Melissa Whitman

@mwhitman-phd.bsky.social

240 followers 650 following 48 posts

Ecology, tropical plants, pollination networks, macroecology, edaphic specialization, island biogeography, Rhododendron, orchids.

I am an independent researcher w/ a PhD and I like to ponder plants. I am currently based out of Portland, OR. She/her. .. more

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Environmental science 45%

Biology 24%

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Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Oct 4

If you are in the Portland (OR) area, I will be giving a talk this week at PSU on the tropical-temperate forest ecotone in Bhutan. Thursday 10/9, 3:30-4:25, Cramer Hall room 53. Open to the public. #Bhutan #biogeography #Rhododendron #ecotone #forest #ecology #Himalayas #PDX #mountains

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Oct 2

Been busy writing, apologies for my hermit-like tendencies as of late.

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Jun 6

Check out Rhododendron taxifolium or R. ericoides! Their leaves are needle like.

rhodygarden.org/unique-folia...

Unique foliage – Rhododendron taxifolium – Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden

rhodygarden.org

Reposted by Paul Caplat, Alba Anadon‐Rosell, Melissa Whitman , and 1 more Paul Caplat, Alba Anadon‐Rosell, Melissa Whitman, Matthew A. Kaproth

Kate Johnson @kateplantphys.bsky.social · Jun 6

Showing off our figure of global conifer leaf-widths & leaf silhouettes highlighting that conifers can be broad-leaved & angiosperms can be narrow/ needle-leaved! 🍃

Our paper: tinyurl.com/mss2me7v
@newphyt.bsky.social

@vallicrosah.bsky.social @botanykat.bsky.social & Matilda Brown

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Jun 3

Any tips for writing in the summer? Nice days outside, yet computer time awaits. I miss the rain.

Reposted by Melissa Whitman

Anthony (Tony) J. Martin @ichnologist.bsky.social · Jun 2

Oldest known fossil evidence of lepidopterans (butterflies & moths), from the Triassic (~236 mya) of Argentina! Scales from the wings of these insects were preserved in dicynodont coprolites, & were likely on plants eaten by the dicynodonts. www.science.org/content/arti... #PoopScience 🧪💩🪨🦋

Ancient poop yields world’s oldest butterfly fossils

Tiny wing scales suggest the proboscis evolved 100 million years before flowers

www.science.org

Reposted by Melissa Whitman

Mike Melton @mikemelton.bsky.social · Jun 2

I was sitting quietly in the forest this morning, watching a Royal Flycatcher nest when this wonderful Keel-billed Motmot perched near me for a few minutes. These are one of the toughest motmots. They're quiet, small, and love the dark forest. At @tapirvalley.bsky.social

#costarica #birds #nature

A colorful bird with green and brown plumage perches on a branch, its long tail ending in two racket-shaped feathers. The background is a soft blur of green foliage.

Reposted by Jonathan von Oppen, Melissa Whitman

audhalbritter.bsky.social @audhalbritter.bsky.social · Jun 2

Interested in #OpenScience, #reproducibility, #FAIRdata, #GBIF, #biodiversity data, and #AI? In November, we are organizing a course for early career ecologists in the home of the reindeer! 🌱🏔️🐑🦌🦋🦇🐞🌾💻
www.uib.no/en/rg/EECRG/...

Open, Reproducible and Transparent Science in Ecology

Course on reproducible workflows to manage, produce, use, and reuse FAIR data

www.uib.no

Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · May 31

There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.

Graphs showing 25 years of budgets for the National Institute of Health, NASA, and the NSF. In all cases, the proposed budget for next year is far, far below any year of the previous quarter century.

Reposted by Melissa Whitman

Rhododendron Research @heyrhododendron.bsky.social · May 15

Rhododendron Research Network
Virtual International Convention
May 29-30 2025

Rockin' Around the Clock
Visit the world's major Rhododendron biodiversity regions

Physiology, horticulture, ecology, evolution, conservation

For a general audience

Registration
medeiroslab.com/2025-virtual...
🧪🍁🌺🌱🌏🌐🌿

Reposted by Melissa Whitman

Rhododendron Research @heyrhododendron.bsky.social · Apr 18

2025 Rhododendron Virtual Convention
NORTH AMERICA SESSION
May 29th 9am-3:30pm EDT
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Melissa Whitman
Investigation of flower characteristics and pollinator guilds across elevational and longitudinal gradients
#PlantBiology 🌏🧪🌱🍁🌺🌐
Register at medeiroslab.com/2025-virtual...

A woman with brown hair wearing glasses smiles in front of a wall of purple rhododendron blooms

Rhododendron versteegii, a tropical epiphytic Rhododendron of Section Schistanthe, also known as Vireyas. Two small flowers are photographed at close range, they are pendent bell shaped flowers, with long red throats and a flare at the bottom accented by patches of bright yellow

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Apr 5

Thus far I do not like the 2025 bingo card of stupid events.

Reposted by Melissa Whitman

Géza Meszéna @gezam.bsky.social · Mar 29

@iite-ecotheory.bsky.social

📆Join us next Tuesday for our next free online seminar: Uli Brose (iDiv) will present:

⭐The internet of nature: integrating food webs with information flow⭐

Zoom link: iite.info/seminar/
Global Times: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/f...

See you there!
🧪,🌍,#ecoevo

Theoretical Ecology Webinar • International Initiative for Theoretical Ecology

We operate an international seminar series on Theoretical Ecology via Zoom since September, 2020. With some exceptions, the hour-long events are held on every other Tuesday at 9 a.m. Pacific […]

iite.info

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Mar 28

Thanks, I was reading over misc papers and noted that most mentioned datasets w/ a signal close to 1 (and then worried about my data). I will look into tip.fog. My guess is that low signal reflects the direction of spp. range expansion downwards (e.g. upper elev had sig. values ~1, lower elev ~ 0).

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Mar 28

Yay for Cynorkis, lovely little orchids

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Mar 26

Another hOUwie pondering @omearabrian.bsky.social... when choosing factors, does it matter if there is strong vs weak phylogenetic signal (Pagel's lambda or Blomberg's k)? My continuous factor has a lambda close to zero, would this cause problems? The signal for the discrete character is unknown/TBD

Reposted by Sanne Govaert, Melissa Whitman

GBIF @gbif.org · Mar 26

🎥 Better than the original: New SQL-based service enables download of occurrence data cube

GBIF has enabled an easy-to-use service for creating and downloading species occurrence cubes based on GBIF-mediated data.

Collaborators: @b-cubed.eu led by @inbo.be

gbif.link/data-cubes

green graphic with various biological drawings

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Mar 24

Thanks, that makes a little more sense for why the process takes so long (at least compared to other random shuffling techniques that I am more familiar with) and what goes on in the black box

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Mar 24

Nice, I did research on some of the orchids of (granite) outcrops in the highlands many years ago. Really interesting area of the globe.

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Mar 24

Yet another #hOUwie question @omearabrian.bsky.social does the program work via changing or reconstructing the branching of the tree (but keeping discrete tips constant) or is it the other way around (keep the tree constant but shuffle the discrete tips)?

Reposted by Melissa Whitman

Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · Mar 24

Global patterns in community-scale #leaf mass per area distributions of extant woody non-monocot #angiosperms and their utility in the #fossil record

New #AJB research by Alexander Lowe, Dana Royer, Daniel Wieczynski et al.

doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... @stromberglab.bsky.social #botany #plantscience

Four-part graphic showing leaf dry mass per area (LMA) central moments among diﬀering climate types.

Reposted by Melissa Whitman

Nature Plants @natplants.nature.com · Mar 24

The March issue is now fully online:
www.nature.com/nplants/volu...

An orchid on the cover of the March issue of Nature Plants.

Reposted by Yadvinder Malhi, Melissa Whitman

ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · Mar 24

The botanist Al Gentry changed tropical ecology and helped create the global science of today.

This new article celebrates Gentry's unique innovations, achievements and lasting influence, more than 30 years after his untimely death.
rainfor.org/wp-content/u...
annals.mobot.org/index.php/an...

Reposted by Melissa Whitman

Kelsey J.R.P. Byers @plantpollinator.bsky.social · Mar 20

Really excited to say that my lab's paper on color transitions in Mimulus sect. Erythranthe is out! We found that some traits demonstrate evolutionary convergence in phenotype & genotype, while others are divergent, & that - as Bob Vickery found - bees prefer yellow!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Within-species floral evolution reveals convergence in adaptive walks during incipient pollinator shift - Nature Communications

During evolution, how adaptive walks cross fitness valleys remains unclear. This integrative study on monkeyflowers reveals that convergence in large steps (floral color and gene expression) drives a ...

www.nature.com

Reposted by Melissa Whitman

Evan Frost @wildwoods.bsky.social · Mar 16

Old-growth, fire-resistant Douglas-firs marked for logging as part of the Paul's Payoff timber sale, on the BLM's Medford District (sw Oregon). Square this w/the agency's official statement that "they don't log old-growth"...?

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Mar 15

Growing amongst the canopy would allow for similar light levels as upper montane shrublands, despite slow growth and shorter heights as compared to other woody flora. With prelim results, there is strong phylogenetic signal at the upper elevational boundaries but not the lower, which is interesting

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Mar 15

Which is the most recent area of establishment, which would explain the upwards movement results. Simultaneously the genus has shifted from terrestrial to epiphytic growth forms, which facilitates downwards expansion into tropical rainforests, but with loss of tolerance to freezing conditions. 3/n

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Mar 15

Counter to most woody plants, they originated in temperate latitudes and recently expanded into the tropics, most likely colonizing montane areas first because of similarity of temperatures. However, the Sundaland bioregion has fewer mountains with shorter summits, as compared to Sahul (PNG) 2/n

Melissa Whitman @mwhitman-phd.bsky.social · Mar 15

Thanks for the insights. Quite a bit to ponder, when I am back at my computer I will try running the replicates using the lowermost elevational boundaries (these results were for the upper most boundaries). The data is for equatorial Rhododendron of Malesia, which are wonderfully quirky. 1/n

Reposted by Melissa Whitman

Desirée L. Narango @dlnarango.bsky.social · Mar 15

Spring is here!
(Well some places not quite VT)

We’re getting 2025 observations for our Pollinator Interactions on Plants project!

We know much more about herbaceous flowers than we do tree flowers but trees are incredible floral resources! Watch your trees and submit data to help us learn more!

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