Scatter plot of n occurances verses area of occupancy for ~280 freshwater mussel species; imperiled species have less occurrences and smaller area of occupancy.

A map showing that the number of museum lots is highest in Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. The west USA has few occurrences.

John Pfeiffer, @phishbiologist.bsky.social, and I synthesized mussel occurrences from 45 museum collections to aid their use in conservation and ecology research.

In Bio Conservation: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Smithsonian press:
www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/nation...

I miss read the email and was doing it wrong. My first attempt was correct. 🤦‍♀️ don't doubt yourself, Traci

Another day, another stress cry/rant about statistics.

Thanks 🥰

Thermal Traits of Anurans Database for the Southeastern United States (TRAD): A Database of Thermal Trait Values for 40 Anuran Species Thermal traits, or how an animal responds to changing temperatures, impacts species persistence and thus biodiversity. Trait databases, as repositories of consolidated, measured organismal attributes,...

New paper alert! 🎉
We compiled a thermal trait database for 🐸species in the SE 🇺🇸 . Thermal traits can tell us about climate change vulnerability (CCV), but only if they exist! We found that being rarer = less trait data, so maybe more uncertain CCV.

doi.org/10.1643/h202...

I've got a full draft of my paper 🤠

Also good luck!

An unexpected tip (that you probably won't need to worry about because you have a wonderfully full life): have a hobby you are ready to chat and share about. I was still in 'all I do is work and take care of my toddler' mode at my last interview and it made small talk with childless adults hard.

In 'Mom in December' fashion I 1) didn't realize a tech was ready to roll on something, so samples are not prepped and 2) January 1st is a holiday, so I shouldn't prep more samples then. I'm glad the husband took charge of 🎄 shopping, or we'd be in a mad dash.

One of the truly insidious things about the post-docalyptic culture of moving every few years is that you not only never get to build a community in place, but it also deprives communities of young, talented experts who can serve on things like school boards and county commissions.

Incandescent with rage reading with this

when a bunch of kindergartners are better at keeping a cool head in a horrific situation, it really makes it clear how hollow cops' "we're so tough and brave" bullshit really is

😐

I thought my bad mood today was related to burn out... but the better explanation is the toddler not sleeping well + the spouse being called away for a 3am flood just led to a weird morning. Weird vibes and low productivity doesn't have to lead to a bad mood.

A man and little red headed girl, with space buns, look at a shopping list off screen.

Three and space-buns look great on this little one. So excited for our future adventures.

~1 more week until our planned 1st review of applications for a new Analytical Laboratory Manager at Virginia Tech! Please share widely & reach out if you have questions. Stream Team is an inclusive & collaborative group + Blacksburg is a lovely little mountain/college town. @careylab.bsky.social

Herbarium folks, anyone have issues with a glue in the bottle getting moldy? The glue is from herbarium supplies. This same glue also seems to be changing the colors of the leaves when dried.

speaking as a postdoc: precarity. everything is contingent on grants that increasingly don't get funded. we're expected to hang on longer and longer for a shrinking number of TT jobs in positions that only pay enough to live life on pause, and attacks on higher ed just keep shrinking the job pool.

Tenure-track position focused on temperature stress. Come join me at VT!

careers.pageuppeople.com/968/cw/en-us...

My Nonprofit Field Inclusive is happy to offer THREE $500 Research Grants for 2024! Two research grants are available for any natural science research, while one is available only for climate-focused research.

Learn more and apply: www.fieldinclusive.org/research-gra...

Plz share w/ your networks.

I think about this dichotomy often since I am working on mussel declines. I tell myself, "all we can do is try to make our little part of the world a little better for all", but it feels too small in the face of all the world's problems.

If you're on a search committee this year, and a colleague points out that someone got a Ph.D. in 2015, or 2011, or 2019, and maybe that time gap indicates a certain spoiling, a decline in quality, simply say...
"We're hiring a professor, not buying an egg salad sandwich."

I am using my 'a postdoc and on the job market' status to complain. Writing is hard.

*cue Firebringer I don't want to do the work today gif*

I'm tired of the tension between making sure your research is novel, NOT applied, sufficiently covers the literature, while highlighting what we don't know, with a tiny word count.

Most of this research is either at global scales or few species. But regional scale & multispecies = too narrow scope

A two panel screenshot from The Good Place where Janet is speaking to Chidi while Michael stands behind her. In the first panel she's holding up a finger, grinning, and saying, "Fun fact: Columbus in the Bad Place" In the second panel she's saying, "Because of all the raping, slave trade, and genocide."

oh is it monday

I'm thrilled someone quantified this!!

I've long suspected that women & other under-represented groups have to fight harder past reviewers and often shoot for lower-tier journals as a result.

If true, their articles would "overperform" for a given tier journal in terms of citations (🧵...)

Do cover letters count for my daily writing goal? Or am I just procrastinating on writing because I don't have full datasets yet?

I'm so sorry. She was wonderful and will be missed.

Looks like someone left the door open for most of my #geography and freshwater sci friends/heroes to join here, so its a good time to ask one of my favorite questions: Who wants to be a part of an interdisciplinary/social sci session at #2024SFS? All backgrounds/career stages welcome to join the fun

Writing is among the most underemphasized/under-appreciated aspect of doing science. Reading and thinking are too too far behind.

Baking with the 2.5 yo means my kitchen, my kid, and now my couch are covered in flour and my kolaches were not 'lightly' floured. 😂

It was a nice moment and the kolaches will be great.