Matt Bracken
@brackenlab.bsky.social
5.4K followers 2.7K following 3.4K posts
Marine biodiversity - https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/biodiversity/ - he/him/his
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brackenlab.bsky.social
It is amazing to have this field site only a few minutes from my home & campus! #MarineLife #Seaweed 🌊
The low intertidal zone at Corona Del Mar State Beach. Kelps - including *Eisenia* & *Macrocystis* - are in the foreground, with red algal turfs & surfgrass behind them. In the background is the ocean, an arched offshore rock, and blue sky.
Reposted by Matt Bracken
alaskawx.bsky.social
If you're able, please consider a donation to the Alaska Community Fund to help people in western Alaska impacted by ex-typhoon Halong even as winter is bearing down. All the money donated goes to the region. Quyana. #Alaska #AlaskaSky

alaskacf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/c...
Screen shot of the ACF Western Alaska Disaster Relief 2025 Fund: 

"In response to recent severe storms, including Typhoon Halong, that devastated Alaska's western coast, local community organizations and regional partners have come together to establish the Western Alaska Disaster Relief Fund, housed at the Alaska Community Foundation. 
Two major storm systems struck western Alaska in rapid succession, bringing record flooding, extreme winds, and extensive damage from Kwigillingok to Kotzebue. Homes have been damaged and destroyed, critical infrastructure compromised, and subsistence resources disrupted. The Western Alaska Disaster Relief Fund will provide support to affected communities for immediate relief, recovery support, and long-term resilience, including disaster preparedness initiatives. Distribution decisions will be guided by advisors including regional leaders and stakeholders, ensuring resources reach affected communities based on locally identified needs.

The Western Alaska Disaster Relief Fund brings together a growing list of local, regional, and statewide partners endorsing the fund, including:

    Association of Village Council Presidents
    Alaska Federation of Natives
    Alaska Native Heritage Center
    Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
    Bethel Community Services Foundation
    Calista Corporation
    Healthy Alaska Natives Foundation
    First Alaskans Institute
    Kawerak, Inc.
    Native Peoples Action
    Maniilaq Association

    Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation"
Reposted by Matt Bracken
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
We are now able to experience Whooping Cranes in ways that were unimaginable only a few decades ago. It's probably been hundreds of years since flocks, numbering in the dozens of individuals, danced together in the warm autumn light. #Birds #conservation #SK
brackenlab.bsky.social
Marsh Hawk! 🪶
saskajanet.bsky.social
I wish everyone could watch a Northern Harrier hunt over a marsh or open field. They fly low, weaving back and forth and sometimes hovering in one spot. Amazing! #birds
Dark brown raptor with face like an owl is coursing over a grassy field next to a lake. Wings are up over the body and its face is turned to look at the camera as it flies.
brackenlab.bsky.social
That would certainly poke the bear. I don’t think California qualifies as a sovereign state per the Rome Statute.
Reposted by Matt Bracken
biologizing.bsky.social
Two paths diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one more traveled by;
Because the wood is still a full ecosystem and leaving the maintained path can damage it,
Also I don't want ticks or wet socks
A photo of an open section in an autumn forest, there is a rocky dirt path on the right and a half-formed path through tall grasses and possibly reeds to the left.
Reposted by Matt Bracken
needhibhalla.bsky.social
“The scientific Nobels announced this week underscore that point. All three awards — granted each year in physiology or medicine, physics and chemistry — honored achievements rooted in fundamental research…Decades of inquiry paved the way for the technology, treatments and toys of tomorrow.” 🎁
Nobel Prizes This Year Offer Three Cheers for Slow Science
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Matt Bracken
weedenkim.bsky.social
Photos coming out of Western AK are devastating.

Hardest hit are indigenous villages off road system, many miles by air from supplies. Most built on river deltas w/ no high ground to which to escape.

Cuts to NASA/NOAA mean worse weather data. Cuts to EPA mean no grants for erosion control. Etc.
newseye.bsky.social
These are mostly indigenous communities in Alaska that have been slammed by the storm.

The local manager of a small airline fleet says he is the only one doing evacuations right now!

Defund FEMA and people are abandoned. Defund public media and no-one knows.

FYI, today is Indigenous Peoples Day.
Homes flooded in Kipnuk Flooding seen with water up to the crash barriers of local roads Sheds and debris lie scattered in the storm A small blue house has been blown onto its roof
brackenlab.bsky.social
And particularly telling that individual states are stepping in b/c of a lack of national leadership on conservation.
brackenlab.bsky.social
It’s worth noting that both California and Massachusetts have asked to join the IUCN. It’s heartening to see global-scale conservation leadership at the state level. iucn.org/story/202510...
Reposted by Matt Bracken
mariesposeets.bsky.social
Red-breasted merganser watercolor comic, sorry had to after seeing bsky.app/profile/hibb...
Watercolor sketch: a male red-breasted merganser does the courtship dance of sticking his butt out of the water and looking weird (see real-life  red-breasted merganser mating dance). Says: Huhhhughhuh s'up ladies, huhuhuh. 
A group of female mergansers on rocks are watching. First one: Ugh. Second one: Creep. 
Third one is gawking in delight and her tail feathers are fanning like crazy trying to cool her down.
Reposted by Matt Bracken
paisleystars.bsky.social
Welcome back to the 'don't look now but the sky's doing weird shit' part of the year
The aurora borealis (northern lights) as two distinctive shapes over a mountain. One purple spike into a more diffuse green wave. Both very clear and strong.
Reposted by Matt Bracken
activist360.bsky.social
Historic move: California will join the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the first U.S. state to do so. A bold stand for global climate leadership, biodiversity, and 30×30 conservation goals.

youtu.be/9BaVXf6r_Bg #ClimateAction #IUCN #Sustainability #Biodiversity #Activist360
California Seeks to Join International Union for Conservation of Nature
YouTube video by California Governor Gavin Newsom
youtu.be
brackenlab.bsky.social
🦀🦀🦀 #MarineLife
biodiversitypix.bsky.social
🧠 Report on the zoological collections made in the Indo-Pacific Ocean during the voyage of H.M.S. 'Alert' 1881-2.
London: Printed by order of the Trustees, 1884.

[Source]
Illustration from an 1884 report on zoological collections in the Indo-Pacific by H.M.S. "Alert," showing detailed, labeled pencil sketches of three crab species: Euxanthus tuberculosus (A), Hypoecius punctatus (B), and Banareia inconspicua (C). The drawing highlights the crabs’ carapaces, claws, and leg structures with close-up views of their distinctive textures and anatomical features, such as tubercles and spines. The image reflects 19th-century scientific documentation methods linked to Darwinian natural history and species classification during exploratory voyages.
Reposted by Matt Bracken
adriftalchemist.bsky.social
someone in a kipnuk facebook group screen recorded all the pleas for help in the community due to the disaster flooding

hopefully the alaska national guard will make it out there soon
Reposted by Matt Bracken
drlindseyfitz.bsky.social
Dental Phantom, c.1898. Or, what it feels like to live in 2025.

The dental phantom was first created by the Glaswegian dentist Eduard Oswald Fergus a few years earlier as a tool for students to practice their craft before working on human subjects.
A metal head with a mouth wide open as if it is screaming. Inside are a full set of dentures.
Reposted by Matt Bracken
hetanshah.bsky.social
This is such a clever idea on taking kids to museums/galleries
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Nadia from London has an idea that sounds such fun you'll be booking a day out asap.
"I've always loved museums," she says,
"but they can be overwhelming for children. For decades now, I've done something called 'playing postcards'
We do
the museum backwards, visiting the gift shop first. Each child gets to choose three postcards. Then they take it in turns to find that particular artwork in the museum and give us a little information about the piece from the details on the postcard, or from any gallery plaque. At the end of this treasure-hunt-style activity, we vote for our favourite in the cafe."
Reposted by Matt Bracken
calicougar.bsky.social
Day out at the California Seaweed Festival.
I flateable humpback whale Orrrr mural at the aquarium Covet Pretty ocean soaps
Reposted by Matt Bracken
Reposted by Matt Bracken
alxnelson.bsky.social
Roseate spoonbills will splash their wings through the water as part of their beauty routine. Here's one doing so mid-splash, facing straight ahead towards the camera. I really love this shot. #birds
Reposted by Matt Bracken
elizabethbeston.bsky.social
Tintinnina! These little ciliates have beautiful ‘cups’ called loricae.
#marineplankton 🦑
Reposted by Matt Bracken
godi.bsky.social
🌍💙 Happy International Coccolithophore Day! 💙🌍
Today, Oct 10, we celebrate tiny ocean builders that capture CO₂, shape marine ecosystems & keep our climate in balance.
When Cocco talks, climate walks.
#CoccolithophoreDay #OceanClimate #InvisibleHeroes #OceanGuardians #ClimateWarriors #protistsonsky
Reposted by Matt Bracken
littorina.bsky.social
For #PhycologyFriday we've got a new paper out summarizing 13 years of intensive seaweed surveys on the Central Coast of BC:

cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...