Anna-Liisa Laine

Every year #ESEB distinguishes a young evolutionary biologist with the John Maynard Smith Prize! Nominations for the 2026 prize are due by January 15th!

Find out more here: eseb.org/prizes-fundi...

🌾 Overall, cover crop choice matters: diverse cover crop maximize ecosystem benefits, while herbicide-based management reduces them. 🏞️ Surrounding semi-natural habitats (grasslands, woodlots) amplify positive effects of local mgmt especially for natural pest control (Photo: S. Richart-Cervera)

Herbivory Modifies the Role of Spatial Processes in a Grassland Plant Metacommunity We empirically examined how mammalian herbivory interacts with habitat size and connectivity to affect plant diversity in a natural grassland metacommunity. We found that herbivory increased plant di...

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....

ShanghaiRanking: University of Helsinki ranks 8th in the world in ecology, and the 1st in Nordic countries | University of Helsinki According to ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects in 2025, ecology is the most successful discipline at the University of Helsinki.

#Ecology at @helsinki.fi just jumped to #8 in the world in the 2025 Shanghai rankings and is the highest ranking discipline in Finland 🥳🥳🥳. So proud of my community 💚

www.helsinki.fi/en/news/sust...

In today's REC seminar, Perttu Anttonen explained how they study the effects of climate change on ecosystem functions such as the yield, abundance, and phenology of mushrooms, fruit trees, and moths. 🍄🍏 #EnvStat

Posti toi tällaisen muiston menneisyydestä. Akateemikko Ilkka Hanskin sitaatti @yliopistolehti.bsky.social ”Kaikilla elävillä on oikeus olemassaoloon”. Kiitos lähettäjälle 💚
#biodiversiteetti
@helsinki.fi

Safeguarding long-term research in ecology and evolution - Nature Ecology & Evolution Long-term research projects are essential for predicting the ecological and evolutionary responses of species to global change, yet their continuity is often threatened by uncertainties over funding. ...

Safeguarding long-term research in ecology and evolution www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Q&A with Stéphane Blanc, research director at CNRS, about the Long-term Studies in Ecology and Evolution programme and its priorities for supporting long-term monitoring and research

Free to read: rdcu.be/eQltU

Nice looking Jacques Monod conferences next year #1: Ecology and evolution of host-parasite interactions in a changing world (chaired by Oliver Kaltz and @bkoskella.bsky.social) cjm.sb-roscoff.fr/en/conferenc...

The Ecological Society of America just highlighted our article among 5 notable studies recently published in their journals!

In this work, Dr. Parisy et. al. show that environmental conditions drive opportunistic partner choice among arctic plants and root-associated fungi.
esa.org/blog/2025/11...

Beyond the buzz: analyzing actors promoting regenerative agriculture in Europe

Relevant new paper by Schreefel et al in npj Sustainable Agriculture
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

The effects of flower supplementation on pollinators and pollination along an urbanisation gradient Enhancing urban greenspaces for pollinator communities by planting flower patches is increasingly common, but their efficacy for different groups of insects (bees, hoverflies and moths) is unclear. O....

Our new paper is out! We show that assessing the effects of adding flower patches in cities is complex and their direct benefits for pollinator communities and pollination aren’t always straightforward.
@plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social #openaccess
doi.org/10.1002/ppp3...

Only few days left to apply for the full professorship in Functional Ecology at @unituebingen.bsky.social. We are looking for a female colleague to join our institute. Come and join us! Lots of opportunities for collaboration in a beautiful work place!

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Are you an early career plant scientist with 3-5 years' post-PhD experience?

Tell the world about your research with the New Phytologist #TansleyMedal!

Time is running out - apply for the 2026 competition by 1 November 2025.

Find out more: www.newphytologist.org/grants-award...

#PlantScience

📢4-year fully funded #PhD on seasonal timing of egg overwintering insects 🦋🦗🪳
🔬Identify universal mechanisms underlying #insect egg developmental time under #ClimateChange
📌@niooknaw.bsky.social @animalecol-nioo.bsky.social

ℹ️ vacatures.knaw.nl/job-invite/2...
❗Application deadline: 7 December 2025

#Talvilintulaskennat alkavat marraskuun alussa. Perusta uusi reitti tai elvytä vanha reitti henkiin. Vuosittainen kirje talvilintulaskennoista kiinnostuneille löytyy linkistä 👇
tietopankki.luomus.fi/linnustonseu...
Tervetuloa mukaan!
@birdlifesuomi.bsky.social @helsinki.fi @nathist.bsky.social

Cultivated lands: blind spots in global biodiversity data Biodiversity loss due to agricultural expansion and intensification is well documented. Accordingly, the Global Biodiversity Framework calls for transforming agroecosystems towards sustainable management. Yet, cultivated land remains a blind spot in global, open-access biodiversity data, creating knowledge gaps and reporting biases. Overcoming this requires tailored incentives, data integration, and farmer agency.

Online now: Cultivated lands: blind spots in global biodiversity data

Starting Grants 2026 applications: Facts and figures The ERC Starting Grants 2026 call closed for applications on 14 October 2025. These are the preliminary data on submitted proposals:

📈 Record interest in ERC Starting Grants 2026!

4,807 proposals - a 22% increase compared to last year’s call.

👩‍🔬 Women submitted nearly 43% of proposals - the highest share ever recorded in an ERC call.

More stats 👉 bit.ly/4hcYJln

#ChooseEurope

So happy to see the first BugNet paper published 🥳!
Thanks to all our collaborators, without you this would not have been possible! 👇

Urban earthworm communities driven more by climate and elevation than urbanisation intensity - Urban Ecosystems Soil biodiversity, particularly earthworms, plays a crucial role in ecosystem functions and services but remains largely understudied in urban environments. In this context, we conducted a synthesis analysis of 41 studies from urban environments (726 records, 1995–2024) to (1) describe patterns of earthworm communities, (2) identify the main drivers shaping urban earthworm communities, focusing on the effects of climate, degree of urbanization, soil properties, and local land use, with the expectation that climate would be the strongest driver, and (3) assess the occurrence of exotic earthworm species. Urban earthworm communities showed considerable variation in their abundance, biomass and species richness. Within our dataset, exotic species were detected in North America, South America, and Asia, but no records from European and African cities, despite their known presence there. However, there was a strong geographical bias, with 75% of records from Europe. Our results reveal that at the global scale, elevation, and annual variation in temperature and potential evapotranspiration are the most important predictors shaping total earthworm abundance. For total earthworm biomass, variation in potential evapotranspiration is the key predictor. At the plot scale, we found both positive and negative correlations between earthworm community metrics, soil properties, and specific land uses, namely urban forests and grasslands. We recommend additional standardised sampling, broader geographical and temporal coverage, and the investigation of urban-specific direct and indirect stressors, as crucial steps for understanding urban soil biodiversity and promoting beneficial management practices. Overall, this analysis indicates that urbanisation intensity showed no consistent effects on earthworm communities once climate and soil variables were accounted for. Given the importance of climate impacts, mitigation of climate change effects would be valuable for the maintenance of earthworm communities.

Really pleased that @kevhoef.bsky.social and my paper, along with the LandWorm working group (funded by CESAB - @frbiodiv.bsky.social), is published🎉.

We analysed earthworm communities in cities & find that increasing urbanisation doesn't appear to have an effect.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Yliopistonlehtori, opetus- ja tutkimusalana ympäristöbiologia Yliopistonlehtori, opetus- ja tutkimusalana ympäristöbiologia

🚂 🚂 whoop whoop! Meillä @helsinki.fi #Viikki on yliopistonlehtorin pesti auki! Vastuullasi on kehittää ja opettaa tulevaisuuden ympäristöongelmien ja luontokadon ratkaisijoita.
Saa kernaasti jakaa!
jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

Professor or Associate professor (Tenure Track/Full) in Microbial Genetics of Health - Turun yliopisto - Työpaikat - Duunitori Avoin työpaikka: Professor or Associate professor (Tenure Track/Full) in Microbial Genetics of Health - Turun yliopisto, Turku. Duunitorilla lisäksi yli 30 000 muuta avointa työpaikkaa. Lue lisää nyt!

Professor (full) or Associate Professor (tenure track) in Microbial Genetics of Health (U. Turku Finland). Competitive starting package included! Please share.

duunitori.fi/tyopaikat/ty...

Modern continuous cover forestry traces roots to 17th-century European farm practices A study in Forest Ecosystems revealed that Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) in Europe partly originated in a 17th-century practical agroforestry innovation, and not exclusively in a 19/20th-c...

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

2 job adverts on a NERC project w myself + @darrenobbard.bsky.social on “What determines the virome: ecology and the environment, evolution, or species history?” early 2026 in
@uniexecec.bsky.social
- Postdoc: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
- RA: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
Pls share!

Wood tiger moth on leaf. Photo: Juhani Maamela.

Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

🔔Last chance to apply!
#postdoc #openpositions

Coordination of cortex modifications in time, space, and under stress In roots, cell-type-specific differentiation enables specialized responses to environmental stress. The cortex, located between the vasculature and epidermis, is a key site for stress-responsive modi....

Delighted to present our Tansley Insight on what we know about the potential of different root cortex layers to do develop into different things!

👩‍🔬 @dorotakawa.bsky.social @hannahschneider.bsky.social

📗 @newphyt.bsky.social

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The epidemiology of wild-crop interfaces: integrating ecology, evolution, and management through modeling. | agriRxiv

Preprint alert!
The epidemiology of wild–crop interfaces: Integrating ecology, evolution, and management through modeling - www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/abs/10.3...

Our department of Plant Molecular Biology at the University of Lausanne @unil.bsky.social is recruiting a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in the field of Plant-Organism Interactions 🌱🐛🦠🍄! Application before November 30, 2025. See the official job ad for more details: tinyurl.com/mtxdcz6p

@annaliisalaine.bsky.social, with wonderful urban biodiversity in the background, challenging the leaders of @helsinki.fi to think of how our decisions may have biodiversity impacts, and what their tradeoffs are

30th Nordic Conference in Mathematical Statistics | University of Helsinki 1-4 June 2026, University of Helsinki, Finland

NordStat will be in Helsinki in 1-4 June, 2026. Website and preliminary program have been published:
www.helsinki.fi/en/conferenc...