Our #ConservationDog, Filson is in a children’s book, 𝘋𝘰𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘑𝘰𝘣𝘴 by Andrea Rowe (& even has his own coloring page)! 🥲 We’re so proud of his hard work for wildlife & for inspiring the next generation wildlife biologists.

Sniff it out: www.readings.com.au/product/9781...

I’m really concerned about early career scientists using generative AI in writing, because writing is how we think and reflect. There’s almost nothing *more* human than that, and to give that gift away to a machine is almost unconscionable to me

And another article featured thanks to Matt Delheimer’s photography of female marten F20 in Lassen NF, California 💗. Huge shoutout to @roguedogs.bsky.social, Matt, and the Levi and Moriarty research programs for collaborative peek into the diets of martens in the PNW and across North America

Cover of the December 2025 issue of Ecosphere

Take a peek—the December cover of "Ecosphere" is here! With a curious marten photographed as part of a recent study that finds these small carnivores have remarkable foraging and diet flexibility across North American forests

Browse the issue: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/21508925...

Calling on all forest disturbance experts: Please consider contributing to our study on global forest disturbance change, and help resolve the nuances of changing forest disturbance regimes. More details and survey here: www.lss.ls.tum.de/edfm/disturb...

Opportunities ***PhD and MSc openings – Movement ecology and conservation*** I will periodically support graduate students, postdocs, and other staff through the Biology Department at the University of New…

I’m recruiting a PhD and MSC student for fall 2026 working on the movement ecology and conservation of Mexican spotted owls in SW forests and rocky canyonlands. Exciting partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory. Great vibrant lab group, high impact research! 🦉

gavinmjones.com/opportunities/

💙 Excited to have participated in this dynamic wildlife research alongside Martin et al.(2025) in Yosemite NP. By our side when we snapped this pic? Our cowoofer, Filson. 👇🏽 We're grateful to his nose for all the data he helped detect!

-With @mellenmartin.bsky.social

Filson says he still can't believe @oikosjournal.bsky.social chose this pic! Awoo! He appreciated the opportunity to contribute to wildlife surveys in Yosemite NP alongside this team of amazing researchers. 👏🏽🐾

Our (very!) collaborative look at the lives of carnivores in Yosemite gets a feature thanks to @roguedogs.bsky.social amazing camera work 😊 Yosemite is an ecological and aesthetic marvel!

Our cover for December! 🦊

Martin et al.(2025) show that species like bobcats, cougars, coyotes, gray foxes, and martens largely avoid each other in space but share surprisingly similar diets—revealing how landscape conditions shape coexistence but also their delicate balance.

vist.ly/4h3ks

Native American tribe reclaims land at the edge of Yosemite National Park The tribal nation that calls Yosemite National Park its ancestral home has reclaimed a stunning piece of its historical territory with the acquisition of 800 acres along the edge of the park.

Occasionally there is good news.

Folks: I will be flying an ad for well funded PhD and MSc positions in the coming days. If you want to do movement ecology and conservation with these incredible animals… watch this space 🦉🌲

Fredston Lab: Postdoctoral Scholar University of California, Santa Cruz is hiring. Apply now!

POSTDOC JOB AD: I'm hiring a Bayesian ecologist to build a (IMO, extremely fun) model of humpback whale spatiotemporal dynamics in California

2-year position starting fall 2026. in-person in Santa Cruz; collab w with Mevin Hooten's lab at UT Austin.

ask me Qs or apply: recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF02003

How indigenous practices can help protect forests The Post followed cultural burning practices, an Indigenous tradition now permitted under California law and used to help protect forests from wildfires.

In June, the @washingtonpost.com sent me and @byaliceli.bsky.social to witness cultural burns in California. We learned how they encourage beneficial vegetation, reduce wildfire risk, and provide traditional food and craft sources for tribes in the Klamath region.

🎁: wapo.st/3J7BQTL

new pub out — Yosemite is a perfect (and picturesque) place to show how heterogeneity can shape species distributions and foraging patterns. Grateful to Yosemite NP, Levi & Sacks labs & @roguedogs.bsky.social for their collaboration 💗

🌄🥩Landscape heterogeneity shapes the spatial and diet partitioning of a montane carnivore guild

📷 © Jennifer Hart

vist.ly/47zke

#Competition #DetectionDogTeam #HierarchicalModeling #HighThroughputSequencing #IntegratedOccupancyModel #NichePartitioning #NonInvasiveSampling

Evaluating macroecological fire impacts on bird populations Fire regimes are context-dependent, as are the ways that animals respond. However, most information on animal responses to fire comes from short-term local field studies, which are hard to extrapolat....

We have a new paper developing methods for looking at bird-fire macroecology. What’s most fascinating to me is that the magnitude *and* direction of fire effects can vary enormously across a species range. Stationarity is dead!! Long live non-stationarity!!

doi.org/10.1002/fee....

🚨 New Paper in Eco Apps 🚨 - Our research team at USFS PNW Research Station used a long-term adaptive management experiment to test the effects of forest thinning on wildlife habitat in the Tongass National Forest 🧵 esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social

Unfortunately for Americans who want to not experience things like "bubonic plague," we also can't write NIH or NSF grants about this kind of thing anymore. I dunno, seems important

Spent last week in the field measuring veg and tagging seedlings in our small mammal exclosures at HJ Andrews experimental forest. Bit of a surreal landscape following the 2023 Lookout Fire.

Crater Lake superintendent resigns, citing staff shortages Since he started at Crater Lake in January, Kevin Heatley has seen Crater Lake’s permanent workforce cut in half, and onboarding seasonal staff was delayed by a month. "Things are not OK," he said.

“Things are not OK,” Heatley told OPB on Monday. “This is not a normal situation. This is a paradigm shift that is having repercussions that will last for at least a generation.”

As Trump comes after research, Forest Service scientists keep working - High Country News Scientists describe how they’re preparing for the upcoming field season despite the challenges.

www.hcn.org/issues/57-6/...

I'm looking for a postdoc in quantitative ecology / macroecology to start in summer/fall 2025 in my lab at Oklahoma State University. Please spread the word

www.gilbertecology.com/opportunities

“Should AI be allowed to review papers or grant proposals” always reveals a thing I think people don’t understand about algorithmic bias 🧵

A tweet by Sec. Doug Burgum: The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is to work with others to “conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.” The Department of the Interior is excited about the potential of “de-extinction” technology and how it may serve broader purposes beyond the recovery of lost species, including strengthening biodiversity protection efforts and helping endangered or at-risk species. The Endangered Species List has become like the Hotel California: once a species enters, they never leave. In fact, 97 percent of species that are added to the endangered list remain there. This is because the status quo is focused on regulation more than innovation. It’s time to fundamentally change how we think about species conservation. Going forward, we must celebrate removals from the endangered list - not additions. The only thing we’d like to see go extinct is the need for an endangered species list to exist. We need to continue improving recovery efforts to make that a reality, and the marvel of “de-extinction” technology can help forge a future where populations are never at risk. Since the dawn of our nation, it has been innovation – not regulation – that has spawned American greatness. The revival of the Dire Wolf heralds the advent of a thrilling new era of scientific wonder, showcasing how the concept of “de-extinction” can serve as a bedrock for modern species conservation. The Dire Wolf revival carries profound cultural significance as it embodies strength and courage that is deeply encoded within the DNA of American identity and tribal heritage. Breakthroughs of this nature will inspire leading minds and future generations of innovators to chase the impossible, capture it, and unleash its potential! The Department of the Interior looks forward to a vibrant future full of innovation that advances core missions such as wildlife conservation.

This is why the media’s credulous boosterism for Colossal is so dangerous. “Innovation, not regulation” is tech-bro propaganda. It’s the false promise that any problem can be solved with some future breakthrough that will enable the same people who got us into this to profit from the solutions.

we got a copy of this in Madison and I said Zac Efron picked up a side gig

Looking for someone that can lead the Indigenous Stewardship Network and help progress a new era if indigenous stewardship throughout California. jobs.gusto.com/postings/ind...

AI is transforming peer review — and many scientists are worried Artificial intelligence software is increasingly involved in reviewing papers, provoking interest and unease.

#PeerReview is too important to let it get destroyed by AI.

We need to be making it easier for scientists to evaluate each other's work, while also making the process fun and engaging.

This is possible with collaborative peer review like what we've built @stacksjournal.bsky.social.

#SciPub

Excited to share the news that I have accepted a TT assistant professor position at @rutgersuniversity.bsky.social in the Dept of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources! I will be recruiting a postdoc and grad students soon for my wildlife disease ecology lab, so check back in here!