Magda Garbowski
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magdagarbowski.bsky.social
Magda Garbowski
@magdagarbowski.bsky.social
2.4K followers 800 following 32 posts
Assistant Professor of Restoration Ecology at New Mexico State University. Also interested in invasions, functional traits, and science communication.

Lab website: functionalrestoration.nmsu.edu
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
weatherwest.bsky.social
Attention folks in the weather, climate, disaster, wildfire, and Earth science communities: NSF has just published a new "Dear Colleague" letter inviting feedback (by Mar 13) on the proposal to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). www.nsf.gov/funding/...
January 23, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
volts.wtf
ICYMI: I sat down with political scientist @samuel-bagg.bsky.social to discuss the crisis in our information environment and its roots in social identity.
The cure for misinformation is not more information or smarter news consumers
Political scientist Samuel Bagg explains why social identity is at the root of the misinformation crisis -- which calls for something deeper than factchecking.
www.volts.wtf
January 5, 2026 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
katherinestiles.org
· #AcademicSky · #EduSky · #AI ·
“When people rely on large language models to summarize information on a topic for them, they tend to develop shallower knowledge about it compared to learning through a standard Google search.”
Learning with AI falls short compared to old-fashioned web search
Doing the mental work of connecting the dots across multiple web queries appears to help people understand the material better compared to an AI summary.
theconversation.com
January 3, 2026 at 1:04 PM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
ingolfkuehn.bsky.social
Interested in pursuing your PhD in Alpine Ecology? How do ecosystems emerge after glacial retreat? Come with us @ufz.de as a PhD researcher on the development of vegetation and microbiome in glacier forelands.

recruitingapp-5128.de.umantis.com/Vacancies/33...

#ecojobs #ecology #Alps #AlpineEcology
The job Cooperating in the field of periglacial vegetation development with other Helmholtz centres, we offer a PhD position (f/m/x) to survey and analyse the development of vegetation and associated microbiomes in glacier forelands of the Alps. Your tasks • Collection of vegetation data in glacier forelands and surroundings • Collection of soil and root samples • Analyses of soil and root associated microbiomes through meta-barcoding • Analysis of the link between vegetation and microbiome development as a function of (successional) time • Scientific publications We offer A lot of things, but space does not permit. Please see the link for details. Your profile • Degree (Master, Diploma) in biology, ecology, geoecology or comparable courses of study • Experience in the field of vegetation methods (vegetation surveys) • Field work experience in soil and root sampling for microbiome analysis • Lab skills to analyse the microbiome like DNA extraction, PCR, and sequencing • Knowledge of the Northern Alpine flora • Experience in high mountains and the ability to hike several hours a day and 1000 metres in altitude with luggage and equipment • Orientation skills in the mountains • Ability to work independently and solve unexpected problems • Statistical skills (preferably in R), knowledge of data storage (databases) desirable • Very good knowledge of English (communication in the working group, reading technical literature, writing technical articles)
December 15, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
exfumo.bsky.social
#Novelty isn’t a yes/no, but a #gradient from #replication to #innovation. We should be honest about where our work sits on that gradient, instead of overselling everything as #groundbreaking
More▶️ 1url.cz/sJXel
#GoBelowground #ExFuMo #linocut @ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social
linocut by Jitka Klimesova
November 21, 2025 at 10:14 AM
magdagarbowski.bsky.social
Hello! I’m recruiting three graduate students (MS or PhD) to start in summer or fall 2026 . Projects are broadly focused on the ecology, restoration, and management of rangelands, deserts, and forests. Please share!

Lab website: functionalrestoration.nmsu.edu
Students collecting vegetation data in the Organ Mountains Plants with soil and roots Students collecting plants from forest understory
October 23, 2025 at 3:47 AM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
carlzimmer.com
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
October 8, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
benrlee.com
🚨 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
An ad for a PhD position to start fall 2026 working with me at ETSU. For more info, please email at LeeBR1@etsu.edu. A close-up picture of dimpled trout lilies active in early spring, still largely surrounded by the previous year's senesced tree leaves. A beautiful vista of the Blue Ridge Mountains from on top of Carver's Gap on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee.
October 3, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
lizkoziol.bsky.social
Excited to share our paper on grassland establishment 7 yrs after native #AMF inoculation—showing AMF result in higher diversity + prairie spread into old fields—was selected Editor’s Choice by @femsjournals.bsky.social.🦠🌎
I’ll discuss next week at #SER2025 Denver ! academic.oup.com/femsle/artic...
femsjournals.bsky.social FEMS Journals @femsjournals.bsky.social · Sep 22
🍄 Fungi to the rescue! Native AMF inoculation helps prairie restoration 🌱 by boosting native plant diversity and kicking weeds to the curb (even 7 years later). A long-term win for restoration ecology. 📄https://buff.ly/Uyl6f78 #FEMSMicrobiolLett #Mycorrhiza #Microbiology
September 25, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
edeggans.bsky.social
The first public media station to go dark thanks to Trump’s cutoff of federal funding to public media is a 70 year old station in Pennsylvania. https://loom.ly/IjOHdzI
‘The news devastated me’: Pennsylvania NPR station will be first in the US to go dark following Trump’s cuts
A public media organization in a university town just a few hours northwest of Philadelphia is set to be the first in the country to go dark after the Trump administration stripped away federal funding for NPR and PBS. 
www.spokesman.com
September 19, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
ecoevolab.bsky.social
The GRFP lives!! (due end of October)
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
www.nsf.gov
September 8, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
seanmichaletz.bsky.social
Fully funded PhD in #Ecophysiology at UBC in Vancouver! 🍁 Possible topics include leaf physiology, thermal ecology, microclimates, scaling, tree physiology, forest ecology, and more. Start Sept 2026/Jan 2027. michaletzlab.org
Please share!
#PlantEcoPhys #Ecology #Botany #PhDposition #GradSchool
September 2, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
cpcarmona.bsky.social
Hot off the press 🔥 New Ecological Monographs paper shows why, when and how to include intraspecific trait variability to enhance functional diversity research. Huge shout out to Facundo Palacio for his vision and leadership. Read here 👉 doi.org/10.1002/ecm....
#traits #functionaldiversity 📏🌐
Integrating intraspecific trait variability in functional diversity: An overview of methods and a guide for ecologists
Variability in traits within species (intraspecific trait variability; ITV) has attracted increased interest in functional ecology, as it can profoundly influence the detection of functional trait pa....
doi.org
July 8, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
gerlame.bsky.social
🚨postdoc opportunity at UBC🚨 applications are now open for the Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship, due internally Oct. 15 - www.postdocs.ubc.ca/award/killam...

I can nominate 1 person and give feedback on that nominee's materials - if interested plz email me by Sept. 10 - join us!
Kayak trip with the lab in Deep Cove BC
August 17, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
mekevans.bsky.social
New paper out on the dangers of using patterns across spatial climate gradients to predict what will happen with changing climate. That includes species distribution modeling. Space-for-time substitution can be misleading in sign, not just the magnitude of effects.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reconsidering space-for-time substitution in climate change ecology - Nature Climate Change
Ecologists often leverage patterns observed across spatial climate gradients to predict the impacts of climate change (space-for-time substitution). We highlight evidence that this can be misleading n...
www.nature.com
July 31, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
exfumo.bsky.social
📢Klimešová et al. (2025) in Trends Plant Sci: Belowground persistence types relevant to severe disturbance - a new classification! ▶️ 1url.cz/FJExZ
#GoBelowground #ExFuMo #Clonality #BudBank #Resprouting #Disturbance #Storage
Belowground persistence types relevant to severe disturbance
Despite recent advances in plant trait ecology, we identified a knowledge gap in understanding how plants strategize to cope with severe and recurrent disturbances. Here, we propose a new classificati...
1url.cz
July 8, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
oceanandclimate.bsky.social
News from the NSF Division of Earth Sciences Informational Webinar: If US scientists want to support NSF EAR, they should continue to submit proposals. The number of proposals is an important metric for quantifying need and therefore influencing the budget
June 17, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
carlzimmer.com
Congressionally mandated climate reports disappeared from their federal websites. www.cnn.com/2025/07/02/c...
Congressionally mandated climate reports have disappeared from their federal websites | CNN
The National Climate Assessments can no longer be found on their government-hosted websites.
www.cnn.com
July 2, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
smwadgymar.bsky.social
This is true for learning and knowledge retention in higher ed too.

Teaching individual units/topics/lectures is not as effective for learning as teaching systems of knowledge (how multiple concepts are related and help fully address a question). Brief and illustrative example in the article below.
edutopia.org Edutopia @edutopia.org · Jun 26
One students’ question about the snowshoe hare prompted this educator to rethink her teaching. 🐇

Here’s how she redesigned her life science curriculum as interconnected units anchored in real-world phenomena.

#ITeachScience #ITeachBiology
What the Snowshoe Hare Teaches Us About Integrated Science Units
A middle school science teacher redesigned her life science curriculum as interconnected units anchored in real-world phenomena.
edut.to
June 27, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
astrokatie.com
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
restorecal.bsky.social
Special Feature in *People and Nature*: “Halfway through the UN Decade:
taking stock of social-ecological restoration”

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...

We welcome proposals for papers – deadline to submit abstracts is *June 30,
2025*.
People and Nature Call for Proposals: Taking stock of social-ecological restoration
<em>People and Nature</em> is an international journal publishing interdisciplinary research with ecological relevance that explores the relationships between humans and nature.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
June 15, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Reposted by Magda Garbowski
balachaudhary.bsky.social
“…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 Magda Garbowski
rlux.nyc
Another big FU from Harvard… free online courses on the US government, the US constitution, civic engagement, and more.

pll.harvard.edu/subject/gove...
Government | Harvard University
Browse the latest Government courses from Harvard University.
pll.harvard.edu
May 24, 2025 at 2:58 AM