Lorinda Bullington
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lorindabee.bsky.social
Lorinda Bullington
@lorindabee.bsky.social
Systems Ecology Ph.D. Interested in plant-fungi / fungi-beetle 🌲🍄‍🟫🪲symbioses in forest ecosystems.
Pinned
New review out in Biological Reviews! 🌲
We synthesize over a century of research on the complex ecological web linking tree-killing bark beetles, their symbiotic fungi, and host trees.

Open access 👉 doi.org/10.1111/brv....
#ForestEcology #BarkBeetles #FungalEcology #Symbiosis #BiologicalReviews
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
Hundreds of infectious disease specialists have been let go by the Trump administration. Here are four who helped to keep pandemics at bay.
(Gift article)

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/h...
They Fought Outbreaks Worldwide. Now They’re Fighting for New Lives.
www.nytimes.com
October 13, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
Around 14 million Americans are set to lose their insurance over the next 10 years. And out of the 10 hardest-hit states, 7 voted for Trump.

My @morningjoe-msnbc.bsky.social Chart
October 9, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
The risk of older fathers fathers passing on disease-causing mutations 🧬 to their children is higher than we thought 🧪

The reason - mutant sperm stem cells that turn selfish and divide faster than normal 1/

www.newscientist.com/article/2499...
Selfish sperm see older fathers pass on more disease-causing mutations
Older men are more likely to pass on disease-causing mutations to their children because of the faster growth of mutant cells in the testes with age
www.newscientist.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:56 PM
New review out in Biological Reviews! 🌲
We synthesize over a century of research on the complex ecological web linking tree-killing bark beetles, their symbiotic fungi, and host trees.

Open access 👉 doi.org/10.1111/brv....
#ForestEcology #BarkBeetles #FungalEcology #Symbiosis #BiologicalReviews
October 7, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
From beginning to end: the synecology of tree‐killing bark beetles, fungi, and trees - Six - Biological Reviews - Wiley Online Library 😁WE HAVE A NEW ONE OUT. Two years in the making. Give it a look!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
From beginning to end: the synecology of tree‐killing bark beetles, fungi, and trees
Over a century of research has revealed an amazing complexity of behaviours and physiological adaptations that allow tiny bark beetles to overcome large trees, sometimes resulting in outbreaks that k...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 7, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
Plants have pathogens. One of the most important for the Ponderosa pine are pine beetles (Dendroctonus ponderosae) that bore into bark to feed on phloem.

The plant responds with a chemical immune system: terpene-rich resin that flows through resin ducts, flushing out or drowning the beetle.
Mountain Pine Beetle - Profile | Invasive Species Centre
The mountain pine beetle is native to western Canada, but has expanded and could become invasive, due to climate change and past forest management programs.
www.invasivespeciescentre.ca
September 24, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
#Viewpoint: A critical reassessment of the novel weapons hypothesis and allelopathy as an adaptive strategy that facilitates #PlantInvasion

Robert Colautti & Pedro Madeira Antunes
👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#LatestIssue #PlantScience
September 22, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
✨ Paper spotlight ✨

(🧵 1/6) The path towards a unified trait space: synthesizing plant functional diversity
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
September 26, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
This interview, which is also available to listen to as a podcast, provides a useful overview of some of the dangerous trends we’ve been seeing in recent months regarding federalization and militarization of state and local police functions.
Opinion | Trump Is Building His Own Paramilitary Force
www.nytimes.com
August 28, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
Fungi are just as enigmatic as extraordinary!!!

You MUST watch this ❤️ 🍄

#fungifriends #microbiology #visualarts #sciart #phd #postdoc #biodiversity #moulds #endophytes
The Symbiotic Universe (2025)
YouTube video by Fungal Galaxies
youtu.be
July 22, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Had an amazing time in Estonia last week, talking plant-fungal-bark beetle interactions at the New Phytologist Symposium. Recorded talks to follow soon!🌲🪲🍄‍🟫
July 17, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
🍃New research shows that leaf traits and floral resources are closely linked, primarily determined by environmental selection, with pollinators playing a secondary role. These findings emphasise the interconnectedness of vegetative and reproductive traits in plant strategies.🌼 buff.ly/ueQtHkj
July 14, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
Soil fungi influence the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality

manipulating plant species richness/soil fungal diversity in 190 plant communities => measuring 10 ecosystem functions

-in @natcomms.nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Soil fungi influence the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality - Nature Communications
Fungal diversity is critical for ecosystem functioning, yet its role in mediating the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality remains unclear. This study finds that funga...
www.nature.com
July 3, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
Bernie Sanders:

“It is obscene to give tax breaks to the top 1% by throwing more than 16 million people off health care, cutting nutrition for hungry kids and making it harder for working class young people to go to college.

That is exactly what Trump's budget reconciliation bill does.”
June 30, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
#Viewpoint: Progress and future directions of biogeographical comparisons of #plant–fungal #interactions in invasion contexts

Arpad Thoma, Ylva Lekberg, Dávid Nagy, Min Sheng, Erik Welk & Christoph Rosche 👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#LatestIssue #PlantScience
June 25, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
🌊🛍️ Bag bans work

A new study shows that plastic bag bans and fees cut shoreline litter by up to 47% in the US. Citizen-science data from 45,000+ cleanups confirm: fewer bags, fewer risks to wildlife.

Simple policies, real impact

🔗 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#SciComm #PlasticPollution 🧪
Plastic bag bans and fees reduce harmful bag litter on shorelines
Plastic pollution threatens marine and freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide. Although plastic bag bans and taxes are increasingly implemented worldwide, their effectiveness in reducing ...
www.science.org
June 21, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
There's a chemical trick fireflies perform that allows them to flash without burning.
My dad studied that trick all his life.
Now he's 92, and darkness is closing in.
For Father's Day, I did my best to illuminate his work, his life, and the fleeting wonder of it all.
thewalrus.ca/a-son-a-scie...
A Son, a Scientist, and the Secret of Bioluminescence | The Walrus
My father spent a career decoding how fireflies make light. Now, as dementia sets in, he is grappling with life’s final mystery
thewalrus.ca
June 15, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
Fungal diversity, decomposition, substrate chemistry, and all their interconnections to understand how the environment shapes fungal communities and wood decay - led by the very talented @zhiyuanxu.bsky.social 🪵🍄🍄‍🟫

kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...
kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me
June 10, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
🚨BREAKING: 300+ NIH employees call out the harm of censorship & politicized science in scathing email to Bhattacharya, demanding an end to political interference, a lift on funding freezes, & rehiring of fired staff whose work saves lives.

This is historic - insiders are blowing the whistle.
🧵(1/5)
June 9, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
Happy #Pride month! This #FungiFriday we are going on a fungal foray through the pride flag. There have been many iterations since its original conception in 1978, including the Intersex-Inclusive flag by Valentino Vecchietti – which we have recreated in fungal fashion for the LGBTQ myco-maniacs
June 6, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
“…that's the cool thing about basic science: you just don't know what information or knowledge it will generate in the future”

Our new open mycorrhizal fungal trait database is published! Read about our science journey:

fas.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/05...
Dartmouth Team Launches Public Database on Soil Fungi | Faculty of Arts and Sciences
fas.dartmouth.edu
May 28, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
🌳🌡️ Climate reshapes forests

A new global study of 22,000+ forest plots finds that dominant tree species are taller, softer-wooded, and more temperature-sensitive than rare species.

As the climate warms, forest communities may reorganise.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#SciComm #Trees 🧪
Effect of climate on traits of dominant and rare tree species in the world’s forests - Nature Communications
Species’ traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. Here, the authors find that dominant tree species are taller and have softer wood compared to rar...
www.nature.com
May 24, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
Reposted by Lorinda Bullington
#TansleyReview: ‘Chimes of #resilience’: what makes #forest #trees genetically resilient?

Antoine Kremer, Jun Chen & Martin Lascoux 👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#LatestIssue #PlantScience
May 10, 2025 at 1:30 PM
My first post on Bluesky to announce that I’ve successfully defended my PhD dissertation on fungal symbioses in forests! #fungi #endophytes #barkbeetles #symbioses
May 4, 2025 at 9:36 PM