Kale Sniderman
@muddypollen.bsky.social
Palynologist, paleoclimatologist, plant biogeographer | vegetation and climate history | fossil pollen
Die back and apparent recent mortality of Eucalyptus macrorhyncha (red stringybark) in the Mullum Mullum valley, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 🧪🌿.
September 4, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Die back and apparent recent mortality of Eucalyptus macrorhyncha (red stringybark) in the Mullum Mullum valley, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 🧪🌿.
by contrast, Decalobanthus peltatus (Convolvulaceae) belongs to a small (~20 spp) and recent Malesian/inner Pacific radiation of fast-growing vines. It probably arrived in Australia within the past million years or so
July 30, 2025 at 3:23 AM
by contrast, Decalobanthus peltatus (Convolvulaceae) belongs to a small (~20 spp) and recent Malesian/inner Pacific radiation of fast-growing vines. It probably arrived in Australia within the past million years or so
the cycad Bowenia spectabilis (Zamiaceae), Daintree rainforest, Queensland Wet Tropics. Bowenia has been kicking around Australia since at least the late Cretaceous 🧪🌿
July 30, 2025 at 2:04 AM
the cycad Bowenia spectabilis (Zamiaceae), Daintree rainforest, Queensland Wet Tropics. Bowenia has been kicking around Australia since at least the late Cretaceous 🧪🌿
Decalobanthus peltatus (previously within polyphyletic Merremia) is a megatherm Convolvulaceae vine colonising cyclone-damaged Daintree rainforest (NE Queensland). Totally feral on Pacific Islands, esp where not native (no surprise). See George Staples' superb revision tinyurl.com/42dk4pe2 🌿🧪
July 28, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Decalobanthus peltatus (previously within polyphyletic Merremia) is a megatherm Convolvulaceae vine colonising cyclone-damaged Daintree rainforest (NE Queensland). Totally feral on Pacific Islands, esp where not native (no surprise). See George Staples' superb revision tinyurl.com/42dk4pe2 🌿🧪
Some of my best work
June 17, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Some of my best work
With respect, your interpretation is not consistent with the text of Whewell's review of Somerville's book, even if it was Somerville's intellectual breadth that stimulated W to discuss the need for a general term for practicers of science.
April 1, 2025 at 9:09 AM
With respect, your interpretation is not consistent with the text of Whewell's review of Somerville's book, even if it was Somerville's intellectual breadth that stimulated W to discuss the need for a general term for practicers of science.
Is 'real' AGI about to take over the world? I asked #ChatGPT4.5 if it could generate an undergraduate lecture on #AMOC. No problem. Pretty credible outlines of content & detailed description of slides, all pretty accurate. But can you also *generate* the slides? What's not to love about the result
March 17, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Is 'real' AGI about to take over the world? I asked #ChatGPT4.5 if it could generate an undergraduate lecture on #AMOC. No problem. Pretty credible outlines of content & detailed description of slides, all pretty accurate. But can you also *generate* the slides? What's not to love about the result
Paleogene Bagelopollis verrucatus (Carroll 1999, Palynology 23:55), a fossil pollen type named for the resemblance of its pores' pseudo-annuli to a BAGEL. Nice example of disregarding Greek/Latin bound morphemes in forming scientific terms. Probably the only #Yiddish-derived palynological term! 🧪
March 13, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Paleogene Bagelopollis verrucatus (Carroll 1999, Palynology 23:55), a fossil pollen type named for the resemblance of its pores' pseudo-annuli to a BAGEL. Nice example of disregarding Greek/Latin bound morphemes in forming scientific terms. Probably the only #Yiddish-derived palynological term! 🧪
but yes, you're quite right, image-generation has the highest energy demand and is the most pointless product. Hallucinatory pollen images are of no use at all, whereas an endlessly patient R coding tutor, which is an order of magnitude less energy-intensive, is extremely valuable to me
March 11, 2025 at 11:40 AM
but yes, you're quite right, image-generation has the highest energy demand and is the most pointless product. Hallucinatory pollen images are of no use at all, whereas an endlessly patient R coding tutor, which is an order of magnitude less energy-intensive, is extremely valuable to me
If instead of video we ask only for images, we could use #OpenAI's #Dall-e3. For the prompt "several tricolporate pollen grains from different families, shown in polar and equatorial views", we get this wonderful display of pasta or colonial wasp nests. #palynology 🌿🧪
March 11, 2025 at 6:41 AM
If instead of video we ask only for images, we could use #OpenAI's #Dall-e3. For the prompt "several tricolporate pollen grains from different families, shown in polar and equatorial views", we get this wonderful display of pasta or colonial wasp nests. #palynology 🌿🧪
Finally, if we ask #OpenAI's #Sora for "tricolpate pollen grains in several plant families, as seen down a light microscope", we get...what, a pile of rugulate walnuts, or #Elaeocarpus seeds?🧪🌿
March 11, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Finally, if we ask #OpenAI's #Sora for "tricolpate pollen grains in several plant families, as seen down a light microscope", we get...what, a pile of rugulate walnuts, or #Elaeocarpus seeds?🧪🌿
Maybe #Sora is meant to just produce fun videos for kids? This junk, in response to "tricolpate pollen grains viewed under light microscopy, in several plant families". These remind me of extinct Cretaceous Wodehousia pollen, (probably an extinct angiosperm lineage), but c'mon. #palynology 🌿🧪 1/2
March 11, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Maybe #Sora is meant to just produce fun videos for kids? This junk, in response to "tricolpate pollen grains viewed under light microscopy, in several plant families". These remind me of extinct Cretaceous Wodehousia pollen, (probably an extinct angiosperm lineage), but c'mon. #palynology 🌿🧪 1/2
if I give #OpenAI's #Sora a little more instruction: "several tricolporate pollen grains from different families, shown in polar and equatorial views" we get a collection of star anise fruits and, perhaps, SEM images of anisopolar pollen from non-angiosperm land-plants in a parallel universe.🌿🧪
March 11, 2025 at 12:16 AM
oh dear, this is #OpenAI's #Sora's response to "several tricolporate pollen grains shown in polar and equatorial views". These do look a *little* like tiny bony fruits, but somehow it does not understand what "tri" might signify? #palynology #pollen 🧪🌿
March 11, 2025 at 12:08 AM
oh dear, this is #OpenAI's #Sora's response to "several tricolporate pollen grains shown in polar and equatorial views". These do look a *little* like tiny bony fruits, but somehow it does not understand what "tri" might signify? #palynology #pollen 🧪🌿
Evidently, #OpenAI's #Sora just hasn't stored meaningful connections between the components of the phrase "triaperturate pollen" and appropriate visual information. Here are two videos I prescribed as "triaperturate pollen grains slowly rotating" #palynology🧪🌿 1/2
March 11, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Evidently, #OpenAI's #Sora just hasn't stored meaningful connections between the components of the phrase "triaperturate pollen" and appropriate visual information. Here are two videos I prescribed as "triaperturate pollen grains slowly rotating" #palynology🧪🌿 1/2
Let me amplify this
February 25, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Let me amplify this
There really *was* an *old* Phytologist. *New* Phytologist aimed to be accessible not only to research botanists, but to school teachers, etc. 🧪🌾
January 26, 2025 at 9:40 AM
There really *was* an *old* Phytologist. *New* Phytologist aimed to be accessible not only to research botanists, but to school teachers, etc. 🧪🌾
Scented Boronia anemonifolia (Rutaceae), in coastal woodland, Freycinet National Park, eastern Tasmania 🧪🌾
January 15, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Scented Boronia anemonifolia (Rutaceae), in coastal woodland, Freycinet National Park, eastern Tasmania 🧪🌾
pages of SWAFR flowers, by pollination strategy (apparently open access)
www.publish.csiro.au/bt/Fulltext/...
e.g, who knew there was so much buzz-pollination 2/2 🧪🌾
www.publish.csiro.au/bt/Fulltext/...
e.g, who knew there was so much buzz-pollination 2/2 🧪🌾
January 15, 2025 at 6:41 AM
pages of SWAFR flowers, by pollination strategy (apparently open access)
www.publish.csiro.au/bt/Fulltext/...
e.g, who knew there was so much buzz-pollination 2/2 🧪🌾
www.publish.csiro.au/bt/Fulltext/...
e.g, who knew there was so much buzz-pollination 2/2 🧪🌾
One biodiversity hotspot to rule them all: Mark Brundrett shows that the Southwest Australian Floristic Region is probably "the most specialised flora on Earth"
(freely available from the WA Royal Society www.rswa.org.au/journal/volu... ) 1/2 🌾🧪
(freely available from the WA Royal Society www.rswa.org.au/journal/volu... ) 1/2 🌾🧪
January 15, 2025 at 6:41 AM
One biodiversity hotspot to rule them all: Mark Brundrett shows that the Southwest Australian Floristic Region is probably "the most specialised flora on Earth"
(freely available from the WA Royal Society www.rswa.org.au/journal/volu... ) 1/2 🌾🧪
(freely available from the WA Royal Society www.rswa.org.au/journal/volu... ) 1/2 🌾🧪
There's unexpected pleasures in taking a long time to get through the backlog of New Yorkers ( this one from July 2022) @newyorker.com
December 17, 2024 at 10:23 PM
There's unexpected pleasures in taking a long time to get through the backlog of New Yorkers ( this one from July 2022) @newyorker.com
Picked these little fellas this morning. Historically, the challenge for Melbourne gardeners has been to ripen a tomato by Xmas day. However, November's maximum and minimum temperatures were nearly 4C above the early 20th C average 🧪#global heating
December 5, 2024 at 5:16 AM
Picked these little fellas this morning. Historically, the challenge for Melbourne gardeners has been to ripen a tomato by Xmas day. However, November's maximum and minimum temperatures were nearly 4C above the early 20th C average 🧪#global heating
In awe of Calvin Trillin who can sit on a jewel of an anecdote like this for 60 years
bsky.app/profile/newy...
bsky.app/profile/newy...
December 2, 2024 at 1:35 AM
In awe of Calvin Trillin who can sit on a jewel of an anecdote like this for 60 years
bsky.app/profile/newy...
bsky.app/profile/newy...