Alex Milcu

🚨 #Ozone & bumblebees: what's the impact?
The #Mesocosms platform we are currently exploring how #airpollution shapes #pollinator physiology & behavior 🐝🌿Part of the collaborative #ANR #PolluCom project led by @magproffit.bsky.social @cnrsoccitanieest.bsky.social @anaeefrance.bsky.social #ecotron

🔬 New #Ecotron article just published in SBB! Nesting #microcosms inside #mesocosms reveal how #FunctionalDiversity of macrodetritivores affects litter mass loss. 🍂🪱 Spoiler: it matters!
👉 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

@cnrsecologie.bsky.social & the #Ecotron team!

#Biodiversity

#Microcosms and #Mesocosms experimental platforms completely taken over by the #ANR Pollucom project (@magproffit.bsky.social and her team from CNRS CEFE) studying #ozone effects on plant–pollinator interactions 🌼🐝 They’ve hijacked our meeting room too! Must be the AC 😅 @ecotron-cnrs.bsky.social

Major milestone @ecotron-cnrs.bsky.social: #lysimeters installed in the Macrocosms experimental platform for the upcoming #biochar & #basalt for #ERW. Huge thanks to the team for the massive effort!

Interested in collaborating? Get in touch! @anaeeeric.bsky.social @anaeefrance.bsky.social

Excited to share the first article from the #Ecotron 's #Mesocosms platform! 🎉 Based on a 4+ year experiment manipulating soil macrofauna diversity in large #lysimeters under #drought. #Macrofauna matters!

Huge thanks to @UFZ_de & @CEFE_CNRS. More coming soon!

🔗 www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic...

Curious about how we can boost your climate change-research? 💪
Never heard of Research Infrastructures and want to know more? 🌎
Want to know how to apply through our open call? (DL October 2025) 🗓️
Then don't miss our webinar on exactly this, friday the 13th!

Register here: lnkd.in/e86K89bD

Had a great time at the Enhanced Rock Weathering conference in Antwerp #ERW25! Industry interest is accelerating faster than the science. Our latest study shows promising results: doi.org/10.1016/j.ap... – And soon a new experiment in the #Ecotron #macrocosms, even better suited for this challenge.

There are great Global Ecology Starter Packs go.bsky.app/F86HYqj organised by @nmouquet.bsky.social

You can DM @global-ecology.bsky.social to join the Vol_3 of the starter pack

Des enseignants-chercheurs à la recherche du temps perdu : regard sur le malaise universitaire Comment les enseignants-chercheurs vivent-ils leur métier aujourd’hui ? Extraits d’une grande enquête sur le malaise universitaire.

For the sake of being able to do our jobs as researchers, can we please stop adding more admin burden on researchers! A ‪@france.theconversation.com piece about the need for time to actually....think.

Des enseignants-chercheurs à la recherche du temps perdu: theconversation.com/des-enseigna...

A multiplexing system for quantifying oxygen fractionation factors in closed chambers Abstract. The study of isotopic ratios of atmospheric oxygen in fossilized air trapped in ice core bubbles provides information on variations in the hydrological cycle at low latitudes and productivit...

🎉🎉🎉Congrats to the Montpellier #ecotron @ecotron-cnrs.bsky.social (@clementpiel.bsky.social, Joana Sauze, Sébastien Devidal & @alex-ecology.bsky.social) and @lsce-ipsl.bsky.social for this new article describing how to measure oxygen fractionation in close systems.

gi.copernicus.org/articles/14/...

#egu25 lunch break. Looking forward to the #ecotron and #lysimeter poster session this afternoon meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...

The Universal but Weak Positive Correlation Between Plant Diversity and Carbon Storage: Evidence From a Global Synthetic Analysis Research has yielded conflicting quantitative conclusions regarding the relationship between plant diversity and carbon storage, leaving the nature of this correlation at the global scale unresolved....

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....

A few more days to apply for this #postdoc opportunity @ecotron-cnrs.bsky.social.

We are very happy to announce that the next Microclimate Ecology & Biogeography (MEB) conference will happen in Montpellier (FRANCE), 1 - 5 June 2026 ☀️
meb-network.com/meb-2026/
Microclimate scientists: save the date in your agenda!!

📢 #Postdoc Opportunity! 🌱🔬
Join an #Ecotron project on soil #carbon sequestration @ecotron-cnrs.bsky.social

🔗 Apply here: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

📍 Work with @alex-ecology.bsky.social & @cbiogeo.bsky.social

📢 Please share!

#Soil #Biochar #Weathering #AcademicJobs #JobOffer #CarbonScience

Intriguing debate between classical predictive and structural causal modelling. Always thought the later is a wee bit overrated. Without strong a priori hypotheses, both can lead us straight into the land of spurious correlations BS.

La hausse du dioxyde de carbone et de l’azote fait baisser la biodiversité végétale L’augmentation du CO2 favorise certaines plantes au détriment d’autres, réduisant la diversité des prairies et la résilience des écosystèmes.

Happy to help cover pioneering research for the French journal @pourlascience.bsky.social (www.pourlascience.fr) ! P. B. Reich et al.'s 24-year #Nature study (2024) shows high #CO₂ first dampens then amplifies N-induced #biodiversity loss — alarming findings!

www.pourlascience.fr/sd/environne...

#Montpellier #Ecotron staff stood up for #science!

#StandUpForScience

#StandUpForScience Montpellier, France @standupforscifr.bsky.social @standupforscience.bsky.social

📣Exciting news! The Visiting Fellowship Program at the University of Montpellier is now open. Ready for a 3-6‑month academic adventure at the Ecotron🌱? DM us to learn more and apply! #VisitingFellow #UMontpellier #Ecotron

makit.edu.umontpellier.fr/en/calls-for...

Resource economics of tree communities control soil food web multifunctionality in European forests Plants affect terrestrial ecosystem functioning by performing the primary production that energetically sustains heterotrophic organisms, and by shaping the microenvironment. However, the influence of...

Our #Biodiversa -funded #SoilForEurope preprint is now available—showing how trees shape the soil food web & #multifunctionality. 🌱🌳

Huge congrats to Ludovic Henneron for his incredible effort! Currently under consideration in...we’ll keep that a secret for now. 😉

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Figure 2. Measuring changes in insect biodiversity (centre column 'Metrics' and 'Trends') can be achieved by focusing on drivers that directly or indirectly impact insect biodiversity metrics and trends (left column 'Drivers of Change'). Where data on insect populations specifically are unavailable, data from other species and ecological processes can provide inferential support for changes in insect biodiversity (right column 'Indicators of Change').

*New paper* Denialism campaigns are growing in attempts to discredit science, scientists, and the scientific process generally. Biodiversity loss denial is a new phenomenon that needs our attention.
-With @alexanderlees.bsky.social + Eliza Grames!
#CommSky 🧪🌏 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Same here, please consider me for vol 3. Cheers.

📣Teaming up with @cbiogeo.bsky.social for a #Macrocosms experiment on algae-based #biochar & #basalt for enhanced weathering in a realistic #controlled-environment setup. #ecotron @anaeefrance.bsky.social @cnrsoccitanieest.bsky.social

Lysimeters ready!

Reach out if you have ideas to collaborate!

Ten practical guidelines for microclimate research in terrestrial ecosystems Most biodiversity dynamics and ecosystem processes on land take place in microclimates that are decoupled from the climate as measured by standardised weather stations in open, unshaded locations....

*Ten practical guidelines for microclimate research in terrestrial ecosystems*

I am so glad to share our latest paper in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social led by @pieterdefrenne.bsky.social and the @mebnetwork.bsky.social.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#AnaEE France, Montpellier #Ecotron and CEREEP Ecotron are present at the "5th National Meeting on Research into Polluted Sites and Soils, Paris", organized by #ADEME. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you need controlled environment facilities for your experiments!

Running an #agroecology - related project ?

@agroserv.bsky.social offers #transnational access to cutting-edge research facilities—covering costs for your project, including access to state-of-the-art #experimental platforms @ #Montpellier European #Ecotron (@ecotron-cnrs.bsky.social). #ecology

You have until March 26 to apply for free access to research services from #AnaEE and 10 other networks. Open for everyone: application criteria, videos of succesful applicants and much more: agroserv.eu

#ResearchFunding @agtransect.bsky.social #AgroEcology @agroserv.bsky.social @envri.bsky.social

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. And a cheating one on top of everything. Imagine being the richest guy in the world and still feeling the need to lie about your gaming skills 🤣🤣🤣 #ellonisaduck