Luke Flory

This is both awesome and a bummer. Hope you all got it fixed!

Local adaptation of both plant and pathogen: an arms‐race compromise in switchgrass rust In coevolving species, parasites locally adapt to host populations as hosts locally adapt to resist parasites. Parasites often outpace host local adaptation since they have rapid life cycles, but ho...

Excellent new paper out this week led by former postdoc (now NC State Assistant Professor) @aceraceae.bsky.social. "Local adaptation of both plant and pathogen: an arms-race compromise in switchgrass rust." nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Parallels between biological invasions and human migration are flawed and undermine both disciplines. Response to Ahmed et al. A recent article by Ahmed and colleagues (2025) attempt to draw parallels and assess distinctions between biological invasions and human migration. This co

Interesting response to the Ahmed et al paper:

academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

I agree, it’s coming around!

Great job! Thanks for making time for the ms revisions meeting

First lectures and tasting of traditional foods for our study abroad program UF in Croatia: Food and Global Change

Probably the most extreme growing situation for Erigeron annuus that I’ve seen. There can’t be anything resembling soil up there. Good motivation to continue our work on #urbanevolution of #invaders

Back in Croatia for another round of our study abroad program about food and global change plus research on #urbanevolution. Found some beautiful new roads thanks to a chance meeting with a new friend Vanja.

Is a photo subversive? NSF staff overcome obstacles to 75th anniversary portrait Management tried to quash outpouring of support for beleaguered agency

Hundreds of National Science Foundation staffers turned out for a group photograph to celebrate the besieged agency’s 75th anniversary—despite efforts by NSF officials to prevent the picture from being taken. scim.ag/4jcGpIt

We def need to know more about invasions x other global changes

Congrats to PhD student Yukti Taneja for winning the 2025 Nadeau Graduate Research Award!! The funding will be used to advance her work on multiple biotic interactions and plant invasions.

Our local brewery First Magnitude knows what’s up! Huge supporters of conservation.

My god this is horrifying. 💔

a netflix ad shows a woman talking to another woman at a vending machine ALT: a netflix ad shows a woman talking to another woman at a vending machine

We're hiring an assistant prof in global change ecology! Apply!!! We're vibrant, supportive, and interdisciplinary EEB community!

Plz note the weird dates: We're reviewing applications beginning on ✨August 15th✨. I'm part of the SC and happy to answer questions!

apply.interfolio.com/164677

Research Technician II Dr. Volker Rudolf’s research groups in the Department of BioSciences are looking to hire a Research Technician II in the field of biology/ecology. The ideal candidate will be comfortable working outdo...

Job opportunity! Excited to share that we have an opening for a research technician position to help with our research on phenological shifts & species interactions in amphibian communities. (please help spread the word!)
More details here:
emdz.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Illustration of a Greenlandic landscape, showing in the foreground Rhododendron lapponicum on a cliff, with sea ice and icebergs in the background. Illustration by Alberto S. Ballesteros (@asbillustration.bsky.social)

🌸Plant diversity dynamics over space and time in a warming Arctic 🌸

Our new study @nature.com analysed plant diversity change in >2000 tundra plots over 4 decades. We found that plants changed unevenly, mostly driven by warming and biotic interactions.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧵 (1/7) 🌐🧪🌱🌍

A well-connected Earth: The science and conservation of organismal movement Global biodiversity targets focus on landscape and seascape connectivity as a foundational component of biodiversity conservation, including networks of connected protected areas. Recent advances allo...

Really excited to share this new article from the lab.

We synthesize the profound importance of movement and connectivity for conservation and provide a vision for future policy and management.

Let's work toward a well-connected planet for biodiversity and people:

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Carbon majors and the scientific case for climate liability - Nature A transparent and reproducible scientific framework is introduced to formalize how trillions in economic losses are attributable to the extreme heat caused by emissions from fossil fuel companies, whi...

Wow. Check this out!
“…science no longer an obstacle to the justiciability of climate liability claims.”

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Pine crowns with expanding shoots against a blue sky.

Close up image of an expanding longleaf pine shoot.

Spring primary growth in N. Florida. These 'candles' are expanding embryonic needles formed last fall in overwintered in buds. In this species (longleaf pine), there is generally only one growth cycle. Other southern pines may undergo multiple cycles in a year.

Finished setting up a big new field experiment in Kentucky testing the effects of plant invasion, resources, and microbiome on disease transmission to hemp. #EEID

Sowing solutions: my quest to save Kenya’s maize from a devastating invader Henry Sila Nzioki has developed a weed-killing fungus to improve food security.

A parasitic plant-killing fungus without harming crops.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Towards an integrative mechanistic framework for biodiversity–consumer relationships Terrestrial plant diversity plays a pivotal role in influencing the abundance, diversity, and impacts of herbivores and pathogens (collectively, plant…

As a special Earth Day gift, our new paper integrating decades of related, but siloed research on how changing biodiversity drives plant disease and herbivory is out today in TREE www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Thanks to @idiv-research.bsky.social for supporting our sConsume working group!

Orkney’s curlew population back on the rise as charity removes invasive species The curlew population had declined by more than 50%, according to statistics obtained by a wildlife charity.

Orkney’s curlew population back on the rise as charity removes invasive species

Source: London Evening Standard
search.app/ZdkpD

🚨 POST DOC 🚨

The Suding Lab at the University of CO - Boulder is recruiting a Postdoc researcher to build on an ongoing project examining grassland fuels, wildfire risk, & management questions.

Applications close May 8, 2025.
Start date will be before September 2025.

🌎🌾🧪🌱🌿🍁💻🔥📈

Illustration of blue-green infrastructure to enhance urban biodiversity.

April issue: Review led by Ingo Kowarik that summarises the benefits of urban biodiversity for people and nature, and explores how sustainable, biodiverse urban areas can be developed. 🧪🌎
Web link: go.nature.com/4l4wcQs
Readcube: rdcu.be/eh0wE

Fast‐growing annual plants drive disease spillover in multi‐host communities Our modelling study predicts that slower-growing hosts will bear the greater impact of pathogen spillover in the form of reduced end-of-season biomass (panel A). Faster-growing hosts are predicted to....

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Plants with higher biomass accrual rates drive infectious disease outcomes in multi-host annual plant communities Margaret W. Simon, University of Kansas, USA, discusses her article: Fast-growing annual plants drive disease spillover in multi-host communities Infectious plant diseases affect hosts in natural, …

Check out this new blog post where lead author Maggie Simon explains our new paper that is out now in @journalofecology.bsky.social

jecologyblog.com/2025/04/15/p...

Opinion | Trump is killing one of our strongest exports The president wants to balance U.S. trade deficits? He can’t do it without this industry he hates.

Now there's a memorable stat!

"Colleges and universities are among America’s most competitive international exporters. In dollar terms, last year, the United States sold more educational services to the rest of the world than it sold in natural gas and coal combined."

wapo.st/3EvzMCI

Trees in the Grasslands: Three Perspectives

Online panel discussion: Trees in the Grasslands: Three Perspectives. Thursday, April 24, 2025 5:30pm to 6:45pm events.k-state.edu/event/trees-...

Sketching some research ideas with PhD student Yukti Taneja. Makes sense, right?