Mary Heskel
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maryheskel.bsky.social
Mary Heskel
@maryheskel.bsky.social

plant ecophysiologist, SLAC professor, studies plants and carbon across scales.

Environmental science 45%
Agriculture 17%
Pinned
Hi all, I'll try to check in more often. Always looking for:

1) paid job/research opportunities to share with undergrads
2) cool ecophys/ecology stuff
3) connections for research & collaboration

I'm also reachable by my professional email, which is on my webpage: maryheskel.com
Plant Ecophysiology @ Macalester College – Studying leaves to landscapes in a changing world
maryheskel.com
Minnesota: "School officials say the [5-year-old] child was used as bait. They say [ICE] agents made little Liam knock on the door to ask to be let in in order to see if anyone else was home."
Just saw on KARE 11 that this boy was sent to a detainment facility in Texas and that his family didn't know his whereabouts for almost 24 hours.
This picture making the rounds on reddit, Columbia Heights. I'm not OK.

Reposted by Mary Heskel

minnesotans are prepping for a massive statewide protest on friday, a day where it will be -10.

that’s how much we hate ICE.

Reposted by Mary Heskel

One week countdown When Trees Testify Science Wisdom History and America's Black Botanical Legacy debut (@henryholtbooks.bsky.social / @macmillanpubusa.bsky.social )

Jan. 20, 2026!

Pre-order your copy today & have it hand in seven days:
us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

I'm excited beyond measure!

This is two blocks from my workplace. Those apartments in the background are off-campus student housing.
They are literally abducting people from their cars.

This is at the same Speedway gas station in St. Paul, MN, where they dragged a man off like a sack of potatoes.

Look at the brutality and violence they are using here.

Reposted by Mary Heskel

They are literally abducting people from their cars.

This is at the same Speedway gas station in St. Paul, MN, where they dragged a man off like a sack of potatoes.

Look at the brutality and violence they are using here.

Reposted by Mary Heskel

ICE has murdered an American citizen in Minneapolis. They're claiming self defense but witnesses say the woman they killed was complying with their orders to get her car out of their way.

www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Live updates: ICE says agent, ‘fearing for his life,’ kills woman in south Minneapolis
ICE officials say the woman was shot and killed Wednesday morning in south Minneapolis after attempting to run over agents with her car. Witnesses dispute ICE’s version of what happened. Mayor Jacob F...
www.mprnews.org
The beautiful idea of NCAR, to improve understanding of our planet through a cooperative, shared and open intellectual team effort, is literally what has got me out of bed every morning for nearly two decades. This cannot, CANNOT be allowed to happen.

eu.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
eu.usatoday.com
Emily Dickinson's herbarium – a forgotten treasure at the intersection of poetry and science www.themarginalian.org/2017/05/23/e...
Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium: A Forgotten Treasure at the Intersection of Science and Poetry
An elegy for time and the mortality of beauty, composed with passionate patience and a sensuous cadence.
www.themarginalian.org

I will see what I can do! I live in Saint Paul...but not sure you need proof of address for a card. This will be a hot commodity!

This is on a federal website. I shared with students so they are aware how dumb and middle-school bully inspired our current leaders are.

The USDA's shutdown messages are increasingly unhinged. I discovered this looking up lecture materials & the banner blamed the "Radical Left Democrats". Today's is much worse.
Other agencies have a simple, uncharged heading.

Reposted by Mary Heskel

An important paper - just out in @natureportfolio.nature.com documenting a decline in net C uptake by Australian rainforests. Eventually the same will occur in other rainforests - a reminder that we need to get to net zero ASAP. @biologyanu.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Aboveground biomass in Australian tropical forests now a net carbon source - Nature
A transition from carbon sink to source for the aboveground woody biomass of moist tropical Australian forests has occurred, driven by increasingly extreme climate anomalies.
www.nature.com

Reposted by Mary Heskel

Looks like Minneapolis hit 90°F today, October 4th — the latest 90-degree day in city history.

Reposted by Mary Heskel

🚨 1 Week Left to Apply! 🚨
The Krieg Lab is hiring a Research Professional in Plant Ecophysiology & Evolution.

📅 Deadline: October 1, 2025
📧 Sending materials (Cover Letter, CV, References) to: kriegc[at]wfu.edu

Great post-bacc opportunity to work with @stotra.bsky.social and do field work in Kenya!
I am recruiting 1-2 postbacs for our NSF-funded Tsavo Simba Research Project, investigating fission-fusion! The position is for recent undergrads who have not yet started grad school. Come be a part of our team and help us track/monitor 🦁🌍🛰️📸🧪 Job ad⬇️

careers-macalester.icims.com/jobs/2221/po...

Reposted by Mary Heskel

I am recruiting 1-2 postbacs for our NSF-funded Tsavo Simba Research Project, investigating fission-fusion! The position is for recent undergrads who have not yet started grad school. Come be a part of our team and help us track/monitor 🦁🌍🛰️📸🧪 Job ad⬇️

careers-macalester.icims.com/jobs/2221/po...
High tree diversity exposed to unprecedented macroclimatic conditions even under minimal an…... by @bjenquist.bsky.social @jcsvenning.bsky.social published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences using @gbif.org mediated data:

#CiteTheDOI: ✅

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2420059122
High tree diversity exposed to unprecedented macroclimatic conditions even under minimal anthropogenic climate change | PNAS
Tree species worldwide face increasing exposure to unprecedented macroclimatic conditions due to anthropogenic climate change, which may trigger bi...
www.pnas.org

If you are interested in visiting my class and sharing a low-stakes 'invited talk', let me know! If you have a student who might be interested, please have them contact me - here or via my academic email ([email protected]).
Thanks!

Hi All!
I'm back from sabbatical and teaching Plant Ecophys again - a class near and dear to my heart! In the past, I've welcomed grad students and post-docs to share their research with students and their stories about how they got into the field.....

Also a statistics position is open at Macalester as well, also linked here. www.macalester.edu/provost/posi...

🧬 🧪 🧬 Tenure-track position in Molecular Genetics at @macalestercollege.bsky.social 🧬 🧪 🧬

Applications due Sept 15!

Please share and feel free to reach out to me via email or DM about working at Macalester/living in MN/etc!

careers.insidehighered.com/job/3365525/...
Biology - Assistant Professor - Molecular Genetics - Saint Paul, Minnesota job with Macalester College | 3365525
The Biology Department at Macalester College invites applications for a full-time tenure-track position at the level of Assistant Professor in the ...
careers.insidehighered.com

Make some into ice cream??

Reposted by Mary Heskel

The PLANTS program (funded by NSF) at @botsocamerica.bsky.social was a cornerstone of the conference each year, bringing together new-to-science scholars with more experienced mentors. It helped provide community, support, and connection to new scientists.

The grant was terminated last week.

Reposted by Mary Heskel

This took a minute but excited to share it now link.springer.com/10.1007/s004... Trees get N by resorbing from foliage & foraging in soil - but are the two coordinated? We tested hypotheses about relationships between resorption & root production for 12 spp in mature forests & 9 spp in a garden.
Assessing carbon and nitrogen economics in temperate forests through the relationship between foliar nutrient resorption and root production - Oecologia
Plants both respond to and influence their immediate soil environment, which can yield divergent predictions regarding plant economics and trait coordination. Tree species with high foliar nitrogen (N...
link.springer.com

I have an advisee who is switching over from econ to environmental science/ecology who is awesome and would be a great summer researcher! He would love to get field experience and is open to all kinds of opportunities. Thanks!
There’s some inaccurate NSF information spreading and causing extra panic. New increments on existing awards are paused. But: to the best of my knowledge, drawdown (reimbursement) on existing increments is not paused. ACMS is still accessible. Could change at any moment, though. Please share.

Reposted by Mary Heskel

How does #hyperspectral leaf reflectance vary with functional traits, site, and evolutionary lineage in #grasses? New paper, part of a special issue "Advancing Spectral Biology to Understand Plant Diversity Across Scales", check it out: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Reposted by Mary Heskel

Would it be possible to sue major fossil fuel companies for the resulting climate damage using climate attribution science? This paper says 'yes'.

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

Reposted by Mary Heskel

Great to work with Bruhn et al. on an article on RQ's (i.e. respiratory CO2 efflux:O2 uptake ratio) in plants. Typically we assume the fluxes to be in balance, but in many cases, they are not, with implications for C modeling.
@pplplantarum.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Importance of the leaf respiratory quotient
Rates of leaf respiratory CO2-release (RCO2) are important for terrestrial biosphere models that estimate carbon exchange between plants and the atmosphere. Hitherto, models of RCO2 have primarily be...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com