Michelle A. Rodrigues 🐒
@marspidermonkey.bsky.social
Primatologist. Biological anthropologist. Recovering academic. Mammal Madness fan. Dog mom to the cutest rescue dog. Expertise in social relationships and stress in monkeys, apes, & humans, and the systemic inequities in academia & science. She/her
What is this nonsense? We aren’t ready for winter!
November 9, 2025 at 4:38 PM
What is this nonsense? We aren’t ready for winter!
What is this nonsense? We aren’t ready for winter!
November 9, 2025 at 4:35 PM
What is this nonsense? We aren’t ready for winter!
I have this guy to snuggle with, but sometimes he hogs the blankets.
November 8, 2025 at 4:18 AM
I have this guy to snuggle with, but sometimes he hogs the blankets.
Little buddy waiting outside for his vet appointment. He believes the benches are dog seating, but I had to stop him from climbing up on the table itself!
November 7, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Little buddy waiting outside for his vet appointment. He believes the benches are dog seating, but I had to stop him from climbing up on the table itself!
Also, there’s a subplot about how her ex-husband—a fellow forest ecologist—was a hindrance to her career, and that seems to be the subplot in a whole lot of career memoirs of female ecologists. I’m glad she divorced him! (10/10).
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Also, there’s a subplot about how her ex-husband—a fellow forest ecologist—was a hindrance to her career, and that seems to be the subplot in a whole lot of career memoirs of female ecologists. I’m glad she divorced him! (10/10).
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and it makes me think of the forest—and their fungal networks-- in a new light. 9/10)
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and it makes me think of the forest—and their fungal networks-- in a new light. 9/10)
The payoff comes in the last chapter, when she describes how her findings support what Indigenous Pacific Northwest tribes already knew about the forest—and how they connect to the salmon spawning cycle. (8/10)
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
The payoff comes in the last chapter, when she describes how her findings support what Indigenous Pacific Northwest tribes already knew about the forest—and how they connect to the salmon spawning cycle. (8/10)
While Western science was so focused on studying trees as individual units, and assuming competitive relationships between them, they had literally missed the forest for the trees. (7/10)
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
While Western science was so focused on studying trees as individual units, and assuming competitive relationships between them, they had literally missed the forest for the trees. (7/10)
She finds that via mycorrhizal networks, neighboring trees can transfer nutrients, for example, to make up for shading neighbors, and that these networks allow for chemical communication as well. (6/10)
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
She finds that via mycorrhizal networks, neighboring trees can transfer nutrients, for example, to make up for shading neighbors, and that these networks allow for chemical communication as well. (6/10)
However, the book really gets interesting once she finds develops ways to study the transfer of nutrients between different species of trees. (5/10)
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
However, the book really gets interesting once she finds develops ways to study the transfer of nutrients between different species of trees. (5/10)
Although I found the earlier parts of the book a bit slow-going, it was interesting how much of her fieldwork was a family affair, with family and friends stepping in to be her research assistants. (4/10)
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Although I found the earlier parts of the book a bit slow-going, it was interesting how much of her fieldwork was a family affair, with family and friends stepping in to be her research assistants. (4/10)
The book starts out with her background growing up in a Pacific Northwest logging family, and then describes her career, which starts out doing research with logging companies to find ways for to minimize ecological destruction. (3/10)
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
The book starts out with her background growing up in a Pacific Northwest logging family, and then describes her career, which starts out doing research with logging companies to find ways for to minimize ecological destruction. (3/10)
This is a book by the forest ecologist who’s known for her research on the “Wood Wide Web.” Through a combination of personal and career memoir, she describes how her research led to groundbreaking discoveries in how forests are networked. (2/10)
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
This is a book by the forest ecologist who’s known for her research on the “Wood Wide Web.” Through a combination of personal and career memoir, she describes how her research led to groundbreaking discoveries in how forests are networked. (2/10)
Time for another book review! My next book review is Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, by Suzanne Simard (Vintage Books, 2021). (1/10)
🧪 #BookSky #ScienceBooks #BookReview
🧪 #BookSky #ScienceBooks #BookReview
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Time for another book review! My next book review is Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, by Suzanne Simard (Vintage Books, 2021). (1/10)
🧪 #BookSky #ScienceBooks #BookReview
🧪 #BookSky #ScienceBooks #BookReview
I made some pretty delicious creamy apple, pumpkin, and squash soup recently!
It can easily be adapted based on what you have in your fridge/freezer/pantry.
Start with some mirepoix (ish). I had some sautéed carrots, celery, and leeks in the freezer to start with, sautéed in some butter.
It can easily be adapted based on what you have in your fridge/freezer/pantry.
Start with some mirepoix (ish). I had some sautéed carrots, celery, and leeks in the freezer to start with, sautéed in some butter.
November 4, 2025 at 4:36 AM
I made some pretty delicious creamy apple, pumpkin, and squash soup recently!
It can easily be adapted based on what you have in your fridge/freezer/pantry.
Start with some mirepoix (ish). I had some sautéed carrots, celery, and leeks in the freezer to start with, sautéed in some butter.
It can easily be adapted based on what you have in your fridge/freezer/pantry.
Start with some mirepoix (ish). I had some sautéed carrots, celery, and leeks in the freezer to start with, sautéed in some butter.
The best little dude.
November 4, 2025 at 4:12 AM
The best little dude.
I tried to take a picture of neighborhood hawk friend but a SOMEONE barked just as I was taking the picture.
Meanwhile, he thinks he was doing a good job guarding the backyard and deserves treats for his diligent efforts.
Meanwhile, he thinks he was doing a good job guarding the backyard and deserves treats for his diligent efforts.
November 3, 2025 at 9:26 PM
I tried to take a picture of neighborhood hawk friend but a SOMEONE barked just as I was taking the picture.
Meanwhile, he thinks he was doing a good job guarding the backyard and deserves treats for his diligent efforts.
Meanwhile, he thinks he was doing a good job guarding the backyard and deserves treats for his diligent efforts.
I have a neighbor who turns their whole front yard into a creepy carnival, and my favorite part is the creepy clown Ferris wheel.
It plays creepy carnival music as it spins, but sadly this year I missed seeing it while it’s on because my dog didn’t want to walk that way this afternoon.
It plays creepy carnival music as it spins, but sadly this year I missed seeing it while it’s on because my dog didn’t want to walk that way this afternoon.
November 1, 2025 at 2:08 AM
I have a neighbor who turns their whole front yard into a creepy carnival, and my favorite part is the creepy clown Ferris wheel.
It plays creepy carnival music as it spins, but sadly this year I missed seeing it while it’s on because my dog didn’t want to walk that way this afternoon.
It plays creepy carnival music as it spins, but sadly this year I missed seeing it while it’s on because my dog didn’t want to walk that way this afternoon.
However, in practice, feminism does not always incorporate these frameworks, and leading with feminism might overshadow them. Nonetheless, this is important book that I think everyone that studies animal behavior should read! (9/9)
October 30, 2025 at 11:04 PM
However, in practice, feminism does not always incorporate these frameworks, and leading with feminism might overshadow them. Nonetheless, this is important book that I think everyone that studies animal behavior should read! (9/9)
I also wonder if leading with “feminism” was the best choice for the title. As they explain in the book, their analytical framework is one they describe as “intersectional feminism,” one that is also anti-racist, queer, decolonial, anti-capitalist, and anti-ableist. (8/9)
October 30, 2025 at 11:04 PM
I also wonder if leading with “feminism” was the best choice for the title. As they explain in the book, their analytical framework is one they describe as “intersectional feminism,” one that is also anti-racist, queer, decolonial, anti-capitalist, and anti-ableist. (8/9)
E-collars are contentious because they are aversive (ie, IMO, abusive), and dog welfare scientists warn against them, and this section detracts from the larger point she was trying to make. (7/9)
October 30, 2025 at 11:04 PM
E-collars are contentious because they are aversive (ie, IMO, abusive), and dog welfare scientists warn against them, and this section detracts from the larger point she was trying to make. (7/9)
Whatever point she was trying to make, I missed, because I was too upset seeing her arguing that her dog’s genetics necessitate using an e-collar, and arguing that it was a humane tool that essential to her welfare. (6/9)
October 30, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Whatever point she was trying to make, I missed, because I was too upset seeing her arguing that her dog’s genetics necessitate using an e-collar, and arguing that it was a humane tool that essential to her welfare. (6/9)
Overall, I loved the book, but there was one part I had a big issue with. In Chapter 7, Packer uses an example about her dog as an example of the impact of genetics. (5/9)
October 30, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Overall, I loved the book, but there was one part I had a big issue with. In Chapter 7, Packer uses an example about her dog as an example of the impact of genetics. (5/9)
Then the book gets into covering the question I was looking for—what about group selection? It then covers issues with the circular logic of optimality, adaptationism, and issues with eugenicist thought. It concludes with dismantling biological determinism. (4/9)
October 30, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Then the book gets into covering the question I was looking for—what about group selection? It then covers issues with the circular logic of optimality, adaptationism, and issues with eugenicist thought. It concludes with dismantling biological determinism. (4/9)
The first two chapters were covering exactly what the first few weeks of my class did, setting up how biases built into early research are perpetuated, and tying that to limitations of Bateman’s research and how they were perpetuated in behavioral ecology theory. (3/9)
October 30, 2025 at 11:04 PM
The first two chapters were covering exactly what the first few weeks of my class did, setting up how biases built into early research are perpetuated, and tying that to limitations of Bateman’s research and how they were perpetuated in behavioral ecology theory. (3/9)