Elena Litchman
@elenalitchman.bsky.social
Microbial community ecologist, professor at Michigan State University | Traits, temperature, biodiversity, resilience, microbiomes, harmful algal blooms
https://www.kl-lab.group
📷: Lake Michigan
https://www.kl-lab.group
📷: Lake Michigan
Pinned
Elena Litchman
@elenalitchman.bsky.social
· Feb 25
Climate change effects on the human gut microbiome: complex mechanisms and global inequities
Ongoing global climate change is affecting all aspects of life on Earth, including
human health. The gut microbiota is an important determinant of health in humans and
other organisms, but how climate...
www.thelancet.com
How will climate change affect human gut microbiomes? In a new @thelancetplanet.bsky.social paper, I analyze the main mechanisms — changes in food availability & nutritional quality, environmental microbiomes, enteric pathogens, increased host stress — and their interactions.
tinyurl.com/27kny9z9
tinyurl.com/27kny9z9
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Seasonal flu kills about 700,000 people each year across the world—
(This Data Insight was written by @eortizospina.bsky.social.)
Seasonal influenza is sometimes seen as a mild illness, but it remains a major cause of death.
(This Data Insight was written by @eortizospina.bsky.social.)
Seasonal influenza is sometimes seen as a mild illness, but it remains a major cause of death.
November 25, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Seasonal flu kills about 700,000 people each year across the world—
(This Data Insight was written by @eortizospina.bsky.social.)
Seasonal influenza is sometimes seen as a mild illness, but it remains a major cause of death.
(This Data Insight was written by @eortizospina.bsky.social.)
Seasonal influenza is sometimes seen as a mild illness, but it remains a major cause of death.
Reposted by Elena Litchman
📅Our speaker next week is Ágnes Móréh (HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, Hungary) presenting:
⭐Simultaneous invasion by two species: consequences for their success and for the resident community⭐
Zoom Link: iite.info/seminar/
Global times: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/f...
See you there!
⭐Simultaneous invasion by two species: consequences for their success and for the resident community⭐
Zoom Link: iite.info/seminar/
Global times: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/f...
See you there!
November 25, 2025 at 11:45 AM
📅Our speaker next week is Ágnes Móréh (HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, Hungary) presenting:
⭐Simultaneous invasion by two species: consequences for their success and for the resident community⭐
Zoom Link: iite.info/seminar/
Global times: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/f...
See you there!
⭐Simultaneous invasion by two species: consequences for their success and for the resident community⭐
Zoom Link: iite.info/seminar/
Global times: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/f...
See you there!
Reposted by Elena Litchman
New #ISEPpapers! Pangenome biology and evolution in harmful algal-bloom-forming pelagophytes www.cell.com/current-biol... #protists #algae #microbes #pangenome #genomics #evolution
November 25, 2025 at 11:56 AM
New #ISEPpapers! Pangenome biology and evolution in harmful algal-bloom-forming pelagophytes www.cell.com/current-biol... #protists #algae #microbes #pangenome #genomics #evolution
Reposted by Elena Litchman
It was great to talk to @kitopie.bsky.social, @davidwengrow.bsky.social and @ldietrich.bsky.social about this work.
Original paper available here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Original paper available here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
State formation across cultures and the role of grain, intensive agriculture, taxation and writing - Nature Human Behaviour
Opie and Atkinson conduct a global phylogenetic analysis of 868 cultures and find evidence indicating that cereal grain cultivation, not agricultural surplus, drove state formation. Their findings als...
www.nature.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:59 AM
It was great to talk to @kitopie.bsky.social, @davidwengrow.bsky.social and @ldietrich.bsky.social about this work.
Original paper available here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Original paper available here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Policy to Power the Microbes of the Future.
Mining the “Microbial Dark Matter” Using Artificial Intelligence: Where We Are and How to Proceed?
Long-Term Dynamics of Environmental Microbiomes.
Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Phages and Their Roles in Horizontal Gene Transfer.
Mining the “Microbial Dark Matter” Using Artificial Intelligence: Where We Are and How to Proceed?
Long-Term Dynamics of Environmental Microbiomes.
Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Phages and Their Roles in Horizontal Gene Transfer.
November 25, 2025 at 3:36 AM
Policy to Power the Microbes of the Future.
Mining the “Microbial Dark Matter” Using Artificial Intelligence: Where We Are and How to Proceed?
Long-Term Dynamics of Environmental Microbiomes.
Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Phages and Their Roles in Horizontal Gene Transfer.
Mining the “Microbial Dark Matter” Using Artificial Intelligence: Where We Are and How to Proceed?
Long-Term Dynamics of Environmental Microbiomes.
Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Phages and Their Roles in Horizontal Gene Transfer.
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Of the 8000 plant species introduced to cities around the world, about 300 are in cities on every continent and about 90 are basically in every city. Urbanization has selected for a common set of species that are the fingerprint of our activity: The urban florome.
onlinelibrary.wiley....
onlinelibrary.wiley....
November 24, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Of the 8000 plant species introduced to cities around the world, about 300 are in cities on every continent and about 90 are basically in every city. Urbanization has selected for a common set of species that are the fingerprint of our activity: The urban florome.
onlinelibrary.wiley....
onlinelibrary.wiley....
Reposted by Elena Litchman
🚨 Job alert 🚨 Postdoc position in ecological forecasting 📈 as part of the Horizon Europe OSCARS call. The postdoc will be based in lovely Sevilla (fantastic place to live) and will include working closely with several European forecasting projects. Apply by Dec 11! 🌎🧪 globalchangeeco.com/jobs
November 24, 2025 at 9:38 AM
🚨 Job alert 🚨 Postdoc position in ecological forecasting 📈 as part of the Horizon Europe OSCARS call. The postdoc will be based in lovely Sevilla (fantastic place to live) and will include working closely with several European forecasting projects. Apply by Dec 11! 🌎🧪 globalchangeeco.com/jobs
Reposted by Elena Litchman
DOGE was created for data theft and infrastructure dismantling and it wildly succeeded on both counts within the first few weeks of its existence. It will take a generation to rebuild what it destroyed and the breach of data is unprecedented.
Bye bye, “DOGE”.
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
November 23, 2025 at 3:01 PM
DOGE was created for data theft and infrastructure dismantling and it wildly succeeded on both counts within the first few weeks of its existence. It will take a generation to rebuild what it destroyed and the breach of data is unprecedented.
Reposted by Elena Litchman
15-year-old bug 😐 in an industry that has the highest profit margins possible pretty much
www.theguardian.com/science/2017...
www.theguardian.com/science/2017...
November 23, 2025 at 3:45 PM
15-year-old bug 😐 in an industry that has the highest profit margins possible pretty much
www.theguardian.com/science/2017...
www.theguardian.com/science/2017...
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Check out the paper explaining what this is about, and also the database itself!
Time to publish responsibly: DAFNEE, a database of academia-friendly journals in ecology and evolutionary biology url:
academic.oup.com/jeb/article/...
academic.oup.com/jeb/article/...
November 22, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Check out the paper explaining what this is about, and also the database itself!
Reposted by Elena Litchman
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
Make America Cancerous Again?
This is bonkers. Why? Why? Why would they do this? (Eg who is paying them)
Make America Cancerous Again?
This is bonkers. Why? Why? Why would they do this? (Eg who is paying them)
EPA just approved new ‘forever chemical’ pesticides for use on food
Critics warn the EPA’s approvals of new PFAS pesticides could expose more Americans to “forever chemicals” through their food.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:34 PM
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
Make America Cancerous Again?
This is bonkers. Why? Why? Why would they do this? (Eg who is paying them)
Make America Cancerous Again?
This is bonkers. Why? Why? Why would they do this? (Eg who is paying them)
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Hoping to attend the #ASLO-SIL Meeting in Montreal next year but not sure if you can make it in-person? Check out the #ASLOECC hosted #AmplifyingVoices session and consider submitting!! @aslo.org
November 20, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Hoping to attend the #ASLO-SIL Meeting in Montreal next year but not sure if you can make it in-person? Check out the #ASLOECC hosted #AmplifyingVoices session and consider submitting!! @aslo.org
Reposted by Elena Litchman
🧪🌊🦠Cyano-lovers🦠🌊🧪, consider our session on Cyanobacteria adaptations and expansion across different habitats and conditions #ASLOSIL26 @aslo.org
November 20, 2025 at 3:06 PM
🧪🌊🦠Cyano-lovers🦠🌊🧪, consider our session on Cyanobacteria adaptations and expansion across different habitats and conditions #ASLOSIL26 @aslo.org
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Study after study shows that using LLMs is bad for cognition, bad for learning, bad for understanding, bad for mental health. So why are our schools and universities still relentlessly pushing them?
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Study after study shows that using LLMs is bad for cognition, bad for learning, bad for understanding, bad for mental health. So why are our schools and universities still relentlessly pushing them?
Reposted by Elena Litchman
It’s awful. I’ve finally decided I need to demo how bad it is. In my intro lecture, I have several in class activities where I show the students chat GPT output and have them identify what’s wrong.
This attempt at the carbon cycle was in this week’s classes.
This attempt at the carbon cycle was in this week’s classes.
November 21, 2025 at 1:16 PM
It’s awful. I’ve finally decided I need to demo how bad it is. In my intro lecture, I have several in class activities where I show the students chat GPT output and have them identify what’s wrong.
This attempt at the carbon cycle was in this week’s classes.
This attempt at the carbon cycle was in this week’s classes.
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Finding research funding can be tough—AGU made easier.
AGU Grant Finder, a powerful resource that suggests funding options based on your research profile or lets you search by keyword/funder, exclusively for AGU Members. Join today: agu.org/membership
👉 buff.ly/nISSCx0
AGU Grant Finder, a powerful resource that suggests funding options based on your research profile or lets you search by keyword/funder, exclusively for AGU Members. Join today: agu.org/membership
👉 buff.ly/nISSCx0
November 21, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Finding research funding can be tough—AGU made easier.
AGU Grant Finder, a powerful resource that suggests funding options based on your research profile or lets you search by keyword/funder, exclusively for AGU Members. Join today: agu.org/membership
👉 buff.ly/nISSCx0
AGU Grant Finder, a powerful resource that suggests funding options based on your research profile or lets you search by keyword/funder, exclusively for AGU Members. Join today: agu.org/membership
👉 buff.ly/nISSCx0
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Our second 🍱 Lunchbox Models 🍱 seminar takes place next Wednesday (26 November), at 12 CET with guest speaker Vasilis Dakos from CNRS & Uni Montpellier!
Find the talk abstract and zoom link here: www.yomos.org/lunchbox-mod...
See you at lunch! 🦊
#ecology #seminar #online #lunch #modelling #fish
Find the talk abstract and zoom link here: www.yomos.org/lunchbox-mod...
See you at lunch! 🦊
#ecology #seminar #online #lunch #modelling #fish
November 21, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Our second 🍱 Lunchbox Models 🍱 seminar takes place next Wednesday (26 November), at 12 CET with guest speaker Vasilis Dakos from CNRS & Uni Montpellier!
Find the talk abstract and zoom link here: www.yomos.org/lunchbox-mod...
See you at lunch! 🦊
#ecology #seminar #online #lunch #modelling #fish
Find the talk abstract and zoom link here: www.yomos.org/lunchbox-mod...
See you at lunch! 🦊
#ecology #seminar #online #lunch #modelling #fish
Reposted by Elena Litchman
I am currently searching for a new postdoctoral researcher to study the evolution, genetics, and physiology of cold acclimation and freezing tolerance in switchgrass at Michigan State University. This work will be funded by a newly funded five-year DOE grant. careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...
Research Associate-Fixed Term - East Lansing, Michigan, United States
Position Summary
The Lowry Lab at Michigan State University is searching for a postdoctoral research associate to conduct molecular and physiological experiments to understand the causes of genetic va...
careers.msu.edu
November 20, 2025 at 2:50 PM
I am currently searching for a new postdoctoral researcher to study the evolution, genetics, and physiology of cold acclimation and freezing tolerance in switchgrass at Michigan State University. This work will be funded by a newly funded five-year DOE grant. careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Warm‐Loving Species Perform Well Under Limiting Resources: Trait Combinations for Future Climate
🔗
🔗
buff.ly
November 20, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Warm‐Loving Species Perform Well Under Limiting Resources: Trait Combinations for Future Climate
🔗
🔗
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Hi people. Today in "one day, one paper", thermal tolerance breadth in plants exceeds local climate ranges, shaped mainly by heat, cold, and aridity. Desert species show extreme resilience, revealing partial support for climate variability hypothesis and highlighting microclimate-driven plasticity🌎🍁
Drivers of thermal tolerance breadth of plants across contrasting biomes
The results provide partial support for the climate variability hypothesis in plants: photosystem thermal tolerance breadth was greatest in more thermally variable biomes. This relationship was large....
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Hi people. Today in "one day, one paper", thermal tolerance breadth in plants exceeds local climate ranges, shaped mainly by heat, cold, and aridity. Desert species show extreme resilience, revealing partial support for climate variability hypothesis and highlighting microclimate-driven plasticity🌎🍁
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Taking place right now...
... including frank discussion of an unprecedented anti-science push from political appointees, DOGE's use of algorithm-enabled firing that undermined mission readiness, concerns on data safety, removal of ACIP members, and mass shooting attack on Decatur HQ.
... including frank discussion of an unprecedented anti-science push from political appointees, DOGE's use of algorithm-enabled firing that undermined mission readiness, concerns on data safety, removal of ACIP members, and mass shooting attack on Decatur HQ.
Data gaps + agency shake‑ups = big challenges for health journalists. Hear insider views from former CDC leaders in our upcoming webinar “Trust, public health reporting and the CDC: Insider perspectives.” TODAY, 1pm EST— don’t miss it. healthjournalism.org/event/trust-...
Trust, public health reporting and the CDC: Insider perspectives
In this webinar, we'll talk with former CDC officials on where to go for reliable reporting resources after the dismantling of the agency.
healthjournalism.org
November 19, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Taking place right now...
... including frank discussion of an unprecedented anti-science push from political appointees, DOGE's use of algorithm-enabled firing that undermined mission readiness, concerns on data safety, removal of ACIP members, and mass shooting attack on Decatur HQ.
... including frank discussion of an unprecedented anti-science push from political appointees, DOGE's use of algorithm-enabled firing that undermined mission readiness, concerns on data safety, removal of ACIP members, and mass shooting attack on Decatur HQ.
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Science People: We at NSF are still recovering/catching up/getting our lives together. But the agency posted these FAQs about post-shutdown resumption of operations which might answer a lot of Qs for you: www.nsf.gov/resumption-o...
Resumption of Operations at NSF
Information for NSF staff and the research community regarding the agency's resumption of operations after a lapse in appropriations.
www.nsf.gov
November 18, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Science People: We at NSF are still recovering/catching up/getting our lives together. But the agency posted these FAQs about post-shutdown resumption of operations which might answer a lot of Qs for you: www.nsf.gov/resumption-o...
Reposted by Elena Litchman
A 🆕 Contribution in the ESA Bulletin: Thinking about grad school? Here are 15 questions that can help you find the right lab fit — and avoid surprises along the way
📄Fifteen Questions to Ask Before Attending Graduate School
doi.org/10.1002/bes2...
📄Fifteen Questions to Ask Before Attending Graduate School
doi.org/10.1002/bes2...
Fifteen Questions to Ask Before Attending Graduate School
Click on the article title to read more.
doi.org
November 17, 2025 at 9:49 PM
A 🆕 Contribution in the ESA Bulletin: Thinking about grad school? Here are 15 questions that can help you find the right lab fit — and avoid surprises along the way
📄Fifteen Questions to Ask Before Attending Graduate School
doi.org/10.1002/bes2...
📄Fifteen Questions to Ask Before Attending Graduate School
doi.org/10.1002/bes2...
Reposted by Elena Litchman
In a win for polluters, the Trump regime proposed a rule to limit the EPA’s authority to regulate pollution in wetlands and waterways. This would strip federal protections from 55 million acres of wetlands (85% of all wetlands nationwide!), threatening lots of people's drinking water.
E.P.A. Rule Would Drastically Curb Protections for Wetlands
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:29 PM
In a win for polluters, the Trump regime proposed a rule to limit the EPA’s authority to regulate pollution in wetlands and waterways. This would strip federal protections from 55 million acres of wetlands (85% of all wetlands nationwide!), threatening lots of people's drinking water.
Reposted by Elena Litchman
Sally Otto @sarperotto.bsky.social
and I are back with the next installment of “Reflections on the history of modeling and theory”, supported by @smtpb.bsky.social. Bob Holt shares his personal history and stories of his life in science: www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hX...
and I are back with the next installment of “Reflections on the history of modeling and theory”, supported by @smtpb.bsky.social. Bob Holt shares his personal history and stories of his life in science: www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hX...
Robert D. Holt interview
YouTube video by SMTPB
www.youtube.com
May 27, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Sally Otto @sarperotto.bsky.social
and I are back with the next installment of “Reflections on the history of modeling and theory”, supported by @smtpb.bsky.social. Bob Holt shares his personal history and stories of his life in science: www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hX...
and I are back with the next installment of “Reflections on the history of modeling and theory”, supported by @smtpb.bsky.social. Bob Holt shares his personal history and stories of his life in science: www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hX...