Drew Peltier
banner
peltierdrew.bsky.social
Drew Peltier
@peltierdrew.bsky.social

Drought, global change, and the temporal weirdness of trees.
Assistant Professor at UNLV
Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (swcasc.arizona.edu)
Drewpeltier.com

Opinions my own.
he/him/his

Environmental science 65%
Geography 20%
My colleagues Calvin Farris (NPS) and Ellis Margolis (USGS) led a landmark study in paleofire reconstruction. In addition to showing that fire management can restore past fire regimes, the demonstrated methods are a first in dendrochronology. 1/6 esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Reposted by Drew Peltier

More grim news about the West's snow drought:

🛰️ Lowest Feb. 1 snow cover in the satellite record (since 2001)

📉 Record-low Feb. 1 statewide snowpack in Oregon, Colorado, and Utah

⚠️ “A Dry, Warm January Leaves the West With the Worst Snowpack in Decades”

www.drought.gov/drought-stat...

Reposted by Drew Peltier

Scientists have long relied on tree rings to learn about solar storms.

A Tansley review published this week shows that trees don’t all record this carbon in the same way. Understanding those differences is key to interpreting Earth’s history of space weather.

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
How tree rings help scientists understand disruptive extreme solar storms
A study published this week shows that how trees store and use radiocarbon left over from ancient solar storms can tell scientists a lot about these ancient storms and help them refine estimates of…
www.eurekalert.org

this is so cool. the linked video is also wild
Imagine being a 400th generation rat, thinking you are the apex predator, and then along comes fuzzy Godzilla.

sfstandard.com/2026/01/27/c...
Wily coyote who swam to Alcatraz gets ‘much fatter’ on prison island diet
Officials are monitoring if the canine is preying on the island’s seabirds.
sfstandard.com
Back in 2021, I was trying to make "SUP" dendro a thing for us wetland/coastal investigators. We hypothesize this pond was created by a fault scarp ~200 years ago, drowning the cedars, and changing the landscape of Bainbridge Island, WA! doi.org/10.1130/B383... #DendroDating #TreeHistory
PostDoc position in #dendrochronology at U of Giessen (Germany) to work on medieval climate and societal changes in the Caucasus. Dream position: a great international team to work with, super research topic and amazing field sites. www.uni-giessen.de/de/ueber-uns... #PostdocJobs #AcademicJobs

Reposted by Drew Peltier

Great piece in AZ Water Agenda explaining options in draft EIS for managing Colo River water in drier future. Though I suspect future hydrology will be even worse than pictured, this may be drastic enough to finally get the attention of people here in AZ! azwateragenda.beehiiv.com/p/the-cost-o...
The cost of inaction
The feds outlined their plans if states don’t reach a deal on Colorado River water. It’s a lot of bad options.
azwateragenda.beehiiv.com
wikipedia turns 25 today! the last unenshittified major website! backbone of online info! triumph of humanity! powered by urge of unpaid randos to correct each other! somehow mostly reliable! "good thing wikipedia works in practice, because it sure doesn't work in theory" - old wiki adage

Very spooky! Thx steve!

Anybody know why there are no P monticola (western white pine) data on the ITRDB? There are some older studies (doi.org/10.2307/1934...). Are they just mixed up with sugar pine?

@firescar.bsky.social @acsank.bsky.social @rmtrr.bsky.social @thetreecorener.bsky.social
Climate: A Factor in the Origin of the Pole Blight Disease of Pinus Monticola Dougl
Measurements of cores or disc samples representing slightly more than 76,000 annual rings from 336 western white pine tree were compiled to obtain a set of deviations from normal growth of healthy tr...
doi.org
New study provides the evidence for the pervasive presence of cryogenic vacuum distillation artefacts in leaf water and identifies deuterium exchange between organic matter and water as the primary underlying mechanism; @newphyt.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Cryogenic vacuum distillation‐induced deuterium isotope biases in leaf water and their ecophysiological implications
Recent experiments show that cryogenic vacuum distillation (CVD) – the standard method for plant water extraction – can introduce biases into δ2H measurements of stem water. However, whether similar...
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
You probably heard the US admin is threatening to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research: but did you know they already froze funding for the 9 regional Climate Science Adaptation Centers? From tracking invasives to helping tribes with drought, here's why the CASCs matter ⬇️
From invasive species tracking to water security – what’s lost with federal funding cuts at US Climate Adaptation Science Centers
The people who manage America’s aquifers, wetlands, shorelines and recreation areas rely on federal science as they face new and rising risks in a changing climate.
theconversation.com
AGU has a Congressional email and call script up on NCAR:
Save NCAR from being dismantled today!
The Trump Administration has vowed to dissolve the center that provides critical extreme weather and climate data for our nation.
agu.quorum.us
Learned today that “Galápagos” comes from a Spanish word for tortoise, meaning that “Galápagos Tortoise” is,

in fact,

a tortology
I started getting reports of an unseasonal Joshua tree bloom in the last few weeks, and looking over records on @inaturalist.bsky.social it's pretty widespread! So we're putting out the call for folks to record this "bonus bloom" and help us study it 🌿

lab.jbyoder.org/2025/12/10/w...
Weird wet weather has Joshua trees flowering early — or late? Help the Yoder Lab map this “bonus bloom” to understand why
A flowering tree in Yucca Valley, CA, observed by iNaturalist contributor wanderingmojave on December 9. A tree with lots of flowers in Tehachapi, CA, observed by iNaturalist contributor tina9294 o…
lab.jbyoder.org
Earth's largest land animals are limited by salt.

Sodium availability constrains the density and distribution of elephants, giraffes and rhinos across Africa, and offers a new explanation for the so-called 'missing megaherbivores'.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Free access: rdcu.be/eTPY2

I think there have been a couple since then? El Jefe for starters. Sombra and Yo'oko, too. But awesome to see there is a new one!

How do you like that rope runner device? Is it also a descender?
Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.
Lowell Observatory slashes research funding in the midst of financial struggle
Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.
buff.ly

Reposted by Drew Peltier

I had missed this article earlier. An example of what we're losing, in terms of science that could make a difference for people in this time of climate crisis. Just one relatively small research group at one university (my own #NorthernArizonaUniversity). Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/c...
He Studied How Emissions Are Heating Up U.S. Cities
www.nytimes.com

Happy Nevada day to all who celebrate. I see some people who have dressed up in spooky costumes. I don't totally understand what this has to do with Nevada, but to each their own.

magnolia trees are pretty cool

Reposted by Drew Peltier

The megadrought currently sucking the Southwest dry is having far-reaching impacts on wildlife, especially migratory birds. The elegant trogon is one of them. With arid conditions intensifying, the birds are producing few young, leading to population declines that worry researchers. 🌎
A Megadrought Is Reshaping Birdlife in the Southwest
A recent bad year for elegant trogons is only the latest in a string of changes
www.sierraclub.org

Cool piece, highlighting some of the impacts of the recent wildfires on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, as well as impacts of shutdown in slowing recovery.
I'm riding my mountain bike on the 850-mile Arizona Trail this fall to see and write about #climate impacts along the way. We're publishing weekly dispatches from the trail in The Arizona Republic | @azcentral.com as I go.

The first one just dropped:
www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...
I'm riding my mountain bike on the 850-mile Arizona Trail this fall to see and write about #climate impacts along the way. We're publishing weekly dispatches from the trail in The Arizona Republic | @azcentral.com as I go.

The first one just dropped:
www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...
With the AWS outage, now‘s as good a time as any to post this old strip.
Great PhD opportunity with an excellent supervisor:

Quantify traits of tree species across the western US to determine how tree populations and forest communities will respond to drought and fire.

plant-traits.net/lab-openings/
Lab openings | Laughlin Research Lab
plant-traits.net

Reposted by Drew Peltier

Thank you to the @lasvegassun.bsky.social and reporter @hillarylvsun.bsky.social for a terrific story on research into underground ecosystems that could inform the search for life beyond Earth. Read the story: bit.ly/drinasa #NSHE #NASA #DiscoverDRI #UNLV #UNR
Underground research in Nevada may shape NASA's search for extraterrestrial life
The Nevada System of Higher Education secured a $750,000 grant from NASA's Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research for the study.
bit.ly
🚨 Please repost widely!🚨

I am recruiting a PhD student to join my lab next fall to work on forest and climate change ecology projects in southern Appalachia! Come join me in one of the most beautiful, biodiverse, and understudied parts of North America. Details below and happy to answer questions