One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Rewriting the history of the invasive spiny water flea in North America.” Explore the article here: https://ow.ly/yb2050ZXbfa For more trending articles, visit https://ow.ly/AJ3Q50ZXbfb.
Ecosystems and Global Change Group
@ecochangegroup.bsky.social
Working on ecology, evolution, biogeochemistry, conservation research worldwide from University of Cambridge 🇬🇧, Trent University 🇨🇦, University of Oldenburg 🇩🇪. Focus on climate change 🔥, water/food 🌊🌾, pathogens 🦠, biodiversity 🌸
Delighted to see so much interest in my PhD work with >1k views in 2 weeks! 🎉 Proud of the many years of curiosity-driven work that led to it and incredibly grateful to my co-authors & funders @ecochangegroup.bsky.social @camplantsci.bsky.social @peterhousecam.bsky.social @isotopesuk.bsky.social
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences@pnas.org · last wk.One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Rewriting the history of the invasive spiny water flea in North America.” Explore the article here: https://ow.ly/yb2050ZXbfa For more trending articles, visit https://ow.ly/AJ3Q50ZXbfb.
The European spiny water flea has reduced the diversity of native zooplankton by over 50%. A study finds it had been present in Canada for at least a century before first reports in the 1980s—and it may not have been introduced by humans. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/lkRK50ZV1nw
Thanks @cbcradiocanada.bsky.social for having us on to discuss our latest work @pnas.org (www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...) Listen in here: www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
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Very proud of our newest paper now @pnas.org led by @danai-kontou.bsky.social @camplantsci.bsky.social with @laurentianu.bsky.social @isotopesuk.bsky.social Queens U. It's perhaps one of the most genuine "discoveries" we've ever made 🔬 Read it for free 👉 doi.org/10.1073/pnas... 🧵
This study was possible thanks to the support and dedication of my amazing co-authors from @trentuniversity.bsky.social, @laurentianu.bsky.social, @isotopesuk.bsky.social as well as @Queen's University 🩵
It is a great example showcasing the complexities of establishing timelines of species invasions and the role of global climate change in facilitating rapid population growth and high impact of damaging aquatic species.
In a bit of a "plot twist" we provide evidence that the #spiny #waterflea, one of North America's most notorious invasive species has actually been around for at least a century before its first detection in Lake Ontario in 1982! This was the most surprising and significant finding of my PhD.
Paper #1 is my favourite chapter from my PhD thesis with @ecochangegroup.bsky.social @peterhousecam.bsky.social @camplantsci.bsky.social published open access in @pnas.org: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
pnas.org
Today we visited the beautiful and historic Petawawa Research Forest. We are setting up an exciting new forested lake study with colleagues @ecochangegroup.bsky.social and Nick fully immersed himself in it all 🙌
The take-home message: the consequences of biodiversity loss are deeply dependent on the architecture of food webs. Protecting ecosystem functioning requires conserving not only species richness, but also food-web complexity.
We found that predation increases disproportionately with biodiversity. Species-rich food webs with more trophically dissimilar (unique) predators support higher predation fluxes, highlighting the importance of conserving top consumers and the ecological functions they provide.
A key result is that biodiversity effects are mediated by food-web structure. More diverse food webs support greater vertical diversity (more trophic levels) and higher trophic complementarity among consumers, both of which increase energy flow through ecosystems, especially via predation.
Our paper has just been published in the latest issue of @nature.com! We analysed 318 food webs spanning marine, freshwater & soil ecosystems worldwide & found that ecosystem functioning increases consistently with biodiversity across multiple trophic levels. 🌐🧪🕷️🦠🍄🌿 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Food web complexity underlies biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning - Nature
Analyses of the relationship between taxon richness and multi-trophic ecosystem functioning across marine, lake, stream and soil ecosystems show that food web complexity underlies biodiversity effects...
nature.com
Very excited to share that our Zooplankton International Geospatial (ZIG) data paper is out in @aslo.org LO Letters! We harmonized data across decades from 311 lakes and released it to the wild for folks to dream up their own analyses! doi.org/10.1002/lol2...
The Zooplankton International Geospatial dataset: A global repository of spatiotemporal freshwater zooplankton community composition data from lakes and reservoirs to support ecological research
Zooplankton transfer substantial energy in aquatic food webs and are used as indicators of environmental change. Syntheses of zooplankton community dynamics globally require datasets that span a wide...
doi.org
Nature research paper: Food web complexity underlies biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning go.nature.com/4gQIyfm
Food web complexity underlies biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning - Nature
Analyses of the relationship between taxon richness and multi-trophic ecosystem functioning across marine, lake, stream and soil ecosystems show that food web complexity underlies biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning.
go.nature.com
Published today in @nature.com, our study shows that the #foodweb trophic structure is critical for #ecosystemfunctioning. Read it here: rdcu.be/frxEl This has been an incredibly rewarding collaboration with many amazing scientists! 🌐🧪🦑🍁🌱 @waikatouniversity.bsky.social @idiv-research.bsky.social
Thrilled our latest paper is finally online @springernature.com 😀 You can read it for free 👇 link.springer.com/article/10.1... This study was a long time coming @camplantsci.bsky.social. We uncover why nearshore zones of lakes emit large amounts of the greenhouse gas methane. 1/n 🧵
Last week, we were privileged to be awarded the President‘s International Fellowship for Distinguished Scientists (formerly the Einstein Professorship) by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 🥼🧑🔬 Grateful for the opportunity to visit and strengthen collaborations.
🔥Wildfires are growing in frequency and intensity worldwide. How do they affect the flow of carbon from forests into downstream waters? 🌳🌊 Our new paper @jgrbiogeo.bsky.social with @waterik.bsky.social @ecfreewoman.bsky.social now online to read: dx.doi.org/10.1029/2025... 🧵1/n
Last week we were privileged to showcase our research twice alongside some of Canada’s finest scientists. 🥼 🇨🇦 Grateful to NSERC and the Killam Trusts for their support!
👏 Thrilled to see this paper online @pnas.org. One of the biggest mysteries in marine science is how much terrestrial organic matter is in the oceanic carbon pool. 🤔 We address this question here! Read the paper 👉 www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... 🧵1/3
This week, Andrew was on CBC radio to discuss our research 🥼🧪 and an exciting new award. You can listen 👉 www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
© CBC/Radio-Canada 2025. All rights reserved.
cbc.ca
🤔 coverage of our latest paper with @ecfreewoman.bsky.social @waterik.bsky.social (www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...) @forbes 🌳🍃 Read the story 👉 www.forbes.com/sites/suwann...
Carbon Capture Has a Hard Limit and Wind Power’s Out
Plans for carbon capture and sequestration have an effective limit of 0.7 degrees. So mitigation is perpetually proven to be the best green energy strategy.
forbes.com
Logging changes the composition of the organic matter in nearby streams, making the organic matter more reactive. According to the authors, these changes are enough to flip logging from a carbon-sink to carbon-neutral or even a carbon-source. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Grateful that our group could contribute to this fantastic work! Includes the work of @camplantsci.bsky.social undergrads. 🤩
David Olefeldt@olefeldt.bsky.social · last yr.New Study in ES&T! Permafrost peatlands accumulate mercury from distant sources, but thaw causes collapse into wetter bogs and fens. Lauren Thompson shows that these bogs, and especially fens, become hotspots for mercury methylation, and potential downstream transport. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
🧪 💡 🗣️ Just as genomics revealed the hidden world of individual microbes and their interactions, it's time to uncover the "ecology of molecules"—how individual compounds and compound communities shape ecosystem processes. 🌐🌍🦑🍁💧🧬🔬🔎🌱📚 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Ecosystem ecology needs an ecology of molecules
Ecosystem ecology needs a framework that explicitly considers the roles of organic compounds. The ecology of molecules integrates compound identity, d…
sciencedirect.com