Bill Smith
LightNews LightNews
banner
wkolby.bsky.social
Bill Smith
@wkolby.bsky.social
180 followers 130 following 21 posts
Associate Professor @uarizona.bsky.social. Ecosystem ecology, ecophysiology, multi-scale remote sensing, drylands. Lab website: https://sites.arizona.edu/ecd-lab/; NASA ARID website: https://aridscoping.arizona.edu/
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
wkolby.bsky.social
Bill Smith @wkolby.bsky.social · Dec 8
🌲 New @uarizona.bsky.social @usdagov.bsky.social PostDoc w/ the SnowSmart Forestry team — lead cutting-edge snow modeling to shape forest, water, and wildfire resilience. Collaborate across disciplines w/ career-building connections in forestry, water, and environmental sectors.
Reposted by Bill Smith
tommaso-jucker.bsky.social
Massive update to the Global Wood Density Database out today @newphyt.bsky.social led by the brilliant Fabian Fischer. What an amazing community resource!
🧪🍁🌐

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
January 17, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
jacquelyngill.bsky.social
In good news, your advocacy for science funding is paying off! Congress has just rejected the massive cuts to NASA's 2026 budget.

(Sadly, they didn't include a provision for saving @ncar-ucar.bsky.social but we use this win to keep fighting!)
You just saved NASA's budget
Here's what Congress rejected of the draconian cuts faced by NASA in FY 2026.
www.planetary.org
January 16, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
seanmichaletz.bsky.social
🍁Funding for new PhD students ($40k/yr) & postdocs ($70k/yr) coming from outside Canada. Contact me if interested in #Ecophysiology at #UBC in #Vancouver! Possible topics: leaf physiology, thermal ecology, microclimate, scaling, tree physiology, forest ecology, more! michaletzlab.org
Please share!
January 15, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
newphyt.bsky.social
Asymmetry in leaf phosphorus concentration of woody plants and its divergent drivers in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

Meng et al.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/JH53DN...
A conceptual framework for the mechanisms driving latitudinal variation in leaf phosphorus concentrations of woody plants in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
January 13, 2026 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
newphyt.bsky.social
Decadal increases in grassland biomass production from chronic N additions are eliminated by annual hay cutting

Zhang et al.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/URHVZT...
Interannual dynamics of species richness and aboveground biomass production in response to haying and nitrogen addition over 10 years.
January 13, 2026 at 7:35 AM
Reposted by Bill Smith
olivierrupert.bsky.social
NONE OF THIS IS GOING TO STOP UNLESS WE MAKE IT STOP.

#FightFascism #FascismInAmerica
January 9, 2026 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by Bill Smith
newphyt.bsky.social
Real-world testing of the #isohydrocity concept

Matthias Arend, et al.

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

#PlantScience
Conceptual presentation of the Ψpd vs Ψmd dehydration trajectory based on current theory (Hartmann et al., 2021).
January 9, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
newphyt.bsky.social
Photosynthesis beyond the visible spectrum detected by a research group from the University of Padua

www.unipd.it/news/photosy...

Nannochloropsis gaditana is of great biotechnological interest for the production of biofuels, fatty acids, and omega-3.

#PlantScience @elisabettaliistro.bsky.social
Photosynthesis beyond the visible spectrum detected by a research group from Unipd
The study titled "Thylakoids reorganization enables driving photosynthesis under far‐red light in the microalga Nannochloropsis gaditana," published in «New Phytologist» and conducted by the research…
www.unipd.it
January 8, 2026 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
newphyt.bsky.social
#Viewpoint: Moving from an experiment-dominated to an observation-dominated era in #global #change impact research on vegetation

Sebastian Leuzinger & Belinda Medlyn
👇

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

#LatestIssue
Fig. 1 Settings for manipulative global change experiments have changed substantially from their onset around the early 1980s to the present.
January 8, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
globalchangebio.bsky.social
Warming‐Driven Abrupt Shifts in Alpine Permafrost Dynamics With Elevation

🔗 buff.ly/TIJnLVR
January 8, 2026 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
belliled.bsky.social
GOP: Guardians of Pedophiles. Stinky will make bank just like he’s doing with pardons. I wonder what’s the going rate per name removal?

rawstory.com/trump-epstein-2674838346/?utm_source=superhead
MAGA donors may be pressuring Trump to bury their names out of Epstein files: reporter
A prominent reporter in the Jeffrey Epstein case floated a startling possibility on Tuesday that powerful donors could be leaning on President Donald Trump to quash any damning information from being ...
rawstory.com
December 31, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by Bill Smith
newphyt.bsky.social
Explore '#Anthromes and terrestrial carbon: From the deep past to net-zero' – a new joint Special Collection from Plants, People, Planet and New Phytologist 👇

📚 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/anthrome...

#PlantScience
December 31, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
tombuckleylab.bsky.social
First PhD chapter from student Colleen Mills (not on Bluesky) just appeared in PCE:

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The Stomatal Response to Temperature Is Enhanced by High Evaporative Demand, Consistent With a Partially Hydraulic Mechanism
Leaf stomata respond to temperature even when the leaf-to-air vapor gradient is held constant, yet the mechanisms for this response are unknown, and may be mediated by increases in hydraulic conducta...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 29, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
ecoclimatelab.bsky.social
Reckless destruction of climate science won’t stop climate change from happening.
December 26, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
newphyt.bsky.social
#Leaf economics links #drought and #heat tolerance across contrasting habitats

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
by Wang et al.

@WileyPlantSci #PlantScience
A conceptual framework describing how leaf carbon economics, drought, and heat tolerance are coordinated through the divergence of leaf habits of both evergreen and deciduous trees.
December 23, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
nmacbean.bsky.social
Western University is seeking applications for the Canada Impact+ Research Chairs (CIRC) program, which aims to attract world-leading researchers to come and work at Canadian universities: www.uwo.ca/research/can... 1/3
Application process - Canada.ca
www.canada.ca
December 24, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
joeneguse.bsky.social
In the span of four days, we’ve built a coalition of over 80 lawmakers — including several Republicans — to stop the dismantling of NCAR.

I’m grateful to them for their efforts as we work to secure language protecting NCAR in the upcoming CJS appropriations bill.

We will not back down!

👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽
neguse.house.gov Rep. Joe Neguse @neguse.house.gov · Dec 22
Proud to build and lead a bipartisan coalition with Rep. Jeff Hurd and @bennet.senate.gov & @hickenlooper.senate.gov — joined by more than 80 of our colleagues in the House and Senate — to protect NCAR in the FY26 NSF appropriations bill.

We will not stop until NCAR is protected — period.
December 23, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Reposted by Bill Smith
keepitbluedems.bsky.social
www.thedailybeast.com/cbss-60-minu...
‘60 Minutes’ Staff Threaten to Quit Over Pro-Trump Censorship
Controversy has engulfed CBS amid mounting accusations of politicized management under the network’s new MAGA-curious chief.
www.thedailybeast.com
December 22, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
newphyt.bsky.social
✨ Paper spotlight ✨

(🧵 1/6) Soil organic matter dynamics under changing precipitation regimes
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

@teamrat.bsky.social @aaberhe.com
Fig. 1 Research history of soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics at the plant–fauna–microbe interfaces under changing precipitation and soil water availability.
December 22, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
mixedforests.bsky.social
Just before the Xmas break🎉

In @journalofecology.bsky.social and led by Anvar Sanaei, we provide insight into #trait coordination across 90 common and future European #tree species👇

doi.org/10.1111/1365...

@agwirthweigelt.bsky.social @unileipzig.bsky.social @uni-freiburg.de
Above‐ and below‐ground trait coordination across 90 angiosperm and gymnosperm tree species in a common garden experiment
This research highlights the significance of elucidating the mechanisms behind above-and below-ground organs. The varying trait coordination across clades indicates different resource acquisition str...
doi.org
December 22, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
profdesai.bsky.social
NCAR has been the magic sauce that has made weather/climate studies and advances in US and the world over great. madison.com/news/local/e... www.jsonline.com/story/news/e...
Trump’s closure of national weather center may imperil UW-Madison research
The planned closure of the National Center for Atmospheric Research would endanger decades of research at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee, scientists say.
madison.com
December 23, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by Bill Smith
newphyt.bsky.social
#TansleyReview: Shortcutting photorespiration: avenues and challenges toward realizing higher-yielding photorespiratory bypass #crops

Meacham-Hensold et al.
👇

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

#LatestIssue #PlantScience
Fig. 4 Summarized yield and biomass increases reported in published photorespiratory bypass field trials.
December 21, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Bill Smith
katharinehayhoe.com
If you are in the US and you would like to send a message to your elected representative about the proposed dissolution of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, @agu.org makes it easy with a template here: agu.quorum.us/campaign/151... #AGU25
Save NCAR from being dismantled today!
The Trump Administration has vowed to dissolve the center that provides critical extreme weather and climate data for our nation.
agu.quorum.us
December 18, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
bjenquist.bsky.social
New postdoctoral fellowship opportunity! Please pass along. Excited to announce the launch of the Tom Lovejoy Fellowship Program at the University of Arizona for innovative research to protect species, sustain ecosystems, and promote a thriving planet lovejoycenter.arizona.edu/lovejoy-fell... 🧪🌐🌾
Application Process Image Woman behind a podium presenting. Jessie Golding, BBCS postdoc, presenting at ICCB 2025. Apply to become a Lovejoy Fellow by submitting your resume, cover letter, and contact information for three references through the University of Arizona Talent Portal (link upcoming) by the first review date of January 30, 2026. Your cover letter should: Identify 1-2 Lovejoy BBCS faculty you would be interested in working with and explain the primary research directions you would want to pursue in collaboration with this faculty member. You are strongly encouraged to reach out to faculty before submitting your application. Describe your experience with or interest in inter- or transdisciplinary research. Explain how this experience will positively impact your career trajectory.
December 19, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Reposted by Bill Smith
rosieafisher.bsky.social
That the NCAR Mesa lab is beautiful is no accident. Assigning a beautiful place and building to the important task of understanding our planet speaks of a society that values both this undertaking, and the people who do it. To take that away is emblematic of attempts to undermine this status. 1/2
December 17, 2025 at 10:28 PM