iDiv Biodiversity Research

The GloNAF database was initiated by iDiv's @smartenwinter.bsky.social together with an international team of researchers and is constantly curated & updated.

The updated Global Naturalized Alien Flora (GloNAF 2.0) database GloNAF is a continuously updated, curated compilation of alien naturalized vascular plant inventories for geographic regions worldwide. Building on its predecessor, GloNAF 2.0 now contains 16,429 tax....

How do alien plants spread - and which ones thrive?🌱GloNAF is the most comprehensive open‐access database on regional inventories of naturalized alien plants. It includes 16,429 (sub-)species across >1,300 regions. doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

Job Openings Explore exciting career opportunities at iDiv. Join a modern, international, and innovative research centre in the heart of Germany.

iDiv and @unihalle.bsky.social are hiring!📣 New job offer for a technical assistant (full time) at the lab of @jon-chase03.bsky.social - check it out and apply by 27 Nov!
www.idiv.de/career/job-o...

Study led by Pieter Sanczuk (UGent) and Ingmar Staude (iDiv and @unileipzig.bsky.social). 🤝

Global bias towards recording latitudinal range shifts - Nature Climate Change The authors consider studies reporting species range shifts and demonstrate a geometric bias in sampling along latitudinal, rather than longitudinal, gradients. This bias may favour the corroboration ...

A new Nature Climate Change study shows our understanding of species range shifts is biased: we detect northward shifts more easily than east–west movements driven by nitrogen pollution or land use. The new Latitudinal Bias Index helps reveal this blind spot: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Job Openings Explore exciting career opportunities at iDiv. Join a modern, international, and innovative research centre in the heart of Germany.

📢We are hiring! If you are experienced in financial matters and want to support iDiv's financing department as a parental leave cover, apply by 26 Nov! www.idiv.de/career/job-o...

On #InsideBiodiversity, Helmut Hillebrand urges us to rethink how we interpret planetary boundaries in nature. 🚨

💬 “It’s not something you can take literally in the sense that it actually gives you a boundary. It is a warning sign. It is a cry for action.”

🎧 Listen: insidebiodiversity.podigee.io

Ein Bergwald-Laufkäfer (Carabus sylvestris) auf Moos. Foto: Ralph Martin

The populations of 52 percent of ground beetle species have declined in recent years, but those of 22 percent of species have increased. This is the conclusion of researchers from #UniJena in collaboration with @idiv-research.bsky.social and @ufz.de.

➡️ www.uni-jena.de/en/372185/fe...

This week, we had a great retreat with our PhDs, Postdocs & PIs in Leipzig @idiv-research.bsky.social

Apart from sharing our progress, we hosted a session on extreme events with guest speakers @sebastian-sippel.bsky.social & @miguelmahecha.bsky.social
Thanks for the insightful talks & discussion!

Planetary boundaries are not always protective. Guest Helmut Hillebrand warns that setting limits can lead to their full exploitation.

💬 “Having a boundary… will always lead to the complete use of that space.”

🎧 Hear more on #InsideBiodiversity: insidebiodiversity.podigee.io

Hydro‐Functional Traits and Their Dissimilarity to the Neighbourhood Buffer Tree Growth Against the 2018–2020 Central European Drought Climate change is putting forests at risk. Our research shows that a tree's water-use strategy largely determines its growth across years: whereas one strategy performs better in normal years, the ot....

To the paper in @globalchangebio.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1111/gcb....

The researchers used the MyDiv experiment near Bad Lauchstädt to study 2,611 trees of 10 European species over six years (2016-21) — including the 2018-20 drought.

Diverse forests are more resistant to climate change

New study led by @lsachsenmaier.bsky.social @agwirthweigelt.bsky.social shows: forest stands made up of tree species with different water-use strategies (not just many species) grow better in drought years. #iDivResearch #Biodiversity
www.idiv.de/diverse-fore...

Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers 2025 The Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list identifies and celebrates individuals who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their fields of research. Through rigorous selection criteria and ...

Five iDiv-affiliated researchers made it onto the Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list: Jens Kattge, Henrique Pereira, Markus Reichstein, Josef Settele and Sönke Zaehle. This means their publications are among the top 1% most cited worldwide. Congratulations! 🎉 clarivate.com/highly-cited...

Non‐Native Plants Attain Native Levels of Microherbivory Richness With Time and Range Expansion Drawing on a continental database of over 120,000 plant–microherbivore interactions, we demonstrate that non-native plants in Europe are not excluded from food webs indefinitely. With increasing resi...

To the paper: doi.org/10.1111/ele....

Non-native Plant Species Adapt to Natural Ecosystems Faster than Expected

New research from @unileipzig.bsky.social & iDiv shows: when non-native plants have been in Europe longer and have spread more widely, they begin to be used by native micro-herbivores at levels similar to native plants. #Biodiversity #iDivResearch
www.idiv.de/non-native-p...

Gradual change in ecosystems is often underestimated.

On #InsideBiodiversity, Prof. Helmut Hillebrand explains how small shifts can build up over time and space. 💬 “Even small environmental changes already impact the system… and accumulate.”

🎧 Listen here: insidebiodiversity.podigee.io

Paper out🎉Spatial scale matters for grassland invasions
doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...
▶️Native richness limits invaders, but effect weakens at larger scales
▶️Old aliens respond to climate & disturbance🌧️
▶️Neophytes & invasives thrive with roads, urban & croplands 🚗
#sCaleGrassDiv @idiv-research.bsky.social

The newest episode of #InsideBiodiversity is out now!

Guest Helmut Hillebrand talks about tipping points and planetary boundaries.

💬 “If you only retrospectively can say, ‘Oh, now we have crossed it,’ then of course it’s rather useless.”

Listen and subscribe now: insidebiodiversity.podigee.io

Coming soon: #InsideBiodiversity explores an urgent question: How frequent are tipping points in ecosystems and can we detect them?🔻

🎧 Tune in for the science and politics behind thresholds, regime shifts, and planetary boundaries: insidebiodiversity.podigee.io

Inspiring joint conference of @treedi.bsky.social and @multitroph.bsky.social at @idiv-research.bsky.social, with 20 presentations by doctoral researchers, 7 workshops, 5 international keynote speakers, 1 excursion and 1 guided city tour.

🌿 In this episode of #InsideBiodiversity, @smartenwinter.bsky.social unpacks the curious logic behind how scientists classify species — and the consequences that follow.

🌍 What does “non-native” really mean in a world shaped by movement?

🎧 Listen in: insidebiodiversity.podigee.io

The power of community engagement 🙌🏼 by Thore Engel #LivingData2025 @idiv-research.bsky.social

6 months in. 6 episodes out. #InsideBiodiversity is gaining traction and is in the top 15% of podcasts based on listens per episode!

Thanks for listening, sharing, and subscribing! And do get in touch and let us know: what topics do you want us to dive into? insidebiodiversity.podigee.io

Male Eastern black-eared wheatear (Oenanthe melanoleuca) of the black-throated phenotype, Greece. Image: Reto Burri

Gene transfer can also occur across species boundaries. A team involving #UniJena was able to prove this using the plumage colouring of wheatear species, as they report in @science.org.

➡️ www.uni-jena.de/en/357808/ge...

A few throwback impressions from this year’s #iDivConference 🌱 Great to see so many contributions from our group - here featuring @lsachsenmaier.bsky.social, Annalena Lenk, and @karlandraczek.bsky.social.
Thanks to everyone who made it such a nice meeting! @idiv-research.bsky.social #Science

Research shows how extreme and prolonged drought causes unprecedented productivity loss Multi-year extreme droughts cause far greater long-term damage to grassland ecosystems than previously expected.

New global study @science.org reveals alarming effects of prolonged extreme drought on grassland productivity.
Discover the global study involving 170 scientists across 6 continents & incl. iDiv's DroughtNet sites in Jena and Bad Lauchstädt! #iDivResearch #Biodiversity
www.idiv.de/extreme-prol...

Haikuo Zhang convinced us: Microbes are key! They mobilize P and P mobilization increases with tree diversity.

💬This month @smartenwinter.bsky.social joins idiv's #InsideBiodiversity to explore how non-native species challenge assumptions about nature, balance, and biodiversity.

Dive into the grey areas of conservation, where values, data, and definitions collide. 🎧 Listen now: insidebiodiversity.podigee.io

Microbes curb methane emissions from groundwater A new study in PNAS shows that microbes in groundwater help curb methane emissions by preventing this potent greenhouse gas from reaching the surface.

A new study in @pnas.org shows that microbes in groundwater help curb methane emissions by preventing this potent greenhouse gas from reaching the surface.

Read more: www.idiv.de/microbes-cur...

To the study: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

#iDivResearch @uni-jena.de