Tootfinder

Bellflower, genus Campanula, along the trail to Snow Lake this summer
#naturalist #wildflower

A watchful Wilson's warbler, Cardellina pusilla, along the trails in Discovery Park last month
#naturalist #wildlife #bird

When correcting for regression to the mean is worse than no correction at all
Jos\'e F. Fontanari, Mauro Santos
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.04718 https://

When correcting for regression to the mean is worse than no correction at all
The ubiquitous regression to the mean (RTM) effect complicates statistical inference in biological studies of change. We demonstrate that common RTM correction methods are flawed: the Berry et al. method popularized by Kelly & Price in The American Naturalist is unreliable for hypothesis testing, leading to both false positives and negatives, while the theoretically unbiased Blomqvist method has poor efficiency in limited sample sizes. Our findings show that the most robust approach to handling…

A cool thing about the Seattle Frontrunners group runs is that this barred owl (Strix varia) is not even the first owl I've seen this close on a run. (This one was along the ravine trail in Ravenna Park this morning.)
#naturalist #wildlife

A quote from Darwin on this:
"Nor shall I here discuss the various definitions which have been given of the term species. No one definition has as yet satisfied all naturalists; yet every naturalist know vaguely what he means when he speaks of a species".
So that's 'you know it when you see it', or at least the group of naturalists does. So that's part of the definition of 'naturalist'? That you can know species when you see them?
Didn’t stop Darwin from writing a book about species.

I love a good borage: Forget-me-nots, Myosotis scorpiodes, outside Acadia National Park back in June
#naturalist #photography #wildflower

Evolution du Principe d'Exclusion Comp\'etitive : Le r\^ole des math\'ematiques
Claude Lobry
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.03158 https://arxiv.org…

Evolution du Principe d'Exclusion Compétitive : Le rôle des mathématiques
Everyone can see that over the last 150 years, theoretical ecology has become considerably more mathematical. But what is the nature of this phenomenon? Are mathematics applied, as in the use of statistical tests, for example, or are they involved, as in physics, where laws cannot be expressed without them? Through the history of the {\em Competitive Exclusion Principle} formulated at the very beginning of the 20th century by the naturalist Grinnell concerning the distribution of brown-backed c…

An American dipper, Cinclus mexicanus, living up to its name at Snow Lake earlier this week. These guys are aquatic songbirds, basically thrushes who saw what ducks do and decided it looked fun
#naturalist #wildlife #bird

This collared pika, Ochotona collaris, popped up on a boulder by the path to the Snow Lake overlook and sure seemed like it had something to say
#naturalist #wildlife #photography

Two national parks, two American robins (Turdus migratorius): in Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park; and at the summit of Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park
#naturalist #wildlife #photography