Heather E. Gaya | Lightnews

Heather Gaya

@heathergaya.bsky.social

Postdoc at UGA | bayesian stats, NIMBLE, JAGS | but also cat photos. All views my own. She/her pronouns. hhecoanalytics.com

Videos

Environmental science 80%

Geography 20%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · 8d

Whatever is happening with these trend lines is also fun?

A graph from 1966 to 2025 with lots of variation where someone has drawn a trend line that does not appear to match the data

A trend line through some data that does not appear to match the data very well.

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · 8d

There was a beautiful turkey paper that GOT PUBLISHED that was like “we counted the raw number of photos that had turkeys we saw on cameras and used that as a proxy for abundance”

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · 8d

Don’t know how many turkeys you have? That’s fine let’s just multiply the number of males shot by 10 🤷🏼‍♀️

A screenshot of a manuscript, with a highlighted sentence reading “we note that several states continue to calculate total wild turkey population (both sexes) by applying a multiplier of 10 to their spring male harvest”

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · 8d

I want to write a spicy manuscript entitled “Poor Statistical Training in Wildlife Agencies Results in Mismanagement” or something like that and then just discuss all the hundreds of poorly made decisions state agencies make for game species.

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · 10d

“Woah I love snow and cold weather”, I say, living in Georgia.

“Ffffff why are all my pipes frozen”, I swear this morning as the real feel drops to 6F and my Southern house suffers from lack of insulation.

Reposted by Heather E. Gaya

Olivier Gimenez 🦦 @oaggimenez.bsky.social · 10d

📘 New book out soon !

I’m excited to share that 𝐁𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞-𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐨𝐯 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐑 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐄 is being published by Chapman & Hall / CRC Press

Hope it’s useful to students, researchers, and practitioners

#StatisticalEcology #NIMBLE

Book cover for https://oliviergimenez.github.io/banana-book/

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · 15d

About to pay a copay for $966 and wondering why I even bother to have insurance 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ Healthcare in the USA is a scam

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · 21d

“Everything is a back exercise if you do it wrong” - my wife, in regards to injuring her back weightlifting 🙄

Reposted by Aaron Sojourner, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Heather E. Gaya

Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 27d

We do not get out of fascism by saving ourselves and turning our backs on others. We get out through solidarity with everyone—especially the most vulnerable.

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Jan 9

First CWD paper published! We found that #CWD has a dramatic negative effect on deer populations. Check it out here: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

White-tailed deer population declines in a high-prevalence chronic wasting disease region of Arkansas, USA

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal transmissible spongiform encephalopathy affecting cervids worldwide. CWD was first detected in Arkansas in 2015 and as of August 2025 has been detected in 24 c...

journals.plos.org

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Jan 7

The trees are alive, with the sound of stupid Yellow Rumped Warblers that refuse to enter the mist nets 👀

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Jan 6

So then I got cranky and wrote a response. The crux of it being, “Should we be encouraging our students to enthusiastically embrace generative AI given the potentially irreversible damage this technology and infrastructure might cause our planet?”

Fingers crossed I keep my job 😂

Clanker fighter’s email:
Thanks Dean Petty, this is certainly an exciting time to be an academic!

As we move forward through these new and unprecedented times in regard to AI, I wonder if we should also be considering the environmental impact AI has on the world around us - including right here in Athens. As some may know, there is talk of transforming one of UGA's own buildings into a datacenter near downtown.

Should we be encouraging our students - many of them future land managers and natural resource decision makers - to enthusiastically embrace generative AI given the potentially irreversible damage this technology and infrastructure might cause our planet? For instance, the UN report on AI* suggests that "global demand for water resulting from AI may reach 4.2–6.6 billion cubic metres in 2027. Globally, AI-related infrastructure may soon consume six times more water than Denmark, a country of 6 million" - a staggering amount! This statistic seems at odds with our supposed mission (listed right on Warnell's main webpage!) of "safeguarding water and soil resources."

I recognize the University is pushing for AI integration and there is little Warnell can do to resist such a system-wide mandate. However, I hope we will all individually consider how our actions reflect the school's aims and our own personal values as environmental professionals. I don't know the correct answer as we move forward, but I think we all need to think deeply about the message we send to the students we teach and interact with.

I encourage everyone to think critically about what tools are necessary for preparing students for their futures and which tools we can do without.

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Jan 6

UGA is encouraging staff to start using and promoting AI in their classrooms and research and I just… no. I do not like this. I agree AI can help with some tasks - namely image processing, grunt work type things, but this seems dangerous

An email encouraging UGA members to appropriately use AI in work and research

Another email from the Warnell Dean encouraging everyone to add AI into their daily routine (at work)

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Jan 6

Went to check on our friend’s cats yesterday and this one was not pleased to see me. Luckily his only response is to flatten himself and hope it ends soon. I guess he hasn’t forgotten all the times I’ve had to give him meds 😂😂

A great fluffy cat with a white chest looking scared on a cat tree

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Jan 5

Looks dead but unsure from what. Seems like sparrows around here are always getting pox or scabies

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Dec 29

Long run didn’t quite go as planned, but one more chance to get to 20 before the taper. Having a 3 mile uphill at the end of my route was probably the killer here 😅 #marathontraining

A screenshot of a running app showing 17.12 miles in 3 hours, 25 minutes

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Dec 20

Ooof, I’ve found everything after 15 miles my watch starts to question if I’m really up to the task 😂 So rude of Garmin!

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Nov 10

I just want to remind everyone that a really fun, free,!ride-to-work activity is to call your least favorite senator/rep and just waste their office phone time by expounding in length about your thoughts on their job performance. I especially enjoy wasting the time of the office of #mikecollins.

Reposted by Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Philip Nel, David R. Miller , and 4 more Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Philip Nel, David R. Miller, Rachel S. Franklin, Kate Jackson, David Darmofal, Heather E. Gaya

dan sinker @dansinker.com · Nov 10

How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.

Reposted by McKenzie Wark, Heather E. Gaya

Reposted by Steven Heydemann, Jonathan Hopkin, Alan Richardson , and 4 more Steven Heydemann, Jonathan Hopkin, Alan Richardson, Mark Rice, Richard M. Carpiano, Prakash Kashwan, Heather E. Gaya

maura quint @mauraquint.bsky.social · Nov 10

agreeing to make a terrible deal while your main opponent is quite literally being boo'd on live tv by an entire stadium of people is the kind of political instinct you'd normally only find in a 3 week old dead goldfish

Reposted by Heather E. Gaya

🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Zoë Keating @zoekeating.com · Nov 9

A message for the senate democrats

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Nov 6

Love discovering my flight is delayed from a 7:15 boarding to an… 11:30 boarding???? #tsa #fucktrump

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Oct 31

Isn’t it something with turning it into a character?

Reposted by Connor Morozumi, Heather E. Gaya

Endless Screaming @infinitescream.bsky.social · Oct 29

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Reposted by Lesley Bartlett, Dana R. Fisher, Ann Bartow , and 1 more Lesley Bartlett, Dana R. Fisher, Ann Bartow, Heather E. Gaya

Ezra Levin ❌👑 @ezralevin.bsky.social · Oct 28

Spotify is now running ICE recruitment ads. We asked them to stop. They ignored us. Let's show them what we showed Disney. No Kings, No Collaborators, No Capitulators. indivisible.org/cancel-spotify

Don’t Stream Fascism: Cancel Spotify

indivisible.org

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Oct 27

Took the puppy on her first camping trip. 10/10 fall colors and 10/10 for exhausting the pup! She like swimming and hiking, did not enjoy having to share the tent with moms

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Oct 19

One of us devoted a lot more time and skill to our sign but it was a great protest regardless. #noking #Georgia

Two protest signs reading, “no to fascism” and “the only orange monarch we want is a butterfly”

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Oct 12

Ran a half marathon, ended up with a kitten 😅 Luckily I had also randomly trapped a cat on Friday and we knew some folks looking for a pair. The cat distribution system at its best! Two fewer cats to eat the birds and create even MORE kittens.

Tiny kitten screaming in a lady’s lap while she drives

Heather Gaya @heathergaya.bsky.social · Oct 9

Also good code doesn’t necessarily mean good science - and only if you know what the code is doing can you catch violations or little assumptions.

It’s also frustrating to watch students use ChatGPT and then have no idea how to tweak the code themselves for small changes 😅

Add to Home Screen

Light up
your news

Add to Home Screen

Light upyour news

Sign in to Lightnews

Sign up to start reading

Connect Bluesky

Connect with Bluesky

Light up
your news