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Alex Milcu

@alex-ecology.bsky.social

Ecologist studying the impact of global changes on ecosystems. Views are my own.

17 Posts492 Follower114 Folgt
Just Kevin@kevinleecaster.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Lysimeter studies within enclosed biospheres are terrific approach towards measuring how much Carbon Dioxide Removal is possible from technologies like Enhanced Rock Weathering and Biochar. You can only do so many treatments, but I hope they can test biochar + EWR, preferably biochar from manure.

Alex Milcu@alex-ecology.bsky.social · 4mo ago

One last look at the wheat inside the #Montpellier #Ecotron's #Macrocosms before the harvest. Soon we'll know what are the impacts of #biochar from algae and #basalt applications for enhanced rock weathering (#ERW) on #yield and #GHG emissions. Many thanks to the team💪@cnrsoccitanieest.bsky.social

Alix Vidal 🪱@alixvidal.bsky.social · 5mo ago

📢 Thrilled to share that our new paper is out! 🔗 lnkd.in/eiYnv6R7 🪱 Exploring earthworms + phosphorus using the ¹⁸O‑phosphate method 👏 Kudos to Chiara Pistocchi & Andreas Burr for leading the work. 🏆 Special congratulations to Andreas Burr, whose MSc contribution earned him a Best Thesis award.

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Alex Milcu@alex-ecology.bsky.social · 5mo ago

🎉Good to see that ecological research can still make it to the pages of @nature.com 🎉 Congratulations to Ludovic Henneron & @paulkardol.bsky.social and the whole team! 🌳Forests dominated by fast-growing, "resource-acquisitive" tree species turn out to be hotspots of soil activity rdcu.be/fhmF2

Tree community resource economics control soil food web multifunctionality

Nature - Plant community properties affect ecosystem functioning via energy fluxes in food webs, with the leaf and root resource economics of dominant tree species controlling soil food web...

rdcu.be

AnaEE-ERIC@anaeeeric.bsky.social · last yr.

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

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Alex Milcu@alex-ecology.bsky.social · last yr.

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...

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.

theconversation.com

Montpellier European Ecotron@ecotron-cnrs.bsky.social · last yr.

🎉🎉🎉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/...

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...

gi.copernicus.org

Fernando T. Maestre@ftmaestre.bsky.social · last yr.

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....

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....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Alex Milcu@alex-ecology.bsky.social · 2y ago

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

Montpellier European Ecotron@ecotron-cnrs.bsky.social · 2y ago

📢 #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

Alex Milcu@alex-ecology.bsky.social · 2y ago

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.

Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez@frodsan.bsky.social · 2y ago

New #statistics #ecopubs @esajournals.bsky.social: Predictive models are indeed useful for causal inference doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... Sounds like a response to 'Predictive models aren't for causal inference' doi.org/10.1111/ele....

The subject of investigating causation in ecology has been widely discussed in recent years, especially by advocates of a structural causal model (SCM) approach. Some of these advocates have criticized the use of predictive models and model selection for drawing inferences about causation. We argue that the comparison of model-based predictions with observations is a key step in hypothetico-deductive (H-D) science and remains a valid approach for assessing causation. We draw a distinction between two approaches to inference based on predictive modeling. The first approach is not guided by causal hypotheses and focuses on the relationship between a (typically) single response variable and a potentially large number of covariates. We agree that this approach does not yield useful inferences about causation and is primarily useful for hypothesis generation. The second approach follows a H-D framework and is guided by specific hypotheses about causal relationships. We believe that this has been, and continues to be, a useful approach to causal inference. Here, we first define different kinds of causation, arguing that a “probability-raisers-of-processes” definition is especially appropriate for many ecological systems. We outline different scientific “designs” for generating the observations used to investigate causation. We briefly outline some relevant components of the SCM and H-D approaches to investigating causation, emphasizing a H-D approach that focuses on modeling causal effects on vital rate (e.g., rates of survival, recruitment, local extinction, colonization) parameters underlying system dynamics. We consider criticisms of predictive modeling leveled by some SCM proponents and provide two example analyses of ecological systems that use predictive modeling and avoid these criticisms. We conclude that predictive models have been, and can continue to be, useful for providing inferences about causation.
Alex Milcu@alex-ecology.bsky.social · 2y ago

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...

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.

pourlascience.fr

Alex Milcu@alex-ecology.bsky.social · 2y ago

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...

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...

biorxiv.org

Rémy Beugnon@remybeugnon.bsky.social · 2y ago

*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/...

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....

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com