🍁 Alex Smith 🍁
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alexsmithants.bsky.social
🍁 Alex Smith 🍁
@alexsmithants.bsky.social
8K followers 5.6K following 600 posts
Assoc. Prof of #Biology at UofG, Guelph, ON, Canada. Inspired by the #Biodiversity in ACG, Costa Rica. #Ecology, #Evolution, #Entomology

Opinions my own & oh so rarely overlap with my employer.

he/him
www.malexsmith.com
www.youtube.com/@Alex_Smith_Ants
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alexsmithants.bsky.social
I love this sound!

Can you spot the group(s) of ~100 Sandhill Cranes that flew high over head this weekend ?
Photograph of clouds with the sun poking through and 100 sandhill cranes high above
October 27, 2025 at 10:50 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
Water and light.

Thank you #Eramosa
October 16, 2025 at 6:30 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
🌈

Water and light make me smile.

🌈 this morning in #Guelph
Photo of a rainbow in a park in guelph
October 11, 2025 at 11:51 AM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
Where I live in Canada, vaccines are now easily available at most pharmacies! Sign up or drop in!

Cai, M., Xie, Y., & Al-Aly, Z. (2025).

Association of 2024–2025 Covid-19 Vaccine with Covid-19 Outcomes in U.S. Veterans.

New England Journal of Medicine.

doi.org/10.1056/nejm...
figures showing: Cumulative Risks of Covid-19–Associated Outcomes over 180 Days in the 2024–2025 Vaccination Season. The composite outcome was defined as the first occurrence of any of the other three outcomes. The insets show the same data on an expanded y axis. The 95% confidence intervals (shaded areas) were not adjusted for multiplicity and should not be interpreted as hypothesis tests.
October 9, 2025 at 1:08 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
"Systemic increase of AMPA receptors associated with cognitive impairment of long COVID"

doi.org/10.1093/brai...
graphical abstract for paper reading, "Abstract Long COVID primarily presents with persistent cognitive impairment (Cog-LC), imposing a substantial and lasting global burden. Even after the pandemic, there remains a critical global need for diagnostic and therapeutic strategies targeting Cog-LC. Nevertheless, the underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. Given the central role of synapses in brain function, investigation of synaptic molecular changes may provide vital insights into Cog-LC pathophysiology. In this study, we used [11C]K-2 PET to characterize the density of AMPA receptors (AMPARs) on the post-synaptic cell surface, which are crucial synaptic components in brain signalling. Statistical parametrical mapping was used to spatially normalize and apply independent t-test for a voxel-based comparison. We selected patients with Cog-LC (n = 30) based on Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status assessed persistent cognitive impairment and healthy controls (n = 80) with no diagnosed neuropsychiatric disorders. The primary objective was to compare [11C]K-2 standardized uptake value ratio with white matter (SUVRWM) as a reference region between patients with Cog-LC and healthy controls, and to define the regional extent of differences. The secondary objective was to examine associations between [11C]K-2 SUVRWM and plasma concentrations of cytokines or chemokines. As an exploratory objective, we tested whether [11C]K-2 PET data could distinguish Cog-LC from healthy controls using a partial least squares based classification algorithm. A voxel-based comparison (P < 0.05, T > 1.66, one-tailed, false discovery rate control) and a volume of interests analysis (P < 0.05, Bonferroni multiple comparison) demonstrated that increased index of AMPAR density in large parts of the brains of patients with Cog-LC compared with that in healthy controls. A voxel-based correlation analysis also showed the brain regions where [11C]K-2 SUVRWM cor…
October 9, 2025 at 12:50 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
"Scientists may have discovered what’s behind long COVID-related brain fog"
🎁link
www.thestar.com/news/canada/...
screen grab of article reading: Scientists may have discovered what’s behind long COVID-related brain fog The researchers believe their findings could pave the way to therapeutics treating brain fog in long COVID.
October 9, 2025 at 12:49 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
🧪

On the day the #Nobel prize in #Chemistry is awarded, I offer this story of kindness and mentoring I received early in my career from an eventual Nobel laureate, Dr. #AzizSancar.

"A Nobel prize and the unknown benefits that come from saying yes"

esc-sec.ca/2016/10/26/a...
Alex Smith with hair studying amphibian photolysase induction and concentration in the late 20th century. A Nobel prize and the unknown benefits that come from saying yes Aziz Sancar delivering his Nobel Lecture for his prize in Chemistry 2015. He said yes. My early morning wakeup on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 began as usual with a, though admittedly not healthy, quick Twitter check. My internet-induced squint widened when I saw that Aziz Sancar was trending. Dr. Sancar had just been named co-winner of the Nobel prize in chemistry for his work on DNA repair mechanisms. Not at all surprised by the recognition of his career achievements, I was, however, flabbergasted because I actually know Aziz Sancar and in no small way, my career is what it is because of his generosity and kindness. Twenty years ago, I was an MSc candidate studying the physiological ecology of amphibians at Trent University. At the time I was working with Michael Berrill on replicating and testing the findings of a 1994 PNAS paper by Andrew Blaustein and company. This was important work on declining amphibian populations in the Cascade Mountains. They found that these declining populations were characterised by low levels of a DNA repair enzyme called photolyase. This finding was intriguing because photolyase catalyses the repair of the principal form of damage to DNA from ultraviolet-b radiation. Because emerging ozone holes would result in natural populations experiencing an increased amount of UVB radiation, low levels of photolyase might be a “magic bullet” that explained which populations would be in decline in otherwise “pristine” areas. Intriguing, but I was actually not ready to test it. With a potent combination of naïve enthusiasm, I figured I could simply contact the authors of the paper and ask them to teach me the methods that I needed to know to further their work. I tried email but could not find an address on the department website. So I phoned the Department of Biochemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They explained that Dr. Sancar did not want or have an email address. I asked that the call be connected to his office. When he picked up the phone, I leapt immediately into my explanation that I was an MSc student from Trent University in Peterborough, Canada, and that I was hoping to visit his lab to learn methods of photolyase extraction that I would apply to my system. To my now weathered academic amazement, but, at the time, only to my joy, immediately and without hesitation, he said yes. If I could get myself to Chapel Hill, he would teach me what I needed to know. Alex Smith with hair studying amphibian photolysase induction and concentration in the late 20th century. So on my spring break of 1997, I rented a car (two cars actually – one died, another story) and drove from snowy Peterpatch to the flowering springtime of Chapel Hill, North Carolina to spend a week in Dr. Sancar’s lab. “Lab” didn’t quite cover it. Dr.’s Sancar (he and his wife, Dr. Gwendolyn Sancar) had a floor of the building at UNC. Dr. Sancar met me on that Monday morning and arranged for a postdoc and a PhD student to help me all week and ensure that I could extract and purify the enzyme. & so, fast forward 20 years when I wake 2 read that the world has recognised Aziz Sancar for his pioneering work in the broad field of DNA repair. It made me think about the often unappreciated or unintended effects that saying yes can have on those around you. At the end of his Nobel Lecture in Sweden in December 2015, Dr. Sancar showed a slide acknowledging his lab and colleagues. In part, these people & their output are the metrics that the Nobel committee evaluated in awarding him the prize. It was an impressive, but I knew not an exhaustive, list, for Dr. Sancar’s direct effect on my career – & indirectly then on all the students I have worked with in the subsequent years – was invisible to the Nobel committee (and perhaps not even remembered by Dr. Sancar). But these effects are significant and they came from a busy scientist saying yes when confronted with a naïve but enthusiastic student. There were many reasons for him to not take my call, not encourage me to come to North Carolina, not host me while I was there nor mentor me through the review process later on. But he did. He did say yes and it had an immeasurable effect. I now work with insects in the neotropics and Canada on questions of biodiversity. I don’t work with photolyase and I don’t work as a physiological ecologist. However, by saying yes to me 20 years ago, Dr. Sancar’s act of generosity enabled me to follow this path. In the over-scheduled and busy lifestyle that we lead, it is important to consider this ripple that saying yes can have. There are many intended and measurable outcomes of supervision and mentoring – however there are many, perhaps more, unintended and important effects that kindness can have. As Anne Galloway said on Twitter, “We’re all smart – distinguish yourself by being kind”. The Nobel committee unaware of the affect that he has had in other scientific disciplines through his generosity and kindness.   I don’t think I said it clearly enough before. Thank you Dr. Sancar.
October 8, 2025 at 6:04 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
#NuanceIsLife
September 30, 2025 at 12:19 AM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
#NuanceIsLife
September 30, 2025 at 12:17 AM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
Sunny beautiful day in #Guelph - celebrate with a crossorb weaver #spider

#Araneusdiadematus
Photo through the front door with blue sky, in the background, of a cross orb Weaver on its web. Yellow and red banding patterns on its legs.
September 28, 2025 at 5:26 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
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A #bipartite diagram showing the #host-specificity of #ACG tachinids in the genus #Belvosia.

In red are species that were formerly thought to be one species that is now known to be three by host-use and genetics.

Where formalised scientific names exist, they largely honor ACG #paraxonomists.
bipartite diagram showing the host-specificity of ACG tachinids in the genus Belvosia. Species in red were formerly known as one species that is now known to be three by host-use and genetics. Where formalised names exist, they are largely honoring ACG paraxonomists.
September 24, 2025 at 5:05 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
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🪰

Happy to see this large data release and analysis of decades of #tachinidae collected by #DanJanzen, #WinnieHallwachs and the #parataxonomists of #ACG @gdfcf.bsky.social in #CostaRica. So much diversity!

Paper here:
doi.org/10.3390/d170...

Data here:
doi.org/10.5683/SP3/...

🪰
🧪
Figure 1. Four representative tachinid species from ACG. (A) Patelloa ‘xanthuraDHJ01’ voucher DHJPAR0034758; (B) Chorotegamyia sp.; (C) Spathidexia atripalpus; (D) Phosocephala alexanderi female voucher DHJPAR0048468. Photo credits - AJ Fleming CNC bipartite diagram showing the host-specificity of ACG tachinids in the genus Belvosia. Species in red were formerly known as one species that is now known to be three by host-use and genetics. Where formalised names exist, they are largely honoring ACG paraxonomists. Venn diagram of the overlap between the diversity of ACG tachinids known from rearing larval lepidoptera versus those that are collected in Malaise traps. Only 18.5% overlap. Evident decline in the abundance of tachinid parasaitoids (here counts/year for the two most abundant subfamilies) in ACG after the stabalisation of the parataxonomist collection workforce in ~2005
September 23, 2025 at 8:19 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
The first #GigaPan of Fall 2025 in the #DairyBush in #Guelph
Image in an Ontario Woodlock, looking east towards the rising sun with an increasing number of leaves on the forest floor.
September 23, 2025 at 1:57 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
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Very honored/excited to take part in this paper analysing & releasing 🐛 caterpillar rearing info from #ACG #CostaRica collected by #DanJanzen and #WinnieHallwachs and the #parataxonomists of @gdfcf.bsky.social

doi.org/10.3389/fevo...

Figures from data available at doi.org/10.5683/SP3/...
Figure of the decline of caterpillars collected in ACG over time since the standardisation of the paratxonomist workforce in 2005 (black line). The red line tracks the proportion of the collected caterpillars that were parasitised - also declining. Lepidopteran abundance in ACG is declining (Janzen and Hallwachs 2021). While the trajectory of species within individual families may differ in the specifics from the overall trend (Figure X, Janzen and Hallwachs 2021) it is clear that in most cases, once the parataxonomist workforce stablised in ~2005 (that is – the individuals in the forests of ACG collecting caterpillars and leaves), there has been a marked decline collections of lepidoptera and their fly and wasp parasitoids. Over this same time-period, the seasonal rains in the dry forest and low-elevation rain forest have become more erratic and the temperatures of air and soil are creeping upwards in all forest ecosystems – especially the high elevation rain forest and cloud forest (Janzen and Hallwachs 2021, Smith 2023). Thus, although the evident declines documented here may not solely due to climate change – the rapidity and force of the abiotic changes to these forests are involved in these declines. Some taxa may be capable of moving upslope or towards the wetter forests of the Caribbean (Warne et al 2020), but many will, or can, not. These observations parallel other observations of reductions in the diversity and abundance of caterpillars and their parasitoids within a protected area that are at least partially due to changing climate (Salcido et al 2020). Bipartite figure of relationships between Erebidae caterpillars and their host plants in ACG. The bipartite network of Erebidae species and host plants had a high network-wide estimate of specialisation (H2' = 0.894 Blüthgen et al., 2006) where values close to 0 indicate extreme generalization and those closer to 1 indicate specialization (Blüthgen et al., 2006). Specialisation can be visualized in Figure y by the broad blue links that connect some of the most common species of caterpillar to their host plant. For example, two species of Phaeoblemma (P. apicata and P. dares) were found only on two species of the Fabaceae, Senna (S. obtusifolia and S. papillosa). Smaller links flow out of these Senna to indicate that these species have also been, much more infrequently, food for 17 other species of Erebidae in this matrix. In another example, two Dysschema species (D. jansonis and D. leucophaea) both consume the Asteraceae Lepidaploa tortuosa – but this host plant has been found associated with 32 other species in the reduced matrix.
September 18, 2025 at 7:57 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
It looks like a) the Dairy Bush squirrels have been busy, and b) the foxes won’t be using this den for a little while! #DairyBushFoxDen #Guelph
Photo showing the den entrance filled with walnuts.
September 18, 2025 at 2:02 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
After I hear RIP to #RobertRedford I find #TheNatural on Crave and settle in.

I hadn’t remembered that (a favourite of mine) #RichardFarnsworth was also in it.

Check out Google Generative #AI calc about how old Farnsworth was in 1984

🤦‍♂️

1984-1920 =53or54. 🤣
Screen grab of the Natural - a movie on Crave staring Robert Redford Generative AI calculating Richard Farnsworth age incorrectly. AI Overview Richard Farnsworth was 53 or 54 years old in 1984, as he was born on September 1, 1920.
September 17, 2025 at 12:35 AM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
Hoping you can enjoy your space this weekend. For me that means getting to the other side of the shoreline if you can. It helps the brain.
September 13, 2025 at 3:27 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
So many and diverse collaborators in www.manufacturedecosystems.com #ManufacturedEcosystems - some on @bsky.app some not

@shoshanahjacobs.bsky.social
@dawnbazely.bsky.social
@danielgillis.ca
@nikzam.bsky.social
@marklipton.bsky.social
@anibalhcastillo.bsky.social
@lectio.bsky.social
Author list A Call for Bio-Inspired Technologies: Promises and Challenges for Ecosystem Service Replacement by Kristina Wanieck 1,M. Alex Smith 2,Elizabeth Porter 2,Jindong Zhang 1,3,Dave Dowhaniuk 4,Andria Jones 5,Dan Gillis 6,Mark Lipton 4,Marsha Hinds Myrie 7,Dawn Bazely 8,Marjan Eggermont 9,Mindi Summers 10,Christina Smylitopoulos 11,Claudia I. Rivera Cárdenas 12,Emily Wolf 1,Peggy Karpouzou 13,Nikoleta Zampaki 13,Heather Clitheroe 14,Adam Davies 15,Anibal H. Castillo 2,Michael Helms 16,Karina Benessaiah 17 and Shoshanah Jacobs 2
September 12, 2025 at 3:19 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
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One reason I enjoy teaching #invertebrate courses is the continual WTF moments. They do what? How?

So I was really pleased to be part of this collaboration www.manufacturedecosystems.com

We have so much of the toolshed of life yet 2 explore 4 #BioInspired solutions!

doi.org/10.3390/biom...
we have so much of the toolshed of life to explore! Screen grab of the figure whose heading reads: Figure 3. The phylogenetic breadth of biological systems used for bio-inspired technologies. This phylogenetic tree has been developed, mapping predicted (blue) and described (green) diversity (phylogeny adapted from Dunn et al. [22]—a hypothesis of animal phylogeny, compiled across multiple studies and methodologies) against their usage frequency in bio-inspirations (purple) within the animal kingdom. The “Biomimetic Examples” (purple) illustrates the total frequency at which biological systems have been used as inspiration, based on the number of biological systems used for the inspiration of documented 379 products [20] combined with data from an extensive literature analysis [23], i.e., these frequency counts reflect the number of times models within each phylum were cited, rather than the number of distinct taxonomic groups utilized
September 12, 2025 at 3:16 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
Visited briefly with this wonderful great- great grandmother snapping turtle 🐢 on the Eramosa River in Guelph. Can you find her in the second photo of the shoreline?
Photo of a snapping turtle with its head and shell emerging from the water The shoreline of the Eramosa river, where the snapping turtle was found
September 11, 2025 at 1:23 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
Opinion: #Canada could really use someone like Ken Dryden now. By city columnist Edward Keenan.

www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Screen grab of newspaper article that reads, “opinion: canada could really use someone like Ken Dryden now. By city colonist Edward Keenan.
September 10, 2025 at 4:38 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
Thinking a lot about Ken Dryden this weekend

Came across his 2022 article on 🧪 , youth and climate change

Adapted from a talk at McGill on Climate Crisis and Climate Action

🎁
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/c231c7b...
Screen grab of article header OPINION
‘We will need to find a new possible.’ Ken Dryden on the biggest question young Canadians face: Climate change
   
KEN DRYDEN
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published October 8, 2022 Screen grab that reads - But science doesn’t know things once and forever. That’s not how science works. Once the world was flat, and then it wasn’t. Science “knows” the best that anyone can know at a particular moment, and what that is is a placeholder for what we’ll come to know next, which in turn will become a placeholder, too. The point is that science, and you, need to keep on learning. And for your generation to survive climate change, you will need to know a lot more than we do today. But knowing is not enough. Awareness is not the objective, though sometimes we forget that.
September 8, 2025 at 10:16 AM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
I love this post, and identify with so much of it (probably the same Christmas I received The Game from my parents and yes “it's about the Montreal Canadiens, hockey, and everything else.”

Thank you for sharing your email exchange @gmbutts.bsky.social
Well worn cover of my copy of The Game : a reflective and thought provoking look at life in hockey by Ken Dryden
September 6, 2025 at 10:27 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
I was 11 when the The Game came out, and a rabid Canadiens fan. I red and re-read this book so many times. RIP Ken Dryden
Photo of a well worn book cover. “The game: a reflective and thought-provoking look at life in hockey“ by Ken Dryden.
September 6, 2025 at 12:31 PM
alexsmithants.bsky.social
RIP #GrahamGreene

www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/c231c7b...
Screen grab for article article that reads in part, “I’ve never liked work, to be honest. Over the years I worked in tobacco fields, cherry orchards and raspberry fields. I was a carpenter, a welder, a carpet layer. I did all that stuff and lots more; none of them were any good for me. I don’t like to work and I like to sleep in, that’s why I became an actor. You wait in the shade until it’s time to go stand on your mark and say a few words. Then, they take you back to the shade and give you water and food. It’s the life of a dog and it’s great. Maybe I want to be a dog.”
September 2, 2025 at 2:02 AM