About

"What being a naturalist has come to mean to me,
sitting my mornings and evenings by the river, 
hearing the clack of herons
through the creak of swallows
over the screams of osprey
under the purl of fox sparrows,
so far removed from White and Darwin and Leopold and even Carson, is this:
Pay attention to the mystery."
—Barry Lopez, "The Naturalist"


About the blog

Welcome to Natural Selections. This place is primarily a blog. Since 2013, I've been gathering stories of nature and people, microbes and megafauna, health and disease, oceans, farms, forests, and so much more. I share those stories here.

Natural Selections is also a home for my sketch-noting, photography, journalism and ecological research. If you're interested in commissioning a sketch-note (for science communication!) or purchasing 5 x 7-inch wildlife photography cards for $3 each (envelopes included!) please send me an e-mail.

About the author

I'm Nina, a graduate of Whitman College with a BA in biology-environmental studies. Udall, Goldwater, Hollings, Watson, Marshall Scholar. I play ultimate frisbee and listen to the herons clack as often as possible.

For the past two years, I investigated the Anthropocene Epoch from the perspective of microbes in Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Canadian Arctic. I’ve been working as journalist intern for Mongabay and writing grants with Health In Harmony.

Now I’m studying for a Master of Science in One Health — where public health intersects with veterinary medicine and ecosystem functioning. It's a joint program of two schools, which adds up to a real mouthful: the Royal Veterinary College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. My goal is to design and implement ecological solutions to human health problems.

The author Brook Williams said, "The only stories worth telling are ones that will help us figure out how to flourish in the future." I'm gathering multi-species stories to understand how humans, wildlife, and pathogens can collaborate in our survival.

As you take a look around Natural Selections, feel welcome to poke through the archives and leave a comment. I hope a mystery or two will catch your attention, if only for a moment.

Say hi at ninafinley176 (at) gmail (dot) com.