Nathan Kiel
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nathankiel.bsky.social
Nathan Kiel
@nathankiel.bsky.social
1.9K followers 820 following 26 posts
Plant ecologist and post-doctoral research associate at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry 🌲🌳🌱

‘If dead aspen are important to woodpeckers, then they are important to me.’ Sigurd Olson

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nathankiel.bsky.social
From June to August on Mt Moosilauke. Earlier this year, we set out TOMST microclimate sensors. Now, we are conducting a seed addition experiment across temperate and boreal forests on the mountain. But there’s always time to summit!
A selfie of me with the bald summit of Mt Moosilauke behind. Taken in June with the vegetation still green. A selfie of me with the bald summit of Mt Moosilauke behind. Taken in August with the vegetation becoming brown.
August 14, 2025 at 6:41 PM
nathankiel.bsky.social
Happy International Plant Appreciation Day! Here’s trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) in bloom at Powder Mills Park in Rochester, NY.
The small, white, five-petaled flowers of trailing arbutus. A cluster of sunlit trailing arbutus, with small white flowers set against a mossy background.
April 13, 2025 at 7:27 PM
nathankiel.bsky.social
To collect these data, we visited some of the most remote corners of Yellowstone. By summer’s end, we hiked >150 miles (much of it off-trail) and climbed ~30,000 ft. This couldn’t have been done without the stellar work of Eileen Mavencamp, Zach Ausavich, and Madie DeMarco!!
Sitting around a campfire in the evening after a long day of field work in Yellowstone. Pictured (L-R): Zach, Nathan, and Eileen. The team after sampling an area that burned in the 1988 Yellowstone Fires but hasn’t yet come back as forest. Pictured (L-R): Nathan, Eileen, Zach, and Madie. The team standing beside two canoes before paddling out from a campsite on Yellowstone Lake to sample postfire forest recovery. Pictured (L-R): Eileen, Madie, Zach, and Nathan. Selfie time! Happy ecologists in the field. Pictured (L-R): Nathan, Eileen, Madie, and Zach.
January 27, 2025 at 2:17 PM
nathankiel.bsky.social
2024 was an exciting year professionally - I defended my dissertation, moved back to the northeastern U.S., and began a post-doc position at my alma mater! All while spending time with wonderful friends and colleagues, old and new. I’m looking forward to what 2025 has in store 🌳🌲
Me holding a (popped) bottle of sparkling wine shortly after defending my PhD dissertation. Eight ecologists sitting around a dinner table in Long Beach, California, celebrating a successful organized oral session at the Ecological Society of America conference with fresh seafood! Myself (back) and several friends and colleagues at SUNY ESF and Syracuse University standing in a forest ready for a day of fieldwork on Whiteface Mountain, New York.
January 2, 2025 at 5:12 PM
nathankiel.bsky.social
Thanksgiving in western New York!
A mossy rock ledge surrounded by trees at Rock City State Forest Snow covered trees along side a rock ledge at Rock City State Forest My dog lounging in front of a warm fire My partner and I walking outside in the snow at Rock City State Forest
November 28, 2024 at 5:36 PM
nathankiel.bsky.social
“What the heart wants: adaptive significance of cordate leaf morphology in Arnica (Astersceae)” is out now in Western North American Naturalist! doi.org/10.3398/064....
Figure 1. Example leaves from each study species highlighting differences in leaf morphology, namely the cordate leaf base in heartleaf arnica (Arnica cordifolia Hook., left) which is absent in broadleaf arnica (Arnica latifolia Bong., right). Figure 2. Petiole-lead angle across variable canopy cover for basal leaves of heartleaf arnica and broadleaf arnica from individuals distributed across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Wyoming, USA. Figure 3. Cordateness across variable canopy cover for basal leaves of heartleaf arnica from individuals distributed across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Wyoming, USA. Figure 4. Petiole-leaf angles across variable cordateness for basal leaves of heartleaf arnica from individuals across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Wyoming, USA.
November 22, 2024 at 3:28 PM
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If a forest doesn’t come back after wildfire, what comes back instead? I’ve spent the last few years studying plant communities in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks to find out: www.nps.gov/articles/000...
January 2, 2024 at 8:15 PM
nathankiel.bsky.social
New paper with Bill Romme and Monica Turner: “Snag-fall patterns following stand-replacing fire vary with stem characteristics and topography in subalpine forests of Greater Yellowstone”, out now in Forest Ecology and Management www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 15, 2023 at 1:36 PM
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All photos taken within one hour of each other
My dog nobby lounging on the couch My dog nobby sitting on the couch My dog nobby laying on the couch My dog nobby peering over the couch
September 20, 2023 at 12:08 AM
nathankiel.bsky.social
Smith Fellowship application complete, now onto the next (and the next, and the next…)
Screenshot of Smith Fellowship cover page with the title “The role of seed dispersal and seedling establishment limitations in forest tree species range shifts in the northeastern U.S.”
September 14, 2023 at 6:57 PM