Brad Carlson

Effects of Sample Storage Conditions and Individual Characteristics on Innate Immune Assays in Box Turtles Immune assays are increasingly being used to study immunity in wild animals, with applications in ecology, evolution, and conservation. However, the use of immune assays is hindered by the limited ta...

New paper with 6 of my undergrads: box turtle blood samples perform better in immune tests if stored frozen, and the sexes (and individuals) differ in immune performance: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

People naming the siren, an elongated and drab aquatic salamander:
"What's that word for something that is irresistibly alluring yet dangerous?"
"You okay?"

Many snakes use a defense in which they spray feces, urine, and glandular secretions from their butt. This produces a revolting, hard-to-remove scent. Herp people call this stink "musk" and being hit with it "getting musked".
Just a random snake fact that's come to mind lately for some reason.

This may sound primitive and unscientific, but through the fairies, we COULD ask Mothra for help

Linnaeus gave domestic cats the Latin name Felis catus. I think this proves that he forgot to name them, and then somebody asked about them so he panicked and named them on the fly.

True!

America came with warning labels

The thing about venomous American snakes versus venomous Australian snakes is that the American ones have rattles and big white mouths and bright primary color banding, whereas the Australian ones look like the result of an AI prompt for "generic brownish snake"

Thanks so much! I will have to look more into it then!

Real ones know those angles are all wrong for turtle mating

You're telling me not only do they combine anatomical features of beavers, ducks, and snakes, but they also combine their modes of locomotion?!

Amazing! How readily can this be done with publicly accessible scans available in digital repositories? I don't work with scans, but I imagine creating custom renderings like this being useful for when I teach vertebrate anatomy. Being able to produce selected views of model animals would be great.

The theme is that this is a gecko who knows what evils have been wrought by human hands and the gecko is taking vengeance for nature.

I am normally disciplined about not accepting peer review invitations that I don't have time for, but apparently I will throw that rule out the window if the topic is orangutan. I will make the time for those sweet, lanky armed goofballs of the forest.

"But some experts are less eager to jump to that conclusion" Who are these experts that don't want that to be true? This doesn't sound like the thinking of any biologist I would trust

I'm a turtle scientist!

As a turtle scientist I approve this and all your messages.

With snow on the ground now, here is the last box turtle found during my research season. He was at the bottom of a small gorge at my study site. Did he tumble down or climb down, and how much energy will it take to get out of the gorge? It's a struggle for me. #herpetology #ecology #turtles

I'm guessing this is AI generated. If it is, then it is a great argument in favor of AI. No one would have put in the time to make this but thanks to AI it now exists, and we can see that we needed it all along.

Two boats with a net dragged between them

A net showing captured plastic and marine life, which is circled in red

"CLEANING" THE OCEAN USING NETS IS A DANGEROUS IDEA.

The Ocean Cleanup is using boats & a net to collect ocean plastic (left). I've circles all the animals trapped in their early prototypes (right).

There are better ways to solve the ocean plastic problem... 🧵
#INC5 #PlasticsTreaty #PlasticTreaty

Fun fact: the majority of components of a traditional Thanksgiving meal are neither dinosaurs nor crocodiles. (I'm not sure about sweet potatoes...)

As someone working at an all-men college (yes, I was weirded out too when I first heard of it), I think your comments re: presenting a positive modern version of masculinity ring esp. true. Lot of reading and talking about this here. With conversation and reflection, I see growth happen.

Scientific Writing Made Easy: A Step‐by‐Step Guide to Undergraduate Writing in the Biological Sciences Scientific writing, while an indispensable step of the scientific process, is often overlooked in undergraduate courses in favor of maximizing class time devoted to scientific concepts. However, the ...

How about this? esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Is it even a grant proposal if you don't say "leveraging"?

The long shadow of biodiversity loss Technological substitutes are poor proxies for functioning ecosystems

Fewer bats -> more pesticides -> bad for kids
"Frank illustrates that farmers increased insecticide use by over 31%, and infant mortality increased by nearly 8%, in counties that experienced bat declines"
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

It's a forced perspective trick - your hand is actually 2 meters behind you

And here's my most recent paper, with a big assist from many colleagues. Takeaway: no matter where you go, some #turtles are shy and some are bold. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

A person in a hat holding a turtle

New here, and to outward facing social media. I'm a biology professor, researching #ecology and animal personality in #herps. Mostly focused on box turtles these days. This guy is my favorite - a 76+ year old named Robin who has graced a journal cover and been the subject of a published poem.