Haldane Prize 2025 | Lifeng Wang: Soil fauna trophic multifunctionality mediates the release of elements from decomposing typhoon-generated leaf litter 2024 HALDANE PRIZE SHORTLIST: Lifeng Wang discusses the paper “Soil fauna trophic multifunctionality mediates the release of elements from decomposing typhoon-generated leaf litter”, wh…

⭐️Shortlisted for the 2025 Haldane Prize!⭐️

Lifeng Wang investigated how typhoon-generated green litter alters multi-element release during decomposition🌀

buff.ly/Gej47XJ

🧪🌍️

This is figure 3, which shows forest plot and regional changes in richness.

A study in Nature Ecology & Evolution shows the long-term changes in tree species diversity across tropical forests in the Andes and Amazon. go.nature.com/45FPc1M 🌍 🧪

All Reforestation Methods Can Support Tropical Tree Diversity Recovery, but Drivers and Species Composition Vary

🔗 buff.ly/VB4ptsy

🪪📐Species identity and spatial scale drive context‑dependent tree diversity effects in a Finnish forest experiment

vist.ly/4sut5

#DBH #NeedleTraits #NorwaySpruce #ScotsPine #SpeciesDiversity #TreeDivNet

Climate change drives uneven shifts in tree diversity across Amazon and Andes The tropical forests of the Amazon and Andes are some of the most biodiverse places on the planet, but across both regions, changes in climate and landscape conditions are driving a shift in the…

Over four decades, tree richness across the Andes and Amazon has shifted unevenly. Some regions are losing species while others, like the northern Andes, are gaining.

Researchers say precipitation and forest fragmentation drive the trend, and limiting deforestation could help protect diversity.

Many heat-stressed tropical insects are reaching their limits Vast study in Peru and Kenya confirms limited defenses against rising temperatures, redoubling climate concerns

Insects living in the lowland tropics have evolved to deal with brutal heat. But many of them are close to their limit, according to a massive study that assessed the heat tolerance of hundreds of species. https://scim.ag/406Y5yh

‪A few more memories from #ECTE2026 in Passau! 🌍🌿
We had a great time connecting with the tropical ecology community. It was great to see so many early-career researchers presenting their work! Many thanks to the organizers of the fantastic conference!

📸© Ina Voshage
@soctropecol.bsky.social

Big effort, exciting results - our paper on the constraints of thermal limits in tropical insects is now out in @nature.com! 🦋🐝🪰🪲🦗
@ecoresearchzoo3.bsky.social
@biologie-uniwue.bsky.social
@uni-wuerzburg.de

Mineral nitrogen form preference, partitioning and root morphological traits of Douglas fir and European beech under intra—and interspecific competition in-situ - European Journal of Forest Research Climate change challenges forestry in temperate regions, with drought and insect infestations affecting major tree species. Introducing drought-tolerant non-native species into managed forests is a wi...

New nutrients&roots paper out! 🌳🌲🧪

Douglas fir and beech saplings partition ammonium vs. nitrate under competition, enabling complementary N use and their coexistence in mixed stands.
@mrakklara.bsky.social @bmwildermuth.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#forestecol

Eieiei 🔥

Our time to shine 🌻 #ECTE2026

@soctropecol.bsky.social

Excited to present my research at #ECTE2026. If you're interested in how biodiversity-ecosystem functioning #BEF relationships can change over the course of a decade, come to HS5 at 14:30 on Thursday! 🌿🐝🕙

@soctropecol.bsky.social
@unipassauresearch.bsky.social
@uni-freiburg.de
@dfg.de

Very interesting keynote this morning on Earth Observation of biodiversity and carbon by Viola Heinrich at #ECTE2026. Quite tricky to link field records and earth observations 🤝

Looking forward to showcase some of my work and to meet like-minded ecologists from all over 🌿🐝🐜

Next week the annual meeting of the Society of Tropcical Ecology @soctropecol.bsky.social takes place at @unipassauresearch.bsky.social 😀 We are there with 6 exciting talks/posters. Today mock talks took place at @uni-freiburg.de Please join us for feedback next week 🙏

GBE | A Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly and Resequencing Data Reveal Low DNA Methylation and Reduced Diversity in the Solitary Bee Pollinator Osmia cornuta

Möllmann, @eckartstolle.bsky.social et al. report the first genome assembly for the European orchard bee and investigate its epigenomic architecture to find evidence for the limited role of methylation in gene regulation in Hymenopterans.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf224

#genome #evolution

Foto of an ancient beech tree, logos of Uni Freiburg and Biodiversity Exploratories, and short announcement text: "PhD position in Forest Genetics entitled "Genetic diversity of tree and shrub species in the Biodiversity Exploratories" 3 years (starting in April/May 2026), Apply now!"

🌳 PhD Position in Forest Genetics
@uni-freiburg.de
Join the BeGenDiv project to study genetic diversity of ~30 tree & shrub species across Germany’s Biodiversity Exploratories.
🧬 Fieldwork, lab work, bioinformatics & interdisciplinary collaboration
More info: uni-freiburg.de/stellenangeb...

Forest biodiversity experiments test how tree species richness improves the productivity & functioning of forests. After 30 years, there are now 45 experiments worldwide!

A new synthesis on 30 years of research:
Liu et al. 2026: doi.org/10.1038/s443...
#TreeDivNet #BEF-China #MultiTroph

MultiTroph: Multi-trophic interactions in a forest biodiversity experiment in China Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) research has shown that ecosystem functioning and stability are closely linked to biodiversity. A cornerstone of this field is the BEF-China research platform,...

Three years ago, we began a Sino-German journey to understand how tree diversity influences the diversity and interactions of higher trophic organisms in subtropical China. Our ideas and concepts are now published in a new article!

doi.org/10.3897/rio....
#multitroph #BEF-China #biodiversity

Increasing plant diversity in agricultural grasslands boosts yields, reducing reliance on fertilizer Higher plant diversity in agricultural grasslands increases yields with lower inputs of nitrogen fertilizer. That is the headline finding of a landmark, international study led by Trinity College Dubl...

💪 Increasing plant diversity in agricultural grasslands boosts yields, reducing reliance on fertilizer

phys.org/news/2025-12...

#agriculture #plants #diversity #food #farming #grasslands #resources #environment #goodnews

New Article: "Decadal-scale observations are key to detecting the stabilizing effects of plant diversity in natural ecosystems" rdcu.be/eYixI

Phylogenetic diversity is the key driver of long-term stability, whereas plant height shapes short-term productivity dynamics.

Happy to see this @econovoau.bsky.social paper out in the new issue of Journal of Animal Ecology - higher herbivore activity is linked to greater herb diversity & plant functional redundancy besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
#ECONOVO #Biodiversity #savanna #SouthAfrica #Rewilding

🐝 New research finds the mechanism by which tree species richness influences bee diversity—taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional—through alterations in the microenvironmental conditions in the understory.

📖 Read the full paper here ➡️ buff.ly/cHvVYER

The last chapter from PhD thesis by Juri Felix (co-supervised with @philstevenson.bsky.social) is now out in @oikosjournal.bsky.social! The study explores the effects of tree species identity and spatial scale on tree diversity effects #TreeDivNet nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🌳Interested in doing a PhD within the Excellence Cluster Future Forests @uni-freiburg.de?🌲

We are hiring a doctoral researcher for the project "Stand Density Management for #Forest Adaptation to #Drought“

Application link: uni-freiburg.de/en/job/00004...

Website: uni-freiburg.de/futureforest...

Above‐ and below‐ground trait coordination across 90 angiosperm and gymnosperm tree species in a common garden experiment This research highlights the significance of elucidating the mechanisms behind above-and below-ground organs. The varying trait coordination across clades indicates different resource acquisition str...

Just before the Xmas break🎉

In @journalofecology.bsky.social and led by Anvar Sanaei, we provide insight into #trait coordination across 90 common and future European #tree species👇

doi.org/10.1111/1365...

@agwirthweigelt.bsky.social @unileipzig.bsky.social @uni-freiburg.de

A recovering patch of rainforest in Ecuadorian Chocó, picture by Eike Lena Neuschulz

Seed dispersal by 🦜🦇 underpins rainforest recovery. We want to understand more about its timing + traits driving recovery through obs, exp + genomic data. Ready to join the @reassemblynet.bsky.social team working in Ecuadorian Chocó? Pls apply to our 4-yr PhD position @sgn.one: tinyurl.com/2pkryc99

New study on arthropod declines @natecoevo.nature.com 🪲

In two time series @jena-experiment.bsky.social & @bexplo.bsky.social we show how community (dis)assembly underpins local biomass declines.

It mostly boils down to species loss, with identity losing relevance.

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

What is the effect of increasing disturbances in C European forests on insect diversity, and how does salvage logging modulate it? We found an overall positive response for both cleared and uncleared sites, with a stronger signal for taxonomic vs phylogenetic diversity doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

#Agriculture 💘 wild #pollinators = The perfect match!

Last week we brought farmers, advisors, researchers, and land managers together to share the results from the #EUproject @restpoll.bsky.social #LivingLabs across Catalonia.