Stephen D. Murphy | Lightnews

Stephen Murphy (smurph)

@smurph.bsky.social

7K followers 2K following 1.2K posts

Professor at U Waterloo - Sch Environment, Resources & Sustainability. Ecologist, EIC Restoration Ecology, Botanist, Protected Areas. Grasslands. https://uwaterloo.ca/environment-resources-and-sustainability/blog/you-break-it-we-fix-it .. more

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Environmental science 40%

Agriculture 29%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Stephen Murphy (smurph) @smurph.bsky.social · 9h

Hear hear So wonderful from a great group of people

Stephen Murphy (smurph) @smurph.bsky.social · 9h

Awesome Eric and everyone involved

Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · 1d

It’s out and it’s beautiful. Mountain Voices featuring photographs from @mountainlegacy.bsky.social went on sale Friday evening at our launch event at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff.

Stephen Murphy (smurph) @smurph.bsky.social · 9h

@ehiggs.bsky.social fyi

European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · 1d

Rob Marchant, Laura Pereira, Unai Pascual, and Thomas Hickler will use their ERC Synergy Grant to understand how nature and societies interact in and beyond mountain socioecological systems ⛰️

@rob-marchant.bsky.social @laurap18.bsky.social @upascual.bsky.social

👉 buff.ly/ZQhLp4h

#ERCSyG

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy

Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 12h

Let a single person feed their family with food stamps when they don't "deserve" the benefit and Republicans will be filled with such rage that they'll take away those benefits from millions of others.

Meanwhile the administration is doing this:

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...

With little public scrutiny, the Trump administration is handing out hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts to some of the country’s most profitable companies and wealthiest investors.

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, through a series of new notices and proposed regulations, are giving breaks to giant private equity firms, crypto companies, foreign real estate investors, insurance providers and a variety of multinational corporations.

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy

Sholto David @sholtodavid.bsky.social · 13h

Reverse Image Forensics Challenge: Try to find a unique area in Figure 9 of this recent Scientific Reports paper: 10.1038/s41598-025-17456-6 [Aug 2025] - Annotated by ImageTwin.ai

Reposted by Silvia Secchi, Stephen D. Murphy

Federica Genovese @fgenovese.bsky.social · 16h

During the Great Recession (2008-09) UK GDP fell by 6%. Thankfully, it mostly recovered after 5 years.

Since Brexit referendum (2016) UK GDP has fallen between 6% and 8%. Unclear whether and when it will fully recover.

www.nber.org/papers/w3445...

The Economic Impact of Brexit

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

www.nber.org

Reposted by Peter Thorne, Simon Roux, Trevor A. Branch , and 1 more Peter Thorne, Simon Roux, Trevor A. Branch, Stephen D. Murphy

Helen Czerski @helenczerski.bsky.social · 17h

Oh, I love this. A new species of sea anemone was discovered recently that parks itself on top of a hermit crab shell like a hat. It seems to feed partly off the crab's faeces, but it also excretes a hard shell that extends the crab's home. In return, it's carried around the seafloor like a king.

Pictures of a pink sea anemone sitting on top of a hermit crab shell.

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy, Billur Bektaş

ESA Journals @esajournals.bsky.social · 19h

🆕 in "Ecological Monographs": Static models miss the mark—adding nonlinear, density-based facilitation helps predict coexistence, persistence, and realistic community dynamics

📄Neighbor density-dependent facilitation promotes coexistence and internal oscillation
doi.org/10.1002/ecm....

Schematic illustrating how species interactions can depend on neighborhood density and identity.

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning, Julie L. Lockwood, Stephen D. Murphy

Milan Chytrý @milanchytry.bsky.social · 19h

Our new paper in Ecology Letters, led by Jan Divíšek, shows that non-invasive alien plant species that successfully establish within local plant communities tend to resemble the resident native species. In contrast, invasive alien species usually differ from native plants.
doi.org/10.1111/ele....

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy, Nikolay Marinov

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 21h

Finished Lowenstein's "Ways & Means" on the financial and tax reforms that won the Civil War for the Union—brilliant book that manages to make bond sales gripping & shows how many US institutions (land-grant colleges, Union Pacific, etc) we owe to wartime reforms
www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Joey Politano's review of Ways and Means

5/5: "The Yankees did not whip us in the field—we were whipped in the Treasury Department" bemoaned one Confederate officer. The man was half right, as the well-earned American victories on the battle...

www.goodreads.com

Reposted by Eric Higgs, Stephen D. Murphy

Alan MacEachern 🇨🇦 @alanmaceachern.bsky.social · 1d

Informed, inspiring text. Beautiful, illuminating pix.

Congratulations, @ehiggs.bsky.social, Zac Robinson, @msanseve.bsky.social, Kristen Walsh, & @mountainlegacy.bsky.social!

@ucalgarypress.bsky.social & @nichecanada.bsky.social

press.ucalgary.ca/books/978177...

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning, Stephen D. Murphy

ECONOVO - DNRF Center of Excellence @econovoau.bsky.social · 1d

#meetECONOVO - @jonastrepel.bsky.social is a PhD researcher working with Robert Buitenwerf, Elizabeth Le Roux and @jcsvenning.bsky.social. His research explores how large herbivores shape vegetation dynamics and plant diversity, including fieldwork in South Africa.

Reposted by Rob Marchant, Laura Pereira, Stephen D. Murphy

European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · 1d

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy

Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · 1d

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy

Sierra Jech @sierrajech.bsky.social · 2d

CrustNet visits the California coastal scrublands! We set up a site at the Santa Margarita Reserve and were excited to find liverworts and a highly diverse community of moss and lichen. Gorgeous landscape!

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy

Adam Mahood 🌻 @adm0n.bsky.social · 2d

Hi.

Myself and 10-ish other people published this article today about global fire regimes. I hope you enjoy it. 🧪🌎🔥

Thank you for your attention on this matter!

dx.doi.org/10.1111/geb....

The Properties of Individual Fire Events Are Essential for Understanding Global Fire Regimes

Aim As fire activity changes globally, we need to better understand the spatial and temporal characteristics of the individual events that, when aggregated, constitute fire regimes. Most global stud...

dx.doi.org

Reposted by Cathy N. Davidson, Stephen D. Murphy, Henry Jones , and 1 more Cathy N. Davidson, Stephen D. Murphy, Henry Jones, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 3d

My latest is a love letter to Chicago. "I see you stumbling through the stubborn, awkward rhythm of showing up, again and again. I see you fighting alongside people who sometimes frustrate and confuse you, and defending neighbors you may have never met, because you know they’re all your people."

In Chicago, We Run Toward Danger Together

"Faced with unrelenting state violence, Chicagoans have refused to be cowed," says Mariame Kaba.

organizingmythoughts.org

Reposted by Håvard Kauserud, Dustin J. Marshall, Stephen D. Murphy , and 2 more Håvard Kauserud, Dustin J. Marshall, Stephen D. Murphy, Tommaso Jucker, Andrew Hacket‐Pain

Katie Field @katiefield4.bsky.social · 3d

🌿🍄‍🟫🌱🍄We’re recruiting!!🌿🍄‍🟫🌱🍄

I’m looking for two postdocs and a technician to join my group @sheffielduni.bsky.social @sheffieldpps.bsky.social to work with me on my exciting @royalsociety.org Faraday Discovery Fellowship project, details for each post as follows:

Reposted by Nandita Sharma, Mary Corcoran, Smith , and 6 more Nandita Sharma, Mary Corcoran, Smith, Silvia Secchi, Robert Wolfe, Stephen D. Murphy, Catherine J. Frieman, Nikki Fairchild, Christina Pagel

Meade Krosby @meadekrosby.bsky.social · 3d

Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).

Rosalind Franklin and the damage of gender harassment

Spurred by a recent report on sexual harassment in academia, our columnist revisits a historical case and reflects on what has changed—and what hasn’t

www.science.org

Reposted by Brian J. Enquist, Monica G. Turner, Jason Stajich , and 5 more Brian J. Enquist, Monica G. Turner, Jason Stajich, Stephen D. Murphy, Jesse R. Lasky, Seth M. Munson, Chhaya M. Werner, Connor Morozumi

Seema Sheth @seemasheth.bsky.social · 4d

Amy Angert and I are recruiting a #postdoc to participate in a collaborative NSF-funded study of demographic responses to climate across the geographic range of the scarlet monkeyflower. Please repost! jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/224...

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Margaret Mitchell, Janet Murray , and 2 more Anne Applebaum, Margaret Mitchell, Janet Murray, Stephen D. Murphy, Greg Linden

Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 4d

When deception’s more profitable than honesty, users lose.

Internal documents suggest that Meta earns $3.5B(!) every 6 mo. from scam ads, revealing a deeper systemic problem: the economic incentive to tolerate “higher legal risk” content still outweighs any penalty. www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show

Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, and it internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day, company documents show.

www.reuters.com

Stephen Murphy (smurph) @smurph.bsky.social · 4d

If you have not seen the specific sections from DFO, ECCC and so on, I recommend first grabbing a bottle of aspirin and cheap whiskey before reading. It is what you and others long alluded to: Hopium around what they mistakenly think is AI and stupidly think large language models can do

Stephen Murphy (smurph) @smurph.bsky.social · 4d

DFO might be the stupidest one there; which is saying a lot given how stupid the rest of it is ('oooh! we'll use AI! that will solve everything!')

I hope to hell none of the people I taught wrote any of this shit (or if they did, it was under threats and duress - which is likely)

Stephen Murphy (smurph) @smurph.bsky.social · 4d

The DFO, ECCC, NRCan, and Parks Canada ones are absolutely stupid - naturally, most allude to some miracle of what they think is AI (its actually generative GPT like slop and probably general large language models that can't do whatever hopium they have in mind)
budget.canada.ca/2025/report-...

Annex 3: Comprehensive expenditure review: Planned reductions by organisation | Budget 2025

Annex 3: Comprehensive expenditure review: Planned reductions by organisation — Part of Budget 2025.

budget.canada.ca

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy

International Journal of Plant Sciences @ijpsjournal.bsky.social · 4d

JA @ijpsjournal.bsky.social

Primers in the Plant Sciences: Tracing the history of angiosperm systematics through Liliales and Asparagales

@astragaler.bsky.social‬, @wile-phylote.bsky.social‬, @tribblelab.bsky.social

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....

#PlantScience

IJPS cover in yellow with a cartoon phylogeny of the asparagales and liliales and the title of the primer

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Stephen M. Walt, Michael E. Mann , and 68 more Anne Applebaum, Stephen M. Walt, Michael E. Mann, Shannon Vallor, Richard S.J. Tol, Jonathan A. Eisen, Simon L. Lewis, Stephan Lewandowsky, Axel Bruns, Jocalyn Clark, Will Jennings, Ken Caldeira, Benjamin Mason Meier, Michael A. Clemens, Evelyne de Leeuw, David Johnson, Caroline Krafft, Amir Attaran, Ian Hall, Ralf Michaels, Rupert Read, Richard Waite, Juan Cole, Johan P. Olsen, Cathy N. Davidson, Gernot Wagner, Robin Celikates, Daniel W. Drezner, Michael Kevane, Devon Greyson, Smith, Robert C. Richards, Michael W. Kraus, R. M. Wilson, Aaron Sojourner, Gary D. Rawnsley, Rachael Garrett, Caroline T. Schroeder, Stephen D. Murphy, Nazita Lajevardi, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Amy W. Ando, Michael D. McDonald, James Goodwin, Brian Keegan, David C. Kimball, Jason Lyall, Graham Dutfield, Cailin O’Connor, Erin O’Donnell, Aurélien Mondon, Mark Rice, Peter Stegmaier, Claire L. Adida, Raúl Pacheco-Vega, Massimo Faggioli, Klaus Oschema, Christina Pagel, Césari Laurent, Philip Bell, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Tom Chevalier, Aidan O’Sullivan, David Stott, Virginia Sapiro, Maria Sobolewska, Dunlap, David Darmofal, Peter Jacobs, Elise Thomas, Pieter Vantieghem

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 4d

One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands

The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

newyorkermag.visitlink.me

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy

Snow Leopard Network (SLN) @snowleopardnet.bsky.social · 5d

Behind every #wildlife conservation conflict lies an opportunity. Practitioners from around the globe have come together to share tools for #conflictmanagement & #coexistence.

A new toolkit, built from real experience, launches TODAY, November 6! Stay tuned.📢

#EthicalConservationDay

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy

Ambassador (ret.) Janet Sanderson @jastucaz.bsky.social · 5d

From the Guardian.
Cartoonist Ella Baron.

Stephen Murphy (smurph) @smurph.bsky.social · 5d

"Lévy was publicly embarrassed when his essay De la guerre en philosophie (2010) cited the writings of French philosopher Jean-Baptiste Botul. Botul's writings are actually well-known spoofs." (from the wiki)

Stephen Murphy (smurph) @smurph.bsky.social · 5d

Per Prof. @donmoyn.bsky.social, this quotation (properly cited from Don) is going to launch my winter grad level course on how we deal with data properly; its mostly quant focused but the foundation starts with not fooling ourselves and cases where, drumroll:

"But the data does not add up"

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 7d

New, from me: DHS says immigration enforcement employees like ICE are facing unprecedented threats and 1000% increase in assaults. But the data does not add up. Look at the details, and we see state agents using excessive force, and then lying about it.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whos-threa...

Who's Threatening Who?

The Trump administration says immigration enforcement are being assaulted; the details tell a different story

donmoynihan.substack.com

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