Tess Peterson
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tesspeterson.bsky.social
Tess Peterson
@tesspeterson.bsky.social
1.3K followers 2.2K following 57 posts
Soil mycorrhizal mutualism, insect herbivory, and climate change in pine forests @ University of Houston
🐜🌲🍄.

Hobby gardener, crafter, and medievalist #SlowLife
🌈🌱🧵
Posts Replies Media Videos
tesspeterson.bsky.social
Antlions are everywhere in Austin right now. Thank you for your service protecting us from fire ants 🙌🏼
October 4, 2025 at 5:19 AM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
I haven't changed my starter word in a year. C'mon October 👻
NYT wordle game with the starter word 'ghoul'. All other lines are empty
October 2, 2025 at 4:10 AM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
As a general rule I only look respectfully at wildlife I'd love to cuddle, but this morning I got to add geckos to the list of Houstonians I've gently evicted from my apartment.

Anoles ✅
Skinks ✅
Geckos ✅
Snakes ❌
I'm holding a baby gecko that I scooped off the floor with a piece of promotional mail. It's about 2 inches long and translucent beige with spots.
July 6, 2025 at 3:45 PM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
Doomscroll break
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sweat bee on horsemint
May 20, 2025 at 4:49 PM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
When you finish the data analysis on a pilot experiment but the results are both insignificant and patternless
a cat laying on the floor surrounded by colorful streamers
Alt: a cat sitting on the floor surrounded by colorful streamers, confetti is falling and he looks extremely unimpressed.
media.tenor.com
May 10, 2025 at 11:46 PM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
Note to self: buy a shirt with pine trees on it so I can match my posters.

(I promise I'm having a good time in this picture)
A picture of me presenting a research poster. Part of the poster is in view. I look a little pissed off. The poster is white, blue, and green. My shirt is mauve with a pink print.
May 2, 2025 at 11:46 PM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
A liminal end-of-the-semester mood.
a screenshot of the bottom corner of the R console. A large dataset is processing and the loading bar shows it at 93% complete.
April 29, 2025 at 3:01 AM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
thegallanttreesband.bandcamp.com/album/music-...

Do me a favor and just click on it
Music For Frustrated Ornithologists, by The Gallant Trees
14 track album
thegallanttreesband.bandcamp.com
April 25, 2025 at 4:10 AM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
Happy last day of microbiology lab! 🎉

Good luck on finals, everyone 🫡
A selfie of microbiology students Delivrance (holding phone), Ivanna, and Adrian with myself in the back giving bunny ears to Ivanna and Adrian.
April 17, 2025 at 11:36 PM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
Drama in the bird community today.
April 17, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by Tess Peterson
bsgs-uh.bsky.social
@johnv-nguyen.bsky.social spent a year in Panama with the Smithsonian, investigating color morphs in female anoles. His NSF RaMP Fellowship research uncovers the genetic and ecological drivers of phenotypic diversity in these charismatic lizards. Manuscript in progress!

#GradStudentHighlight 📣
A photo of PhD student John Nguyen. Text on the photo reads "Investigating the ecology and evolution of complex phenotypes in reptiles and amphibians"
April 8, 2025 at 11:37 PM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
I was invited to teach a fiber arts demo class in sericulture with the Society for Creative Anachronism at Sherwood faire last weekend. I had a great time combining my hobbies of living history with teaching, and sharing entomology and history facts.

#LookMomImUsingMyMastersDegree #mysca
An image of Tess sitting on the ground beneath some trees. They are winding silk onto a makeshift spinning wheel. The setting is medieval, with furniture and clothing representing the late 12th century. A selfie of Tess outside the faire in 12th century clothing. Tess wears a drab green dress with red and lime green trim, a white veil and a white straw hat. A closeup image of the reeled silk on the rolling pin. It's white and very lustrous.
April 7, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Reposted by Tess Peterson
emilyrlines.bsky.social
I am #hiring! Do you like #lidar #data and #forests? Enjoy both computational & field work?

I am hiring a Computational and Field Senior Technician to join my UKRI FLF project team for 2 yrs, based in Cambridge, UK (not remote). More details here (closing April 7th) www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/50700/
Computational & Field Senior Technician (Fixed Term) - Job Opportunities - University of Cambridge
Computational & Field Senior Technician (Fixed Term) in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge.
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk
March 24, 2025 at 1:10 PM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
Checking if my plants are still alive after spring break.
A close up picture of a seedling tray with baby pine trees in it which are about 3 inches tall. Directly behind the tray is my face looking over them. I have protective sunglasses on because the lights in the grow chamber (unseen) are very bright.
March 18, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Tess Peterson
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Around 4,300 years ago, an Egyptian artisan carved a little frog, a grasshopper, and a dragonfly.

Lovely details from nature depicted on a wall relief in the Tomb of Kagemni at Saqqara, Egypt. Old Kingdom, Dynasty 6, c. 2345-2323 BC. Photo by me

#ReliefWednesday
#Archaeology
My photo shows details from a carved relief depicting a fishing scene in the marshes of the Nile in the Tomb of Kagemni at Saqqara. The beautifully carved details show a grasshopper in profile facing right, on a stem of water weed. Below, on another stem of water weed, is a small frog in profile facing right, and to the frog’s right there is a dragonfly standing facing front with wings outstretched. Fishing scenes were a standard Old Kingdom tomb motif, showing one of the everyday activities to be enjoyed by the tomb owner in the afterlife. Kagemni was Chief Justice and Vizier during the reign of King Teti, Dynasty 6, c. 2345-2323 BC.
February 5, 2025 at 11:24 AM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
Yeah, that tracks.
A screenshot of my phone lock screen with a popup suggesting photo memories for me. The image it chose is a closeup of a dark grey silverfish arthropod on a white tile floor
January 24, 2025 at 11:49 PM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
Behold! the Christmas mystery bird
A white bird in profile walking across a grassy patch of snowy lawn. A white bird on a grassy patch of snowy lawn, the bird is strutting towards the camera
December 30, 2024 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Tess Peterson
mikechenwriter.bsky.social
I just found out there's a new Philomena Cunk series coming out next week and my heart is beating in anticipation much like the thumping beat of Belgium dance band Technotronic's 1989 hit single Pump Up The Jam
December 29, 2024 at 8:39 PM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
The bird is back but we still can't figure out what it is. Binoculars older than me offering little assistance.
A round picture taken by holding my phone up to a binocular lens. A white blob looking bird sits on the ground at the shore of a lake, facing away from the camera. The bird is sitting on a patch of dead grass but blends in well with snow patches nearby.
December 29, 2024 at 9:57 PM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
My partner's family does a huge pile of scratch off lottery cards as a Christmas activity every year and I've lost every single one BUT I saw a leucistic bird AND a weasel today, so. I think that luck averages out.
December 29, 2024 at 9:41 PM
Reposted by Tess Peterson
lukelukeluke.bsky.social
Ginger is the spice of the sky and if you don’t believe me you’ve never felt your body crave a ginger ale the moment the drinks cart appears on your flight
December 26, 2024 at 3:03 PM
tesspeterson.bsky.social
Am I too late to #GarWeek?

Inaugural sticker for my gar colored nalgene. Thanks @garlab.bsky.social 💚
A note of thanks for a monetary donation from The Gar Lab. In the image is my nalgene water bottle which is a drab grey green color. On the bottle I put my sparkly Florida Gar sticker the gar lab sent me in the mail
December 21, 2024 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Tess Peterson
juliakoricheva.bsky.social
📣 Fully funded PhD project supervised by me & @philstevenson.bsky.social within @treesdla.bsky.social on effects of forest diversity on floral reward production for pollinators. Nice mix of fieldwork in Finland & pollen and nectar chemistry 🐝🌼🌳🌲 🧪🌍 Apply by 20 Jan www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/eff...
Diagram showing how tree species diversity can influence understory plants through changes in microclimate which in turn affects phenology and nectar and pollen quantity and quality. This may affect pollinator visits and plant fitness
December 7, 2024 at 8:54 AM
Reposted by Tess Peterson
katharinehayhoe.com
Why Texas is the best US state to be a climate advocate:

1. Highest CO2 emissions
2. Oil & gas industry’s home
3. Most weather & climate disasters
4. Most wind energy
5. Most utility-scale solar
6. Rapidly growing storage & geothermal capacity

If change can happen here, it can happen anywhere!
December 6, 2024 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by Tess Peterson
thetreecorener.bsky.social
If you know someone that is looking for a grad student opportunity in 2025 in fire ecology / dendroecology / spatial analyses -- please pass on this announcement. Julia Burton, Jed Meunier, Eric Rebitzke and myself are looking for a student to join our team and be based here at Michigan Tech.
November 13, 2024 at 4:35 PM