WSL Dynamic Macroecology

How many insects fly in the sky above the USA? Using radar data, researchers estimate that around 100 trillion insects fly in the air above the USA every day.

Weather radars reveal large scale insect movement: around 100 trillion insects fly over the US every day. Overall, a new study shows, their numbers have remained stable over the last ten years, but vary greatly from region to region. (www.wsl.ch/en/news/how-...)
#Insects #Biodiversity #Research

🌴Since my undergraduate time, I wanted to see the tropical alpine biome with its "giant rosette" species. On our #biome project fieldtrip in #Ecuador, I finally met #Espeletia picnophylla spp. angelensis, in El Angel. So happy! Magic!

🌿 While conducting #biome research in the #Maquipucuna Reserve in #Ecuador, our lodge unexpectedly became a perfect vantage point for observing mesmerizing #hummingbirds. ✨🐦

🌧️ If your team members are patiently waiting for 1h in the rain in a tropical #cloudforest, chatting, playing, laughing and happily continue fieldwork with rain-sensitive instruments as soon as the rain stops & finish the day with a “high five”: Now you know, you have a fantastic team! 🫶

Exploring the tropical cloud forests of #Guacamayos. 🔎 Foggy, rain-soaked and mild temperatures: #cloudforests are some of the most species- and endemism-rich biomes on Earth. Despite covering only 0.4% of global land, they host 3,700 #species of birds, mammals, amphibians and tree ferns. 🌧️🌳🌿

🚁🌳 We are collecting #biome data in #Ecuador using three types of #drones:

1️⃣ #LiDAR – to analyze vertical biomass distribution
2️⃣ Multispectral – to assess canopy leaf area
3️⃣ Photo – to capture leaf imagery

🌳 Towering trees (often >50 m), massive buttress roots and woody lianas are typical plant traits of tropical rainforests. 🌧

SDMapCH: a Comprehensive database of >7,500 modelled species habitat suitability maps for Switzerland - Scientific Data Scientific Data - SDMapCH: a Comprehensive database of >7,500 modelled species habitat suitability maps for Switzerland

Where do species find suitable habitats in Switzerland? And how will habitat suitabilities change under future climate scenarios?
Here, we have modelled maps for more than 7500 swiss species:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...

🌿Fieldwork in the #Yasuni National Park, #Ecuador.🦜
Our researchers are studying the structural and functional properties of #rainforests to better understand and define #biomes.🌳🔎

A breathtaking sunrise with a view of the #Antisana volcano on the road from Quito to Yasuní National Park.☀️🌋

The BIOME team explored the high-altitude city of #Quito (2,850 m) before heading deep into the Amazon rainforest for fieldwork. 🌳🌿

🌎 Our BIOME project team has just begun a 3.5-week research expedition in Ecuador! 🇪🇨 They’ll be conducting fieldwork across diverse landscapes to study how biomes have evolved and how to define them. 🔎🌿🏔️ Stay tuned for field updates! ✨
👉BIOME project: shorturl.at/RLQPw

Fieldwork magic 🍄✨ We encountered an incredible diversity of #mushrooms in the forest last week. Each species part of the living network that keeps ecosystems dynamic and resilient. 🌎

🔊 New paper: first integration of population genetics🧬 and dynamic species distribution modeling🌐 using #KISSMig to reconstruct postglacial dynamics of wild black pepper, endemic to India’s Western Ghats. #macroecology #popgen #phylogeography #biogeography

👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

This week, I presented my research on #BiomeConservatism at the @cpeg-cpb25.bsky.social in Zürich. 🌍 🌱 The analysis of 161 plant lineages across the globe provides clear evidence for biome conservatism and the mechanisms underlying current #biodiversity patterns and #biome dynamics. 💡

Manuel Popp @manupopp.bsky.social‬

📱🌱 Plant identification apps are booming – but which one is the best? And how reliable are the results? 🤔 Our researchers collected over 5,000 photos of 560 Swiss plant species from 85 habitat types and tested the most popular apps.🔎 Here are the findings: shorturl.at/lD0Cl

@clechartre.bsky.social reimplemented #BIOME4 into a modular, high-performance #Julia version, enabling 1 km vegetation modeling 🌱 and integration of #CHELSA climate datasets. 🌦️ We can now simulate biome patterns across complex terrains ⛰️ and define biome boundaries with greater accuracy. 🎯

🌿 Join Our Team as Postdoctoral Researcher in Regional Climate Downscaling at the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL in Switzerland and lead the development of regional, highresolution climate scenarios for Armenia. @wslresearch.bsky.social @wsl-dme.bsky.social apply.refline.ch/273855/1747/...

Towards a sustainable energy transition Combining the goals of energy transition and biodiversity protection is both necessary and possible. With the costs of inaction increasing rapidly, we need to remember that combatting climate change ....

The 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 has released a Special Feature on "𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁, 𝗠𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻", including an insightful editorial by our scientists Silke Bauer & @nezimmermann.bsky.social.🌍⚡🌱 #energytransition #ecology #renewablenergy #greenenergy

GenDivRange: A global dataset of geo-referenced population genetic diversity across species ranges - Scientific Data Scientific Data - GenDivRange: A global dataset of geo-referenced population genetic diversity across species ranges

🔉Happy to share our new publication and global data compilation #GenDivRange covering population genetic diversity of 19,173 geo-referenced populations and 1,109 species. A big thank to Katalin Csilléry, who initiated and led this project, and to all colleagues. (1/2)

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

interactive web application of GenDivRange

(2/2) ... #GenDivRange comes with an interactive web application for data visualization and exploration.
👉 webapps.wsl.ch/GenDivRange/ (for desktop use)

#geneticdiversity #popgen #congen #macroecology #rshiny #shinyapps

🌿 What makes plants in tropical ecosystems so unique & remarkably adapted to their environment? 🌸✨
We explored this question during a visit to the Botanical Garden in Zurich, guided by our group member dirknkarger.bsky.social‬ — a fantastic opportunity to observe tropical plant traits up close. 🔎🌱

🐝 Happy World Bee Day! 🌍

Bees play a vital role in maintaining biodiversity and are crucial to healthy ecosystems.🌸🌱 We are exploring a novel approach to insect biodiversity monitoring: using radar technology to track insect movement across lowland landscapes in Switzerland.📡
👉 shorturl.at/QuQa1

🔎 Martina Scacco’s research explores how the landscape and atmosphere influence the transport cost of flying animals.🌬️⛰️ Her findings show that species across the entire range of body masses can indeed benefit from atmospheric energy to reduce movement cost. 🐝🐦🦅

Sicher bestimmen im Feld – mit KI zur Zweitmeinung Schwierig zu bestimmende Pflanzen? Da hilft ein unabhängiger Blick. Das neue Tool FlorID der WSL bietet genau das: eine verlässliche Zweitmeinung – direkt im Feld. FlorID nutzt KI der neuesten Genera...

🍁🌷🌼Interessiert an Tipps zur KI-basierten Pflanzenbestimmung mit FlorApp/FlorID der neuen Bestimmungstool für die #Flora der #Schweiz?🥀🌳

👉Dann melde dich an am "Festival der Natur"!

shorturl.at/1fEEv
festivaldernatur.ch

#Natur #Biodiversität #FestivalderNatur #PflanzenBestimmen

🔉Version 2.0 of our #KISSMig #Rstats package for #SpeciesMigration modeling is now live on #CRAN. 🎉 Together with Dominik Landolt we boosted performance by implementing parallel computing—making this simple dynamic #SDM faster than ever. Learn more about KISSMig here 👉 purl.oclc.org/wsl/kissmig

What an amazing week at #EGU25 in Vienna! 🌍✨ We had a fantastic time connecting with fellow scientists from diverse fields, sharing our research and diving into inspiring discussions.💡 Grateful for the experience and already looking forward to next year! ❤️🚀

What drives the iconic buttress roots in tropical forests—mechanics or nutrients?🌳 At #EGU25, @haozhima.bsky.social presented his research on “The biogeography & functional understanding of buttress roots in tropical forests”. He’s part of our SNSF Advanced Grant project "BIOME.cc"🌎: rb.gy/r8vy1l

@clechartre.bsky.social held a session on "HP computing for mechanistic prediction of biome distribution" at #EGU25. She presented BIOME4.jl—a hi-res #Julia reimplementation of #BIOME4 to improve performance, modularity & scalability, enabling the simulation of biome dynamics in complex terrains.🌍🖥️

Mountain species are at risk of extinction as global temperatures rise—but how these risks will manifest remains unclear. 🌱🏔️ Bert Wuyts's research sheds light on this by exploring how habitats become fragmented & isolated as populations shift to higher elevations. He presented his results at #EGU25.