Lab undergraduate student Dan Chen (now graduated!) just published a new methods paper on doing statistical inference on hypervolumes. It provides some important extensions to the hypervolume R package to do hypothesis tests, calculate p-values, etc. He and Alex Laini did the key development work. You can read it at the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution open-access here ..read more

History Colorado’s Lost Highways podcast recently featured my article, A Lynching in Gothic, Colorado?. You can listen to the episode, put together by Blake Pfeil, at: https://pod.link/1477656916/episode/78f0ec1c4599c869782eabecd9c2cfc0 How did the mountains get so white? Not snow, but people. It wasn’t always so. And on this episode we look at a particular history of violence toward Chinese immigrants and Indigenous communities in one of Colorado’s scenic mountain towns. We’ll examine how it echoes in the present with increased violence toward Asian communities that began during the height of ..read more

We’ve had a lot to celebrate this last week – Erin passed her PhD qualifying exam, Megan and Aunnesha presented their theses to the College. They co-won the university’s Melis Medal, awarded for the best undergraduate thesis and distinction in research. It’s wonderful to see their hard work recognized by our community ..read more

Several lab members and collaborators are presenting at AGU in San Francisco this year – check out their work! Luiza Aparecido Abstract ID: 1251715 Final Paper Number and Abstract Title: B43D-01: Stomatal conductance depends on leaf temperature in addition to vapor pressure deficit: a meta-analysis across biomes Presentation Type: Oral Session Number and Title: B43D: Vegetation Canopies: Physiology, Structure, Function I Oral Session Date and Time: Thursday, 14 December 2023; 14:10 – 15:40 PST Presentation Length: 14:12 – 14:22 PST Location: MC, 3010 – West Benjamin Blonder Abstract ID: 131832 ..read more

Our new book just came out, building on a decade of K-12 education work at Sky School. You can buy the print version (all royalties donated), or also read the book freely online or download a PDF. The book is the outcome of five years of writing and is lavishly illustrated with examples of students learning and of student work. Please give it a read, or share with your networks! Place-Based Scientific Inquiry: A Practical Handbook for Teaching Outside By Benjamin Wong Blonder, Ja’Nya Banks, Austin Cruz, Anna Dornhaus, R. Keating Godfrey, Joshua S. Hoskinson, Rebecca Lipson, Pacifica Sommers ..read more

Jarome Ali just led a new paper on bird extinctions,  using  hypervolume  methods to assess how functional diversity varies for almost all species of birds under different extinction risks. This was part of his masters’ work and is an important contribution. White-necked Rockfowl (Picathartes gymnocephalus): a morphologically distinctive species threatened with extinction. Credit: Joe Tobias Read the article, or the journal summary, or check out the press coverage ..read more

Fieldwork in ecology and the environmental sciences often leads to negative physical and emotional outcomes for workers. I argue that this is largely due to an abdication of responsibility on the part of their supervisors, and that supervisors are charged with carrying three interlinked moral burdens: first, the duty of promoting safety; second, the duty of ensuring safe experiences are accessible to all; and third, the duty of continuing to learn and improve. To help, I offer a set of safety actions that supervisors can easily implement. I then offer a set of personal reflections on how we sh ..read more

Ten large-enrollment courses in the Departments of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM), Integrative Biology, and Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology were substantially revamped over the summer to better incorporate inclusive and anti-racist approaches to course design and teaching practices. This was one of my summer projects, and I’m so proud of the work and people we were able to support by combining strengths across multiple funding streams – learn more at either of the links below! Press piece: https://nature.berkeley.edu/news/2022/09/ten-uc-berkeley-courses-revamped-inco ..read more

Summary: We have a funded opportunity for one recently-graduated student (degree awarded between Jan 2022 – Jan 2023) who has NOT had substantial prior research experience and wishes to get it. Topic: You will seek to understand how and why leaf structure and anatomy varies in a wide range of plant species. We will teach you image analysis techniques and build your skillset in understanding plant ecophysiology as well as in data organization, data analysis, and scientific writing. This research contributes to a multi-year study of the evolution of biological transportation networks and is fun ..read more

Two of the lab’s wonderful students will be presenting posters at ESA in Montréal this week. Please stop by to learn about their exciting work! Lisa Garcia (REU 2021 from University of New Mexico, REPS 2022) Poster #: PS 28-94 Poster ID:  1233946 Poster Title: “Embolism spreading varies depending on contrasting leaf vein networks and herbivory treatments” Online Program Link: https://cdmcd.co/QM9J58 PS 28 – Herbivory Session Date: Tuesday August 16, 2022 Session Time: 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM Eastern Time Erin Carroll (PhD student) Poster ..read more