Athma

At the Forest’s Edge: New Research Uncovers How Microbes Shape Ecosystem Resilience Microbes are everywhere – on your skin, in your gut, in the soil beneath your feet, even floating in the air you breathe. Most people think of microbes in simple terms: some make you sick, while other...

Come join the TIDAL team if you like big data parasitism, growing weird fungi, or pretending to model random noise!
(Also folks who are into translating ecology into policy)

cdsp.wm.edu/about/news-e...

Looking forward to the Modern Coexistence Theory workshop tomorrow.

Please repost :)

Have thoughts for a special symposium at the Virtual Evolution meeting (May 20-22, 2026)? The @asn-amnat.bsky.social is looking for proposals! Click here to pitch your idea or find out more: www.amnat.org/announcement... #Evol2026

Are you a recent grad interested in global change?
Check out the ROADS program at UTEP: www.utep.edu/science/ramp/
I will be co-advising a student with Dr. Liz LaRue.
The project will combine a water competition experiment and remote sensing at Jornada Experimental Range.
Reach out with questions!

Rigorous validation of ecological models against empirical time series - Nature Ecology & Evolution Validating theoretical models against empirical data presents challenges. Here the authors present an assumption-light method to validate ecological models against time series data, along with a dedic...

Ecology faces an accumulation of models but not an accumulation of confidence. Our new paper w/ Jonathan Levine www.nature.com/articles/s41... in @natecoevo.nature.com introduces a rigorous test rooted in queueing theory to falsify inadequate models and build confidence in useful ones.

Interested in theory and looking for a postdoc or grad school? Come talk to me at #ESA2025!
resiliencelab.github.io/join/

Is there another way? Progress happens with theory, maybe not always with mathematical theory, but some theory.

Nut cracking is good and all, but don't we want the rising sea kind of solution?

We find stable coexistence of Rüger's tropical tree demographic strategies (slow, fast, short-lived breeders, and long-lived pioneers) in a model with just competition for light and stochastic small-scale disturbances.

Great work, Damla Cinoğlu!
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

I had the exact same question earlier this year. @jmoutouama.bsky.social said it is because that was a default theme on windows 95!!!

i made a new framework for modelling stochastic eco-evolutionary dynamics of multivariate traits !!

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Theory of host-microbe symbioses: Challenges and opportunities Growing insight into microbial symbioses highlights the need to model these systems mathematically. We discuss three areas requiring theoretical advan…

Our article on the challenges and opportunities in studying host-microbe symbioses is now published in Cell Host & Microbe! @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Against reductionism: "Our understanding of the world is built up of innumerable layers. Each is worth exploring, as long as we do not forget that it is one of many. Knowing all there is to know about one layer (...) would not teach us much about the rest". Erwin Chargaff

How I finally found my confidence as a scientist After three postdoc positions, this researcher now sees her skills and knowledge as valuable

I urge you to read this. The doubt, success, growth process hits home for countless academic trainees. I was on the mentor side of Maria's journey; She has the heart to put the journey on the table.

Below are a few quotes that I believe stand out 🧵:

www.science.org/content/arti...

So emotional seeing my first-ever teaching evaluations! 😭 Creating all the materials from scratch was tough, but incredibly rewarding.

I put a lot of thought into what students need in the AI era—sharing the complete class materials here in case they're helpful: clsong.github.io/EEB_C234/01_...

Just out:
A geometric approach to beta diversity

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Led by the brilliant
@clsong.bsky.social & Muyang Lu.

Modeling and Theory in Population Biology | NITMB

Feb 28 deadline for junior folk to apply for travel to the annual @smtpb.bsky.social meeting on Mathematical & Theoretical Population Biology in Chicago. For those paying their own travel & accommodation (no registration!) it is March 14. Apply here: www.nitmb.org/modeling-and... @nitmb.bsky.social