologist whose research and textbooks integrating ecology and evolution have inspired generations of students.
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Tanya Cheeke @tanyacheeke.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
New paper showing that it took 7 years post-inoculation to see effects on plant communities, highlighting the importance of longterm studies in restoration research esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Inoculation with old‐growth microbes improves restoration quality and reduces non‐native encroachment after seven years
Understanding the mechanisms that promote native seedling establishment in disturbed ecosystems is key to improving the biodiversity and function of landscape restorations. Over seven growing seasons...
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Prof Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
🌊 Kelp forests are estimated to be losing ~1.8% (~11,500 km²) of their area annually. The striking part? The carbon-sink capacity lost from the climate-driven decline is 1,000–10,000× larger than the gains achieved via seaweed restoration, afforestation & farming. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
journals.plos.org
Seaweed carbon removal cannot keep up with climate-driven loss
Seaweed forests are widely viewed as natural climate solutions, yet warming oceans are driving their rapid decline. This Essay reveals that losses are outpacing restoration efforts by orders of magnit...
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ANJEC @anjec.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
In a scientific study involving birds of prey, including owls, hawks and eagles, SGAR rodenticide residues were detected in 96% of the birds tested. These anticoagulants can cause fatal internal bleeding. www.nj.com/opinion/2026...
nj.com
N.J.’s owls need protection from secondhand rat poison | Opinion
Rat poison used to kill rodents is also killing owls and other predators through secondary exposure, prompting calls for New Jersey to adopt other practices for rodent management.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 09/09/2026
NEW: Our analysis found that from 2020 to 2025, the rate of deaths involving ectopic pregnancies nearly doubled compared with the previous six-year period. The uptick was steeper in states with abortion bans.
propublica.org
Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.
With prompt and appropriate medical care, experts say, people shouldn’t die from an ectopic pregnancy. Women in Texas and Oklahoma have sued over delays in care, which, coupled with our new analysis, ...
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Timberdoodle, BUT SPOOKY @timberdoodlydoo.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This is incredibly, horribly stupid and bad. If you yank big trees out and move them, the chance of mortality is really high, and you could high-grade a species into extinction by doing it too.
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azcentral @azcentral.com · 05/09/2026
Trail cameras captured the clearest images yet of Cinco the jaguar. He's one of five jaguars known to have roamed Arizona in the last 15 years.
bit.ly
'Cinco' is on the move again. Meet all 5 jaguars spotted in Arizona
Trail cameras captured the clearest images yet of Cinco the jaguar. He's one of five jaguars known to have roamed Arizona in the last 15 years.
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Pastor Carl Ruby, of Springfield's Central Christian Church, can state the issue more clearly than 98% of people working in politics today.
"I wish President Trump could hear the mom's wails. The

family wants people to know that this was a suicide and they

want people to know that President Trump, (Stephen) Miller, and Markwayne Mullin's inhumane immigration policies made this happen," Ruby wrote.
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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 01/09/2026
Does it feel like those early fall nights are warmer than they used to be? Check out these big changes in overnight temperatures over the last 50 years across the contiguous United States during the month of September (not just cities)... More U.S. climate change maps: zacklabe.com/united-state...
Map of changes in September minimum temperatures across the contiguous United States from 1976 to 2025. Nearly all areas are seeing warming, which is largest over the South and West. Data is from NClimGrid.
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Norm Douglas @ringstem.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
This is very good news. ncbg.unc.edu/2026/08/31/u...
ncbg.unc.edu
UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke to combine herbaria, creating the third-largest university plant collection in the United States - North Carolina Botanical Garden
The combined herbaria will create an unmatched archive for studying plant diversity in the southeastern United States (Chapel Hill, N.C.— Aug. 31, 2026) UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University will unite....
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pmamtraveller.bsky.social @pmamtraveller.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
By Je Shen
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Micah @rincewind.run · 25/08/2026
dolly parton taught millions of children to read dolly parton raised millions of dollars for cancer research and disaster relief dolly parton stood by the lgbtq community her entire life dolly parton personally helped fund the moderna vaccine if there was a right side of something she was on it
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Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Bedrock lithology determines forest demographic responses to drought - Nature Communications
Drought threatens forests worldwide, but bedrock effects are overlooked. This study suggests that bedrock lithology reverses demographic drought responses in karst forests, leaving younger and smaller...
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Mark Norris @proftsuga.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
More trees are good for your health, but more big, old trees are even better. Yes, we should plant more trees but let's take good care of the ones that we already have too. Free gift article from The NYTimes www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/c...
nytimes.com
Climate: Saving Old Trees Might Save Lives (Gift Article)
We know that trees are good for cities. A new study finds that mature trees are especially good.
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Jigar Shah @jigarshahdc.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
This is what @leahstokes.bsky.social new book Climate Wave is about. substack.com/@leahstokes/...
substack.com
Leah Stokes (@leahstokes)
Fossil fuel companies spent over $100 million a year selling us all on the "carbon footprint" idea. No wonder this shoddy framework is everywhere. Let's replace it, with a new model for collective ac...
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Ben R Lee, PhD @benrlee.com · 19/08/2026
Took a lab camping trip to celebrate the end of the field season and I had the chance to encounter not one but TWO hellbenders!! Which had been on my Appalachia bucket list for a while now. This guy was about 2 feet long! #nature #salamanders #Appalachia
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altNOAA 🇺🇸 @altnoaa.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
American drug companies Merck and Moderna have created a vaccine that has stopped skin cancer returning in patients during a trial. Each vaccine is created specifically for an individual patient by sequencing DNA from patient's tumor and using mRNA to create the vaccine.
bbc.com
Vaccine breakthrough stops cancer returning in trial
A new jab extended the length of time patients were cancer free, but it is unclear for how long.
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Emily Herring @emilyherring.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I wrote about how strange it is that we think so little of our senses of taste and smell, and about two novelists and a philosopher who do a great job of rectifying this wellreadherring.substack.com/p/perfume-bu...
wellreadherring.substack.com
Perfume, Butter, and the Philosophy of Taste and Smell
This article was originally published in The New World magazine on August 13, 2025.
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Dr Dan Shugar 🇨🇦 @watershedlab.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Sitting on top of a giant landslide in Svalbard at 78N is a pretty fucking place to see the eclipse
Three men photographing the eclipse through glassesA man covering his eyes during the eclipse
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Carl Heilman II @carlheilman2.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The partially eclipsed sun through clouds at 1:34 PM, here in Brant Lake
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Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox.com · 07/08/2026
"Women accounted for 100 percent of the decline in the labor force in July, according to a National Women’s Law Center analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s latest dismal jobs report. Overall, the economy lost 23,000 jobs in July: Women lost 32,000 jobs, while men gained 9,000."
newrepublic.com
Trump’s Terrible July Jobs Numbers Only Hurt Women
And the number of women who have left the workforce since January is more than double the number of men.
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Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
I moved to Alabama in 1991 and studied a forest in South Carolina in the early 1990s. There have been recent morning and evenings in eastern Massachusetts that brought me back to the Deep South. Thursday night I was in southern Connecticut. It clearly was Southeast humidity levels
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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 08/08/2026
What is expected to be one of our strongest El Niños in the historical record continues to unfold. It's very impressive how extensive the warm waters are stretching across nearly the entire central Pacific Ocean now, which is visible in last month's pattern Data: www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/opt... 🌊
Map of July 2026 average sea surface temperature anomalies in the ENSO monitoring regions. Data is from NOAA OISSTv2.1 with anomalies relative to a 1991-2020 baseline.
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The Revelator @therevelator.org · 05/08/2026
A Gnarly Situation: High-Elevation Discovery Raises New Questions About Which California Trees Will Survive Climate Change therevelator.org/california-trees-c…
therevelator.org
A Gnarly Situation: High-Elevation Discovery Raises New Questions About Which California Trees Will Survive Climate Change • The Revelator
Birds may have been burying Jeffrey pine seeds up high for thousands of years. But now that they’re sprouting, this new species of subalpine tree may change the playing field.
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Miguel Bastos Araújo, PhD @miguelbaraujo.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Thinking big: The case for experimental macroecology nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Thinking big: the case for experimental macroecology
Click on the article title to read more.
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Jean-Paul Blartre: Mall Cop @oldpappythomas.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I did a paper that considered the response to the 1918 pandemic right as Covid was getting going and we...decided largely to pretend it never happened and with it and the end of the war we went "well that's it, back to normal" then everyone spent the 1920s going insane. bsky.app/profile/erik...
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Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Widespread carbon accumulation in mature forests remains underestimated by satellite observations "Satellite estimates indicate near-neutral biomass changes over recent decades, whereas forest inventories estimate an increase of 102 TgC yr−1" www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Widespread carbon accumulation in mature forests remains underestimated by satellite observations - Nature Ecology & Evolution
The authors combine satellites, repeat airborne lidar, dynamic global vegetation models and field plot monitoring across the conterminous USA to show widespread continued carbon accumulation in mature...
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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 03/08/2026
Overnight temperatures are warming up across much of the contiguous United States during the month of August. Some of the largest trends are across the West, especially for daytime maximum temperatures (which I will post later). More U.S. climate change visuals: zacklabe.com/united-state...
Map of changes in August minimum temperatures across the contiguous United States from 1976 to 2025. Nearly all areas are seeing warming, which is largest over the South and West. Data is from NClimGrid.
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Kevin Anchukaitis @thirstygecko.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I am pleased to announce that we are inviting applications for a Lead Laboratory Coordinator at the University of Arizona’s Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. Review of applications will begin on September 15, 2026. For details and to apply, visit arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
arizona.csod.com
Lead Laboratory Coordinator, Tree Ring Laboratory
In this role, you will:Lead the oversight of a dendrochronology laboratory in collaboration with the Director, including the mentoring, training,...
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Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
From the author: "this forest gets 3500 mm of rain/yr and has no distinct dry season...initial hypothesis: these trees grow more when there is more light." "Trees were still more likely to grow under wetter conditions (low VPD ☁️ 🌡️, high soil moisture 💧)" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Water Limits Radial Tree Growth More Than Light in an Everwet Subtropical Forest
We deployed automated point dendrometers on 35 trees representing three life history strategies in an everwet subtropical forest with 3500 mm rain annually and no pronounced dry season. Contrary to t...
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Kate Marvel @drkatemarvel.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
It's not that climate change is "worse than expected". It just feels worse when it happens to *you*
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