Travis Longcore
@travislongcore.bsky.social
Cities & nature, light pollution, species & landscape conservation, maps & spatial analysis 🌎 Adj. Prof. UCLA Inst. of the Environment and Sustainability
The global biomass of mammals since 1850. On the bright side, a few more whales since the 1980s. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
October 28, 2025 at 11:45 PM
The global biomass of mammals since 1850. On the bright side, a few more whales since the 1980s. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
People from socially vulnerable areas are more likely to visit parks in less vulnerable areas than vice versa. The higher quality parks in more wealthy areas are visited by people curating their environments through mobility. 🚋 🚗🚲 4/
September 29, 2025 at 4:48 AM
People from socially vulnerable areas are more likely to visit parks in less vulnerable areas than vice versa. The higher quality parks in more wealthy areas are visited by people curating their environments through mobility. 🚋 🚗🚲 4/
Time of day and day of week are more important to park use than weather. But people do stay later in the evening at parks when it is super hot. 3/
September 29, 2025 at 4:48 AM
Time of day and day of week are more important to park use than weather. But people do stay later in the evening at parks when it is super hot. 3/
Parks are used slightly less during extreme heat days than paired control days. Parks are good to reduce temperatures, but to alleviate heat in events but are used less when it is hot. Except the beach. People go to the beach in LA when it is very hot. 🏖️☀️🏄♀️ 2/
September 29, 2025 at 4:48 AM
Parks are used slightly less during extreme heat days than paired control days. Parks are good to reduce temperatures, but to alleviate heat in events but are used less when it is hot. Except the beach. People go to the beach in LA when it is very hot. 🏖️☀️🏄♀️ 2/
So much interesting new ecological #lightpollution research being published, and I have to highlight this new paper in particular. Shielded lights and lower CCT (warmer colors) reduce flight call disruption of migratory birds in a pretty massive study in NM www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
September 3, 2025 at 4:05 AM
So much interesting new ecological #lightpollution research being published, and I have to highlight this new paper in particular. Shielded lights and lower CCT (warmer colors) reduce flight call disruption of migratory birds in a pretty massive study in NM www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reminder that fascinating studies about moonlight influences on species behavior are also de facto studies about #lightpollution and especially #skyglow See photos at esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... an article in Ecology at doi.org/10.1002/ecy....
August 3, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Reminder that fascinating studies about moonlight influences on species behavior are also de facto studies about #lightpollution and especially #skyglow See photos at esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... an article in Ecology at doi.org/10.1002/ecy....
and just for fun, the Tar Pits
January 13, 2025 at 7:38 AM
and just for fun, the Tar Pits
This from what would become LA.
January 13, 2025 at 7:32 AM
This from what would become LA.
Just to give a flavor of the translations.. this from what would become west LA
January 13, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Just to give a flavor of the translations.. this from what would become west LA
They also discuss the prickly pear cactus, which gives another clue. The concentric dots are locations we identified for the journal entries.
January 13, 2025 at 7:32 AM
They also discuss the prickly pear cactus, which gives another clue. The concentric dots are locations we identified for the journal entries.
Of course this is true for ALL Mediterranean-type ecosystems around the world --- in Australia, South Africa, Chile, California, and the Mediterranean itself. 5/
January 13, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Of course this is true for ALL Mediterranean-type ecosystems around the world --- in Australia, South Africa, Chile, California, and the Mediterranean itself. 5/
Rather, it was a complex mix of coastal sage scrub, chaparral, riparian scrub, riparian forest, oak and walnut woodland, alkali meadows, wet meadows, freshwater wetlands, and, yes, grasslands/flower fields. It was an Indigenous landscape, managed by people for 10,000 years before Europeans. 2/
January 13, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Rather, it was a complex mix of coastal sage scrub, chaparral, riparian scrub, riparian forest, oak and walnut woodland, alkali meadows, wet meadows, freshwater wetlands, and, yes, grasslands/flower fields. It was an Indigenous landscape, managed by people for 10,000 years before Europeans. 2/
An essay just dropped titled "Stop Blaming Politicians. L.A. Was Build to Burn." It has a major mischaracterization in the lede, that L.A. is built on "grasslands". There were grasslands (more flower fields, actually) in the LA Basin but it was not predominantly a grassland. 1/
January 13, 2025 at 2:19 AM
An essay just dropped titled "Stop Blaming Politicians. L.A. Was Build to Burn." It has a major mischaracterization in the lede, that L.A. is built on "grasslands". There were grasslands (more flower fields, actually) in the LA Basin but it was not predominantly a grassland. 1/
You may see misinformation about water availability, linking the Palisades Fire to statewide policy. There is no link. See statement from LADWP. They had the water to fill all the existing tanks ahead of time, and did. The challenges have nothing to do with lack of supply or smelt in the Delta.
January 8, 2025 at 9:46 PM
You may see misinformation about water availability, linking the Palisades Fire to statewide policy. There is no link. See statement from LADWP. They had the water to fill all the existing tanks ahead of time, and did. The challenges have nothing to do with lack of supply or smelt in the Delta.
The view from space, showing the offshore southwestern direction of the winds.
January 8, 2025 at 5:44 AM
The view from space, showing the offshore southwestern direction of the winds.
The last time this area burned was the Mandeville Fire in 1978. Source: projects.capradio.org/california-f...
January 8, 2025 at 2:51 AM
The last time this area burned was the Mandeville Fire in 1978. Source: projects.capradio.org/california-f...
Pacific Palisades is getting hit hard. It is probably urban firefighting, structure by structure there now.
January 8, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Pacific Palisades is getting hit hard. It is probably urban firefighting, structure by structure there now.
Looks like origin was just east of The Summit, per the flight path of LA Fire helicopter.
January 7, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Looks like origin was just east of The Summit, per the flight path of LA Fire helicopter.
For #LA locals, the aerial support is hard at work fighting the #PalisadesFire . Fire location is between the Summit and Ridgeview Country Estates as best I can tell.
January 7, 2025 at 7:20 PM
For #LA locals, the aerial support is hard at work fighting the #PalisadesFire . Fire location is between the Summit and Ridgeview Country Estates as best I can tell.
It was the honor of a lifetime to meet America's finest public servant, may he rest in peace. It was spring 1993 and he cut a voice ID for our college radio station WVUD on that cassette recorder I'm holding.
December 30, 2024 at 12:44 AM
It was the honor of a lifetime to meet America's finest public servant, may he rest in peace. It was spring 1993 and he cut a voice ID for our college radio station WVUD on that cassette recorder I'm holding.
That's called being ahead of the curve.
December 29, 2024 at 2:58 AM
That's called being ahead of the curve.
This was _government_ science but there is so much out there waiting to be unlocked in unexpected places. Like my student who created an incredibly rich dataset of whale locations in southern California by digitizing the logs from whale watch vessels. spatial.usc.edu/wp-content/u...
November 29, 2024 at 6:43 AM
This was _government_ science but there is so much out there waiting to be unlocked in unexpected places. Like my student who created an incredibly rich dataset of whale locations in southern California by digitizing the logs from whale watch vessels. spatial.usc.edu/wp-content/u...
We really do. On one of the occasions my dad had me up at work I got to see how a planimeter worked, where you calculated a mapped area using a physical outlining tool. I still remember trying to follow the edge of the wetland on the aerial photograph. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planime...
November 29, 2024 at 6:38 AM
We really do. On one of the occasions my dad had me up at work I got to see how a planimeter worked, where you calculated a mapped area using a physical outlining tool. I still remember trying to follow the edge of the wetland on the aerial photograph. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planime...
So my dad (86) just released a huge USGS data report for duck broods in Maine 1977-1994. This report has been many years in the making, and what a commitment to science, future wildlife researchers, and the proper archiving of hard-collected data. 1/
November 29, 2024 at 5:47 AM
So my dad (86) just released a huge USGS data report for duck broods in Maine 1977-1994. This report has been many years in the making, and what a commitment to science, future wildlife researchers, and the proper archiving of hard-collected data. 1/
For the love of all that is holy, please, please report the spectral characteristics of experimental lamps.
November 12, 2024 at 10:56 PM
For the love of all that is holy, please, please report the spectral characteristics of experimental lamps.