Neil Pederson

@yellowbuckeye.bsky.social

2.2K followers 2K following 200 posts

I study old-growth forests and climate change from trees to regions and seasons to centuries. A colleague termed it RetroEcology - https://broadleafpapers.wordpress.com/

Love music in 3/4, 6/8, 5/4, 11, & other offbeat signatures (no real pun intended) .. more

Videos

Environmental science 60%

Geography 19%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Neil Pederson

Beronda L. Montgomery @berondam.bsky.social · 13h

Grateful for @koshersoul.bsky.social's words about #WhenTreesTestify:
"We have been waiting for this. A botanical memoir, a history, a history with a Black lens-that takes us from roots to branches...an electric, bold weaving of ethnobotany, personal memoir, spirit and science and I am here for it"

Picture of book "When Trees Testify" with text that reads: "We have been waiting for this. A botanical memoir, a history, a history with a Black lens-that takes us from roots to branches giving us the keys to an alternative retelling of the American landscape and the ways plants mark who we are and where we've been. This is an electric, bold weaving of ethnobotany, personal memoir, spirit and science and I am here for it."

-MICHAEL W. TWITTY,

award-winning author of The Cooking Gene

When Trees Testify

Science, Wisdom, History, and America's Black Botanical O Legacy

BERONDA L. MONTGOMERY

H

Reposted by Neil Pederson, Christoph Bertram, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Carole V. Bell @cvbell.bsky.social · 2d

Some much needed good news. “Jamaicans Have Been Turning to Solar Power. It Paid Off After the Storm.” Guft link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/c...

Jamaicans Have Been Turning to Solar Power. It Paid Off After the Storm.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Neil Pederson, Katherine Siegel , and 1 more Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Neil Pederson, Katherine Siegel, Karl Andraczek

Shersingh Joseph Tumber-Dávila @josephtumber.bsky.social · 4d

The Tumber-Dávila Lab and Michael Cox are looking for a postdoctoral Fellow to join the Environmental Studies Department at Dartmouth through the Society of Fellows Program
🌎🧪🌳🍁

apply.interfolio.com/176741

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

apply.interfolio.com

Reposted by Neil Pederson

Kevin Anchukaitis @thirstygecko.bsky.social · 4d

Cool use of a clumped isotopologue in wood! - Isotopic evidence for elevated photorespiration during the last glacial period www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Isotopic evidence for elevated photorespiration during the last glacial period - Nature Geoscience

Low carbon dioxide levels during the last glacial period enhanced photorespiration in trees across North America, indicating a decline in land plant productivity, according to measurements of clumped ...

www.nature.com

Reposted by Brian J. Enquist, Nancy Knowlton, Neil Pederson , and 6 more Brian J. Enquist, Nancy Knowlton, Neil Pederson, Cathy N. Davidson, Silvia Secchi, Trevor A. Branch, Julia Lynch, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Vincent Raoult

Ben Goldfarb @bengoldfarb.bsky.social · 5d

Grateful to spend two days on the Klamath watching chinook, liberated by dam removal, return to streams from which they’d been precluded since the Titanic sank. Fish are everywhere, in numbers that stagger the mind & locations that biologists figured would take years to repopulate. Too beautiful.

Reposted by Neil Pederson, Trevor A. Branch

Dan Starr @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social · 6d

Warning. ⚠️ If you are writing an NSF GRFP, new this year, you need official transcripts to apply. Beware. They will not review applications without official transcripts. ‼️

Reposted by Neil Pederson, Pablo García‐Díaz, Martin Ehbrecht , and 1 more Neil Pederson, Pablo García‐Díaz, Martin Ehbrecht, Kari Norman

Keila Stark (she/her) @keila-stark.bsky.social · 6d

Most major theories in ecology assume some sort of equilibrium, but only ~half of empirical tests acknowledge it & even fewer observed it in their system. Does this matter? How did the idea become so pervasive in ecology anyway? Find out in our new paper! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The Equilibrium Conundrum

Although an assumption of equilibrium dynamics underlies most ecological theory, the evidence for this dynamic in nature and in empirical studies is scarce. This creates an unfortunate disconnect bet...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Neil Pederson

Bruce Caron @junana.bsky.social · 8d

Now I understand 67. This morning the clock said 6 and my body knew it was 7.

Reposted by Heather Boushey, Richard F. Catalano, Nancy Kanwisher , and 12 more Heather Boushey, Richard F. Catalano, Nancy Kanwisher, Euan G. Ritchie, Neil Pederson, John Foot, Alan Richardson, Katherine Brickell, Olivier Jourdan, Matthew P. McAllister, Alexander Woywodt, Manisha Sinha, Farah Mendlesohn, Colin Woodard, Benjamin Larue

Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 10d

15 million Americans are going to lose their health care.

Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 10d

Because I enjoy SciComm, I offer public talks and tree-ring workshops. The two-day tree-ring workshops include opportunities to interpret and then synthesize information gleaned from each tree as a class.

If either of these activities fit your institution or communities, please reach out.

Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 10d

Professional Update:
Starting January 2026 I will begin my two-year Highstead Research Affiliate position at Highstead: highstead.net.

Among other activities, I will begin a new project identifying and mapping old-growth forests in Connecticut, the Catskills, and Adirondacks.

Reposted by Neil Pederson

Terrestrial Ecology Research Group - TUM @terrecolgroup.bsky.social · 13d

This morning Lisa Merkens summarized the highlights of her PhD in a short and dense talk, showing how we can use bird ecology, observations and city plans to study and model habitat connectivity and importantly, how to use this to improve cities for biodiversity.

Reposted by Neil Pederson, Robert W. Wallace, David R. Miller , and 7 more Neil Pederson, Robert W. Wallace, David R. Miller, Silvia Secchi, Jason Lyall, Susan Strasser, Seth Masket, Charles T. Mathewes, Matthew S. Erie, Ignacio Quintero

A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 14d

“Tell your children who the cowards were.”

Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 15d

I don’t know how much it might be out of the norm, but up here, a bit west pf Boston, a noticeable number of Red Maple kept their leaves until rather recently, some turning nice colors. It felt quite late (but was beautiful)

Reposted by Neil Pederson

Jeremy Hammett @jeremyhammett.bsky.social · 15d

My spouse can’t get a job in Louisiana because college professors are paid Wendy’s wages but Brian Kelly’s gonna get $50 million or so for getting fired for losing football games.

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Will Jennings, Neil Pederson , and 5 more Anna O. Law, Will Jennings, Neil Pederson, Mark D. White, Rosemary A. Joyce, Joseph Schafer, David R. Miller, S. Laurel Weldon

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 18d

Over the past week, the president said the DOJ should pay him a quarter billion dollars, bulldozed half the White House to build himself a gaudy ballroom, bragged about murdering civilians in international waters, pardoned some more criminals, directed federal prosecutors to indict his opponents ...

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Neil Pederson, Iikka Korhonen , and 5 more Elizabeth Saunders, Neil Pederson, Iikka Korhonen, David R. Miller, Silvia Secchi, Samantha Brennan, Dana R. Fisher, Colin Woodard

Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 18d

The East Wing is totally gone. I can’t believe it

Ariel view of the demolition, with east wing circled in white.

Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 18d

Then, we ran a simulation for a megadrought in 2070 and nary got a vegetation response. A hot, multi-annual drought will do nothing? Hard to fathom.

Then, @dendroecologist.bsky.social realized the soil component might be holding too much water.

Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 18d

Are you talking about forecasts of the future? If so, when I first got a look at rainfall used for future simulations in the NE US, I was stunned. Just white noise with a slight trend. It is so much more dynamic, and then the oncoming heat.

Reposted by Darío Martin‐Benito

Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 18d

The second points out a trend in dry late-summer soils in a climate of increasing large rainfall events.

To me, this might signal climate change as starting to negatively impact/overcome the 500-year upward wetting trend

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Increasing Large Precipitation Events and Low Available Water Holding Capacity Create the Conditions for Dry Land‐Atmosphere Feedbacks in the Northeastern United States

Land-atmosphere coupling at Harvard Forest is principally controlled by the low amount of precipitation retained as soil moisture rather than evapotranspiration More extreme rainfall resulted in ...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Darío Martin‐Benito

Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 18d

Two new key papers on climate change and forests in the Northeastern US led by Jaclyn Hatala Matthes.

First, a review on the Impacts and Legacies of Extreme Precipitation on Temperate Forests During Critical Ecological Windows

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Impacts and Legacies of Extreme Precipitation on Temperate Forests During Critical Ecological Windows

Within seasonal temperate forests, changes in precipitation structure—its form, duration, and seasonal timing—is a dominant characteristic of climate change. While past research has focused primarily ...

www.annualreviews.org

Reposted by Neil Pederson

YY Ahn @yyahn.bsky.social · 19d

It seems like mRNA COVID vaccine can synergize with immunotherapy to kill cancer.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines sensitize tumours to immune checkpoint blockade - Nature

mRNA vaccines targeting SARS-CoV-2 also sensitize tumours to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

www.nature.com

Reposted by Ben Bond‐Lamberty

Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · 19d

Climate change and mosquitoes…

In early October 2023, we experienced 80-90F degree days and MOSQUITOES! in the Adirondack State Park. Growing up, I can hardly remember them there past July. No doubt some existed late summer back then, but not a lot and not in October.

Naomi Oreskes @naomioreskes.bsky.social · 19d

Proof that climate change is real and horrible:

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time after record heat

Previously the country was one of the world's only mosquito-free zones.

www.bbc.com

Reposted by Daniel Hering, Neil Pederson

Naomi Oreskes @naomioreskes.bsky.social · 19d

Proof that climate change is real and horrible:

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time after record heat

Previously the country was one of the world's only mosquito-free zones.

www.bbc.com

Reposted by Gavin A. Schmidt, Neil Pederson, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 6 more Gavin A. Schmidt, Neil Pederson, Rosemary A. Joyce, Devon Greyson, Michael W. Kraus, Gerald Friedman, Mark Rice, Christina Pagel, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Dave Lee @davelee.me · 20d

WELL HOW ABOUT THAT

"A millionaire levy in Massachusetts has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing significant high-profile departures from the state."

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...