Dr. Chris Wall

GitHub - cbwall/Zoops-in-Time: Alpine lake zooplankton through time Alpine lake zooplankton through time. Contribute to cbwall/Zoops-in-Time development by creating an account on GitHub.

Data and code open access here.
github.com/cbwall/Zoops...

Excited to share our new paper on #zooplankton 16S #microbiomes and #bacterioplankton across alpine lakes. We found deterministic processes > than intraseasonal temporal effects overall, with host filtering and dispersal limitation driving change in zoopl. #MolecularEcology
tinyurl.com/4e4rnjhk

An entire nightmare brought to you by Trump, Miller, & Noem.

Scientists Finally Identify Killer Microbe Behind ‘Terrifying’ Sea Star Disease

🌟 It's being hailed as the “discovery of the decade” by Drew Harvell, a disease ecologist at the University of Washington and member of the research team behind the breakthrough.

After years of mystery, scientists have finally pinpointed the cause of sea star wasting disease! #marinescience #ocean

We're Living in the Age of Fire. It Will Only Get Worse Canada's megafires are a sign of what's to come with out of control climate change.

“Fire is always where people are,” Mike Flannigan continues. “It goes with us wherever we go. But fire is now uncontrollable, and we're going to see more and more fire and more and more catastrophic fire...Sometimes I say we’re in Dante's circle of hell." 🌏 time.com/7299284/age-...

This is figure 3, which shows covariates’ influence on water quality by region and constituent type.

Water quality in the western United States is affected by wildfires, with sediment and turbidity levels increasing up to eight years post-fire, according to an analysis in Communications Earth & Environment. go.nature.com/4nhBER6 ⚒️ 🧪

This is why we call:

Also on the chopping block: US Forest Service monitoring and research of our vast public lands and forests.

Call your Senators -so many reasons to preserve this agency’s function. Noted some in this #resistbot petition below:

Click, sign, share

resist.bot/petitions/PG...

I encourage everyone to consider attending one of the many demonstrations planned for tomorrow across the country.

Show up. Demand accountability. Peacefully protest.

Find the rally closest to you: NoKings.org

thanks for the tips! I've been pasting assignments or uploading them into ZeroGPT or the like. If I go to 3 different sites (Grammarly, ZeroGPT, AskGPT) or using TurnItIn with assignment submissions, I get scores ranging from 0-80%. It seems impossible to have confidence one way or other...

Teachers: are AI checkers worth a damn? Any preference for reliable checkers or approaches to addressing high similarity scores? I've used TurnItIn, ZeroGPT, AskGPT and all are so variable...

Based on some quick math, this alone could fund the NSF Plant Genome Research Program for ~4 years; the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology, which was totally axed in the NSF budget request, for ~9 years; and ~ half the total NSF GRFP budget

Commentary: Seeking solace, and finding hard truths, on California's Highway 395 Reflections from a road trip to Mono Lake and the Owens Valley, the northernmost reaches of Southern California.

Seeking solace, and finding hard truths, on California’s Highway 395

"Here’s the truth: There’s not enough water in Mono or Owens lake. It’s hotter than it used to be." — Insightful essay by @sammyroth.bsky.social reflecting on a trip to the Eastern Sierra: www.latimes.com/environment/...

With the recent rapid increases in #wildfires as we head into summer, a timely reminder of this excellent starter pack on #wildfire experts put together by @fkearns.bsky.social go.bsky.app/RmQuXhp #IIFF

Wildfire‐Driven Changes in Terrestrial Subsidies Shift Freshwater Microbial and Zooplankton Communities to New Compositional States Wildfire frequency and intensity are increasing globally, impacting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Deposition of burned materials into aquatic environments can affect biotic communities and nutr...

New paper! How does fire affect aquatic ecosystem plankton and microbes? We found 🔥 and loading amount shifted zooplankton and microbial community composition over 90d. Recovery of microbial community (and function) was > in host-assoc. vs. free living 🦠 @jonshurin.bsky.social tinyurl.com/mwbkhxsv

New Gel Could Boost Coral Reef Restoration Coral larvae are picky about where they attach and settle down. One of the ways they decide is by “smelling” chemicals in the water that are associated with healthy reefs.

🪸 An innovative approach to #CoralReef restoration: Gel! A new substance designed by Scripps Oceanography &
@jacobsschool.bsky.social scientists improved coral larvae settlement by up to 20 times! Learn more about SNAP-X & how it's helping corals thrive. ⬇️ 🌊 @ucsandiego.bsky.social

"Imagine the auto industry without 3D printing. NSF funded that. Artificial intelligence? NSF. MRI machines that help doctors diagnose you? NSF. Doppler radar technology that makes aviation safer by conquering wind shear? NSF. Duolingo‘s underlying programming? NSF. The internet itself? NSF."

I know you all know this, but apparently it needs to be said that basic science is a NECESSARY PRECURSOR to translational science

I don't know what to say... this is the purposeful sabotage and dismantling of the leading force supporting science research in USA. Dark days lie ahead for us all...

I got to spend the morning working with Paepae o He'eia pulling invasive upside down sea jellies from the loko i'a. They estimate 5 million in the pond, we pulled ~ 35,000 out today. Small progress, but rewarding to work hand-in-hand with the community kia'i. Join us next time! 🪼

"It's time to fight everywhere and all at once" Pritzker says, blasting "the do nothing crowd" of Dems in response to Republicans:

"We have to abandon the culture of incrementalism that has led us to swallow their cruelty and their callousness with barely a cowardly croak."

No, deep sea mining is not benign, it is will harm ancient ecosystems vital to the deep sea and our planet. Pillaging the earth is not NOAA's mandate.

phys.org/news/2025-04...

Exclusive: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy “I have done all I can,” says Sethuraman Panchanathan, a Trump appointee who has led agency since 2020

Compliance with the regime will not save you.
Piece of evidence n+1

🤷‍♂️ NSF still exists and isn't USAID, so maybe that's as good as we get in 2025

Exclusive: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy “I have done all I can,” says Sethuraman Panchanathan, a Trump appointee who has led agency since 2020

2025 has been hard... I didn't agree with the capitulation by NSF to the illegal EOs, but I appreciate that Director Panch was doing his best in an impossible time. Thank you for your service, sir.
www.science.org/content/arti...

Read to the end for a fun bit where the Project 2025 proposal to ax this program suggests getting the same scientific work from university researchers funded by the federal grants, which of course the administration is also axing

On it.

Report your terminated NSF grant here:

airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...

And spread the word. We'll have a database up once we build out the back end and receive submissions.

All credit to @noamross.net for standing this up so quickly.

Can confirm that my NSF grant "How False Beliefs Form & How to Correct Them" was cancelled today because it is "not in alignment with current NSF priorities" Shocking that understanding how people are misled by false information is now a forbidden topic. Our work will continue but at a smaller scale

Trump Lifts Commercial Fishing Ban In Central Pacific Protected Area Members of the Trump administration signaled that Papahānaumokuākea, the protected area around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, could be next.

Opening up sanctuaries of biodiversity for commercial fishing does not make America stronger. This is an abdication of USA leadership in preserving culturally and ecologically sensitive heritage sites. Oh, and it is illegal.
www.civilbeat.org/2025/04/trum...

Trump Lifts Commercial Fishing Ban In Central Pacific Protected Area Members of the Trump administration signaled that Papahānaumokuākea, the protected area around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, could be next.

😢 Illegal, but the threat is real. www.civilbeat.org/2025/04/trum...

How to prepare stickleback muscle tissue for stable isotopes analysis — Stickleback stock center Dan Bolnick’s lab member created this video on preparing stickleback muscle tissue for stable isotopes analysis. You can click to go to YouTube to view, or watch it here on the page.

We have a new video to share! How to prepare stickleback muscle tissue for stable isotopes analysis from the Bolnick lab space at UConn.

www.sticklestock.com/protocols-1/...