From Shanghai straight into the deep green: We arrived in China! Global BIOME-project: We collect functional plant traits & 3D structural data to infer a standardized, data-driven definition of global biomes & to test a new biome biogeography theory. Follow us for updates from the laurel forest!

Same climate, different species – identical traits? 🌿 Join us in China's laurel forests. Although the species differ completely from Ecuador, the similar climate shapes nearly identical plant structures and traits. Watch the video for a direct look at our fieldwork! 👇

To define biomes globally, we measure diverse parameters. Over the next days, we show you what we capture in the field! First up: PhD student @yang-gengchen.bsky.social shows how we measure light in forests using hemispherical photos in China. 👇 #BIOMEproject #GlobalChange #PlantTraits #Fieldwork

🙏 Many thanks to my co-authors, John Wiens and Dirk Karger (@dirknkarger.bsky.social), and to the researchers worldwide who collected and generously shared the biodiversity data that made this study possible. Special thanks to Dirk for his help generating the daily climate data used in this study.

Do you think climate change is impacting biodiversity more in the tropics than in temperate regions? You’re not alone - so did biologists. But nearly half of species in temperate zones are already facing local extinctions because of warming temperatures. ruththornton.substack.com/p/climate-ch...

Climate change is already causing local extinctions. The biggest surprise is where.

Scientists expected tropical species to be hardest hit. Instead, nearly half of animals and plants in North America and Europe are disappearing from parts of their range.

ruththornton.substack.com

#NatureFuturesFramework Climate response to Nature Future scenarios in a regional Earth System Model Sieber+ doi.org/10.1038/s414... in paper's NC scenario Europe warmer and drier their NN & NS scenarios avoid additional climate impacts

Such a surprise and great honour! It's a team effort. I am grateful to be able to work with many brilliant minds in @wslresearch.bsky.social and beyond — especially my mentor @dirknkarger.bsky.social , @arthurobuntspecht.bsky.social and Philipp Brun! www.frontiersplanetprize.org/news/thought...

Global multiyear droughts: a silent destabiliser of Earth’s life-support systems — Frontiers Planet Prize

Dr Liangzhi Chen from Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, National Champion for Switzerland, reveals increasing occurrence and severity of multiyear droughts globally, with significant impacts on ve...

frontiersplanetprize.org

Why biodiversity science needs its own model intercomparison projects 👇. Lessons from climate science, applied to biodiversity & policy. 🌍🧬 by @geobon.org #EcoCode team @mark-urban.bsky.social @gretabocedi.bsky.social @sjevelazco.bsky.social

Nature Reviews Biodiversity@natrevbiodiv.nature.com · 6mo ago

New online! Biodiversity science and policy need more model intercomparisons

At today's WEF event organised by the #ETHDomain, the six research institutions @ethz.ch, #EPFL, Paul Scherrer Institut #PSI, @wslresearch.bsky.social, #Empa and #Eawag presented at the #SLF how #artificialintelligence is paving the way for greater #sustainability. More: www.slf.ch/en/news/rese...

How have mountain building and climate change shaped alpine biodiversity over millions of years? Check out our new study in Science Advances! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The asynchronous rise of Northern Hemisphere alpine floras reveals general responses of biotic assembly to orogeny and climate change

The asynchronous rise of Northern Hemisphere alpine floras was shaped by general responses to orogeny and climate change.

science.org

The @wsl-dme.bsky.social lab members arrived at #TIBS2026 in Aarhus. We are excited to enjoy great talks, posters, workshops, discussions with colleagues and friends, and we look forward to contribute as well, with 7 oral and 5 poster contributions. #Biogeography #Macroecology #Biodiversity

Great talk by @vboussange.bsky.social from @wsl-dme.bsky.social on "Multiscale species richness modelling". Victor developed a cool method to map species richness in a way that allows spatial scaling and to retrieve scale-relevant information.

Elena Plekhanova from @wsl-dme.bsky.social just gave a very interesting talk on how to use #AI in combination with #RemoteSensing to map global #biomes. #Macroecology #Biodiversity #Mapping @wslresearch.bsky.social

🗾The poster sessions at #TIBS2026 are a great opportunity to exchange results and ideas, and to meet new people. We enjoy the interaction and atmosphere. And we will leave with a rich set of new ideas and connections.🚀 #Biogeography #Macroecology #Biodiversity #CHELSA @wslresearch.bsky.social

Interesting talk by @nezimmermann.bsky.social from our DME lab today at #TIBS2026 on a new conceptual framework on #BiomeBiogeography. This concept is at the core of our #biome project, in which several lab members are involved.

Damiano Righetti from our DME lab just presented his cool research at #TIBS2026 on trophic species distribution modelling of tuna and its pray.

@wennading.bsky.social from the DME lab presented her great work at #TIBS2026 on the origin of mountain floras in response to biotic assembly, orogeny and climate change. If you are interested, her is the latest paper on the topic: www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Our DME member @dirknkarger.bsky.social gave a great talk on adapting land use to climate change and how this can mitigate global biodiversity decline.

Great talk at #TIBS2026 by @dirknkarger.bsky.social on how adapting land use to climate change may mitigate global biodiversity decline. Along these lines: check out our new paper on land use and climate change impacts on global biodiversity: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

The dismantling of NCAR should be the trending story on Bluesky, not the fucking Oscars leaving ABC for YouTube.

Trump moves to shut down Boulder climate research lab NCAR, drawing rebukes from Colorado officials

Federal lawmakers called the planned NCAR closure “deeply dangerous” and “blatantly retaliatory.” Gov. Jared Polis said: “If true, public safety is at risk and science…

denverpost.com

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. 🌧️🌳🌿

🌧️ 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! 🫶

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

🚁🌳 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

🌿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.☀️🌋

MeteoSchweiz, die @ethz.ch​ und C2SM präsentieren die neuen Schweizer Klimaszenarien. Diese zeigen, wie sich das Schweizer Klima verändert, wenn die globale Mitteltemperatur z.B. um 3 Grad steigt. #klimaszenarien #meteoschweiz #ETH #C2SM #NCCS

Die Schweizer Klimaszenarien 2025

MeteoSchweiz stellt in Zusammenarbeit mit der ETH Zürich und C2SM unter dem Dach des National Centre for Climate Services (NCCS) die neusten Erkenntnisse zum...

youtube.com

🔊 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/...

🌎 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

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