Nicolas Mouquet

🚨New Paper ! 🚨
Glad to see my second thesis chapter finally published in
@natecoevo.nature.com !

🎉Marine protected areas marginally offset anthropogenic declines in tropical reef fish contributions to nature and people🎉

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

@umontpellier.bsky.social

👏 @uflandrin.bsky.social @nloiseau.bsky.social @evamaire.bsky.social @mcleanfishecology.bsky.social @joshuacinner.bsky.social, David Mouillot and other co-authors.

MPAs only partly offset decades of human impacts on tropical reefs

Protecting more while continuing business as usual will just slow the decline 🐟📉 !

Check our latest paper in @natecoevo.nature.com with @uflandrin.bsky.social on 2800+ reefs & ~1700 🐠 species

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

🌐🧪🌍🦤🦑

Why do some islands have more biodiversity than others? In our new paper, published in @ecography.bsky.social , we sought to answer this question for amphibians! 🌐🏝️🐸

@provete.bsky.social @agenciafapesp.bsky.social @wileyecology.bsky.social

Follow the thread 🧵(1/7).

Analysis in the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic, and the Northeastern Pacific, based on 702,037 estimates of biomass change from 33,990 fish populations recorded between 1993 and 2021. www.maraujolab.eu/2026/02/25/o... @shaharchaikin.bsky.social @jdgonzalezt.bsky.social

Best practices for moving from correlation to causation in ecological research - Nature Communications Different scientific traditions offer seemingly disparate approaches to inferring causal relationships in ecological systems. This Perspective unifies the causal assumptions and methods from...

Excited to share our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com We synthesize causal discovery & inference approaches across traditions (regression adjustment, quasi-expts, SEMs, Granger causality, convergent cross-mapping, and more) into a unified workflow for ecologists. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Rising atmospheric CO2 reduces nitrogen availability in boreal forests - Nature Nitrogen isotope tree-ring chronologies show that rising atmospheric CO2 has reduced nitrogen availability in boreal forests in Sweden, suggesting that elevated atmospheric CO2 is causing oligotrophic...

I am really excited to share our new paper, published today in Nature. We show that rising atmospheric CO2 is linked to decling nutrient availability in boreal forest, with implications for the future carbon sink. Kudos to lead author @kelleyrbassett.bsky.social.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Rapid and repeated evolution of pigmentation patterns in reef fishes - BMC Biology Background Pigmentation patterns are central to animal biology—shaping camouflage, signaling, and mate selection—and uncovering the mechanisms driving their diversification is key to understanding the...

Rapid and repeated evolution of pigmentation patterns in reef fishes

#ichthyology

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

bluesky Global Ecology Feed Digest #52 Curated digest of the bluesky Global Ecology feed on biodiversity, ecosystems & conservation at large scales. Terrestrial, freswater & marine realms.

🌐 Global Ecology feed Digest #52, Feb 16-23, 41 posts 🌐

✨For the lazy (yes we are!) & friends who don't like social media but might benefit from this feed, here’s a DIGEST crafted with 💚 for you to share

👉 globalecologybs.github.io/feeddigest.g...

DM if you want to receive the link weekly

🌍🦤🦑🪴🍁🧪

More than mitigation: The role of forests in climate adaptation Forests regulate global and local climates in ways that impact human well-being. In this Review, we discuss the scale-dependent mechanisms through which forests regulate climate, highlighting their co...

In a new #ScienceAnalyticalReview, researchers discuss the scale-dependent mechanisms through which forests regulate climate, highlighting their contributions to global mitigation and local adaptation.

Learn more: https://scim.ag/4aGldbI

The political effects of X's feed algorithm https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10098-2 Received: 16 December 2024 Accepted: 4 January 2026 Published online: 18 February 2026 Open access • Check for updates Germain Gauthier,5, Roland Hodler?5, Philine Widmer35 & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya3,4,5 m Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects'. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk's platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users' feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X's algorithm has persistent effects on users' current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship.

A new paper shows that less than 2 months of exposure to Twitter’s algorithmic feed significantly shifts people’s political views to the right.

Moving from chronological feed to the algorithmic feed also increases engagement.

This is one of the most concerning papers I’ve read in awhile.

Measuring the Quality of Species List Contents Abstract. Taxonomic lists, usually of species, have many functions. However, there is currently no reliable and convenient way to determine whether a list

📊 Thomas Pape et al. introduce a set of indicators to assess species list quality, a tool to improve biodiversity data and its use in research and conservation 🌍🧬 

👉 doi.org/10.1093/bios...

🌐🌍🦤🦑🪴🍁🧪

Fossil isotope evidence for trophic simplification on modern Caribbean reefs - Nature Using nitrogen isotopes from ancient and modern fish otoliths and corals, the study shows Caribbean reef food webs are now 60–70% shorter and functionally less diverse, indicating human-driven trophic simplification and increased risk of collapse.

The food chains on modern Caribbean coral reefs may have shortened by up to 70% compared with those on their prehistoric counterparts, according to research in Nature. The findings suggest that modern reefs could be increasingly vulnerable to external stressors and ecosystem collapse. 🌍 🧪

A bleached coral reef where most corals have lost their colour due to the high sea water temperature but are not yet dead. The coral tissue has become transparent and the underlying white calcium skeleton shines through the transparent tissue. The longer such bleaching lasts, the more coral will die.

We’ve pushed coral reefs to the brink with warming, pollution and over-fishing. Saving them now means crossing the tipping point — in reverse.

New expert article on our website

www.scientistrebellion.nl/index.php/en...

bluesky Global Ecology Feed Digest #51 Curated digest of the bluesky Global Ecology feed on biodiversity, ecosystems & conservation at large scales. Terrestrial, freswater & marine realms.

🌐 Global Ecology feed Digest #51, Feb 09-16, 32 posts

✨For the lazy (yes we are!) & friends who don't like social media but might benefit from this feed, here’s a DIGEST crafted with 💚 for you to share

👉 globalecologybs.github.io/feeddigest.g...

DM if you want to receive the link weekly

🌍🦤🦑🪴🍁🧪

We are thrilled to announce that, thanks to the support of our institutional subscribers, all Royal Society subscription journals will be open access in 2026 through #S2O. Researchers can read all articles and publish #OpenAccess in our eight subscription journals for free buff.ly/4Lu9VpW

Recent trend reversal for declining European seagrass meadows - Nature Communications Seagrass meadows are important but one of the most threatened ecosystems globally. Here the authors analyse data about extent and density of seagrasses in Europe from 1869 to 2016, and find evidence of recent trend reversal for declining European seagrass meadows.

After some research, from 1869 to 2016, one third of European #seagrass area was lost due to disease, deteriorated water quality, and coastal development
The highest decline was the 1970s and 1980s
#GES4SEAS #MOOC #oceanoptimism
#MarineEcology #Research
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11340-4

Animal‐mediated seed dispersal: A review of study methods By dispersing seeds, animals provide ecological functions critical for the ecology, evolution, and conservation of plants. We review quantitative and empirical approaches and emerging technologies to....

The majority of seed plants rely on animals for dispersal, but this is poorly understood for most plants

To aid further work, we have reviewed up-to-date empirical & modelling approaches & emerging technologies to quantify animal-mediated seed dispersal

doi.org/10.1002/aps3...

More than mitigation: The role of forests in climate adaptation Forests regulate global and local climates in ways that impact human well-being. In this Review, we discuss the scale-dependent mechanisms through which forests regulate climate, highlighting their co...

More than mitigation: The role of forests in climate adaptation | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🤔Looking to make your #code more #reproducible? Check out our new and improved guide to Reproducible Code! 🧪🌍️

Find it here👇️
buff.ly/10TeNok

@nhcooper123.bsky.social
@britishecologicalsociety.org

📢 Call for registrations - Science:TBD
📍 Leipzig | 3–4 March 2026

Join us for an inspiring lineup of keynotes:
⭐Sheena F. Bartscherer
⭐Alice Hughes @achughes.bsky.social
⭐Wolfgang Forstmeier
⭐Ulrich Dirnagl
⭐Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social

Register now: www.idiv.de/science-tbd

bluesky Global Ecology Feed Digest #50 Curated digest of the bluesky Global Ecology feed on biodiversity, ecosystems & conservation at large scales. Terrestrial, freswater & marine realms.

🌐 Global Ecology feed Digest #50, Feb 02-09, 34 posts

✨For the lazy (yes we are!) & friends who don't like social media but might benefit from this feed, here’s a DIGEST crafted with 💚 for you to share

👉 globalecologybs.github.io/feeddigest.g...

DM if you want to receive the link weekly

🌍🦤🦑🪴🍁🧪

Phengaris teleius (Scarce Large Blue) in a French meadow. One of the 17 species in the European Grassland Butterfly Index. Photo: Martin Warren)

The latest European Grassland Butterfly Indicator is out. It shows that grassland butterflies have declined by 47% since 1991, indicating a huge loss of grassland biodiversity. The data come from 16,150 transects & 15,000 volunteers. We are calling for urgent action. www.bc-europe.eu/documents/69...

[🌐 Webinar] The next #CESABINAR will be on the 26th of February 2026 at 3 pm on the results of the #UNICOP group:

🗣️ Towards the unification of ecological and evolutionary change

🔎All details & Zoom link: bit.ly/40zrT7v
🧪🌐

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...

Why does life explore so few of the forms it could possibly take? Using fractal descriptors, this #scienceadvances paper shows that Earth’s biosphere clusters around simple shapes, reflecting deep evolutionary constraints. @artemyte.bsky.social @manlius.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

Future restoration should enhance ecological complexity and emergent properties at multiple scales Ecological restoration has a paradigm of re-establishing ‘indigenous reference' communities. One resulting concern is that focussing on target communities may not necessarily create systems which fun...

The mainstream aim to restore “native reference ecosystems”

Reminds me of people of my age who go to see touring bands from their youth

Trying to recreate something that never quite existed

And has limited relevance in a changing world
doi.org/10.1111/ecog...

⚡ #BreakingNews ⚡ / 🚨 Paper Alert! 🚨

🚀 The Ocean Equity Index is out! 🫂 🎣 🐟

The Ocean Equity Index (#OEI) is a tool to guide the development of more equitable #ocean #governance and #management.

📰 doi.org/10.1038/s415...

🚨 Paper Alert! 🚨

🪸🐟🎣🫂 Reimagining #CoralReef futures 🌟🌠🌌

♾️ Visions + narratives constitute key stepping stones to reimagining desirable relationships between people and coral reefs and speak to both anticipatory and adaptive pathways toward desired change.

doi.org/10.1038/s441...

Forecasting extinction risk for future-proof conservation decisions Conservation prioritisation emphasises currently threatened species, but there are strong arguments for complementary, more proactive approaches based on forecasting future extinction risk for unthrea...

Forecasting extinction risk for future-proof conservation decisions: Trends Ecol & Evolution www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

Should conservation focus on threatened species? Or should we be proactive and protect species before they become threatened? This paper explores how to get the balance right.