Austin Cruz
@austindelacruz.bsky.social
Evolutionary ecology of species interactions | PhD candidate @ U. Arizona EEB Bronstein Lab.
Reposted by Austin Cruz
What is the origin of diversity in allometric laws scaling across species? Check our new paper led by Andrea Tabi where
we propose a new theory of metabolic scaling grounded in thermodynamics and stochastic fluctuations at the cellular level.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
we propose a new theory of metabolic scaling grounded in thermodynamics and stochastic fluctuations at the cellular level.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 9, 2025 at 2:39 AM
What is the origin of diversity in allometric laws scaling across species? Check our new paper led by Andrea Tabi where
we propose a new theory of metabolic scaling grounded in thermodynamics and stochastic fluctuations at the cellular level.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
we propose a new theory of metabolic scaling grounded in thermodynamics and stochastic fluctuations at the cellular level.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Austin Cruz
Ecology faces an accumulation of models but not an accumulation of confidence. Our new paper w/ Jonathan Levine www.nature.com/articles/s41... in @natecoevo.nature.com introduces a rigorous test rooted in queueing theory to falsify inadequate models and build confidence in useful ones.
Rigorous validation of ecological models against empirical time series - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Validating theoretical models against empirical data presents challenges. Here the authors present an assumption-light method to validate ecological models against time series data, along with a dedic...
www.nature.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Ecology faces an accumulation of models but not an accumulation of confidence. Our new paper w/ Jonathan Levine www.nature.com/articles/s41... in @natecoevo.nature.com introduces a rigorous test rooted in queueing theory to falsify inadequate models and build confidence in useful ones.
Reposted by Austin Cruz
What sustains biodiversity? 🌿🌸🐝🐦⬛ It’s not just about species, it’s also about individuals.
Our new paper in @esajournals.bsky.social Ecol. Monogr. shows how the way individuals specialize on their mutualistic partners can scale up to shape species persistence.
🔗 doi.org/10.1002/ecm....
Our new paper in @esajournals.bsky.social Ecol. Monogr. shows how the way individuals specialize on their mutualistic partners can scale up to shape species persistence.
🔗 doi.org/10.1002/ecm....
Bridging the gap between individual specialization and species persistence in mutualistic communities
Mutualistic interactions among organisms are fundamental to the origin and maintenance of biodiversity. Yet, the study of community dynamics often relies on values averaged at the species level, igno...
doi.org
October 2, 2025 at 1:12 PM
What sustains biodiversity? 🌿🌸🐝🐦⬛ It’s not just about species, it’s also about individuals.
Our new paper in @esajournals.bsky.social Ecol. Monogr. shows how the way individuals specialize on their mutualistic partners can scale up to shape species persistence.
🔗 doi.org/10.1002/ecm....
Our new paper in @esajournals.bsky.social Ecol. Monogr. shows how the way individuals specialize on their mutualistic partners can scale up to shape species persistence.
🔗 doi.org/10.1002/ecm....
Reposted by Austin Cruz
🧵Why do early embryonic cell cycles speed up with temperature almost like simple chemical reactions, but not quite? 🌡️
Across frogs, fish, worms, and flies we found a shared scaling law, and uncovered why deviations from Arrhenius behavior emerge.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62918-0
Across frogs, fish, worms, and flies we found a shared scaling law, and uncovered why deviations from Arrhenius behavior emerge.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62918-0
September 3, 2025 at 3:26 PM
🧵Why do early embryonic cell cycles speed up with temperature almost like simple chemical reactions, but not quite? 🌡️
Across frogs, fish, worms, and flies we found a shared scaling law, and uncovered why deviations from Arrhenius behavior emerge.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62918-0
Across frogs, fish, worms, and flies we found a shared scaling law, and uncovered why deviations from Arrhenius behavior emerge.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62918-0
Reposted by Austin Cruz
Novak et al. derive a functional response model that unifies Holling’s classical forms. The model clarifies when linearity can be a mechanistically-reasoned description of predator feeding rates and the impact it has on predator-prey dynamics.
Read now!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Read now!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
In Defense of Type I Functional Responses: The Frequency and Population Dynamic Effects of Feeding on Multiple Prey at a Time | The American Naturalist
Abstract Ecologists differ in the degree to which they consider the linear type I functional response to be an unrealistic versus sufficient representation of predator feeding rates. Empiricists tend ...
www.journals.uchicago.edu
August 30, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Novak et al. derive a functional response model that unifies Holling’s classical forms. The model clarifies when linearity can be a mechanistically-reasoned description of predator feeding rates and the impact it has on predator-prey dynamics.
Read now!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Read now!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Reposted by Austin Cruz
In ectotherms, temperature-species richness relationships matched predictions of metabolic theory 🧪🌐 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Consistent energy-diversity relationships in terrestrial vertebrates
Ecologists have long proposed that environments providing more energy can support more species, yet empirical evidence frequently contradicts this expectation. We argue that such inconsistencies resul...
www.science.org
July 4, 2025 at 8:16 AM
In ectotherms, temperature-species richness relationships matched predictions of metabolic theory 🧪🌐 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Austin Cruz
Temperature is so important for plants that they have come up with many independent temperature sensors.
Curious? Read more in this review by former WeigelWorld members Sridevi Sureshkumar & Suresh Balasubramanian.
#plantscience
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Curious? Read more in this review by former WeigelWorld members Sridevi Sureshkumar & Suresh Balasubramanian.
#plantscience
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
June 13, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Temperature is so important for plants that they have come up with many independent temperature sensors.
Curious? Read more in this review by former WeigelWorld members Sridevi Sureshkumar & Suresh Balasubramanian.
#plantscience
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Curious? Read more in this review by former WeigelWorld members Sridevi Sureshkumar & Suresh Balasubramanian.
#plantscience
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Austin Cruz
Check out our new publication - How do pandemics scale with population size? Led by PhD student Austin Cruz @austindelacruz.bsky.social how did #COVID-19 cases and deaths scale across counties in the U.S.—from big cities to small towns - across 4 major variant waves?
📄 doi.org/10.1098/rsif... 🧵1/ 🧪
📄 doi.org/10.1098/rsif... 🧵1/ 🧪
Scaling COVID-19 rates with population size in the United States | Journal of The Royal Society Interface
Using county-level data from the United States, we assessed allometric scaling relationships
of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, deaths and age structure within and across
the first four major wa...
doi.org
May 2, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Check out our new publication - How do pandemics scale with population size? Led by PhD student Austin Cruz @austindelacruz.bsky.social how did #COVID-19 cases and deaths scale across counties in the U.S.—from big cities to small towns - across 4 major variant waves?
📄 doi.org/10.1098/rsif... 🧵1/ 🧪
📄 doi.org/10.1098/rsif... 🧵1/ 🧪