Wanben Wu

👀 Global maps of 37 plant #FunctionalTraits as defined in the TRY Plant Trait Database with a resolution of 1 km and a global extent 🌐🧪 📏🧮🌮 global-traits.projects.earthengine.app/view/global-...

New interactive global maps of 31 plant traits were prepared by Daniel Lusk, based on plant distribution data from GBIF and sPlot, plant trait data from TRY, and various satellite-based products.
Map viewer: global-traits.projects.earthengine.app/view/global-...
Article: doi.org/10.1038/s414...

📖Published!

Different drivers shape multiple dimensions of forest ecosystem stability

Protecting old-growth forests and enhancing alpha and beta diversity are crucial for maintaining forest functions and buffering climate and human disturbances🌳 🌍

🔎 buff.ly/Qj98aBM

A digital twin for real-time biodiversity forecasting with citizen science data - Nature Ecology & Evolution Citizen science data are increasingly used in biodiversity monitoring. This study applies a digital twin approach to biodiversity monitoring using a large citizen science dataset on birds from Finland...

Citizen science data are increasingly used in biodiversity monitoring. This study applies a digital twin approach to biodiversity monitoring using a large citizen science dataset on birds from Finland, demonstrating its potential for ecological forecasting 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

All Reforestation Methods Can Support Tropical Tree Diversity Recovery, but Drivers and Species Composition Vary We assessed tree diversity recovery across five reforestation methods (white background) and compared them to three reference systems (grey background). In the rainforest, none of the restoration met...

Thrilled to share our new paper on restoring tree diversity in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest!🌳

Our findings are encouraging: restoration shows high diversity, though old-growth-like composition needs more time.

Amazing team effort from the Newfor team @ USP & @w-u-r.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1111/gcb....

In our new article in Nature Cities, led by Susanne Tautenhahn, we used our recently published European datasets of plant indicator values, linked them to citizen science data, and mapped environmental conditions for Europe and, at a finer resolution, for 326 cities.
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s442...

Massive update to the Global Wood Density Database out today @newphyt.bsky.social led by the brilliant Fabian Fischer. What an amazing community resource!
🧪🍁🌐

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

We paired #microclimate with #LiDAR to create 5m resolution temperature grids for the #BohemianForestEcosystem (NP Šumava and NP Bavarian Forest)🍁

Beside large microclimatic variability, our data reveals also systematic differences from #SoilTemp, #ForestTemp and #ERA5-Land

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Yes Joe, very impressive indeed!

VegVault logo

printscreen of the paper on the webpage of Nature Scientific Data https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-06176-1

1/🧵 Paper out! 🎉🌿🔒
VegVault is now published in Nature Scientific Data: a global database linking palaeo + modern vegetation with traits + climate/soil drivers.
🌐website: bit.ly/VegVault
📜paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

#VegVault #Ecology #Paleoecology #Vegetation #FunctionalTraits

Had a great experience at my first #TIBS conference, hosted at my own university, beautifully framed by snow ❄️
So many inspiring talks and thoughtful discussions with wonderful scientists.
I also presented my ongoing work on how #light regimes organize #plant diversity across spatial scales.

New @econovoau.bsky.social paper in Global #Ecology & #Biogeography - on #ungulates in North American ecosystems. Key point: alien ungulates can enhance herbivore diversity & partially restore lost #ecosystem functions 🦌🌿🐂 🐎Link in comment
#Rewilding #Megafauna #Macroecology #TIBS2026

Echoes of the Past: Long‐Term Climate Stability Shapes Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity in Euro‐Mediterranean Forests Aim Understanding the relative influence of past and present environmental and anthropogenic drivers on biodiversity is crucial for predicting future biodiversity trends. We assessed how past climat...

New #INTEGRADIV paper shows #paleoclimate stability is major driver of functional & phylogenetic diversity in animals & plants across Mediterranean #forests🌿❄️ Important implications for impacts of #climatechange ♨️Thx to @cmlmagneville.bsky.social for leading!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Had a really great time at the BES 2025 conference in Edinburgh, well organized, full of informative talks, great discussion, wonderful people, and an amazing city. #BES #Ecology #Edinburg

Humans have driven biodiversity gains in Europe for eight millennia.

Are we simply the latest megafaunal species to generate the complex, diversity-boosting habitat mosaics Europe's ecosystems need? 🌏🧪🌐

Read OA here: eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/23...

#Biodiversity #ScienceSky #SciComm

Spatial Insurance of Distinct Ecological Functions

Communities can act as functional sources and sustain rare ecological roles across space. We reveal patterns of functional vulnerability for plants and birds

Check out our Perspective in Ecol Lett

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

🌐🌍🦤🪴🍁🧪

The Ecuadorian Amazon taken from a canopy tower at the top of a Ceiba pentandra tree. CREDIT: Mark Bush

The Amazon Rainforest was shaped by people. Analysis of 262 trees species across 1,521 forest plots reveals that both pre-Columbian Indigenous peoples and European colonists enduringly influenced the forest’s relative abundance of trees. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/VAqY50XuP38

Contribution of foliar traits to microbial community composition and diversity across National Ecological Observatory Network ecoclimatic domains.

Canopy reflectance as a predictor of soil microbial composition and diversity

Harris and Bardgett

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

In our new article led by Gabriele Midolo, published in Ecology Letters, we show that plant species richness in European plant communities generally decreased between the 1960s and 1980s. However, since the 1990s, this trend seems to have stopped or even reversed.
dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele....

How to measure the planet’s heartbeat Ecosystem scientist Yadvinder Malhi takes us on a jaw-dropping journey through the hidden flows of energy that make life on Earth tick. From sun-soaked forests to tropical islands, he shows how his te...

New TED Talk from Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery Director @ymalhi.bsky.social: How to Measure the Planet’s Heartbeat. 🌍

He explores the flows of energy that sustain life on Earth — and why understanding them is vital for our planet’s future.

Were recent waves of large-scale forest dieback predictable? We say yes! A simple approach to describe temporal disturbance dynamics based on Taylor's Law. Now out in Nature Communications: rdcu.be/euG1A Thanks @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social and @rupertseidl.bsky.social for this great project!

New in @pnas.org we assess future #climate exposure for 32,089 species of #trees🌳
🔹69% face unprecedented climates in ≥10% of range
🔹In taiga & Amazonia >50% of local tree diversity exposed
🔹 31% of species retain >90% of range in stable climates -> important climate refugia♨️
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

New PhD position on large mammals and land-use change in Europe | Conservation Biogeography Lab We are excited to invite applications for a new PhD position on large mammals and land-use change in Europe. Join us at the Conservation and Biogeography Lab at Humboldt University Berlin!

Come join us at the Conservation Biogeography Lab @biogeoberlin.bsky.social @humboldtuni.bsky.social and carry out work on megafauna in Europe

pages.cms.hu-berlin.de/biogeo/websi...

A new PostDoc position in our BioEO team url-shortener.me/1KHP @ecioxford.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk -> Quantifying interactions between climate change, forest functional diversity and fragmentation and vector borne diseases in the Amazon -> get in touch if interested ! my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Join us next Friday for our penultimate #Nature series seminar from @ninadm.bsky.social. On-line or in-person, followed by a drinks reception. Book your place here: bookwhen.com/oxfordbiodiv...
@ecioxford.bsky.social @oxfordgeography.bsky.social @biology.ox.ac.uk

📢Film launch!
🐂 🪲🌿We are proud to present our important work on #novelecosystems. Give it a watch & find out how & why we study novel ecosystems to understand their impacts on #biodiversity and #biosphere functioning and how we can manage them for a better future 🦋🌿🌎
@dg.dk @aarhusuni.bsky.social

World map showing biodiversity collection hotspots (red) and blindspots (blue). BALL ET AL./PEERJ (2025)

Our records of the world’s biodiversity are patchy—but that's not because lots of places are "unexplored." That story and more of the best in @science.org and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

🔥 Global emergence of regional heatwave hotspots outpaces climate model simulations

by @kornhuber.bsky.social et al. @pnas.org

👉 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Climate models underestimating warming by 4x for the most extreme temperatures

Biodiversity calls for more research on heatwaves now!
🧪🌍🦤🌐

Quantifying the Cooling Effect of Urban Greening Driven by Ecological Restoration Projects in China Urban greening (UG) affects local climate by altering surface energy balance, while long-term UG cooling potential, patterns, and contribution to curbing urban warming remain unclear. Here, we designed an novel statistical model to evaluate the cooling potential of UG (CPUG) and created the first CPUG map for China. By exploring the trends in observed and simulated urban surface temperatures (UST), we quantified the CPUG of 0.20 K over the past two decades, which slowed down the warming trend by 14.17% in Chinese cities. We found that the CPUG varied significantly between the urban core and sprawl areas. Specifically, the CPUG in the urban core was approximately 1.01 K, and it contributed to curbing urban warming by 56.08%, which was more than 7.2 times higher than in the sprawl areas, where the CPUG was only 0.14 K and contributed to curbing urban warming by 9.93%. We further revealed that urbanization and major ecological restoration projects are the key factors influencing CPUG, emphasizing the need for anthropogenic vegetation management to curb urban warming. The proposed model in this study provides a powerful tool for quantitatively assessing the impact of long-term UG trends on urban warming. The results of the study are an important reference for building climate-adaptive cities.

By exploring the trends in observed and simulated urban surface temperatures, we quantified the cooling potential of urban greening of 0.20 K over the past two decades, which slowed down the warming trend by 14.17% in Chinese cities.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...