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Category Archives: natural history
Notes from Asilomar, 2025
Driving up to Monterey from southern California is lovely enough to make me almost enjoy driving. Highway 1, just two lanes of traffic right at the edge of the continent, pays for its clifftop views of the Pacific with frequent … Continue reading
Posted in Coevolution, community, conferences, genomics, natural history
Tagged American Society of Naturalists, Asilomar
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Some science books for 2024
The Molecular Ecologist receives a small commission for purchases made on Bookshop.org via links from this post. One minor personal accomplishment I scored this year is that it’s the first year since I started tracking, fully a decade ago, in … Continue reading
Posted in book review, community, ecology, fieldwork, natural history, politics
Tagged conservation, history of science, moral philosophy, natural history
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Molecular natural history: Chickadees
Molecular Natural History is a series of posts highlighting what population genetic data reveals about some of my favorite organisms. There’s no rhyme or reason to what species I’ll feature for this, beyond the fact that they’ve made me stop … Continue reading
Molecular natural history: Lupines
Molecular Natural History is a series of posts highlighting what genetic data has revealed about some of my favorite organisms. There’s no rhyme or reason to what species I’ll feature for this, beyond the fact that they’ve made me stop … Continue reading
Posted in Molecular Natural History, natural history, plants
Tagged Fabaceae, Lupinus
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Molecular natural history: The Channel Island foxes
Molecular Natural History is a series of posts highlighting what population genetic data has revealed about some of my favorite organisms. There’s no rhyme or reason to what species I’ll feature for this, beyond the fact that they’ve made me … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, mammals, Molecular Natural History, natural history
Tagged Urocyon littoralis
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Four science books for 2022
The Molecular Ecologist receives a small commission for purchases made on Bookshop.org via links from this post. Books occupy a curious place in my reading life. I read a lot as an academic biologist, from research papers to grant proposals … Continue reading
Posted in book review, ecology, evolution, natural history, politics
Tagged forest conservation, J.B.S. Haldane, paleontology, sensory biology
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The forest, the trees, and the fungal ties that bind
The following is a guest post by Erin Zess, a Postdoctoral Researcher with the MOI Lab in the Department of Plant Biology at the Carnegie Institution for Science. Erin is on Twitter at @ZessingAround. The Molecular Ecologist receives a small commission for … Continue reading
Posted in book review, ecology, fieldwork, natural history, plants
Tagged Finding the Mother Tree, forestry, mycorrhizae, Suzanne Simard
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Shedding light on symbiotic relationships
Lots of critters glow in the dark, but most of them aren’t found in just any back yard…unless that back yard happens to be the beach. The ocean is full of bioluminescent critters that use light to attract prey (possibly … Continue reading
Posted in community ecology, ecology, microbiology, natural history, Symbiosis
Tagged coevolution
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Fieldwork in the time of COVID
Life as we knew it came to a screeching halt back in March. Almost a year ago, how is that possible??? Yet, at the same time it feels like several lifetimes have passed … At a recent editorial meeting, we … Continue reading
Posted in blogging, career, chat, ecology, evolution, fieldwork, haploid-diploid, just for fun, mating system, natural history, population genetics, postdoc, Science Communication
Tagged Algae, anemeones, COVID, fieldwork, mating system, natural history, population genetics, scicomm, Science Communication, Virginia
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