Meet Dolomedes aquaticus—a fascinating fishing spider.

They live on the banks of gravel-bed rivers in NZ & feed on aquatic insects by fishing from the margins. With back legs anchored and the rest of their body floating, they feed at night by sensing vibrations from prey through the water surface.

Physically I could not join the #GSB2026 in Victoria, #Canada (such a pity!), but I see my poster hanging there for you #SoilBiodiversity enthusiasts. 🤎
Thanks to @jseeber.bsky.social for presenting it for me!

Missed it? No problem, find it here and enjoy reading it. 🤓
doi.org/10.13140/RG....

Rivers run through it – exploring drivers of aquatic macrozoobenthic diversity in an inner alpine dry valley - Biodiversity and Conservation Climate change can alter hydrological regimes and intensify drought severity, with consequences for freshwater biodiversity. Mountain regions with naturally low precipitation and strong dependence on meltwater are particularly vulnerable, as shifts in water availability can have cascading effects on these environments. The Vinschgau Valley in the eastern Italian Alps is one of the driest Alpine basins and key headwater area for the Etsch river, which sustains agriculture and biodiversity far beyond the valley. Despite low average annual precipitation, water quantity and availability vary along the pronounced elevational gradient, resulting in heterogeneous hydrological conditions within a climate-sensitive inner-alpine system. Here we investigated how land-use, water balance and environmental factors shape macroinvertebrate diversity across 24 stream sites sampled between 2021 and 2023 along an altitudinal gradient from 800 to 2600 m. We assessed community composition and diversity patterns at local scale, considering water chemistry, nutrient concentrations, streambed stability and substrate composition. On large scale, we considered elevational gradient, land-use cover, and drought indicators derived from high-resolution evapotranspiration and precipitation data. Community clustering revealed that similar assemblages were not geographically proximate, indicating strong environmental filtering. Differences among clusters were associated with water chemistry, substrate composition (with the highest diversity supported by mobile mineral substrates greater than 250 mm), permanent snow cover percentage in the catchment, and prolonged annual precipitation deficits, highlighting the role of hydrological stress in shaping biodiversity. These findings emphasise the vulnerability of Alpine streams to ongoing glacier retreat and drought, with implications for downstream ecosystems, and conservation planning under convergent climate pressures.

New paper just out 🌍💧

Our results highlight hydrological stress as a key mechanism shaping biodiversity in Alpine streams. 🌊
Important implications as glacier retreat and drought intensify.⛰️
read more here ➡https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-026-03333-9

A lot of familiar faces! Enjoy the conference and these days together! 🪱🐞🦠

A photography of a velvet worm crawling on a moss-covered trunk. The animal is worm-like, with many soft pairs of legs and a pair of long, segmented antennae. All over the animal's body, there are hundreds of multi-coloured lumps, which resemble dress sequins.

I recently discovered this incredible creature while on a night walk in the NZ bush. Known as a 'Velvet Worms', this adorable predator immobilises prey with organic glue fired from turrets on its head!

Oh... and they are basically unchanged in about 400 million years!

#TheWorldBeneathOurFeet 🧪

(PDF) BEN-EAF: Bridging traditional and modern eDNA approaches in alpine soil fauna diversity research PDF | As alpine soil fauna research is concentrated on the European Alps and Central Asia but lacking elsewhere (Praeg & Steinwandter et al. 2025), more... | Find, read and cite all the research you n...

YEAH! 🎉
Today #BEN-EAF kicks off as collaboration of Eurac Research, South Tyrol (@euracalpenv.bsky.social) and the James Hutton Institute (@hutton.ac.uk), Scotland.

We will identify alpine #SoilFauna in the Highlands using traditional and modern #eDNA methods.

Stay tuned!
doi.org/10.13140/RG....

A drawing of a centipede, two millipedes, and three isopods surrounded in sparkles. They share the colors of the trans, bigender and genderfluid flags.

Shout-out to the homies ✨✨

No to #OILigarchs ... ❌

Open Air Laboratory Matschertal - Val di Mazia The Alps are the largest freshwater reservoir in Europe. With climate change, this function is increasingly changing. With 525 millimeters of rainfall per year, the Matschertal - Val di Mazia, a branc...

The new website of the Matsch Valley Open-Air Laboratory is now online. Explore real-time microclimate data, methods, key findings, and publications from a long-term ecological research site in South Tyrol, Italy, across habitats from grasslands and forests to glacial streams and glacier forefields.

Good that I've invested in an BEV car some years ago, now "refilling" it with 100% locally produced renewable energy and my own balcony solar power. 😎

Das Problem ist halt: wohin mit dem ganzen Geld?
Da MUSS man ja Investieren und rote Zahlen schreiben... 😎

der Maggus "Wendehals" Söder braucht nur eines: Physiknachhilfe... 🥱

Een screenshot van mijn column, met als titel "Onverstoorde oerbodems"

Meer dan de helft van de wereldwijde biodiversiteit bevindt zich onder de grond. Waarom hebben we geen bodemreservaten om oerbodems te beschermen?

Mijn meest recente column voor De Levende Natuur.

Screenshot of the article by Eurac Magazine about the vast universe of soil biodiversity beneath our feet.

Our in-house press team at Eurac Magazine published an article about the soil biology research of @jseeber.bsky.social and myself where we focus on alpine environments.

Check it out: www.eurac.edu/en/magazine/...
(available in German, Italian, and English)

#SoilBiodiversity #SoilScience #SoilFauna

On the Limits of Alpine Plants: A Systematic Review of the Factors Behind Species' Elevational Range Limits This systematic review of 107 studies on the factors behind the elevational range limits of alpine vascular plants shows a persistent emphasis on upper limits and abiotic factors, especially temperat...

Our new review is finally out! 🌿 I’m especially excited because this is the first chapter of my PhD!
Have a read to see what shapes the range limits of alpine plants besides freezing temperatures ❄️

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

I am using Le Chat from Mistral 🇨🇵
For simple queries and question, I am using #ECOSIA 's AI Search 🇩🇪

Ich würde sagen Stadt-Dorf Gefälle. Jedenfalls ist im Großraum Bozen viel Elektrisches unterwegs. 🤓

Soil animal biogeography? Using oribatid mites as a good start! — Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative Xue Pan, University of Göttingen (Germany) Every soil biologist has likely asked themself: Why are soil organisms so diverse and abundant even within a small patch of soil; Why have some species a c...

📣 Start your week with a (virtual) trip from the Alps to Changbai Mountain! ⛰️

In our newest GSB4 ECR blog, Xue Pan investigates persistent questions in biogeography by leveraging the incredibly diverse order, Oribatida- soil oribatid mites.

www.globalsoilbiodiversity.org/blog-beneath...

"Egal was der Liter kostet, ich tanke immer nur 20€!" Höhöhöhöhö 😵‍💫

Gar nicht! ✋
Südtirol hat sogar eine recht gute E-Auto Quote, vergleichbar mit 🇦🇹 und 🇨🇭, so um die 20% bei den Neukaufen 2025.
Leider auch viele Plug-in-Hybride, die wohl selten elektrisch gefahren werden... (ca. 15% Marktanteil 2025).
Deutlich höher als in Italien! Aber wohl ungleich verteilt.

Earthworm Casting Drives Soil Microplastic Upward Transport and the Formation of Biogenic Polymer Aggregates Earthworms act as key ecosystem engineers influencing the distribution of soil microplastics (MPs), however, the residence, transport, and fate of these particles within the drilosphere, particularly within biogenic cast aggregates, remain poorly understood. Here, we combined a field survey of 43 paired soil-cast samples across three agricultural land-use scenarios with complementary laboratory soil column experiments to elucidate earthworm-driven MP dynamics. The field survey revealed ubiquitous in situ MP occurrence and upward fluxes from bulk soils to casts, with transport efficiency modulated by soil clay and organic carbon contents. Laboratory simulations using epigeic and anecic species validated that different ecotypes actively ingest MPs from source soils and deposit them in surface casts. Crucially, both field and laboratory data demonstrated a significant reduction in particle size in casts compared to soil (6.48% and 19.8%, respectively), supporting the potential earthworm effects on MP mechanical attrition. Polymer compositions in casts mirrored those in soils, exhibiting a nonselective and passive ingestion pathway. Beyond physical transport, the formation of field biogenic polymer aggregates facilitated chemical aging of MPs, as evidenced by elevated oxidation indices. This process was likely accelerated by the enrichment of plastic-degrading microbial taxa (e.g., Flavobacterium) within casts, which exhibited up to a 35.6-fold increase in relative abundance. Collectively, these findings highlight the dual role of soil-engineering invertebrates in driving the vertical redistribution and physicochemical degradation of MPs in agricultural systems.

New paper out:

Huang et al. w/ Deyi Hou
Earthworm Casting Drives Soil Microplastic Upward Transport and the Formation of Biogenic Polymer Aggregates

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

SOIL BIODIVERSITY Attendee White T-shirtsAdult Small Campaign Created by Global Soil Biodiversity Conference

Attending the 4th Global Soil Biodiversity Conference #GSB2026 and want a conference t-shirt? Pre-order now and pick-up at the conference. Must order by March 29th tees.ca/products/soi... #Soil #Biodiversity @thegsbi.bsky.social @carlosbarreto.bsky.social

From Brunico? WTF Euronews... 😅
It is Toblach/Dobbiaco, as Bruneck/Brunico is 30km away from that spot... 🤓

Postcards from the Field 📬📧🌿

Can you beat this?😲 Send us your best fieldwork photo for a chance to feature in this month's newsletter.

Featured: Arthur Broadbent shoveling snow for a snow manipulation experiment near Vent in the Austrian Alps (photo credit: Michael Bahn) doi.org/10.1111/gcb....

Yeah, "ICE out!" fits perfectly here :)

Man sollte dort einfach aussteigen... ich hab schon mal angefangen, nichts mehr zu posten, und alles Öffentliche von mir zu verstecken. Es ist geflutet von AfD und Werbung... schlimm.

a man in a green shirt is sitting on a couch holding a paper bag in his mouth . ALT: a man in a green shirt is sitting on a couch holding a paper bag in his mouth .

Es ist (anscheinend) nie genug, you know, "German Reichweitenangst"... 😅

Interessant auch die "Topographie", also Gebirge im Midwest, keine Gebirge entlang der Westküste Amerikas... :D

a black and white map of the world shows the latitude and longitude ALT: a black and white map of the world shows the latitude and longitude

Did anyone tell him that the Mercator projection is not reflecting the real country sizes...? Greenland is big, but not bigger than Africa etc.

...a few more to illustrate the morphological diversity of staphyliniform beetles 🤩

🐜ant-like stone beetle, Scydmaenus, under log, Oklahoma
🫓flipped Eurylister carolinus, a flattened hister beetle, OK
✨sleek scaphidiine "Shining Fungus Beetle", OK
🤏TINY Ptinella sp feather-winged beetle, OK