How to measure seed longevity in storage when comparing accessions or species? We looked in detail at the most widely used measure (p50) and found out that it is... suboptimal at best. We highlight alternatives. @gfoesoc.bsky.social @unimarburg.bsky.social

Biocontrol by a native hemiparasite: Rapid suppression of noxious invasive plants in a field experiment 🌷🧪 Demonstrates Melampyrum arvense as a biocontrol tool suitable for containing two harmful invasive species 📊🌏 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/1365...

New study out in Ecology Letters 🌱🐑! Using long-term Åland monitoring data, we found that herbivory increases plant diversity across scales and flips the diversity–area relationship: a positive relationship is found in grazed sites while a negative one in ungrazed sites. 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/ele....

To the paper: doi.org/10.1111/ele....

Our new paper in Ecology Letters, led by Jan Divíšek, shows that non-invasive alien plant species that successfully establish within local plant communities tend to resemble the resident native species. In contrast, invasive alien species usually differ from native plants. doi.org/10.1111/ele....

📣CALL FOR PAPERS! Upcoming SPECIAL ISSUE: Evolution at species range edges Guest Edited by Shengman Liu, John Pannell and Sophie Karrenberg More information here: academic.oup.com/jeb/pages/ca...

i am offering a post-doc position in my brand-new project TreeGD that will investigate genomic diversity of trees species in switzerland, with a special focus on gene conservation units, rare species (but not only), and seeds stands. apply.refline.ch/273855/1782/...

🌿🪶 New Review in #BAAE: Abandonment & intensification impact biodiversity in marginal grasslands. Across 174 European studies, both pathways reduced diversity — while restoration & extensive management help recover ecological value. 🌾 DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.ba... @gfoesoc.bsky.social

We are searching for a Forest Ecophysiologist (tenure track Assistant or Associate Professor) to join the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry. Please share! Details are here: ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcfacultyjobs

Urbanised landscape and microhabitat differences can influence flowering phenology and synchrony in an annual herb 🌿🌏 🧪 Findings revealed that populations in urban sites exhibited earlier flowering onset and longer flowering duration compared to rural locations 🏢 👇 Read here: buff.ly/VWtG2kW

JOB ALERT! Do you also love large ecological experiments? Become coordinator of our big new geo-biosphere experiment in @terra-cluster.org. 7-year position! Follow link for details. @gfoesoc.bsky.social @britishecologicalsociety.org @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social @uslter.bsky.social Please repost!

A gentle reminder that for this journal (and many others) the EIC and Managing Editor don't have any authority or rights over what the publisher charges or how they configure their emails. That's not a complaint, simply a reminder that queries about those have to be sent to the publishing company.

New paper out on the dangers of using patterns across spatial climate gradients to predict what will happen with changing climate. That includes species distribution modeling. Space-for-time substitution can be misleading in sign, not just the magnitude of effects. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Excited to share that the second paper of my PhD is out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🍈🦜🍒🐒🍊🐿️ We show that the functional diversity of seed-dispersal interactions in tropical forests takes circa 20 years to recover after deforestation. You can read it here: www.cell.com/current-biol...

Red devil spiders from the Canary Islands have a genome half the size of mainland counterparts - Pisarenco, @jrozasub.bsky.social et al. show how purifying selection against slightly deleterious DNA and TE insertions is the primary mechanism. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf206 #evobio #molbio #TEsky

On the way to the office

Excited to share our paper on grassland establishment 7 yrs after native #AMF inoculation—showing AMF result in higher diversity + prairie spread into old fields—was selected Editor’s Choice by @femsjournals.bsky.social.🦠🌎 I’ll discuss next week at #SER2025 Denver ! academic.oup.com/femsle/artic...

📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Job Alert! We're hiring a BIOINFORMATICIAN / NGS SPECIALIST to support our new Molecular Biodiversity Lab in the @terra-cluster.org at @unituebingen.bsky.social. Like the idea to use your skills for understanding biodiversity? To work on diverse questions in a wonderful place? Apply! Please repost!

Very interesting read: Historical and experimental evidence that inherent properties are overweighted in early scientific explanation | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

"Why do queen bumblebees emerge from hibernation during weekends?" I love this framing about bias in hobbyist-collected data.

Now published in @newphyt.bsky.social, @1pantunes.bsky.social and I review evidence for the "Novel Weapons Hypothesis" and the role of allelopathy during invasion. Bottom line: there is very good reason to be skeptical. dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph....

Microbial conservation is essential for sustaining ecosystem functions and services! We propose a conceptual framework and a roadmap for microbial conservation: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The buff-tip moth (Phalera bucephala) has mastered a very particular kind of camouflage. When they close their wings up, they resemble a broken twig. Native to large parts of Europe, there's regional pattern variation that reflects the local tree species. This one best resembles birch twigs?

🏔️New study from the #Ödenwinkel glacier forefield! 3D-laser scans show that vegetation structural complexity uniquely captures competition between vascular plants and bryophytes. 🌱🌿 Structure, not cover, richness, or traits, drives the interactions @mhanusch.bsky.social 👇 buff.ly/bYgl6LD

On the way to the office

Job Alert! The University of Tübingen is hiring a FULL PROFESSOR (W3) in FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY! Come and join our institute, and maybe our new excellence clusters @terra-cluster.org and @greenrobust.de. @gfoesoc.bsky.social @britishecologicalsociety.org @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social Please repost!

One of the most enjoyable parts of my book was inviting researchers I admire to contribute essays This what David Wardle said: Every manuscript needs a simple take-home message. Every sentence must earn its place. Keep it clear, keep it simple.

Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.

Ouch. “If we plan restoration targets to match future climatic conditions and consider state transitions of currently natural ecosystems due to climate change, the potential for natural climate solutions related to ecosystem restoration is close to zero.”

PLEASE respond to review requests! Saying "No" as soon as you can is helpful so we can move to the next invitation. Each ignored invitation can delay the process by around 2 weeks. Be considerate of your peers relying on this process!

Contrasting patterns of local adaptation and climate resilience across forest management regimes in Norway spruce (Picea abies): implications for reforestation practices under climate change https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.11.659044v1

Assessing limits of sustainable seed harvest in wild plant populations. How many seeds can we harvest in a wild population without causing damage? A massive modeling effort, with @robsalgo.bsky.social @bossdorf.bsky.social @plantevoeco.bsky.social conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

🧵1/20: Na počátku 20. století jsme se mýlili prakticky ve všem, co se hvězd týče. Dokonce jsme si mysleli, že Slunce je složené hlavně z kamene. To všechno změnila mladá astronomka, kterou dlouho nikdo nebral vážně.

Brilliant new paper by Jill Anderson and colleagues using 9 years of transplant experiments and integral projection models to predict the capacity of populations for adaptation and persistence under new climates in Boechera stricta. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Bring back the phenotype. Not limited to #plantscience nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

On the way from the office @unimarburg.bsky.social

Adapting wet grassland management: Too high productivity & tall vegetation threaten the orchid Dactylorhiza majalis despite conservation efforts 🌱 More frequent biomass removal could support conservation of the species & other wet grassland specialists 🌏 🧪 🔗https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.70024

Wir suchen Unterstützung: Wo? Marburg: Fachbereich #Biologie, FG #Naturschutz, AGs @ninafarwig.bsky.social & @annabucharova.bsky.social. Was? Unbefristete Teilzeitstelle (75 % der regelmäßigen Arbeitszeit) als #Verwaltungsangestellte*r Hier bewerben: stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/5...

Hotter drought synchronizes bark beetle outbreaks across large spatial scales. New insights from a massive pheromone trap network in C Europe (more than 60 Mill. beetles caught!), led by Maria Potterf. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Honeybees interfere with wild bees in apple pollination in China. Wild bees contribute much higher pollination efficiency than honeybees. Introducing honeybee colonies increased competition with wild bees leading to reduced pollination overall. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

“Fragmented landscapes consistently have both lower α diversity and lower γ diversity [but higher β diversity] Our findings refute claims that habitat fragmentation can increase biodiversity at landscape scales” www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#conference | POPBIO 2025: 37th Conference of the Plant Population Biology Section of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ) ❗ Deadline for abstracts: 31 Mar 2025 ➡️ popbio2025.ibot.cas.cz Org. by @popecolibot.bsky.social @ibotcz.bsky.social, @sciencecharles.bsky.social

New preprint from our lab: Within-species variability in seed longevity in storage is nearly as large as variability between species. A study across 41 species, 188 seed accessions, 5640 replicates and 169 200 seeds. Lead by @leaklepka.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Our new @pnas.org paper shows a previously unrecognized mechanism by which climate warming reduces beech growth: more frequent seed production depletes tree resources, causing a 28% decline in radial growth. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Funded by @ncngovpl.bsky.social

In this study authors concluded that beekeeping compromises wild bee conservation in nature reserves. Both taxonomic (TD) and phylogenetic (PD) diversity of wild bees was reduced near to beehives. Keep away beehives from protected areas Tourbez et al. (2025) APIDOLOGIE doi.org/10.1007/s135...

In the news!🗞️ Thousands of European citizen scientists helped identify shifts in the #floral traits of #insect-#pollinated #plants: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...