Millions of currently farmed acres hold opportunities for biodiversity conservation that are hidden in plain sight!

Great story! Learning to identify butterflies is in reach. Counts by thousands of people make up the best long term data 🦋 And there are practical means to forestall rapid butterfly decline. Thank you @margaretrenkl

Great paper! Genomic signatures indicate biodiversity loss in an endemic island ant fauna | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Some important messages here. It’s not just rare species that are declining but common ones too, requiring a far more holistic conservation approach

More bad news for butterflies. Our new paper led by Wendy Leuenberger shows common species are declining even more rapidly than rare ones. @ZipkinLab Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501340122

The publications collected in this month's LTER Network News really demonstrated the wide range of impactful research the LTER does. Here's the list: mailchi.mp/lternet/lter...

This report distills our findings on butterfly decline www.science.org/doi/full/10.... and describes actionable conservation urgently needed for butterfly recovery. @xercessociety.bsky.social State of the Butterflies in the United States xerces.org/publications...

Lots of people in Kalamazoo!

Honored to become a @aaas.org fellow with @lisaschultemoore.bsky.social and Amy Toth. Prairie strip scientists well represented today! @kbslter.bsky.social

How does climate impact our gut microbiomes? As it turns out, there are many ways. KBS researcher Elena Litchman has studied the relationship between climate and our gut microbes. She contributed to a wide-ranging article recently published in Time Magazine. Read more: time.com/7287156/how-...

There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd. It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.

Though our recent #NSF grant was terminated, the @datanuggets.bsky.social program still continues through support from the @kbslter.bsky.social and other sources! We're searching for future funding opportunities and will continue to help share authentic datasets and science stories with students!

Humans are killing helpful insects in hundreds of ways − simple steps can reduce the harm theconversation.com/humans-are-k...

Congratulations to my MSU colleagues Phil Robertson @kelloggbiostn.bsky.social @kbslter.bsky.social and Jack Liu on their election to the National Academy of Sciences. Well-deserved recognition of their many contributions to science www.nasonline.org/news/2025-na...

We are excited to share our new article just out in @natureecoevo.bsky.social 🎉 “Widespread lack of article accessibility policies among ecology and evolution journals” rdcu.be/ejFQH

Congratulations to all this years ESA Fellows and Early Career Fellows, including to my MSU colleague @elenalitchman.bsky.social @kelloggbiostn.bsky.social and my collaborator @fletcherecology.bsky.social So well deserved!

Congrats to all of the new #ESA Fellows & Early Career Fellows including outstanding #MSU colleague @elenalitchman.bsky.social!

Really honored and humbled to be selected as an ESA Fellow. And congratulations to the other Fellows and Early Career Fellows! @conservation.cam.ac.uk @camzoology.bsky.social

Congratulations to all of the newly elected members and international members of the National Academy of Sciences! www.nasonline.org/news/2025-na... Among them 3 superb #MSU colleagues--Jack Liu, Phil Robertson, and Christoph Benning--as well as former postdoc extraordinaire Valeria Souza (UNAM)!

Congratulations to all of the newly elected members of the National Academy of Sciences, including my MSU colleagues (Christoph Benning, Jack Liu, and Phil Robertson), and - especially - Gary Brudvig. I'm proud of you, Dad! www.nasonline.org/news/2025-na...

Congratulations to @elenalitchman.bsky.social Well deserved!

An essential paper, one that will guide conservation and restoration for landscape connectivity at local to global scales. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Importante estudio de Gonçalves-Souza et al: ▪️Muestra que los paisajes fragmentados tienen menor diversidad alfa y gamma ▪️Descarta que la fragmentación aumente la biodiversidad a escala paisaje ▪️Enfatiza la necesidad de restaurar hábitat e incrementar la conectividad www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Important study from Gonçalves-Souza et al: - Finds that fragmented landscapes have both lower α and γ diversity. - Refutes claims that fragmentation can increase biodiversity in the landscape. - Emphasizes the need to restore habitat and increase connectivity. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How will climate change affect human gut microbiomes? In a new @thelancetplanet.bsky.social paper, I analyze the main mechanisms — changes in food availability & nutritional quality, environmental microbiomes, enteric pathogens, increased host stress — and their interactions. tinyurl.com/27kny9z9

I'm excited to follow @dirtylittleworms.bsky.social Nematodes fill all roles in ecological systems and they're so diverse -- can't wait to learn more! Thanks for doing this

Our new paper led by @tysonwepprich.bsky.social is out. When warmer temperatures increase the number of butterfly generations in a year, population growth rates are higher onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Excellent special issue in @Ecology_Letters featuring decades long studies onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Great paper led by Claire Winfrey on edge effects on microbes in fragmented landscapes @julianresasco.bsky.social @noahfierer.bsky.social

How do we achieve 30x30 goals? Our next infographic highlights types of habitat conservation in the United States. Learn more on our #30x30 page conservationcorridor.org/what-is-30x30/

Each year in the U.S., wildlife-vehicle collisions cost $8 billion in property damage and cause many injuries and fatalities. A Washington State University study of wildlife crossings found that each overpass saved between $235,000 and $443,000 per year. environmentamerica.org/center/artic...

This paper stalled out after I finished my dissertation in 2017, but I got motivated to finish thanks to the opportunity from Ecology Letters to join their special issue on long-term studies. Thanks to the thorough reviewers. Most importantly, thanks to the volunteer butterfly recorders in Ohio!

Shareable read-only link: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...

Takeaway: Insects with multiple generations a year can adapt to a warmer world by fitting another lifecycle into the longer growing season. This does NOT always arrest population declines, but we would expect univoltine species to be less resilient and in greater need of conservation concern.

Ohio's multivoltine butterflies were not prone to "lost generations", when reproduction late in the summer is maladaptive b/c their response to environmental cues is disrupted by climate warming. Inspired by a terrific 2015 paper by van Dyck et al. nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

New paper with Erica Henry & @nickhaddad.bsky.social Q: What happens when butterflies, responding to climate warming, attempt an extra generation as summers get longer? A: Long-term monitoring shows overwinter population growth increases! 🧪🦋🐛https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.70018

Excited to host Dr. Laura Melissa Guzman for this Friday’s seminar! Tune in to learn more about using occupancy models to understand trends in bee biodiversity 🐝🌷📊💻

When I was young (1960's) butterflies and bumblebees were so plentiful in the fields and flowering trees. Now I rarely see butterflies. Haven't seen a monarch in years.

Does fragmentation reduce biodiversity? New research provides insights into a 50-year-old debate 🌎 conservationcorridor.org/digests/2025...

Butterfly populations are rapidly declining across the U.S., and anecdotally, it feels the same here in the UK. Fewer sightings, fewer species—habitat loss and pesticides are taking their toll. We need to protect these vital pollinators www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

What a wonderful paper!! Really clear results and extremely important research!! I will use it in my classes Congrats Thiago Gonçalves-Souza @natejsanders.bsky.social @jon-chase03.bsky.social @nickhaddad.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

As the authors conclude: "the claim that increasing β diversity buffers the loss of α diversity by preserving diversity at larger scales does not hold. Put simply, fragmented landscapes have lower diversity, at all scales, than do unfragmented landscapes."

This meta-analysis is evidence against the argument that habitat fragmentation tends to increase diversity and that the negative effects fragmentation are a “zombie idea”. This paper led by @fletcherecology.bsky.social summarizes the issues. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New key finding: Landscapes of fragmented habitat have lower diversity, at all scales, than do unfragmented landscapes. Habitat fragmentation does not compensate for the loss of local (alpha) diversity by increasing the diversity among fragments (beta diversity). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

MAJOR implications for the UK's current approach to conservation if they're right.

This paper is potentially huge. It concludes that "fragmented landscapes have lower diversity, at all scales, than do unfragmented landscapes...The pervasive effects of ongoing habitat destruction and fragmentation are real and should not be minimized." !!!!!

Another case that proves the need for scrutiny when it comes to simple interpretations like “fragmentation increases biodiversity”. Lovely read, lovely paper!

Habitat fragmentation cannot increase #biodiversity at landscape scales. Habitat must be restored & connectivity increased to minimize biodiversity losses: doi.org/10.1038/s415... >> To restore habitat, #landsparing (high-yielding agriculture) is better than #landsharing (e.g. in #organic farming)?

Good morning everyone. Today, in "One day, one paper", combining data from 35 citizen science programs across the continental US, the authors found declines in overall butterfly abundance over the past 20 years across almost all major regions 🌍 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...