Have used the holidays wisely (but enough dead wood remained in the forest).

A bit less wind, a bit more solar than in 2024, but also in 2025 61% of the electricity generated in Germany stems from renewable sources. Strong increase over the next years to be expected, given that alone 30GW of windpower have been permitted and granted financing in recent auctions.

Wer Weihnachten unbedingt noch eine gute Tat vollbringen möchte, dem empfehle ich aus aktuellem Anlass eine Spende für hateaid.org/spenden/

🌊 A major event will be held in Brussels next March to explore key insights across freshwater and wetland restoration science, practice and policy. 🔗 Find out more and sign up! freshwaterblog.net/2025/12/15/f... @merlin-project.bsky.social

Merry X-mas from the Aquatic Ecology group!

The 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 will be dedicated to identifying solutions for the conservation and restoration of rivers in the context of climatic, social, and environmental change, focusing also on Nature-based Solutions. Registration is open and free: life2rivers.si/en/internati...

I must say that I am getting tired of BlueSky. I have 2600 followers, but noone is reading the posts, there is no interaction, no discussion... I'll stay for a while, but will shift my activities to LinkedIn. (Though I profoundly dislike the showing off behaviour on that platform.)

Auf den Friedhöfen im Westlichen Ruhrgebiet leben fast 1000 Wildpflanzenarten, mehr als 100 davon stehen auf der Roten Liste. Die Veröffentlichung von Corinne Buch et al. in Natur und Landschaft ist nun open access verfügbar. bfn.bsz-bw.de/frontdoor/de...

It is not a representative sample, but I have been part of many appointment committees for professorial positions in Germany and neighbouring countries in the last years (more than 20, if I count correctly). The 2 procedures this year were the first with several strong applicants from the US.

The situation of postdocs in Germany has made it to Nature: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

New study on the spatial dimension of multiple stressors. Gemma Burgazzi (iDiv) did a great job in running this mesocosm experiment. Effects of single stressors cascaded along the network, with stronger downstream effects. Thanks to all contributors! @leeselab.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/ecog...

Third year in a row that the neighbours and I brew our own beer. Different receipe in 2025, targeting "Helles" instead of "Pils".

Read the accompanying News & Views commentary from Samuel Macaulay 👇 "Synthesizing stressor–biodiversity relationships" www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Interview with the radio station Deutschlandfunk (in German) about the Kaijser et al. stressor paper that appeared yesterday in Nature Ecology & Evolution: www.deutschlandfunk.de/wie-stressfa...

Led by Wim Kaijser, we published a global analysis on how five different organism groups respond to seven stressor categories. New paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution. www.nature.com/articles/s41....

Next week in the EU-Parliament (11.11.2025, 13:30-15), we will discuss the future of sustainable farming in Europe and the alignment or non-alignment of the CAP with sustainability criteria, based on @agtransect.bsky.social and #CAP4GI.

Berater von Bundesagrarminister Alois Rainer fordern den CSU-Politiker auf, mehr gegen Risiken durch den Einsatz von Pestiziden zu unternehmen. Doch Rainer beendet ein Programm genau dafür. taz.de/Forderung-vo... #Landwirtschaft #Pestizide

🌐Geographic isolation doesn’t limit #dragonflies and damselflies in the #Alps. Local #habitat, not distance, shapes communities, suggesting odonates disperse freely across mountain landscapes. ⛰️ 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/ddi....

We need a culture and systematic infrastructures to encourage raw data publication (not only in soil ecology).

Some really good videos on the Oder fishkill provided by @igb-berlin.de youtube.com/playlist?lis...

I rarely go to ResearchGate and then I immediately close.

Unser Artikel zur Regionalen Biodiversitätsstrategie Ruhrgebiet in "Natur und Landschaft" ist nun open access verfügbar: bfn.bsz-bw.de/frontdoor/in...

Even in these most challenging times river restoration in Ukraine is ongoing: freshwaterblog.net/2025/11/04/u...

Retreat of our working group in the new field station of Cologne University in Bienen.

The Freshwater Blog has featured another MERLIN product describing how grants are used for restoration. Timely topic, as the future of major EU restoration grants is uncertain: LIFE+ might be cancelled, the second GAP pillar is shaking... private investments in restoration will gain relevance.

Proof that climate change is real and horrible: www.bbc.com/news/article...

For all forest enthusiasts: This webinar will explore different drivers of forest degradation and restoration approaches, and discuss key success factors for forest restoration like inclusive governance forms and participatory approaches. 🔗 Register here: efi.int/policysuppor...

This week in Munich 🇩🇪: The DANUBElifelines team gathers at TUM to harmonize sampling methods across demo sites. Because better data = better restoration decisions. And it’s always great when the team meets face to face - ideas flow. #DANUBElifelines #MissionOcean #RiverRestoration #HorizonEU

Ich hab's mir heute in der Mittagspause angesehen. Was für ein grandioses Interview!

Ich habe nichts damit zu tun! www.spiegel.de/panorama/deu...

🌍 Where in Europe are peatlands used for agriculture? Just look at this 🗺️👉 greifswaldmoor.de/files/images... 🔗 Understanding where and how peatlands are used is key to understand opportunities for land use change and wet alternatives like paludiculture 🌱💧

Effective restoration of freshwater and wetland ecosystems requires collaboration, good governance, and integration of Nature-based Solutions into mainstream planning. 🔗 Do you want to learn how this is done? Check our Module 2 in the 𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗡 𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆: merlinacademy.thinkific.com

Die Erde hat jetzt ihren ersten Klimakipppunkt überschritten: bei den Warmwasser-Korallen. Das zeigt der Global Tipping Points Report 2025. Auch weitere Kipppunkte rücken bedrohlich näher. Was sonst so im Bericht steht, hab ich hier zusammengefasst: www.deutschlandfunk.de/klima-kipppu...

When the water gets warmer, life gets out of balance. Researchers at the #UDE have published #ThermoFresh, the world's largest freely accessible data collection on the heat tolerance of freshwater species. 📸 UDE/Sebastian Prati 👉 https://www.uni-due.de/2025-10-07-thermofresh-heat-check

Der/die Nutzer(in) mit dem Namen Akrotelm ist auf einer Mission: die großflächige Entwässerung der Landschaft zurückzudrehen. Es wird noch ein bisschen dauern, aber die Erkenntnis wird sich durchsetzen.

Es gibt auch noch Lackpoliturmilch, Bitumenmilch, Farbenmilch, Wolfsmilch, Milchglas, Zementmilch und Waschmilch.

Funding opportunity for young scientists who have worked in Germany before & now want to return & start their group in NRW. Focus of this year's call is, broadly, biosciences. Competitive. Please share. www.mkw.nrw/themen/wisse...

Yuval Noah Harari, Rory Stewart,& Maria Ressa discuss the good life in difficult times. If you don't have the time to read the whole piece, read at least the last two paragraphs. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

This is one of the worst news for Europe's nature in recent decades. #LIFE+ projects have been among the most successful instruments of the EU, and the only one fully dedicated to nature conservation and recovery. www.birdlife.org/news/2025/09...

Field trip to the Scheld flooplain restoration during a BioAgora workshop.

💧 Maria Warter is launching her project ‘Water-conscious cities of the future’. Her junior research group wants to investigate how urban waters respond to human intervention and how restoration measures improve biodiversity, water quality and urban life. 🌿 More: www.igb-berlin.de/en/news/bode...

Fair Rules for Sharing Sequence Data - new paper in Nature Microbiology by @probstlab.bsky.social @alexjprobst.bsky.social, associated to @crc-resist.bsky.social. www.uni-due.de/2025-09-26-f...

Could all the media and social media writers, just for a day or a week or so, please stop to write anything about Trump? Just to please me. Thank you very much.

Exciting collaboration with colleagues from the US and Frederik de Laender - lead by S. Rumschlag and Mike Mahon - on how climate change has lead to alterations in US fish diversity over the last decades. Paper just out: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Die Emschergenossenschaft, vielleicht der Wasserverband in Deutschland mit den herausforderndsten Renaturierungsmaßnahmen, sucht eine/n Gruppenleiter/in für Gewässerentwicklung und Lanschaftspflege. recruitingapp-5115.de.umantis.com/Vacancies/12...

Interesting opportunity to gain funding (up to 100 kEuro) for #damremoval or other river restoration acitvities in the Danube River Basin.

More dam removals done in @merlin-project.bsky.social!

Friedhofsrasen mit erstaunlicher Pflanzenvielfalt, darunter viele Relikte extensiver Landwirtschaft und von Sandheiden. www.tuexenia.de/publikatione...

How can agricultural policies support the uptake of water resilient farming practices? Policy brief by @merlin-project.bsky.social project-merlin.eu/files/merlin...