Auch im Spätsommer/Frühherbst lohnt sich das Tössstockgebiet für botanische Wanderungen (das Gute liegt so nah...): Gefranster Enzian, Frühlingsenzian, Deutscher Enzian, Scheuchzers Glockenblume, Stängellose Kratzdistel, Wiesen-Augentrost u.v.m. #Schnebelhorn #TopOfZurich

"What makes food healthy?" Assistant Professor Patrick Rühs talks in an interview with ETH Zurich’s #Globe magazine about plant-based diets, food processing – and why blue corn tortillas are his favourite dish. Read more:

My Sunday #riddle! (instead of crossword puzzle) Can you spot it? 🐛 🪲 🐜 🪳

Last week, I defended my PhD thesis! 🎉 4 years diving into blue-green infrastructure, biodiversity, food webs, eDNA, and above all, amazing collaboration between engineers and ecologists 🏣🌱🐞🧬 Big thanks to @laurenmcook.bsky.social, Marco Moretti, and @florianaltermatt.bsky.social!

Big congratulations congrats to @kperrelet.bsky.social for an excellent thesis and defense! Very well done.

Upcoming at #UN #ScienceSummit in NY/online (24.9.2025): Harnessing Environmental DNA: Advancing #SDGs and the Global #Biodiversity Framework. 🧬🛰️🐟🌍🌐 sciencesummitnyc.org/science-summ... #eDNA #Biomonitoring #Biodiversity #GBF REGISTER HERE: event.sciencesummitnyc.org/list-of-sess...

What a joy to find 4 🐛🐛🐛🐛 of the spurge hawk-moth in our garden! We just have a few m2, yet keep it diverse, with native plants and extensive maintenance (and no pesticides nor short cut lawn). Starts to pay off😊 #BiodiversityRocks

Happy to see this published: #Terrestrial #land #cover shapes #fish 🐠 🐟 🐡 #diversity in a major subtropical #river catchment. www.nature.com/articles/s42... #eDNA 🧬 #RS 🛰️ 🌐 🌍 @commsbio.nature.com 1/4🧵

On my way to #gfoe2025 @gfoesoc.bsky.social annual ecology conference in Würzburg www.gfoe-conference.de 🌳 🐟 🔬 🧪 🦀 🦋 🐝 Very much looking forward to catch up with my German & International #Ecology colleagues, please DM for a meeting/chat!

The importance of #karstic #aquifers for the past and future #survival of #groundwater #amphipod #biodiversity: out now @consbiog.bsky.social‬ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... 🧬 🦐 🏔️ 🧵1/5

On my way to #gfoe2025 @gfoesoc.bsky.social annual ecology conference in Würzburg www.gfoe-conference.de 🌳 🐟 🔬 🧪 🦀 🦋 🐝 Very much looking forward to catch up with my German & International #Ecology colleagues, please DM for a meeting/chat!

Just started teaching my yearly fieldcourse in #alpine #biodiversity and monitoring in the Swiss Alps (Elm).🏔️🌳🌲🦟🦅🌸 Looking forward to show the students a rich and biodiverse environment, and how humans shape this ecosystem. Part of the #Biodiversity study program at #UZH www.biodiversity.uzh.ch

A Global Synthesis on Land‐Cover Changes in Watersheds Shaping Freshwater Detrital Food Webs 🔗 buff.ly/Bb0WroB @florianaltermatt.bsky.social @francoiskeck.bsky.social @EawagResearch @eawag.bsky.social @UZH_Science

"If water is life, then groundwater is its lifeblood." A forum paper on collaborative global eDNA study in groundwater ecosystems! doi.org/10.3897/subt...

Researchers from #Eawag have conducted an extensive meta-analysis of field studies worldwide to better understand how land-cover changes in the watershed influence freshwater food webs. 👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @florianaltermatt.bsky.social #foodwebs #landuse

On the lookout for entomological treasures, yet only finding their remains....

Fresh off the press! 🚨 What happens to species with different mobility when we replace urban green spaces with green roofs? Can they migrate to rooftops? 🏙️ TL;DR: Not really, but green roofs still offer unique and improvable habitats! Now out: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 1/6

A nutria family happily grazing & munching duckweed in an oxbow overgrown as it were the tropics.

Do we think enough about parents who care for sick or disabled children – and how not to make things harder? | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Job Alert eDNA

Here, by combining trophiCH with #eDNA based sampling of #biodiversity, @kperrelet.bsky.social et al* show that #urbanisation decouples and simplifies aquatic-terrestrial #foodwebs. doi.org/10.22541/au.... * @laurenmcook.bsky.social, myself😁, @florianaltermatt.bsky.social & Marco Moretti 4/6

Thrilled to announce the publication of the trophiCH database: a multi-trophic, species-level #metaweb for #Switzerland🇨🇭 Out now in #ScientificData 📃 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Want to explore the dataset? 🔍 webapps.wsl.ch/trophiCH/ #OpenData #Ecology #FoodWebs 🌐 1/6

@merinrejichacko.bsky.social , @loicpellissier.bsky.social , @ele-ethwsl.bsky.social , @usysethz.bsky.social , @camilleethz.bsky.social @florianaltermatt.bsky.social @consecol.bsky.social #extinction www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Apply now: #PhD #position “Advancing environmental DNA (#eDNA) approaches to future-proof #environmental #monitoring of #aquatic #ecosystems” 🧬 🔎 🦐 🧪 🐟 (4 years position) ➡️ apply.refline.ch/673277/1268/... Thanks for sharing to suitable candidates! @eawag.bsky.social

🚨 Hot off the press! We show that species loss from key habitats (like wetlands) accelerates secondary extinction in regional multi-habitat food webs. Also, we show the importance of common species to regional food web robustness. doi.org/10.1038/s420... #Ecology #FoodWebs #Biodiversity #Metaweb

Still looking for an inspiring #book 📚for your summer break? Read this: "Is a river alive" by Robert Macfarlane. 🏞️🐟🌳🦫🐜🍁🦐 Sounds like a strange question, but all kids rightly answer it with yes, as rivers are vivid, full of life. And we all know how a dead river looks like🧪☠️🛢️☣️. 1/2

The #phenology of leaf litter decomposition in #aquatic & #terrestrial compartments of #headwater streams @asn-amnat.bsky.social: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... 🌐🌍🌿🍂⏱️ We studied how blue-green 🟦🟩 systems are connected by resource flows and how ecosystem processes vary seasonally. 1/4🧵

Scientific progress & solutions are one of many reasons to stay optimistic: recycling of carbon-fiber compounds (materials long thought to be a pile up waste..) possible at scale, both cost-effective & massively reducing production-related greenhouse gas emissions. Circular economy is the way to go.

Adde et al.: Spatial #Biodiversity Indicators and a Composite #Index for #Conservation #Prioritization in Switzerland 🇨🇭@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social 🌍🌐🐟🦐🦋🌳🪰 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/5 🧵 as part of speed2zero.ethz.ch/de/ & great thanks to everyone involved who moved this forward!

🌊🧬Revolutionizing Biodiversity Monitoring?🧪 Could aquatic #eDNA be a game-changer for tracking biodiversity loss? From detecting invasive species to restoring ecosystems...🌍 Study by Altermatt, F., Couton, M., Carraro, L. et al.: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Hyperspectral imagery, #LiDAR point clouds 🛰️, #eDNA 🧬 to assess land-water 🟦–🟩 linkage of #biodiversity across aquatic functional feeding groups. 🦐🐟🐸🔬💧 Zhang et al. out now in @rsecjournal.bsky.social‬ zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 1/4 🧵 🌐🌍

The very nerdy, but also completely wonderful, Latin names of a pair of protozoa - especially for 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' fans scientistseessquirre...

Save the date (3.11.2025): Erster "Biodiversity Career Day" der Universität Zürich im Rahmen des BSc/MSc Studiums #Biodiversität: www.biodiversitaet.uzh.ch/de/career_da... 🐟🧬🔬🌿🐸🌍🦐🦋

How does #biodiversity control 🍂decomposition in #RiverNetworks? In our new Ecological Monographs paper, we show that 🪲macroinvertebrate key taxa drive decomposition, while #FunctionalDiversity reduces decomposition #variability! Network-scale #BEF in action, check it out! doi.org/10.1002/ecm....

Hiding—but found! #Euchalcia #modestoides caterpillars make little housings of #Pulmonaria leaves, protecting them from predation and parasitoids. With a bit of practice (and lots of luck...) one can find them. Excited to see the moth! #MothsMatter #TeamMoth

Naturalist weekend in the Wallis with spectacular #Biodiversity, yet also clear signs of declines due to abandoned traditional (extensive) agricultural practices. Over centuries, farmers used—with enormous efforts—steep and dry slopes for grazing sheep and cattle. Nowadays abandoned, they overgrow.

I am deeply honored for receiving the University of Zurich Award for Best Teaching at the Dies Academicus. 💐🙏💐 There's many great aspects to my job, but #teaching & #engaging with #students is one of the best. Receiving this award through the nomination by the students thus means a lot to me. 1/2

Thus, #phenology & #timing ⏰ matters! What is measured/observed at one time point cannot be linearly extrapolated throughout the year. See #video 📽️ on our research: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vasZ... #EvaCereghetti, @tiannapeller.bsky.social #SilvanaKaeser, #IsabelleGounand @eawag.bsky.social @UZH,

Seasonal dynamics of #detritus flows and #decomposition across #ecosystem boundaries: We quantified annual dynamics of #leaf litter input 🍂🍃 & decomposition 🍽️ in temperate #forest — headwater #stream #meta-ecosystems 🌍🌐🔬🌳🦐 @cellpress.bsky.social #CurrentBiology www.cell.com/current-biol... 1/3

How do #HabitatChange 🚜, #Pollution 🏭, #ResourceExploitation 🎣, #ClimateChange 📈 and #InvasiveSpecies🌴 as combined human impacts affect #biodiversity? Short and worrying message: distinct decrease in richness and shift in composition. In today's issue @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

💰🌍 Research by Sarah Schöngart et al. shows the wealthiest 10% caused TWO-THIRDS of global warming since 1990. The top 1% have an even bigger impact on extreme weather like #heatwaves and #droughts, hitting vulnerable regions hardest. usys.ethz.ch/en/news-even...

An #Amphipod blast! Made some great observations while doing #fieldwork in the Ajoie🇨🇭/Sundgau🇫🇷: Densities of >1000 individuals of #Gammarus at 10x10 cm riverbed, #Niphargus in the Clos du Doue, and hundreds of free-swimming Gammarids. 🦐🔬🧬🏞️ Such a rewarding day!

#eDNA #eRNA #omics people: would you support the formation of a European Society for Environmental Omics #ESEO? Please share your thoughts in the questionnaire & spread this message! 🙏 Thank you, the ESEO core team! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Utilizing #aquatic environmental DNA #eDNA to address global #biodiversity targets: www.nature.com/articles/s44... 🧬🔬🐟🦫🍂🦐🧬 We discuss how eDNA can contribute towards Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Franework #GBF. Out now in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com

Utilizing #aquatic environmental DNA #eDNA to address global #biodiversity targets: www.nature.com/articles/s44... 🧬🔬🐟🦫🍂🦐🧬 We discuss how eDNA can contribute towards Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Franework #GBF. Out now in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com

🚨New paper alert🚨 Exploring urban #aquatic & #terrestrial biodiversity with #eDNA 🧬 ❗ #Urbanization weakens land–water linkages ❗ Aquatic & terrestrial communities follow distinct drivers 🐞🦟 ❗ Adapted primers for aquatic & terrestrial invertebrates 🧬 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Not all parasitic organisms reach the beauty of (semi)parasitic orchids, such as #Serapias or #Limodorum, which have partially lost their photosynthetic pigments & rely on mycoheterotrophy (parasitic relationship w/ fungi). Both seen on island of Rab, scouting out sites for a new field course.

NEW: Fossil fuel firms like Chevron and Exxon owe the world trillions of dollars. Today in @nature.com, @jsmankin.bsky.social and I show economic losses from rising heat waves directly traceable to these firms, providing scientific support for climate accountability. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Mediterranean plant diversity is stunning—especially when in full flower in spring, and just think of all the insects that pollinate, disperse their seeds, feed on them, etc!

When the quest for (and joy of finding) rare plants #Marsilea #quadrifolia crosses path with another's creature quest for a bloody meal.... #Hirudo #verbana