Rachel Kruger
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rachelkruger.bsky.social
Rachel Kruger
@rachelkruger.bsky.social
440 followers 890 following 29 posts
PhD candidate at Binghamton University studying speciation in Monkeyflowers!

Lover of unintentionally funny signs, music, photography, well-dressed mannequins, nature, winter sports, and pre-loved things.

She/her | 🩷💜💙 | ADHD+

Free Palestine 🇵🇸
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rachelkruger.bsky.social
Had a great time at #Evol2025 learning about some super cool research, making some lovely friends, and presenting some research of my own. Thank you to everyone who made this happen - organizers, conference center staff, and the wonderfully diverse group of evolutionary biologists
A projector screen with a title slide that reads "Secondary Woodiness as a Driver of Divergence" with photos of Mimulus australis and Mimulus clevelandii. To the right of the screen is me standing behind a podium.
June 27, 2025 at 2:12 PM
rachelkruger.bsky.social
Hundreds of people turned out in the rain for the Binghamton NY #HandsOff2025 rally. Heartening to feel the collective energy and community. Gives me hope.
Many people standing outside on an overcast, rainy day outside of a bandstand in a park with trees. There are several umbrellas and handmade signs that fade off into the distance.
April 5, 2025 at 8:12 PM
rachelkruger.bsky.social
The first spring flowers I've seen here in New York. Galanthus nivalis, the common snowdrop. ❄️☀️🌸
A close up shot of a small group of common snowdrop flowers by the street. Short, stocky leaves emerging from the ground with white wing-like flowers at the end of a bell-shaped stem.
March 19, 2025 at 3:49 PM
rachelkruger.bsky.social
Had a lovely time presenting at the @binghamtonu.bsky.social Biology Graduate Student Organization annual symposium! Loved learning about my colleagues' cool research!
Congrats to @knechtfour.bsky.social 's undergrads Rachel and Jovana for winning best poster! 🎉
#Mimulus #Binghamton
Me standing next to a podium in front of a projector screen displaying two photos of Monkeyflowers. Me standing under a projector screen explaining a slide with histograms and linear discriminant analysis results.
January 20, 2025 at 3:17 PM
rachelkruger.bsky.social
Photographing flowers. The fact that this little room feels like a dungeon is offset by the sunshine-y colors of these beauties. #Mimulus
A room with a tray of yellow-flowered Diplacus plants, and a photography setup in which there is a box with ring lights and a camera overhead, connected to a laptop. Most importantly, there's a thermos of coffee to the side.
December 5, 2024 at 5:03 PM
rachelkruger.bsky.social
Just a few backyard #birbs. They're so expressive.
#Birds #Birding
Female house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) standing on a wooden railing in front of an arbor vitae branch, peering down to her side. Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) standing on a wooden deck with its mouth open, a couple birdseeds scattered around it. A blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) standing on a wooden deck, looking straight ahead with its head slightly cocked to one side. Its pattern makes it look like it's furrowing its brows. A black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) standing on a wooden deck, facing to the right, with its beak slightly lifted
December 3, 2024 at 12:38 PM
rachelkruger.bsky.social
Sherwin Carlquist left this Earth 3 years ago today. He has inspired me in many ways, one of which is the beauty and complexity of wood anatomy. These are some wood cross sections that caught my attention recently.
#Wood #Nature #Trees
Cross section of a tree with dark inner rings and light outer rings Cross section of a wet tree with light and dark rings, that has been chopped with an axe. Closeup of a chopped tree. The chop marks are layered and reminiscent of waves or mountains. Closeup of a cross section of a dark, wet tree with chop marks.
December 1, 2024 at 2:51 PM
rachelkruger.bsky.social
Some sweet #FungiFriends at Niquette Bay State Park in VT yesterday.
Hexagonal Polypore - Neofavolus alveolaris
Turkey Tail - Trametes versicolor
Splitgill Mushroom - Schizophyllum commune
And another Turkey Tail
#Fungi #Nature #Mushrooms
Orange-brown mushroom (Neofavolus alveolaris) on the side of a small tree Multiple layers of brown and tan shelf fungi (Trametes versicolor) on a tree trunk Several small white fuzzy fungi (Schizophyllum commune) around a small twig with a fern from in the background A couple layers of tan, slate, and white shelf fungi (Trametes versicolor) on an overturned mossy log
November 30, 2024 at 3:42 PM
rachelkruger.bsky.social
Hello world! I'd like to introduce myself to Bluesky - I'm a PhD student in the Sobel Lab at Binghamton University interested in ecological factors influencing divergence and reproductive isolation. I study ecological #speciation in two closely related taxa in #Mimulus.
#evolution #ecology
A woman (me) wearing a gray sleeveless shirt and red pants with hands in pockets standing on the side of the road in front of a scrub/desert field, which is in front of two nearby mountain peaks. It's a sunny day with no cloud in the sky. This was taken while doing fieldwork in California in May 2023. Two yellow bilaterally symmetrical flowers of a Mimulus F2 hybrid in a greenhouse with a stem and leaves beneath them.
November 25, 2024 at 8:08 PM