Biodiversity Exploratories

📉 Results: Pollinators face persistent land-use pressure, affecting morphology & abundance.

Bumblebee body size ↓ with local land-use, ↑ with floral resources.
Syrphid fly body size ↓ with landscape-level land-use & was temp-sensitive.
Abundance: Bumblebees ↓, syrphid flies ↑ with local land-use.

#Pollinators are essential for ecosystem functioning. 🐝🌼
This BE-study explores temporal stability of #land-use and climatic effects on morphological traits & abundance of the #bumblebee Bombus lapidarius and syrphid fly Episyrphus balteatus in agricultural #grasslands. 🌐

🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ba...

🔬🌿 Field research up close!
Students from @uniulm.bsky.social and @unituebingen.bsky.social explored forest and grassland plots in the Explo Schwäbische Alb as part of their #biodiversity and #plant #ecology courses.
Hands-on #science -insightful, practical, and inspiring!

📷 M. Müller
#Fieldwork

🦇 What drives #bat diversity in #forests? 🌲

Gaps boost species richness & abundance. More #deadwood & understory = higher bat & feeding activity. Generalists thrive in gaps, specialists stay under canopy. Structural variety is key!

Check out our latest BE paper for more:
doi.org/10.1016/j.fo... 🌐

Interested in nocturnal #moths?
☑️ Check our new BE-Paper in @oikosjournal.bsky.social:
#Land-use intensification reduced trait & phylogenetic beta #diversity - mainly in common moths. Rare #forest species responded differently. Body size ↓, wing load & darkness ↑.

🔗 doi.org/10.1002/oik.... 🌐

🌼 Spring flashback! Our team recorded 44 #plant species on 50 plots in the Hainich-Dün Exploratory. Featured: lesser celandine & wood anemone. 🌿
🙌 Shout-out to Christoph Zwahlen and the @unibe.ch #botany team for additionally spotting 47 species in Mülverstedt!
📷 S. Pompe
#Biodiversity #bexplo

📢 New BE study: #Land-use intensity affects the species–area relationship only indirectly via reduced #plant species richness.🌱 #Mowing lowers, grazing raises spatial heterogeneity ➡️divergent effects of land-use components & the need to assess direct vs. indirect drivers.

🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ba...

No we don't, we just collect them from the treeholes.

Summer vibes in the forest. A look up into the canopy—pure calm. The forest is the perfect place to recharge and cool down in the hot summer month. 🌲

Where do you go to cool down?🌞❄️

📷 C. Penone

#bexplo #SummerInTheForest #Biodiversity #GetOutside

Organic substrate quality influences microbial community assembly and nitrogen transport to plants in the hyphosphere of a temperate grassland soil The availability of different organic substrates influences the assembly and functionality of hyphosphere microbial communities; however, the underlyi…

🔬 New BE study on the #grassland hyphosphere #microbiome: Substrate quality shapes microbial communities & N transfer. More N from arginine than root litter reaches #plant roots. Saprotrophic #fungi play a key role in litter processing & plant nutrition.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

In June the project LandUseMultBEF had been working in the forest plots of Schorfheide-Chorin, collecting water-filled treeholes. Larvae were extracted from the samples, and a predation experiment was conducted to identify the macroinvertebrate predator species inhabiting these cavities.

📷 S. López

📢New paper from our FOX experiment on how #forest structure affects #carrion removal by #scavengers: Carrion vanishes fast in both gaps & closed forest, and removal rates are similar. But scavenger communities differ, suggesting functional redundancy.🦊🦅
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

📢 New paper on fine #root #biomass (FRB) in #forests! 🌳 FRB peaks in moist, fertile soils & drops in dry, poor ones. Yet roots in dry soils hold more nutrients & sugars—likely for drought response. Rainfall & management matter more for FRB than temperature.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Metabarcoding reveals time after tree death as main driver of diversity and composition of invertebrate communities in deadwood Increasing the availability of deadwood habitats to protect saproxylic biodiversity is a key objective of forest nature conservation. However, most kn…

New 📃 out, led by @LeahVogelfänger.
While the ecology of saproxylic beetles is well studied, other invertebrates often come up short.
Studying 15 taxa across 8 years, we found that—unlike for beetles—tree species mattered little for the communities of these diverse groups. 🌳
@bexplo.bsky.social

Postdoc Job offer for Arthropod Ecologists 🪲🕷️

Michael Staab @leuphana.bsky.social offers a 3 year postdoc starting in October latest.
Arthropod diversity, interactions & functions in different research programs, e.g. @bexplo.bsky.social

Apply by June 19th

www.leuphana.de/en/universit...

📢BE-Paper online about #seedrain and how it's influenced by #land-use intensity (LUI)!🌱In our 142 #grassland plots, higher LUI increased seed density but redcued diversity. #Fertilization had negative effects; #mowing once/year helps, not at higher frequencies.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

📢 New data from the Biodiversity Exploratories!
We've just added 173 datasets via BExIS, bringing the total to 1,722 publicly available. 🔍
These datasets and further resources are accessible for research, teaching, and more. 🌿📊
➡️ Explore the data: www.bexis.uni-jena.de
#Research #OpenData #BExIS

Thresholds of functional trait diversity driven by land use intensification - Nature Ecology & Evolution Land use intensification is a major driver of biodiversity change and ecosystem functioning. Here the authors identify thresholds of grassland plant community structure and stability in response to la...

Our new paper is out to day in Nature Ecology and Evolution!

It is called: Thresholds of functional trait diversity driven by land use intensification

⬇️
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#FunctionalTraits 🌐 ➕📏

@inrae-france.bsky.social @urep.bsky.social @cnrsecologie.bsky.social @bexplo.bsky.social

For over a year, the BE_BioMON project team has been regularly out in the grasslands, investigating how nitrogen is transformed in the soil and how this relates to biodiversity and land use.

📷 U. Schumacher

#BiodiversityExploratories #BioMON #NitrogenCycle #SoilEcology #Fieldwork #Schorfheide

Land use and mineral type determine stability of newly formed mineral-associated organic matter - Communications Earth & Environment Both quantity of organic carbon available to microorganisms and presence of available nutrients control the decomposition of newly formed mineral-associated organic matter, according to a study exposi...

📢New BE-Paper out in @commsearth.nature.com:
Mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) stability strongly depends on mineral type & #LandUse. Goethite more stable than illite; forests more stable than grasslands. Important for soil C storage.
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s43...
#SoilCarbon #Ecosystems

Spotted this striking mushroom cluster growing from an old tree burl in the Schorfheide forest. Likely a species that thrives on weakened or dead wood—nature wastes no niche. 🍄🌿

📍 Exploratory Schorfheide-Chorin

📷 M. Rubenbauer

#ForestFinds #Biodiversity #Mushrooms #Schorfheide

Today we celebrate the incredible variety of life on Earth — from tiny soil microbes to majestic forests. Biodiversity is not just beautiful; it’s essential for clean air, fertile soil, and healthy ecosystems.

📷Ayushi, M.Erhardt, A-C.Wicht, J.Hailer, H.Winter, A.Parreno, H.Kellner, G.LeProvost

📢 New BE-Paper presents a novel approach to quantify energy channels of #soil detritivores and predators in temperate #forests. Results show #fungal #energy flow dominates across forest types/regions, while Chilopoda use more bacterial and plant resources.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

We've just completed the last sampling of our 15N experiment, part of @bexplo.bsky.social. Very grateful for the support received from the local management teams, students, and colleagues throughout more than a year of work! More on SOM-N and N cycling microbes in managed grasslands coming soon🤎

On May 10th, the Biodiversity Exploratories participated in the Night of the Museums at the Senckenberg Museum @sgn.one. Visitors explored biodiversity through interactive displays, including insect observations, a magnet game matching species to their habitats, highlighting land use impacts.

#Spring is showing its sunny side in the #Explo #Schorfheide. Bright yellow rapeseed fields, blue sky, and a quiet pond – sometimes that’s all you need to pause. Let the landscape do the rest.
#SpringVibes #RapeseedFields #Brandenburg #NatureMoment #Outdoors
📷 M. Rubenbauer

📢New BE-Paper published ‼️

We, the local management teams of the Biodiversity Exploratories, explored agricultural research at the University of Göttingen! Exciting exchange on grasslands, livestock, and biodiversity. 🌱🐄

📷 J. Hailer, U. Schumacher

🌍 Happy #EarthDay! Today we celebrate our amazing planet and remind ourselves how important it is to protect it. Together, we can preserve Earth for future generations! 💚🌱 #ProtectOurPlanet #Sustainability #EarthDay2025

📢 New BE-publication out now – tackling a crucial topic: Microplastics and their impact on soil health!
💡 #Microplastics aren't just a water issue — they're affecting our #soils and ecosystems, too.

Check it out!