Alpine Environment - Eurac Research

Studying habitat requirements in extremely small, peripheral populations: An assessment of the barred warbler Curruca nisoria in the Italian Alps We applied a two-step statistical approach (partial least squares discriminant analysis [PLS-DA] and multivariate adaptive regression splines [MARS]) to investigate the habitat preferences of a criti...

We present fine-scale habitat requirements of the critically endangered Barred Warbler (Curruca nisoria) at the edge of its breeding range in the Italian Alps 🏔️.
🔬 Learn how hedgerows, bush cover & slope drive occurrence and what this means for habitat conservation
👉 doi.org/10.1002/2688...

A handful of soil contains more organisms than humans on Earth – from bacteria & nematodes to insects & spiders. This diversity is fundamental for ecosystems.

Check out the video in our online magazine, where Julia Plunger explains why soil biodiversity matters and how we study it.

Happy World Soil Day! 🌍🪱 A handful of soil holds more organisms than Earth has people. These invertebrates keep ecosystems functioning and our planet alive. Biodiversity Monitoring South Tyrol (BMS) is financed by Province of Bolzano & Land Südtirol. www.eurac.edu/en/magazine/...

🌍 What a great week at #IMC2025 in Innsbruck! 🏔️

Proud to showcase our institute among outstanding #mountain scientists 🧠 with talks, posters, and sessions featuring several of our projects🎤📊

@imc2025.bsky.social @jseeber.bsky.social @msteinwandter.bsky.social

@mattande.bsky.social l @andreashilpold.bsky.social

Determining species-specific thresholds to improve precision in passive acoustic monitoring Passive acoustic monitoring is growing in popularity and utilization worldwide. Automatic and AI-driven species identification is a powerful tool for …

📢 new study

Species-specific thresholds boost #BirdNET ’s precision in passive acoustic monitoring of Alpine #birds. 🐦🦅
🗒️ First open list of 72 thresholds for #Europe - replicable tool for #biodiversity surveys in complex landscapes.👂
#bioacoustics #research

read more:
ℹ️ tinyurl.com/acustics

New #OpenAccess work in #RESAgForestEnt

Exploring #hymenopteran #parasitoid communities & their hosts: comparative study of farmland & semi-natural ecotones with focus on #pentatomoids
doi.org/10.1111/afe.70009

@jordancuff.bsky.social @chrisranger.bsky.social @ukladybirds.bsky.social @wiley.com

🕊️ Alpine farmland is losing its biodiversity.
New research shows:
✅ Natural habitats & habitat diversity help #birds thrive
❌ Intensification fragments landscapes & harms ecosystems
🌍 #Conservation must scale across landscapes
🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.je...

@step-roilo.bsky.social @mattande.bsky.social

📢 Wild #bees thrive in biodiverse mountain farms! 🐝🐝

Zanini et al. found that #multidiversity boosts pollination, buffering #climate impacts. 🌤️🌱🐝

Find out more here:
🔎 doi.org/10.1016/j.ag...

@mdainese.bsky.social, @mattande.bsky.social,
@eliaguariento.bsky.social & more

📢 COME WORK WITH US 📢
The call for applications to the PhD program at UniTrento DICAM, which includes a position on the "Soundscape for all", is now online! ⛰️🎵🐦
lnkd.in/dr9Mnpra

🗓️Deadline: August 21, 2025, at 4:00 PM

🚨 Hiring: Biodiversity Monitoring Officer (Full-time | Bolzano)
Join Biodiversa+ & @euracalpenv.bsky.social to build an EU-wide biodiversity monitoring network and work with leading institutions to bridge science & conservation policy.
⏳ Apply by 31 July!
More info: eurac.onboard.org/jobs/XGJ2xrGM

The prize honours exceptional PhD work on biodiversity — from the origins of life’s diversity to the roles species play in ecosystems. Matteo’s research stood out among strong competition, as judged by a panel from the Austrian Academy of Sciences 🌍👏

We’re thrilled to share that @mattande.bsky.social has won the prestigious Stefan M. Gergely Prize! 🏆 Awarded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) for outstanding research on biodiversity and ecosystems.
Big congrats, Matteo! 👏🌿

📸 ÖAW / D. Hinterramskogler

Scientific Workshop

Quantification and Valuation of Ecosystem Services
in Agriculture and Forestry 🌳🌱

Excellent speakers from @euracalpenv.bsky.social, FiBL, @thuenen.de & WU Vienna

Join us: 27 June 2025 in Vienna and online

🫴 bab.gv.at/index.php?op...

@bokuvienna.bsky.social
@bmluk.gv.at

Think of a bee Five hundred species of wild bees live in South Tyrol, each different in anatomy, ecology and behavior. Entomologist Lisa Obwegs is studying these diverse populations to assess the impact of human act...

Today is #worldbeeday 🐝
Read here about the work we do on #wildbees: www.eurac.edu/en/magazine/...
@euracalpenv.bsky.social

Biodiversity in mountain soils above the treeline Biological diversity in mountain ecosystems has been increasingly studied over the last decade. This is also the case for mountain soils, but no study to date has provided an overall synthesis of the...

📢fresh out of the press: a first global analysis of published research on #cryptogams, #microorganisms, and #fauna in #mountain #soils above the treeline, and a structured synthesis of current knowledge.

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

This is the result of >2.5 years of collaborative effort led by @gmba-ipo.bsky.social mountain soil biodiversity working group lead
@msteinwandter.bsky.social @nadinepraeg.bsky.social @jseeber.bsky.social @fundivecol.bsky.social @euracalpenv.bsky.social @uniinnsbruck.social.uibk.ac.at.ap.brid.gy

Balancing bats and agriculture: Investigating the effects of agricultural management practices on bat species diversity in mountain ecosystems Changes in agricultural land use and farming practices have been recognized as significant drivers of biodiversity loss, especially when they involve …

New study on bats & agriculture in mountain ecosystems! 🦇🌄
Using passive acoustic monitoring🎧, we explore how agricultural practices impact bat diversity, with natural elements promoting richness & manure hills having a negative effect
@chiarapaniccia.bsky.social @andreashilpold.bsky.social

MonitAnt: European-level monitoring strategy for mound-building Formica ants Formica rufa workers engaged in food sharing (trophallaxis) (© Elia Nalini) In the popular imagination, when we think about environmentally impactful ants, the first images that come to mind are of...

Happy to see that a small article Elia Nalini (from @euracalpenv.bsky.social ) and I wrote for the myrmecological news blog is now finally published! 🐜 We present our @monitant.bsky.social project and also our Citizen Science approach. 🔎

blog.myrmecologicalnews.org/2025/04/09/m...

Future expansion of upper forest-grassland ecotone under land-use and climate change in the Eastern Alps - Landscape Ecology Context Across Alpine landscapes, a combination of land-use abandonment and climate change is driving forest expansion and promoting the upward migration of trees on grasslands. Yet, it remains unclea...

📢New study on forest-grassland ecotone expansion in the Eastern #Alps! 🌲
Using the iLand model💻, we explore how land-use abandonment & #climatechange impact #forests, disturbances & species shifts.

🔗 @marco-mina.bsky.social @edfm-tum.bsky.social @wernerrammer.bsky.social @unibz.bsky.social

BEEhold - South Tyrol’s wild bees: biodiversity on display The BEEhold project celebrates the diversity and importance of South Tyrol’s wild bees.

500 wild bee species live in #SouthTyrol. 🐝
To shed light on these winged wonders, our #interactive exhibition "BEEhold" has hit the streets of #Bolzano! 🖼️📸Pick up a map🗺️, grab some stickers & buzz your way through town as you learn more about #bee #biodiversity:

beehold.eurac.edu/en

Reliability of canopy photography for forest ecology and biodiversity studies Understory is a key component of forest biodiversity. The structure of the forest stand and the horizontal composition of the canopy play a major role…

We linked canopy structure 🌲📸 (via hemispherical & cover photography) to understory #plantdiversity 🌱 in forest plots. Our findings show canopy #photography can provide key #biodiversity #indicators & insights for managing conservation forests.
@marco-mina.bsky.social @andreashilpold.bsky.social,...

Photomicrographs taken with a Scanning Electron Microscope to study the surface fracturing and weathering of microplastics found in the study area.

Limpopo River

Mogalakwena River

Nyl River

#Microplastics have been found in almost all environmental spheres! In this #study, @DahmsHeinrich & the Departm. of Zoology at the Uni of Johannesburg investigated #microplastics in a transboundary river system of multiple African nations. 🌍
➡️: link.springer.com/article/10.1... @springernature.com

📜 Research Article: www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/Shrews-on-to...
www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/Shrews-on-to...

Our researchers @msteinwandter.bsky.social, @chiarapaniccia.bsky.social & @eliaguariento.bsky.social have found three specimens of the Eurasian pygmy shrew in South Tyrol at over 3,000 meters a.s.l.. This #discovery marks a European #record! 🏆
📰:
eurac.edu/de/press/eur...
Foto: Giacomo Gaudenzi

The echo of death A study investigates the relationship between the amount of dead wood in a forest and how it corresponds to bird and bat diversity

Death is not the opposite of life, but part of it. #Decay and regeneration work hand in hand. Our newly published article examines how dead #wood is vital to life in a #forest.

Read the full article here:
eurac.edu/en/magazine/...

Ph: A de Giovanni / Eurac Research

#biodiversity

New distribution records of wild bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in South Tyrol (Italy): expanding the wild bee database Throughout South Tyrol, in northern Italy, there is a data deficiency relating to wild bee species pool. Here, we present significant findings from the collection of 3,313 wild bees gathered over two ...

🐝Wild bees are vital for #ecosystems, but there are major knowledge gaps about their #distribution.

Our latest study in @bdj.pensoft.net helps bridge this gap by adding new records for wild #bees in South Tyrol. 📊📌🐝

🔎Read more here:
doi.org/10.3897/BDJ....

📣Save the date: LTER Austria and LTER Italy members are convening a workshop on "Strengthening long-term socio-ecological research in mountain LTSER platforms" at #imc25 from September 14-18, 2025 in Innsbruck. We are looking foreward to your contributions! For more information 👇

Die #InitiativeBaumgart ist eine offene Plattform, die wichtige Südtiroler Institutionen aus Ökologie, Umweltschutz, Forschung & Landwirtschaft vereint - für den Erhalt unserer Kulturlandschaft.

Mehr Infos👉 www.initiative-baumgart.it 🌿

In Südtirols Streuobstwiesen ist der auch als Zallinger-Apfel bekannte "Köstlichste" heute selten geworden. Seine Wahl zur Sorte des Jahres soll zum Erhalt dieser wertvolle alte Apfelsorte beitragen. Die große Artenvielfalt der Streuobstwiesen trägt maßgeblich zur Agro-Biodiversität bei. 🌳