Karen R. Lips

Trump cuts threaten US role in global climate modeling Agency cuts, layoffs and policy shifts are throwing America’s role into question.

Trump administration cuts, layoffs and restructurings have cast a shadow over U.S. participation in a major international climate modeling initiative -- a collaboration that federal scientists have been at the forefront of for decades. My story today: www.eenews.net/articles/tru...

An in situ Larch Mountain Salamander (Plethodon larselli) from last night

Paddling the Ocklawaha River during a drawdown reveals lost springs, cypress graveyard While lawmakers debate the future of the Kirkpatrick Dam and Rodman Reservoir, it’s possible to get a glimpse into what a restored Ocklawaha River would look like. During a dam drawdown, padd…

Paddling the Ocklawaha River during a drawdown reveals #Florida's lost springs & a cypress graveyard www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/03/07/p... via @orlandosentinel.com

The Draft is Ready. Now We Need You. Share your perspective on the state of nature in the U.S.

The draft Nature Record National Assessment is now open for comment!

Take a look and tell us what we got right, what we missed, and what changes you’re seeing where you live.

Your perspective will help shape the final record of nature in the U.S.

naturerecord.substack.com/p/the-draft-...

Many heat-stressed tropical insects are reaching their limits Vast study in Peru and Kenya confirms limited defenses against rising temperatures, redoubling climate concerns

🧪🌎🔬🌡️Many heat-stressed tropical insects are reaching their limits www.science.org/content/arti...

This Brazilian frog might be the first pollinating amphibian known to science Nectar-loving tree frog likely moves pollen from flower to flower

It’s the first time a frog—or any amphibian—has been observed pollinating a plant, researchers reported in 2023.

Learn more on #WorldWildlifeDay: https://scim.ag/4riUU1G

Galileo’s handwritten notes found in ancient astronomy text Discovery sheds new light on how famed astronomer came to lead a scientific revolution

A historian has discovered that a 16th century printing of The Almagest—a highly influential ancient astronomy text—contains extensive annotations from Galileo Galilei, the astronomer who later overthrew that text’s conception of a geocentric cosmos.

Learn more: https://scim.ag/4aMAwRm

The global map of science according to EU funding In this blog post, we report a global funding landscape created using semantic relations of all EU R&I Framework Programme grants that helps locate regions, organisations and funders in the disciplina...

www.leidenmadtrics.nl/articles/the...

Sea Levels Are Already Higher Than Many Scientists Think, New Study Shows

🧪🔬🌊 Sea Levels Are Already Higher Than Many Scientists Think; new study showed that “methods of studying sea level rise that seemed to work relatively well for coastlines in EUR or U.S. led to bigger discrepancies in other parts of the world” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/c...

This looks amazing 49197025.hs-sites.com/connections-...

This is a great awards program for science communication. Enter now (before April 3) and/or please encourage others to do so. Categories include researchers (early, mid- & late career), journalists, independent & institutional. From @nationalacademies.org & @schmidtsciences.bsky.social

The Unraveling of Public Science A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working towards effective government for the American people.

ourpublicservice.org/the-unraveli...

Science at Risk: The Urgent Need for Institutional Support of Long-Term Ecological and Evolutionary Research in an Era of Data Manipulation and Disinformation Abstract. Planet Earth and the biodiversity it supports are in crisis. The human impact on terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems and the hundreds

academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

Freshwater biodiversity in a rapidly changing Arctic: An expert horizon scan of key research questions - Ambio Arctic freshwater biodiversity is rapidly changing due to climate warming, resource extraction, infrastructure development, and landscape transformation. To improve understanding, predict future respo...

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

An Army Corps project could wipe out one of Florida’s last thriving coral reefs The fate of one of the last thriving coral reefs in Florida may be imperiled by plans to widen the shipping channel leading into Port Everglades.

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Building Up the Next Generation of Scientific Society Leaders

www.aip.org/statistics/b...

NASA’s Artemis moon exploration programme is getting a major makeover

NASA’s Artemis programme is being shaken up, delaying an actual moon landing in favour of smaller, faster steps forward.

www.biographic.com/the-future-o...

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets www.nature.com/articles/d41...

#academic #job @ucllifesciences.bsky.social Professor / Associate Professor of Computational Genomics in Health and Disease

NSF officials break silence on how AI and quantum now drive agency grantmaking Leaders acknowledge White House role in controversial moves

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

The Economics of Water - Valuing the Hydrological Cycle as a Global Common Good Water is essential for life. It moves in complex, often invisible ways, all around us. And this water is under threat.

Read more in our report from the GCEW ➡️ watercommission.org#report
Read our new report on blended finance ➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/pub...
Our letter in the Financial Times, with Ministers Carlos Cuerpo, Fernando Haddad & Enoch Godongwana ➡️ www.ft.com/content/53cd... 2/2

Birds are vanishing from tropical forests. Is another ‘silent spring’ coming? As mysterious bird declines crop up in the Amazon and beyond, scientists suspect climate change may be to blame

tropical lowland birds aren't doing well -- this is an excellent article on what's happening featuring a slew of fantastic research projects
www.science.org/content/arti...

Acceleration hotspots of North American birds’ decline are associated with agriculture Human activities might have accelerated declines of population abundance, but this acceleration remains underexplored. Using 1033 North American Breeding Bird Survey routes, we analyze abundance chang...

Thrilled to share our new paper out in @science.org, led by François Leroy and Petr Keil! Using the Breeding Bird Survey, we document not only a continent-wide decline in bird abundance since the 1980s — but, crucially, the acceleration of these declines over time. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our work underscores the importance of monitoring not just population trends, but their rate of change over time. Incorporating acceleration into conservation assessments could reveal early warning signals that abundance trends alone could miss!

The numbers are sobering: 122 species (47%) show significant declines, 63 of which also show acceleration of decline. Declines are strongest in birds of towns, grasslands, marshes, and open woodlands — with marshes and open woodlands showing accelerating losses.

Graphic with two parts, a map and a chart. Top section: A map showing intact tropical forests in northern South America, most of them in the Amazon River basin. Three locations are called out: 1 is in Panama; 2 is on the eastern border of Ecuador, near the borders with Colombia and Peru; and 3 is in Brazil, on the Amazon River. Undisturbed tropical forest areas are defined as areas where no disturbances were detected in a comparison of satellite imagery from 1990 to 2024. Bottom section: Dot plot with confidence intervals. For each of the three map locations, the chart shows the average annual change in mist net captures for insectivores and for the total bird community. For all three locations, the average annual change for insectivores is in the negative and is lower than for the total bird community.

Intact tropical forests are seeing mysterious bird declines. Is another “silent spring” brewing?

Learn more: https://scim.ag/4aCs0Er

Acceleration hotspots of North American birds’ decline are associated with agriculture Human activities might have accelerated declines of population abundance, but this acceleration remains underexplored. Using 1033 North American Breeding Bird Survey routes, we analyze abundance chang...

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

Birds are vanishing from tropical forests. Is another ‘silent spring’ coming? As mysterious bird declines crop up in the Amazon and beyond, scientists suspect climate change may be to blame

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

Roadmap for Europe’s biodiversity monitoring system IIASA contributed to a new European roadmap for biodiversity monitoring through its involvement in the Horizon 2020 project, EuropaBON. The study, proposes a comprehensive roadmap to build a modern, i...

“People remain central to biodiversity monitoring in Europe… low-cost sensors, eDNA & AI are enhancing this contribution.” – IIASA's Ian McCallum. New European biodiversity roadmap in @nature.com, via #EuropaBon, led by Uni of Amsterdam, et al: iiasa.ac.at/news/feb-202...