Alli Pierce, PhD
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allikpierce.bsky.social
Alli Pierce, PhD
@allikpierce.bsky.social
Animal ecologist, Mountain Ploverologist, stats geek, amateur artist, and nature nerd. General research interest in behavior (esp. #migration) and life history. Looking for opportunities.
Reposted by Alli Pierce, PhD
Excited to be a part of this year's Climate Week NYC!
@planscape.bsky.social and @americanforests.bsky.social will be chatting post-fire reforestation at Doris Duke's Treehouse with amazing speakers from @nature.org, @moorefound.bsky.social, and more!
September 22, 2025 at 3:41 PM
I LOVE this time of year. Check out this huuuge bull elk I saw in my yard today! It’s been 2 weeks of listening to these fellas sing and it’s magical ✨
September 17, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Libby rocks so I bet these jobs do too! Forest people get on it!
September 17, 2025 at 5:57 AM
The best plover in my very biased opinion! Shore? Who needs it!
Happy National Plover Appreciation Day! 💕
September 17, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Second this! Great location, great people, great size, and great science!
This is an absolutely *awesome* small meeting for those of us working in the Rockies. Can't recommend highly enough for all career stages
Last call for GREEBs registration & talk submissions. We might have space for 4 additional talks. Poster submissions are closed.

Registration will close Wednesday Sept 17th.
September 17, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Reposted by Alli Pierce, PhD
new paper from my lab @cudenverclas.bsky.social in @natclimate.nature.com, led by @sarahnalley.bsky.social!

Dragonflies with dark mating ornaments on their wings are disappearing from parts of the United States that have had more warming and wildfire over the last 40 years 🧪🌍🐙

rdcu.be/eFm7e
Showy dragonflies are being driven extinct by warming and wildfire
Nature Climate Change - The authors use 1,603 estimates of local extinctions from 1980 to 2021 to show that dragonfly species with wing ornamentation have disproportionately gone extinct and lost...
rdcu.be
September 10, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Reposted by Alli Pierce, PhD
Are you looking for a PhD position and want to spend your summers in the Rocky Mountains?

My lab @cudenverclas.bsky.social is looking for 1 PhD student to work on a NSF-funded project to study elevational range shifts in Colorado! 🧪🌍🐙

Apply by Nov 1!

Details here docs.google.com/document/d/1...
2025 - Hypoxia PhD job ad
The Moore lab at the University of Colorado Denver is searching for 1 Ph.D. student to study the elevational limits of dragonflies in Colorado (http://moore-evo-eco.weebly.com). This position is fully...
docs.google.com
August 18, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Alli Pierce, PhD
new paper out with Paula Cushing @denvermuseumns.bsky.social in @royentsoc.bsky.social! We explore elevational distributions of 🕷️ in Colorado

Species that live at extreme elevations tend to be cold-tolerant generalists that can live anywhere 🧪🌍🐙

resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
High and hardy: Cold‐tolerant generalists inhabit extreme elevations in Rocky Mountain Pardosa spiders
Pardosa species richness is highest at mid-elevations in the Rocky Mountains, declining at the lowest and highest elevations. Pardosa species that inhabit extreme elevations tend to be generalists, ...
resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 15, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Alli Pierce, PhD
Kentish Plover chicks are masters of camouflage.
Can you spot it?
#plovers #shorebirds #waders
July 4, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Alli Pierce, PhD
cool new paper in @nature.com about moth migration, showing they use the stars to navigate up to the mountains in the summer 🧪🌍🐙

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bogong moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night - Nature
Every spring, Bogong moths use the starry night sky as a compass to navigate up to 1,000 km towards their alpine migratory goal.
www.nature.com
June 19, 2025 at 8:22 PM
I pass this Bison herd off I-70 all the time driving home. This time we stopped to appreciate all the adorable red-dogs since the herd was right next to the viewing fence. This full Bison herd has been maintained by the city of Denver for over 100 years!
June 13, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Normally a Mountain plover clutch is 6 eggs split between 2 nests that the male and female split up to incubate and rear independently which is super weird and cool in itself but…
May 20, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Last week I got to help my colleague, Casey Weissburg, GPS tag some Mountain Plovers and it was the nostalgic itch I needed to scratch.

Enjoy this plover being released looking a bit like a lil 🦖 I love these shoreless shorebirds ❤️

Watch till the end for a cute lil tweet!

All work done w/permits
May 19, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Reposted by Alli Pierce, PhD
Grad students: Free training and community-building event this week!! If you are working on anything involving individuals or populations from an ecology or evolutionary perspective (including modeling!) your work probably qualifies as "animal behavior" for our purposes. You can still register!
We're hosting the virtual SIGNAL graduate student professional development program on May 15-16 at 11am -3:00pm ET! Graduate students at all levels, including incoming students and recent graduates, are invited to attend.
Register and learn more here: signal-ab.weebly.com
Register by 5/9!
May 12, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Pretty fitting our first of the year Black-headed Grosbeaks and Western Tanager arrived on Migratory Bird Day! All the summer friends have now arrived!
May 11, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Reposted by Alli Pierce, PhD
Colorado State Forest Service is hiring a nursery manager. Please share widely!

jobs.colostate.edu/postings/159...
Nursery Manager
Under the direct supervision of the Associate Director of Forest Planning and Implementation, this position is responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating all activities related to a forest ...
jobs.colostate.edu
April 22, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Bump! In case it was missed when I first posted
EEB Researchers - is there a discord/slack/etc server for ECRs specifically? I'm interested in a research related career but not TT (gov/NGO/non-prof acad) which seems tricky now... I'd like to find a venue more conducive to career related discussions than short format social media sites. TIA!
March 31, 2025 at 7:33 PM
EEB Researchers - is there a discord/slack/etc server for ECRs specifically? I'm interested in a research related career but not TT (gov/NGO/non-prof acad) which seems tricky now... I'd like to find a venue more conducive to career related discussions than short format social media sites. TIA!
March 26, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by Alli Pierce, PhD
🚨CO Scientists🚨

Have you or someone you know been fired from a federally funded position? If so—contact me! Looking for speakers/stories for the Stand Up for Science rally in Denver, CO.
February 24, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by Alli Pierce, PhD
Postdocs and PhD students hit hard by Trump’s crackdown on science. Story by @heidiledford.bsky.social & @humbertobasilio.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Postdocs and PhD students hit hard by Trump’s crackdown on science
As US federal grants remain frozen and budget cuts loom, anxiety and fear grip early-career researchers.
www.nature.com
February 25, 2025 at 6:22 PM
There's a lot of uncertainty about the future of ecological research right now (especially as an ECR on the job market) but I feel so privileged I had the opportunity to spend my graduate career studying Mountain Plovers. I hope the peeps of this little newly hatched chick can help you smile today.
February 24, 2025 at 7:04 PM
My former plover protege now plover research extraordinaire, Casey, is hiring a field technician to help with her PhD project in Colorado. Good pay and awesome birds, please share!

cu.taleo.net/careersectio...
Mountain Plover Research Technician
Click the link provided to see the complete job description.
cu.taleo.net
January 31, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by Alli Pierce, PhD
My research was posted on Boulder County Open Space! This is so meaningful after having lost my home to wildfire in Boulder County. Humans & animals face an increasing threat of wildfire. While humans can move, many animals must deal with life in burned habitats.
bouldercounty.gov/open-space/e...
January 23, 2025 at 6:52 PM
In case you need it today. Here’s some pictures of my new puppy Mochi.
January 20, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Alli Pierce, PhD
Important news: The Wilson Journal of #Ornithology will be transitioning to a new publishing partner, Taylor & Francis, for 2025—and eliminating page charges! wilsonsociety.org/2024/12/11/w...
WJO to eliminate page charges, transition to Taylor & Francis
In 2025, the WJO will be moving to a new publishing partner, Taylor and Francis.
wilsonsociety.org
December 12, 2024 at 4:44 PM