Little brain-teaser: Would you expect non-native plant species to make mountain floras more diverse (more heterogeneous) or less so (more homogenised)? Find the answer in my latest blog, where I dive into a new global paper from the Mountain Invasion Research Network: the3dlab.org/2025/10/22/a...

New paper from the MIREN network! We tested how homogenisation (ecosystems becoming more alike through invasions) changes with scale. Global = clear pattern Local = not so simple Read more: the3dlab.org/2025/10/22/a... Paper, led by @mbuhaly.bsky.social: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Cliffhanger: Am I, as a climber, a threat or a treasure for plant diversity on rock cliffs? In her Vlaamse Scriptieprijs story, Sarane Coen finds that a bit of climbing would rather boost than harm diversity. Read more👉 the3dlab.org/2025/10/21/c... #Ecology #Biodiversity #Climbing

So here’s a question for you: would species that have historically experienced strong climate fluctuations not be better equipped to handle contemporary climate change than those from stable climates? Our new paper, led by Yuheng Chen, suggests they are! 🔗 the3dlab.org/2025/09/30/m...

New for all microclimate enthusiasts! A step-by-step workflow to build your own sensor network - with awesome R code for site selection + tips on engagement, fieldwork & outreach. Led with @thenaturedave.bsky.social and @rebeccasenior.bsky.social 🔗 the3dlab.org/2025/08/16/h...

Seen loads of monocultures on our #EcoFracNet trips across the Netherlands - but not all are the same. One even hosted a rare, shiny green surprise! 🐸💚 Where in our flat little country do you think the highest plant diversity hides? Suggestions welcome! 👉 the3dlab.org/2025/08/11/monocultures/

We suspected it: soil microbes don’t care much about our neat climate gradients. 🌱🦠 Across 7 Chinese mountains, their biogeography is messy - but not without patterns. I unpack it here 👉 the3dlab.org/2025/08/05/s... Paper by Kunwei Wang et al. in GEB 👉 authorservices.wiley.com/api/pdf/full...

“Most biodiversity studies still rely on coarse, long-term averages or climate station data far away from where organisms actually live. But extreme events are short-lived and highly local – meaning we need fine-scale data in both space and time to catch them”

Climate change hits fast and erratic - through extremes, not slow trends. In our new TREE paper (led by @lysoifer.bsky.social), we discuss what's needed for us to deal with the resulting unpredictable range shifts. Summary: the3dlab.org/2025/07/20/e... Paper: sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A forest, a heatland/raised bog, a farm, two school yards and the university campus, our own data collecting for #EcoFracNet has been very successful so far! Now looking forward to the data from all over the world to come in - everyone still welcome to join! the3dlab.org/2025/02/10/m...

SERVICE MESSAGE: The MEB-network (www.meb-network.com) is cleaning out its mailing list! If you did not receive todays' email but would want to receive cool microclimate updates, please sign up here! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Thinking of joining EcoFracNet or MicroFracNet? Now’s a great time - we can finally offer you free second-hand TOMST TMS4 sensors to support your fieldwork! 🛰️ Limited sensors available, so act fast. 📍 Details + how to join: the3dlab.org/2025/07/04/j... @willpearse.bsky.social

The Belgian king - and our @uantwerpen.be rector - visited Chile! As the universities' longest collaboration with Chile, we (and especially @anibalpauchard.bsky.social got to highlight our long-standing collaboration with @iebchile.bsky.social on (micro)climate, invasive species, and biodiversity!

Bog appreciation post! We have started an #EcoFracNet site in the Fochteloerveen, one of the Netherlands' last remaining active raised bogs and a landscape that truly absorbs you. Throwback photo shoot from end of April, when summer was still far away : the3dlab.org/2025/06/28/b...

Are you an ecologist interested in spatial scaling? Of course you are, we all are! So join this new fractal network! I can say, with absolutely no bias or impartiality at all, that it's amazing!

e're kicking off a new EcoFracNet study, exploring how biodiversity varies across agricultural landscapes. As such an integral part of our landscape, it’s essential to understand at what scales biodiversity patterns play out on our farms! the3dlab.org/2025/06/21/e...

Great class idea: a Bioblitz! Nearly 400 first-year biology students at Utrecht University recorded 1100+ species on campus in just one month. A hands-on crash course in ecology, conservation & fieldwork — and yes, it was a lot of fun. Blog here 👇 the3dlab.org/2025/06/17/a...

Another reason to increase green spaces in our cities: they provide pleasant soundscapes!

What makes a place sound pleasant? In #DeOorzaak, 4,465 people told us: natural sounds made soundscapes sound better, even with traffic. 📝 Blog: the3dlab.org/2025/06/17/w... 📄 Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New global study! 🏔️🌱 Non-native plants don’t just follow mountain roads—they spread along hiking trails too, even off-trail. MIREN data from 9 regions shows trails are key invasion pathways. Full story & findings: the3dlab.org/2025/06/02/n... #InvasionEcology #MIREN #Mountains #Biodiversity

The word is out officially, now: SoilTemp has finished its transformation into 'The MEB-network' - a fully-fledged research network that goes far beyond just being a database. And boy, does that make me proud! Let me show you all the ways you can get involved here: the3dlab.org/2025/05/31/s...

🚨 To all #microclimate aficionados, this is a major update of the #SoilTemp initiative which has just metamorphosed into the beautiful #MEB network for #microclimate #ecology & #biogeography #network The #SoilTemp initiative 🐛 turns to #MEB network 🦋 ⬇️ Check it out ⬇️

#microclimate #SoilTemp project is dead! Long live to the new #MEB-network!

The word is out officially, now: SoilTemp has finished its transformation into 'The MEB-network' - a fully-fledged research network that goes far beyond just being a database. And boy, does that make me proud! Let me show you all the ways you can get involved here: the3dlab.org/2025/05/31/s...

**NEW DATABASE** - and it's a big one: BioTIME 2.0 is out! I'll guide you through why this database is a game changer for anyone interested in species on the move --> the3dlab.org/2025/05/21/b... The paper --> doi.org/10.1111/geb....

We’ve long tracked species’ responses to climate change - upslope, northward, earlier. But most studies look in just one direction. In our **NEW PAPER**, we call for a paradigm shift: species move across multiple dimensions. Blog: the3dlab.org/2025/05/15/r...

@bengoldfarb.bsky.social subterranean road ecology!!

What happens belowground when a mountain road cuts through nature? After epic fieldwork, root sequencing & modeling marathons, we found: roads unravel fungal interaction networks—fewer links and more generalists. @dajana-r.bsky.social 📖 Blog: the3dlab.org/2025/05/08/w...

What happens when you monitor vegetation on rock cliffs? you get jaw-dropping views and seriously cool science. that’s MIREN Rocks – a global survey of cliffside flora in all its colourful, gravity-defying glory. 📸 so yeah, we made an Instagram: 👉 @mirenrocks www.instagram.com/mirenrocks/

The Tea Bag Index: simple on the surface, complex beneath 🍃 A new blog post dives into the science of what we can say, based on a response to a response to our Ecology Letters paper. Worth a read if you’re using TBI! 👉 the3dlab.org/2025/04/20/t...

New study in @nature.com: we focus on the diversity that's missing - “dark diversity.” Human impact means only 1 in 5 species persist in disturbed areas versus 1 in 3 in pristine ones. My summary of the project & its implications: the3dlab.org/2025/04/03/g...

🚨 Published in Forest Ecology & Management 🚨 Moth communities under closed-canopy forests 🌳🌳🌳🌳 are richer in species than at edges or in open conditions ⬇️ Nighttime 🌡🌒 & forest cover in the surrounding landscape both had a ➕️ effect on moth activity density & species richness ⬇️ shorturl.at/C9Dwc

We are very happy to announce that the next Microclimate Ecology & Biogeography (MEB) conference will happen in Montpellier (FRANCE), 1 - 5 June 2026 ☀️ meb-network.com/meb-2026/ Microclimate scientists: save the date in your agenda!!

New paper by @jlembrechts.bsky.social in Ecological Solutions and Evidence using @gbif.org mediated data: GUBIC: The global urban biological invasions compendium for plants #CiteTheDOI: ✅ #OpenAccess: ⭐️ https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.70020

New #MicroFracNet site on the Utrechtse Heuvelrug established! Still interested to join our global monitoring project on the scale at which biodiversity varies? Read all about it here --> the3dlab.org/2025/02/10/m...

Spring has sprung! For us, that means the real start of our #MicroFracNet #biodiversity monitoring project across the Netherlands. All ecologists still invited to join! More info here --> the3dlab.org/2025/02/10/m... Pictured: some little flowery surprises from Utrecht University

Wanna know how many non-native species dwell in the worlds' cities? We got you! In a new database paper led by @djli.bsky.social and GUBIC, we counted 'm all! - 8140 species - 553 cities - Winner? Erigeron canadensis, found in a whopping 469 (85%) of these! More -> the3dlab.org/2025/02/24/n...

Thanks all for your trust in me, but I got my twelfth review invitation in seven days... Either you hire me full time as a reviewer, or I'll be declining any invite thrown my way the coming weeks!

Today, we launch MicroFracNet, a global network exploring how biodiversity varies across SCALES - big and small. 🌍 If you love vegetation and want to be part of something both larger - and smaller - than yourself, join us! Learn more & sign up: the3dlab.org/2025/02/10/m... 📢 Please share widely!

Today, we launch MicroFracNet, a global network exploring how biodiversity varies across SCALES - big and small. 🌍 If you love vegetation and want to be part of something both larger - and smaller - than yourself, join us! Learn more & sign up: the3dlab.org/2025/02/10/m... 📢 Please share widely!

When the same data tells a different story… 📊🔍 You’d think analyzing the same dataset would lead to the same conclusions, but our new BMC Biology study shows otherwise. Different methods - different answers! Why? It's complicated... My experience in the study → 🔗 the3dlab.org/2025/02/06/w...

Not all fieldwork pictures are equally breathtaking... The pictures I got from master student Sarane reading out #microclimate sensor data from the cliffs of Freyr might just be what you needed to want to join MIREN's rock survey... the3dlab.org/2025/02/03/s...

Nice blog post on our recent paper in #MEE featuring 🔟 practical guidelines for what, how, when, where to to capture #microclimate processes in the field & how to analyse, handle & store your data ⬇️ @jlembrechts.bsky.social @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social shorturl.at/23zwL

Wondering how #alpine organisms have been experiencing #microclimate change? So are we! Join our focus session at the International #Mountain conference #IMC25 in Innsbruck - now open for abstracts! tinyurl.com/36ky587t w/ @niittynen.bsky.social @jlembrechts.bsky.social @krystofchytry.bsky.social

🌟 NEW PAPER ALERT! 🌟 Over a decade after my master’s thesis along 3 Norwegian mountain roads, patience has paid off: we now have answers on whether non-native plant species are making rapid upward moves here, as seen elsewhere. Here I break it all down for you: 👉 the3dlab.org/2025/01/09/t...

The top 10 stories of 2024 from The 3D Lab! #8 - Nitrogen and forest plant shifts 🌱 A rare detour for me from microclimate! Europe’s east-west gradient in nitrogen deposition strongly correlates with forest plant distribution shifts. the3dlab.org/2024/10/15/n...

The top 10 stories of 2024 from The 3D Lab! #7 - The ever-present ghost of data quality in SDMs A summary story of our review paper on the importance of sample size, positional uncertainty and sampling bias for SDMs. A must-read for all that like to use SDMs! the3dlab.org/2024/08/05/t...

Graphs like this are mindboggling to me! @chrisvanswaay.bsky.social, you do great work, but your account is rather depressing!

Fostering growth in The 3D Lab! Every 6 months, I ask our lab members what sessions they want. Here's a summary of their ideas—hopefully some inspiration for young labs (with many master students)! What works for your team? Anything you'd try? Let me know! 🔗 the3dlab.org/2024/12/29/f...

The top 10 stories of 2024 from The 3D Lab! #6 - Proximal microclimate A CRUCIAL microclimate paper led by @thenaturedave.bsky.social. We introduce climate proximity (not just spatiotemporal scale) and show it improves ecological models. Exciting PROOF included! 🔗 the3dlab.org/2024/06/28/p...