Emily Blackwell

Eco-evolutionary dynamics shaping biodiversity in the urban mosaic Nature Reviews Biodiversity - The urban mosaic is a complex assimilation of habitats, biotic and abiotic factors with eco-evolutionary influence on local and regional biodiversity. In this Review,...

Excited to share our new review in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com, coauthored w/allstar postdocs @vale-alaasam.bsky.social @annainthefield.bsky.social @anthonysnead.bsky.social Bridging island biogeography & evolutionary processes, we explore how eco-evo dynamics play out in the urban mosaic rdcu.be/e4tcj

I Shall Never Mess Up Again | Defector How do you mend a broken three-chambered heart? This question tailed me as I wandered lost and lonely from the burrow of the frog I once loved most ardently. It is true she endeavored to devour me, re...

honored to welcome A. Frog back to the pages of Defector for what might have been his final blog
defector.com/is-this-the-...

Mote Reports Record Sea Turtle Nesting Numbers for 2025 This year saw more 1,366 more sea turtle nests on local beaches than last year, including some incubating into November.

A bit of good news today: Mote Marine recorded a record number of sea turtle nests in Sarasota County this season!

www.sarasotamagazine.com/travel-and-o...

Rainforest animals are using tourist walkways, offering clues for conservation design Look up in the woods and you may see a familiar sight: squirrels using tree limbs like a leafy highway, crossing a patch of land without putting their paws on the ground.

2025. Rainforest animals are using tourist walkways, offering clues for conservation design phys.org/news/2025-10...

Rodent indent not self-evident: a case of mistaken identity of the ‘Chicago Rat Hole’ | Biology Letters The ‘Chicago Rat Hole’ is a remarkable full body impression ostensibly created by a brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) crossing fresh concrete in Chicago’s Roscoe Village that became a viral sensation. Whi...

This crucially important and obviously visionary work makes me feel vindicated for having said the same thing last year, albeit with much less evidence, while being mercilessly mocked by the city and its residents. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

The Chicago Rat Hole Was Not Made by a Rat A statistical analysis of an infamous indentation in a sidewalk suggested a 99 percent likelihood that another rodent made the mark.

A team of researchers analyzed the anatomical dimensions of an infamous imprint on a Chicago sidewalk, sifting through photos and measuring mammal specimens in museum collections to put what they were seeing in context.

Their conclusion? The Chicago Rat Hole was not made by a rat.

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

The #NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program #GRFP solicitation is coming soon!

The due date for Life Sciences proposals is 27 October 2025.

For more info: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Beyond the Shade: The Growing Disadvantages of the London Plane When I was younger, I remember thinking to myself: “This tree is losing its skin, is it dying?” I believe I can’t be the only child that thought this when first looking at a London plane. Little di…

Really enjoyed this post on @litc-urbanevo.bsky.social this week. Very cool to learn about the history and uncertain future of this staple of urban street trees! urbanevolution-litc.com/2025/08/26/b...

I’m at #ESA2025! But just for today. I’m giving an inspire talk this afternoon on urban evolutionary ecology. Come find out what I think about when people ask me “if wildlife are adapting to cities, will evolution solve all our problems?”

Why Did National Geographic Disappear Its Own Documentary About A Queer Climate Scientist? | Defector If you’re not a particular kind of mountain sports nerd, you might not be familiar with the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour. But for people who live their lives in the overlapping circl...

Last fall, I attended the premiere of a film that meant a lot to me. In late January, all of its hundreds of planned screenings were canceled without explanation. For @defector.com, I went digging:

Seeing More Fireflies in New York City This Year? You’re Not Alone. Hot and humid weather is perfect for the blinking bugs.

lightning bug summer 💡

Managed to lasso this stunning Puerto Rican blue-tailed ameiva (Pholidoscelis wetmorei) yesterday! 🦎💙

One week ago, we wrapped up another successful field season in Puerto Rico! We completed the 8th season of my mark-recapture surveys for three species of Puerto Rican anole. We also added another 10 sites to our PR anole niche space project, bringing our total to 30 sites.

Yay data! Yay anoles! 🦎🦎

Protect transgender scientists Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGnC) people are a primary target of the Trump administration. Multiple executive orders seek to erase TGnC protections; mandate denial of gender identity; and ba...

Protect transgender scientists | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Headline in the Columus Dispatch from June 15th 2025. It reads Google pays $63 million for New Albany land for a potential data center

eBird sightings of Grasshopper Sparrows in the area this year. They are all clustered around the location of this business park.

Want a depressing fact?

Google announces they’ve purchased a property near Columbus Ohio for a new data center. That undeveloped business park is one of the only places around here that hosts Grasshopper Sparrows, a rapidly declining state-endangered bird.

Fun new things starting in the lab this summer as we dive deeper into the intersection of urbanization and invasion!
This is an invasive wall lizard from NYC, a project being led by postdocs @annainthefield.bsky.social & @anthonysnead.bsky.social along with our summer REU students and NYU undergrads

a raccoon sticking its pink tongue out ALT: a raccoon sticking its pink tongue out

From Emily Blackwell: Raccons may be more susceptible to heat stress, given their responses (site occupancy & activity patterns) to urban heat islands #IUWC2025

Amphibian Road Mortality Drops by Over 80% with Wildlife Underpasses, Study Shows | UVM News | The University of Vermont A new UVM-led study shows that wildlife underpass tunnels dramatically reduce deaths of frog, salamanders and other amphibians migrating across roads.

"Scientists and citizens assessed the effectiveness of two wildlife underpasses installed under a road in Monkton, Vermont. The results were striking: an 80.2% reduction in amphibian deaths."

Glad to see this new study proving the utility of herp crossings! #roadecology

www.uvm.edu/uvmnews/news...

Getting excited for #IUWC2025! I'll be presenting my Master's research on the impacts of artificial light and urban heat islands on urban mammals. Plus, I'll have zines 👀

CSU Underscores Impact of Potential Pell Grant Cuts | CSU The CSU is warning of the potential impact to thousands of its students in the House budget reconciliation bill.

If the House GOP spending plan becomes law, the California State University system's 400,000+ undergraduate students would lose $200m+ in Pell grants (~40% of CSU students get this).

60% of CSU students would lose some or all Pell funding.

Supplemental Feeding as a Driver of Population Expansion and Morphological Change in Anna's Hummingbirds Bird beaks are highly adaptable, with the potential to undergo rapid morphological shifts in response to environmental change such as climatic variation or food availability. Anna's Hummingbirds (Cal...

🚨New paper alert!🚨
We show that hummingbird beaks have changed in shape & size since around WWII, driven by the rise of commercialized feeders! 🧵
📄 Paper: dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb....
#ornithology #evolution #GlobalChangeBiology

a camera trap photo of a goose with bright shining eyes

Arguably the goofiest goose #cameratrapping photo we have collected in over 15 years of biodiversity monitoring throughout #Chicago. Be on the look out for laser eyes here in Humboldt Park! 🧪

Grateful as always for Craig Pittman's thoughtful reporting on Florida conservation and environmental policy news

Terrestrial mammal diversity at Hansen Dam (Los Angeles, California, USA): flood control area acts as habitat in a human-dominated landscape Urban expansion is a prominent threat to biodiversity, particularly for terrestrial mammals, which are significantly impacted by disruptions in habitat connectivity and loss. It can also lead to incre...

Very happy to use my first bluesky post to share this work surveying mammals in Hansen Dam that was just published! Huge thank yous to Amanda Zellmer, Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, and our partners at USGS for their collaboration and support on this project! checklist.pensoft.net/article/1290...

Invasive Species in the Intertidal — Slide Ranch

check out this piece i wrote about my thesis project investigating invasive species in marine protected areas!

www.slideranch.org/ranchthymes/...

I have a confession
.
.
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I was an “overhead cost”.

I was a beaker washer, agar plate pourer, research secretary. I was paid by “overhead cost” fees. Loved it.

Those “overhead cost” jobs allowed this rural kid to become a physician.

Please tag how #OverheadCostJob impact u.

an email from the society for integrative and comparative biology that reads "Attn SICB Members: The past few weeks have been a stressful time in our scientific community, and we want to make our position clear: The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology unequivocally condemns recent attacks on scientific integrity, funding for scientific research, and the importance of broadening participation in science."

This is how you do it.

Thank you @sicbjournals.bsky.social

Read their whole email to membership here
mailchi.mp/sicb.org/sic...

Had a great doing fieldwork in Puerto Rico for two weeks! I joined the most amazing team and I can't imagine a better start to the semester.

We love an Anolis cuvieri day 💚🦎

One of my favorite anoles, Anolis pulchellus, looking at its beautiful reflection in a car window.