Mike Koontz, PhD

From plant traits to fire behavior: Scaling issues in flammability studies Despite fire being one of the oldest and most important ecological disturbance processes on Earth, many aspects of fire–vegetation feedbacks are poorly understood, limiting their accurate representat...

Very excited to see this paper out!

Led by @schwilk.org, with @azhar06.bsky.social @ecologybrad.bsky.social @rachaelnolan.bsky.social @alefidelis.bsky.social @ioliverasmenor.bsky.social @dendromecon27.bsky.social @profalistairsmith.bsky.social

bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

nap trapped!

Very neat new short course offered by @caltech.edu on computer vision for ecology!

cv4ecology.caltech.edu/index.html

Mechanisms of coexistence are often unintuitive; Werner et al. explore species interactions across different environmental scenarios to bridge theoretical and empirical approaches to coexistence. 🧪🌍💚 Check out this great press summary of our recent AmNat paper!
www.amnat.org/an/newpapers...

Photo of Primula parryi, a robust alpine plant with magenta flowers, with mountains, clouds, and sky visible in the background

Photo of Polemonium chartaceum, a small alpine plant with purple flowers, with mountains, snow, and blue sky visible in the background

A photo of two plant ecologists standing on the top of White Mountain peak and holding a sign that says "White Mountain Pk. 14,252'". The top of the mountain is rocky and there are many clouds in the sky.

Excited for @kalebgoff.bsky.social's 1st dissertation chapter to be out w co-authors M Oldfather, J Nachlinger, B Smithers, @mikoontz.bsky.social, J & C Bishop & M Burke. Limited Directional Change in Mountaintop Plant Communities over 19 years in Western North America
doi.org/10.1002/ecs2...

Sent!

I got it! What’s a good way to get it to you?

IMTs are quietly talking about what the current political environment means for this year's wildland fire suppression efforts, but it deserves a larger and more public consideration. 1/

Solidarity to my fellow decimates. ✊

“decimate”

Despite my demographic, I think about the Roman Empire zero (0) times per day. But I do like words. Paul Brians taught me that “decimate” refers to eliminating 10% of people in an “unruly” unit as punishment.

~220k probies/~2.4m total…

The Federal Service is being decimated.

nap trapped!

Whew, been a busy weekend, happy to get this quick episode out to explain how these federal cuts will impact fire response this summer. Give it a listen at the link.

Ever wonder what snow in the swamp would look like? This is 5 miles into the Louisiana swamps in the Atchafalaya basin... it's unreal... having lived down there for the first 28 years of my life, we never saw anything like this.

Smashed records.

Curtesy of Garrett Roberts.

This is super cool. Such a success story.

Now out in @oikosjournal.bsky.social l.bsky.social led by Kaitlyn Barthell 🧪🌎🐝🏵️

Competition for floral resources among bumble bees intensifies at higher elevations. As climate change pushes new bumble bee species upslope, pressures of climate and competition mount.

doi.org/10.1111/oik....

Ugh, that’s frustrating

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Mortality attributable to PM2.5 from wildland fires in California from 2008 to 2018 More than 50,000 deaths from 2008 to 2018 in California were attributable to fine particulate matter from wildland fires.

when we imagine lives claimed by wildfire, we picture the flames.

but the smoke is the real killer, claiming tens of thousands.

and the victims can be far from the flames, dying long after the fire went out.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Will it throw the same type of embers? With the same probability of converting to a new spot? Or will heavier fuels produce embers more conducive to spread? Can fuel treatments make suppression easier for areas not at the head of the fire?

A nice summary of this recent research about that other ecological disturbance in the west and its rising impact on wildlife

phys.org/news/2024-12...

Correct, Watch Duty does not use drones to obtain information.

Governance of Indigenous data in open earth systems science - Nature Communications Using the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) as an example, this perspective discusses actions that recognize the sovereign rights of Indigenous Peoples and support better research across ...

New publication alert! Check out our paper on the “Governance of Indigenous data in open Earth systems science” co- led by myself and Dr. Katie Jones. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Looks like no Temporary Flight Restriction waivers were granted. Watch Duty does its reporting in lots of ways using bunches of volunteers, but I’m not aware that any of their reporting comes from flying drones

Hmm. Still failing on my end. Must be something on my end; thanks!

Looks like NIFC’s website is down?

I successfully navigated to the article by the yahoo link that @morganahcrowley.bsky.social posted: bsky.app/profile/morg...