Just published in @journalofecology.bsky.social Using data from 1,854 plant species coming from the @erc.europa.eu funded #BIODESERT survey, we show how climate & grazing jointly shape leaf phenolics—key defence compounds—across global drylands. Great work led by PhD student Kaarina Shilula

A few years ago I shared my @erc.europa.eu Starting Grant proposal (BIOCOM) openly on @figshare.com doi.org/10.6084/m9.f... I never imagined it would reach over 14K views and >6K downloads. A reminder of why sharing proposals & experiences matters—for those coming after us

Happy to share our new paper from the @erc.europa.eu funded #BIODESERT global survey! Brilliantly led by MSc student Imke Smit, we show that plant facilitation in drylands is driven by a consistent trait match between dominant and target species Out in Global Ecol Biog dx.doi.org/10.1111/geb....

Peer review in top journals is tough, and we often focus on its “dark side”: delays, rejections, and harsh reports. But there’s also a bright side we talk about far too little. Our recent acceptance came with exceptionally kind words from the handling editor—polite, thoughtful, ...

In our new @mdpiopenaccess.bsky.social #Water paper, led by Jaime Martínez-Valderrama, we quantify the hidden & huge cost of food waste in #Spain Between 2014–2018, >480,000 tons of fruits & vegetables were discarded — wasting 36 hm³ of water and emitting >36,000 tCO₂-eq. A crisis that we must stop

Our new review in @universitypress.cambridge.org Cambridge Prisms: Drylands explores the ecology of biocrusts in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the most extreme and underexplored regions on Earth, their functions, knowledge gaps & potential for land restoration doi.org/10.1017/dry....

Thrilled to be one of the plenary speakers for the @iavs5.bsky.social 68th #IAVS Symposium (Gijón, Spain, 22-26 June 2026) along legends like @jcsvenning.bsky.social @gmendietal.bsky.social @ftmaestre.bsky.social et al! Join us to discuss plants across taxonomic, spatial and temporal scales! 🌿

A new article in Biological Reviews by Islam et al. synthesizes current knowledge on C cycling and storage in desert ecosystems, highlighting the roles of precipitation patterns, vegetation dynamics & soil inorganic processes in regulating C sequestration onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Delighted to celebrate the first anniversary of this journal. As an editor, it’s been inspiring to see such a wide range of articles advancing our understanding of dryland ecosystems. If you work in #drylands please consider submitting your work to us www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Although many ecosystems can weather several years of moderate drought, consecutive years of extreme dryness push them past a tipping point, resulting in dramatic declines in plant growth, researchers report in Science. https://scim.ag/4ogN9I8

Excited to give a plenary talk at the @iavs5.bsky.social Symposium 2026 in beautiful Gijón, Spain! Looking forward to share our latest research about #dryland plant diversity and to reconnecting with the global vegetation science community gijon2026.iavs-meetings.org Don´t miss it!

Our new article in @ejsoilscience.bsky.social highlights the key uncertainties limiting the use of nitrification inhibitors (NIs), a promising tool to curb N pollution and N₂O emissions. Better design & smarter use of NIs are key for sustainable N management onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...

#MultiyearDroughts, it is nice to see studies with distinct designs and used data converge to similar results — "25-30%" seems to be a key range, in this study about the measured reduction of primary production in grassland and in our previous study with kNDVI www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... .

New paper out 🥳 Drought intensity and duration interact to magnify losses in primary productivity | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @stockholm-uni.bsky.social

Excelente reportaje de Miguel Ángel Criado para @elpais.com elpais.com/ciencia/2025... sobre nuestro artículo en @science.org 👇

As droughts become longer and more intense, their toll on ecosystems could be far greater than we thought. Our new paper in @science.org shows how prolonged & extreme droughts cause dramatic, cumulative losses in ecosystem productivity across the globe www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Nature’s global survey of 3,785 doctoral students shows satisfaction has recovered from pandemic lows, but harassment and inadequate supervision remain widespread. #Academicsky 🧪

In #drylands, plants don’t grow randomly — they self-organize into disordered hyperuniform patterns that help them use water wisely & endure extreme aridity. A beautiful hidden logic of nature, revealed in a new @pnas.org study doi.org/10.1073/pnas... including #Maestrelab alumni

New study in @universitypress.cambridge.org #CambridgePrismsDrylands reveals how landscape- & patch-scale processes shape the “fertile island effect” in the Chihuahuan Desert, illustrating the importance of spatial heterogeneity in drylands doi.org/10.1017/dry.... 📷by Patricia Zumsteg @unsplash.com

Powerful piece by @darmenteras.bsky.social in @natureportfolio.nature.com #Nature Global science won’t be equitable until it goes beyond diversity optics & truly shares power, credit & leadership. A must-read for anyone committed to promote a more fair and just science www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🔥Más de 400.000 hectáreas han ardido solo este año, otro año más. 🗣️Nuestro compañero @migueldiazcarro.bsky.social echa la mirada hacia adelante en este problema y hacia el futuro, en la restauración, con la miranda en lo comunitario y escuchando a la ciencia 🔗 www.elsaltodiario.com/incendios-fo...

🌍 We’re excited to host the Future Food Systems Conference (FFS2026) at #KAUST with #PlantACT! 📅 Apr 13–15, 2026 | Thuwal, Saudi Arabia A global gathering to reimagine how to feed the world without eating the planet 👉 Free registration & info: kaust.edu.sa/events/ffs26/

Great thread on our recent lab paper in @geoderma.bsky.social on how SOC fractions regulate ecosystem services in global drylands Nicely led by Luna McGill as part of her PhD at ICA @csic.es @cesarplaza.bsky.social @ftmaestre.bsky.social @manudelbaq.bsky.social

Our new article is out in @geoderma.bsky.social! Drylands, which cover 40% of Earth’s land, store ~30% of global soil organic carbon. But how do different carbon fractions support ecosystem services under rising aridity? 🏜️ 📖 doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...

As stated by this press release from @unccd.bsky.social we must overhaul global food systems to avert worsening land crisis unccd.int/news-stories... Read the @natureportfolio.nature.com #Nature Review here rdcu.be/eBlid

Very glad to see this report in @elmundo.es.web.brid.gy elmundo.es/ciencia-y-sa... about our recent @natureportfolio.nature.com #Nature review rdcu.be/eACfr Let´s hope that it will contribute to much-needed discussions & action around food systems 2 ensure a healthier, safer & more peaceful future

Great to be a coauthor of this new paper in @natureportfolio.nature.com which provides a comprehensive set of solutions to bend the land degradation curve & leverage the transformation of global #food systems. #land #climate #biodiversity @yesiuoy.bsky.social @uoyenvironment.bsky.social

Bending the curve of land degradation to achieve global environments goals Much needed review by @ftmaestre.bsky.social et al.

Masterpiece on one of the most critical challenges our society faces: land degradation

El cambio climático se acelera, la biodiversidad se desploma y la degradación de la tierra avanza sin cesar ¿y si la herramienta más poderosa —y a menudo pasada por alto— para abordar estas tres crisis estuviera en nuestros platos? elpais.com/clima-y-medi... @elpais.com

To meet the targets of the #UN Rio Conventions (#UNCCD, #UNFCCC & #CBD) we must bend the curve of land degradation. Our latest Review in @natureportfolio.nature.com #Nature discusses how to do it by 2050 by urgently transforming global food systems rdcu.be/eACfr #KAUST

A must read www.nature.com/articles/s41... from @ftmaestre.bsky.social et al.!

#Biocrusts are vital to dryland health—but can they recover after being disturbed? 🤔A new review in @botsocamerica.bsky.social #AmJBot by @michalaphillips.bsky.social & al explores biocrust recovery timelines, climate impacts & restoration potential bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Today is #DesertificationAndDroughtDay 🌍Our lab at #KAUST studies how to restore and manage drylands to boost biodiversity, fight climate change & support livelihoods Let’s #RestoreLand and #UnlockOpportunities—for people and the planet

How to repair damaged ecosystems around the world? Researchers found that when restoring nature even ecosystems that look similar on the surface can respond very differently to the same fix: www.uni-goettingen.de/en/3240.html... #Ecography: nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

What if plant N & P cycles aren’t as linked as we thought?🤔Our new @journalofecology.bsky.social paper shows that global change decouples them, challenging existing asumptions & showing the need 2 incoporate this decoupling into models to predict global change responses doi.org/10.1111/1365...

New paper from the lab- A Large Fraction of Soil Microbial Taxa Is Sensitive to Experimental Warming. In @globalchangebio.bsky.social ‪ led by Tadeo Saez and Pankaj tried with contribution from @manudelbaq.bsky.social @ftmaestre.bsky.social & others onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Nature posed a variety of scenarios to 5,000 academics around the world to understand which uses of AI are considered ethically acceptable. The survey results suggest that researchers are sharply divided on what they feel are appropriate practices. #Academicsky 🧪

New paper out in @globalchangebio.bsky.social led by Tadeo Sáez-Sandino doi.org/10.1111/gcb.... We analyzed >500 topsoil samples from 3 mid-term warming experiments (>5 yrs) across dryland (👇) and temperate-boreal ecosystems to examine how warming alters soil microbial communities

In our latest #RsearchSquare preprint, we show that soil microbes shift from catabolism to anabolism as aridity increases across global ecosystems — a microbial strategy prioritizing growth over energy & nutrient acquisition under aridification🔗 www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...

Nice new paper out by @kristinayoung.bsky.social This was one of her dissertation chapters and some offshoot work from our fungal loop project. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Besides the gorgeous journal cover, the article it links to uses 724 classic Chinese poems to estimate the range contraction of the Yangtze finless porpoise over 1400 years. These animals are threatened by human activity, have intelligence comparable to a gorilla & are critically endangered.

Biocrusts boost dryland resilience by channeling water to plants during rare rain events—especially under high aridity But in wetter conditions, this comes at a cost: less plant biomass Kozar & al in #Ecohydrology doi.org/10.1002/eco....

Setting up a new lab from scratch in a new country is no small task — but after an intense 15 months, I’m excited to see things taking shape at #KAUST! Thanks to all lab members, all KAUST BESE & admin staff for the incredible support #AcademicLife #NewLab

“If left unchallenged, a rising wave of white nationalism in many parts of the globe could threaten the progress that has been made in science — and broader society — towards a more equitable world,” writes Genevieve Wojcik in a Comment article for Nature. 🧬 🧪

🌟Announcing the 2025 ESA Fellows and Early Career Fellows!🌟ESA's fellowship program recognizes the many ways in which our members contribute to ecological research, communication, education, management & policy. Learn more about this year's cohort: esa.org/blog/2025/04...

Interesting @natureportfolio.nature.com #Nature piece by Diana Kwon about research papers that quietly used AI tools like ChatGPT without disclosing it www.nature.com/articles/d41... We must learn (I am certainly in the process) & train ECRs in the ethical use of AI tools

A new 🌎 synthesis by Li. et al. shows that plant diversity and carbon storage are positively linked, but the relationship is often weak—stronger in grasslands and shaped by climate factors onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Very interesting set of articles in this @natureportfolio.nature.com #Nature special feature about #Spain, which underscores the commitment of the Spanish scientific community in addressing global challenges www.nature.com/collections/...

In @ecography.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/ecog... we show, using the ModEST model, that one size doesn’t fit all when restoring Mediterranean-type ecosystems. Site-specific plant assemblages are key to maximizing ecosystem functions & trade-offs & synergies vary with soil & climate