Lena Struwe
@drgentian.bsky.social
Scientist, botanist, artmaker, microscopist, photographer, nature nerd, knitter & writer, iNatter, cares deeply about Earth's human and non-human inhabitants. (Views my own and I block AI content)
I cancelled my NYTimes subscription today, this is the last drop in the bucket. Seriously, whose bad decision was it to publish this anti-woman, anti-justice, and anti-equality piece? Feminism means equal rights and respect for all. "Conservative feminism" is fake, doesn't exist. Disrespectful, NYT!
November 9, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I cancelled my NYTimes subscription today, this is the last drop in the bucket. Seriously, whose bad decision was it to publish this anti-woman, anti-justice, and anti-equality piece? Feminism means equal rights and respect for all. "Conservative feminism" is fake, doesn't exist. Disrespectful, NYT!
Reposted by Lena Struwe
Socialism is what they called public power.
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
November 7, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Socialism is what they called public power.
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
Reposted by Lena Struwe
The 5th of 6 faculty positions in UNC Biology is posted. We're working with the @ncbg.bsky.social to fill a joint position as Director of the UNC Herbarium at @ncbg.bsky.social and as Associate Professor within the Department of Biology (BIOL). Please share 1/n
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/308...
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/308...
Associate Professor & Director of NCBG Herbarium
This is a research, teaching, and public service position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, serving jointly as Herbarium Director at the North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG) and as...
unc.peopleadmin.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:36 AM
The 5th of 6 faculty positions in UNC Biology is posted. We're working with the @ncbg.bsky.social to fill a joint position as Director of the UNC Herbarium at @ncbg.bsky.social and as Associate Professor within the Department of Biology (BIOL). Please share 1/n
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/308...
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/308...
Today in #PlantDiversityEvolution class my students built models of hypothetical fruits for novel dispersal adaptations: snowplows, squirrels, mice in tunnels, sharks, migratory birds, wind turbines etc. Fascinating creativity! The blood-imitating pheromone-soaked fish-mimicry fruit = sharks.
October 30, 2025 at 3:53 AM
Today in #PlantDiversityEvolution class my students built models of hypothetical fruits for novel dispersal adaptations: snowplows, squirrels, mice in tunnels, sharks, migratory birds, wind turbines etc. Fascinating creativity! The blood-imitating pheromone-soaked fish-mimicry fruit = sharks.
Reposted by Lena Struwe
You have until Sunday SUNDAY Sunday to order a Biology is Bigger than Binaries shirt. I don't have room in my house for piles of shirts so our shirts are always time-limited.
Designed by @franzanth.bsky.social, supports @skypeascientist.bsky.social, looks cool as hell.
Get one: SquidFacts.net
Designed by @franzanth.bsky.social, supports @skypeascientist.bsky.social, looks cool as hell.
Get one: SquidFacts.net
I'm doing another print run of these "Biology is Bigger than Binaries" shirts!
Back, quite literally, by popular demand. Bullying works, sure, but so does a bunch of nice cutie patooties politely asking!
Order 'em now, I'll mail 'em in early November.
SquidFacts.net
Back, quite literally, by popular demand. Bullying works, sure, but so does a bunch of nice cutie patooties politely asking!
Order 'em now, I'll mail 'em in early November.
SquidFacts.net
October 30, 2025 at 12:59 AM
You have until Sunday SUNDAY Sunday to order a Biology is Bigger than Binaries shirt. I don't have room in my house for piles of shirts so our shirts are always time-limited.
Designed by @franzanth.bsky.social, supports @skypeascientist.bsky.social, looks cool as hell.
Get one: SquidFacts.net
Designed by @franzanth.bsky.social, supports @skypeascientist.bsky.social, looks cool as hell.
Get one: SquidFacts.net
Reposted by Lena Struwe
'Within 28 days it found an increase in cells in the blood – called T regulatory cells – that protect the body from autoimmune diseases. Other research showed that in just two weeks children’s immune system regulation could be improved by playing in a sandpit enriched with garden soil.'
How a radical experiment to bring a forest into a preschool transformed children’s health
In Finland, kindergartens are exposing children to more mud, wild plants and moss - and finding changes to their health that show how crucial biodiversity is to wellbeing
www.theguardian.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:42 AM
'Within 28 days it found an increase in cells in the blood – called T regulatory cells – that protect the body from autoimmune diseases. Other research showed that in just two weeks children’s immune system regulation could be improved by playing in a sandpit enriched with garden soil.'
That feeling after you have read a truly uniquely wonderful book and you do not want to start another book because you know you will get disappointed when you compare, and you also know that the only way is down from a high point, to be able to find other high points in the reading landscape.
#books
#books
October 28, 2025 at 1:07 AM
That feeling after you have read a truly uniquely wonderful book and you do not want to start another book because you know you will get disappointed when you compare, and you also know that the only way is down from a high point, to be able to find other high points in the reading landscape.
#books
#books
Reposted by Lena Struwe
It’s a very exciting day at Rutgers today! The 100th anniversary of the Chrysler Herbarium! Thanks to @drgentian.bsky.social and Megan King for organizing, training so many students/botanists, and taking such good care of the collections! It’s been really fun to learn from you over the years!
October 24, 2025 at 2:22 PM
It’s a very exciting day at Rutgers today! The 100th anniversary of the Chrysler Herbarium! Thanks to @drgentian.bsky.social and Megan King for organizing, training so many students/botanists, and taking such good care of the collections! It’s been really fun to learn from you over the years!
Reposted by Lena Struwe
So pleased to help celebrate 100 years of the Chrysler #Herbarium at Rutgers. Major kudos to @drgentian.bsky.social + Megan King for putting together such a fun symposium. #iamabotanist #plantpeopleFTW
October 27, 2025 at 11:02 AM
So pleased to help celebrate 100 years of the Chrysler #Herbarium at Rutgers. Major kudos to @drgentian.bsky.social + Megan King for putting together such a fun symposium. #iamabotanist #plantpeopleFTW
So much agree with this. It makes life more varied and interesting too. And you can trade tasks, and work together and learn from each other. Make your life and skills stretch from the plants in the dirt to the words on the page, from the pain brush to the kitchen. There is comfort in competence
every adult should know how to craft something. i use that loosely: cook a meal, do a bit of DIY, sew a button, grow a plant.
if there is nothing in this world that you can make yourself... why. what are you doing
if there is nothing in this world that you can make yourself... why. what are you doing
Do you have any extremely niche, but serious, ethical stances?
October 18, 2025 at 3:22 AM
So much agree with this. It makes life more varied and interesting too. And you can trade tasks, and work together and learn from each other. Make your life and skills stretch from the plants in the dirt to the words on the page, from the pain brush to the kitchen. There is comfort in competence
Reposted by Lena Struwe
@andrewlhipp.bsky.social gave a stirring talk promoting #NaturalHistory at the #Botany2025 @amsocplanttaxon.bsky.social lecture. He has preprinted an essay based on this lecture which is worth a read if you need some hope in ecology.
doi.org/10.32942/X2MS85
doi.org/10.32942/X2MS85
Fostering a natural history community
doi.org
October 13, 2025 at 11:58 PM
@andrewlhipp.bsky.social gave a stirring talk promoting #NaturalHistory at the #Botany2025 @amsocplanttaxon.bsky.social lecture. He has preprinted an essay based on this lecture which is worth a read if you need some hope in ecology.
doi.org/10.32942/X2MS85
doi.org/10.32942/X2MS85
All botanists know how frustrating the lack of plant emoji diversity is (while mycologists make do with just two mushrooms 🍄🍄🟫). Mammola et al. quantified this disparity compared to biological diversity and built a phylogeny of animal emojis.
doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.108569
doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.108569
October 16, 2025 at 11:20 AM
The talons of the red-tailed hawk are something truly impressive! We visited the Zoological Collection at #Rutgers University today with our students to investigate bones, skins, pickled, and taxidermied animal #biodiversity. #HiddenTreasures #SpecimenStories #museum #raptor #birds
October 16, 2025 at 2:43 AM
The talons of the red-tailed hawk are something truly impressive! We visited the Zoological Collection at #Rutgers University today with our students to investigate bones, skins, pickled, and taxidermied animal #biodiversity. #HiddenTreasures #SpecimenStories #museum #raptor #birds
Reposted by Lena Struwe
It blows my mind that red-&-black fruits and seeds are attractive, but red-&-black insects are repellent (aposematic). In dispersal, as in life, context is everything! 📷1: Ripe fruits of Pinanga malaiana (#Arecaceae). 📷2: red-spotted stink bug, Jose Amorin CCBYNCSA2. #dispersal #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
October 11, 2025 at 11:57 AM
It blows my mind that red-&-black fruits and seeds are attractive, but red-&-black insects are repellent (aposematic). In dispersal, as in life, context is everything! 📷1: Ripe fruits of Pinanga malaiana (#Arecaceae). 📷2: red-spotted stink bug, Jose Amorin CCBYNCSA2. #dispersal #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Reposted by Lena Struwe
BHL has retrospectively assigned DOIs to 50,000+ historic journal articles These articles, which include the first scientific description of the Platypus (1799), are now part of the great linked network of scholarly research: doi.org/10.5962/p.30... #ILoveBHL #RetroPIDs 🧪
@crossref.bsky.social
@crossref.bsky.social
October 8, 2025 at 7:39 AM
BHL has retrospectively assigned DOIs to 50,000+ historic journal articles These articles, which include the first scientific description of the Platypus (1799), are now part of the great linked network of scholarly research: doi.org/10.5962/p.30... #ILoveBHL #RetroPIDs 🧪
@crossref.bsky.social
@crossref.bsky.social
Reposted by Lena Struwe
The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video
September 29, 2025 at 1:45 PM
The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video
Reposted by Lena Struwe
IMO paying close attention to species and simply describing what they do is a worthwhile endeavor unto itself.
Guessing I am not alone.
#iamabotanist #iamanaturalist #PUI #biodiversity
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Guessing I am not alone.
#iamabotanist #iamanaturalist #PUI #biodiversity
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
The inherent values of observation and description: A case study in the spiny solanums of Australia
Click on the article title to read more.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 27, 2025 at 11:02 PM
IMO paying close attention to species and simply describing what they do is a worthwhile endeavor unto itself.
Guessing I am not alone.
#iamabotanist #iamanaturalist #PUI #biodiversity
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Guessing I am not alone.
#iamabotanist #iamanaturalist #PUI #biodiversity
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Fascinating study! But that image below is not a fall webworm (an insect larvae), is it a spider? Crab? Still, maybe we are all evolutionary specialists when it comes to food, and other things :) #entomology #evolution #ecology #competition #nature
Highly generalised feeding by insect herbivores is often seen as a paradox. One possibility is that generalist species are really just made up of lots of hidden specialists. In this case generalism goes all the way down. 🧪🌏
Anything you can eat, I can eat better: Evidence of generalism from species to individual level in an insect herbivore
Most insect herbivores specialize on a few host plants; however, there are a minority of highly generalized species capable of feeding on hundreds of hosts. Generalism could emerge as a property of t...
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 26, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Fascinating study! But that image below is not a fall webworm (an insect larvae), is it a spider? Crab? Still, maybe we are all evolutionary specialists when it comes to food, and other things :) #entomology #evolution #ecology #competition #nature
Reposted by Lena Struwe
Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment.
The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP
jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/
The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP
jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/
An Open Letter to U.S. STEM Leadership on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
An Open Letter to U.S. STEM Leadership on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
jasonjwilliamsny.github.io
September 25, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment.
The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP
jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/
The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP
jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/
Reposted by Lena Struwe
I do a comic about ornithological vocabulary for every issue of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's wonderful Living Bird magazine. Here's the latest one, featuring the American Bittern.
September 24, 2025 at 3:41 PM
I do a comic about ornithological vocabulary for every issue of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's wonderful Living Bird magazine. Here's the latest one, featuring the American Bittern.
The ivy-leaved morning glory has fruits that look like something out of… the seashore, medieval fashion fur hats, or rose buds… Right? Seen in New Jersey, USA.
September 19, 2025 at 4:33 AM
The ivy-leaved morning glory has fruits that look like something out of… the seashore, medieval fashion fur hats, or rose buds… Right? Seen in New Jersey, USA.
Reposted by Lena Struwe
New paper by @drgentian.bsky.social in @newphyt.bsky.social using @gbif.org mediated data:
The collector practices that shape spatial, temporal, and taxonomic bias in herbaria 🇺🇸
#CiteTheDOI: ✅
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70297
The collector practices that shape spatial, temporal, and taxonomic bias in herbaria 🇺🇸
#CiteTheDOI: ✅
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70297
The collector practices that shape spatial, temporal, and taxonomic bias in herbaria
Natural history collections (NHCs) are essential for studying biodiversity. Although spatial, temporal, and taxonomic biases in NHCs affect analyses, the influence of collector practices on biases r...
doi.org
September 8, 2025 at 1:05 PM
New paper by @drgentian.bsky.social in @newphyt.bsky.social using @gbif.org mediated data:
The collector practices that shape spatial, temporal, and taxonomic bias in herbaria 🇺🇸
#CiteTheDOI: ✅
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70297
The collector practices that shape spatial, temporal, and taxonomic bias in herbaria 🇺🇸
#CiteTheDOI: ✅
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70297
Reposted by Lena Struwe
ALRIGHT! Version 1 of the fall zine is ready for ya.
For your reading enjoyment, Everything Sucks!
Full Zine (for digital reading) here: drive.google.com/file/d/1cYXF...
Print-and-fold version coming soon, I need to test print it first and can't do that right now lol
For your reading enjoyment, Everything Sucks!
Full Zine (for digital reading) here: drive.google.com/file/d/1cYXF...
Print-and-fold version coming soon, I need to test print it first and can't do that right now lol
September 5, 2025 at 11:14 PM
ALRIGHT! Version 1 of the fall zine is ready for ya.
For your reading enjoyment, Everything Sucks!
Full Zine (for digital reading) here: drive.google.com/file/d/1cYXF...
Print-and-fold version coming soon, I need to test print it first and can't do that right now lol
For your reading enjoyment, Everything Sucks!
Full Zine (for digital reading) here: drive.google.com/file/d/1cYXF...
Print-and-fold version coming soon, I need to test print it first and can't do that right now lol
Reposted by Lena Struwe
The Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University is Hiring!
We are searching for a Director of the Oregon State University Herbarium and applications are welcomed at the ranks of assistant, associate, or full professor.
We are searching for a Director of the Oregon State University Herbarium and applications are welcomed at the ranks of assistant, associate, or full professor.
August 6, 2025 at 4:58 PM
The Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University is Hiring!
We are searching for a Director of the Oregon State University Herbarium and applications are welcomed at the ranks of assistant, associate, or full professor.
We are searching for a Director of the Oregon State University Herbarium and applications are welcomed at the ranks of assistant, associate, or full professor.
