Athma
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athmanathan.bsky.social
Athma
@athmanathan.bsky.social
Theoretical ecologist, armchair philosopher
athma25.github.io
Reposted by Athma
Have thoughts for a special symposium at the Virtual Evolution meeting (May 20-22, 2026)? The @asn-amnat.bsky.social is looking for proposals! Click here to pitch your idea or find out more: www.amnat.org/announcement... #Evol2026
Call for Symposium Proposals for Evolution 2026
<p><strong>Due January 15, 2026:</strong> The ASN invites proposals for a special symposium at Evolution 2026! Have an idea? We want to hear it!</p><br/>
www.amnat.org
November 14, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Athma
Are you a recent grad interested in global change?
Check out the ROADS program at UTEP: www.utep.edu/science/ramp/
I will be co-advising a student with Dr. Liz LaRue.
The project will combine a water competition experiment and remote sensing at Jornada Experimental Range.
Reach out with questions!
RaMP
www.utep.edu
October 29, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Athma
Ecology faces an accumulation of models but not an accumulation of confidence. Our new paper w/ Jonathan Levine www.nature.com/articles/s41... in @natecoevo.nature.com introduces a rigorous test rooted in queueing theory to falsify inadequate models and build confidence in useful ones.
Rigorous validation of ecological models against empirical time series - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Validating theoretical models against empirical data presents challenges. Here the authors present an assumption-light method to validate ecological models against time series data, along with a dedic...
www.nature.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Athma
Interested in theory and looking for a postdoc or grad school? Come talk to me at #ESA2025!
resiliencelab.github.io/join/
Join Us
resiliencelab.github.io
August 11, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Is there another way? Progress happens with theory, maybe not always with mathematical theory, but some theory.

Nut cracking is good and all, but don't we want the rising sea kind of solution?
What do you think?
How can we make progress in the environmental sciences (or other fields) by generally improving theory?

Will this work in a way similar to mathematics?
This week’s newsletter is about ways of making progress in science, inspired from a metaphor in mathematics, ‘the rising sea’.

Curious to hear what you think, please share! :)

open.substack.com/pub/matthias...
July 26, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Reposted by Athma
We find stable coexistence of Rüger's tropical tree demographic strategies (slow, fast, short-lived breeders, and long-lived pioneers) in a model with just competition for light and stochastic small-scale disturbances.

Great work, Damla Cinoğlu!
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Small disturbances and subsequent competition for light can maintain a diversity of demographic strategies in a neotropical forest: Results from model–data integration
You have to enable JavaScript in your browser's settings in order to use the eReader.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
July 22, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Athma
i made a new framework for modelling stochastic eco-evolutionary dynamics of multivariate traits !!

doi.org/10.1101/2025...
doi.org
June 12, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Reposted by Athma
Our article on the challenges and opportunities in studying host-microbe symbioses is now published in Cell Host & Microbe! @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Theory of host-microbe symbioses: Challenges and opportunities
Growing insight into microbial symbioses highlights the need to model these systems mathematically. We discuss three areas requiring theoretical advan…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Athma
Against reductionism: "Our understanding of the world is built up of innumerable layers. Each is worth exploring, as long as we do not forget that it is one of many. Knowing all there is to know about one layer (...) would not teach us much about the rest". Erwin Chargaff
June 8, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Reposted by Athma
I urge you to read this. The doubt, success, growth process hits home for countless academic trainees. I was on the mentor side of Maria's journey; She has the heart to put the journey on the table.

Below are a few quotes that I believe stand out 🧵:

www.science.org/content/arti...
How I finally found my confidence as a scientist
After three postdoc positions, this researcher now sees her skills and knowledge as valuable
www.science.org
April 12, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Athma
So emotional seeing my first-ever teaching evaluations! 😭 Creating all the materials from scratch was tough, but incredibly rewarding.

I put a lot of thought into what students need in the AI era—sharing the complete class materials here in case they're helpful: clsong.github.io/EEB_C234/01_...
March 25, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Reposted by Athma
Just out:
A geometric approach to beta diversity

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Led by the brilliant
@clsong.bsky.social & Muyang Lu.
March 19, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Athma
Feb 28 deadline for junior folk to apply for travel to the annual @smtpb.bsky.social meeting on Mathematical & Theoretical Population Biology in Chicago. For those paying their own travel & accommodation (no registration!) it is March 14. Apply here: www.nitmb.org/modeling-and... @nitmb.bsky.social
Modeling and Theory in Population Biology | NITMB
www.nitmb.org
February 25, 2025 at 9:02 PM