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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Sep 6

📖 Dive into the full paper for details on methods, stats, and ecological implications! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Sep 6

🧩 Conclusions: Flower eDNA is a promising non-invasive tool for capturing arthropod–plant interactions in forest ecosystems. However, detection rates are patchy—likely influenced by flower traits, visitor behavior, and methodological nuances.

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Sep 6

🔍 Method matters: pooling flowers before DNA extraction increased species detection. This is a key methodological insight for future eDNA sampling.

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Sep 6

❓ Unexpectedly, microclimate (temperature) showed no significant effect on arthropod detection for either plant species. Forest structure mattered more.

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Sep 6

🌳 For F. vesca, arthropod richness was higher in open, broadleaf-dominated plots—likely due to more light boosting pollinator activity. Forest density had a negative effect.

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Sep 6

🔬 Using COI metabarcoding on washed flower samples, we detected 92 arthropod taxa—34 on F. vesca, 64 on T. pratense. Notably, T. pratense hosted nearly double the richness. Still, many taxa appeared only once per plot.

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Sep 6

🌸 We translocated Fragaria vesca (wild strawberry) and Trifolium pratense (red clover) into 40 forest plots varying in density and tree composition. Each plant came paired: one accessible to pollinators, one covered as a control.

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Sep 6

🌿 New paper alert! 📢
We used flower-based eDNA metabarcoding to uncover how forest structure and microclimate shape the diversity of flower-visiting arthropods in a Swedish boreal forest. #pollinators #eDNA 🧬🌼

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Jul 8

🙏 Huge thanks to all the volunteers contributing to biodiversity platforms. Your observations matter, immensely.
We hope this work helps make your data even more valuable.
📘 Full paper: doi.org/10.1007/s135...
📂 Code & data: zenodo.org/record/15252...

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Jul 8

Citizen science is powerful, but not perfect.
Ignoring temporal bias can lead to flawed conclusions about how pollinators respond to climate change, risking misguided conservation efforts.
We can do better. And we must. 🐝🌍

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Jul 8

So, what can we do?
✅ Include weekday/weekend in statistical models
✅ Be transparent about biases
✅ Combine citizen science with other datasets
✅ Promote standardized protocols

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Jul 8

Some species, like Bombus hypnorum, are especially prone to weekend bias, likely because they nest in vertical structures and often enter buildings. Their urban, visible habits make them easier to spot.
Bias isn’t just temporal: it’s tied to species traits too. 🐝🏙️

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Jul 8

When we modeled the emergence date of Bombus hortorum without adjusting for weekend bias, we found a significant advance over time.
After adjusting for the day of the week?
🚫 The trend disappeared.
📉 Bias can send us down the wrong path.

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Jul 8

We compared 2M+ citizen science records and 340k museum specimens.
🎯 Citizen science peaked on weekends.
🏛️ Museum data? The opposite—more records on weekdays.
Two biases, two directions. Both matter for how we interpret trends.

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Jul 8

One-third (33%) of bumblebee records from citizen science platforms come from weekends. This is well above what random sampling would predict (!!!)

Why does this matter? Because weekend bias can distort our understanding of how pollinators respond to climate change.

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Jul 8

As rising temperatures shift the timing of plant flowering and pollinator emergence, accurate phenological data is crucial, but hard to collect. Citizen science helps fill the gap, especially for tracking hibernating pollinators. 🐝🌸📅
But there's a catch...

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Jul 8

🚨 New paper alert!
Why do queen bumblebees seem to "wake up" on weekends?
It turns out, they don’t.
But we see them more on weekends, and that’s a problem for climate research. Here’s why. 👇🐝
📄 Díaz-Calafat & Luna-Santamaría (2025)
doi.org/10.1007/s135...

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Reposted by Joan Díaz-Calafat

Natusfera @natusferaes.bsky.social · Jun 12

La tortuga mediterránea (𝑇𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑜 𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑖) vive en el sur de Europa. La única población autóctona en España se encuentra en Cataluña, y a Menorca llegó hace unos 3000 años con el ser humano.

🟢 spain.inaturalist.org/observations...

#observacióndelasemana 📸 por @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social

Foto: Testudo hermanni. Autor: Joan Díaz Calafat (https://spain.inaturalist.org/people/jdiazcalafat). Licencia: CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

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Reposted by Joan Díaz-Calafat

Universitat de les Illes Balears - UIB @uib.cat · May 22

#UIBiodiversityDay2025 | 🌊🌳 Un centenar de científics de tot l’Estat es reuneixen a la #UIB per compartir avenços en la conservació de la #biodiversitat.

#CBB @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social @imedea.bsky.social
@csic.es @fundaciobit.bsky.social @ba.ieo.es

🔗 diari.uib.cat/Hemeroteca/L...

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · May 22

Presenting the flower eDNA work I did during my PhD at the #UIBiodiversityDay2025

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · May 22

All ready for the #UIBiodiversityDay2025 ! @uib.cat

A row of poster panels for the UIBiodiversityDay2025 conference

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · May 17

Yo diría que es del género Pemphredon 🙂

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Apr 3

New paper out! 📢
The effects of climate change on boreal plant-pollinator interactions are largely neglected by science
🐝 🪲 🪰 🦋 🌼 🌲 🌡️

Read more here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ba...

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Reposted by Joan Díaz-Calafat

Rupert Seidl @rupertseidl.bsky.social · Feb 3

iLand is the first forest landscape model to explicitly simulate forest microclimate. Why? Because microclimate effects propagate across scales and influence important processes such as decomposition, regeneration and bark beetle development. Read more in Braziunas et al. doi.org/10.1007/s109...

Microclimate temperature effects propagate across scales in forest ecosystems - Landscape Ecology

Context Forest canopies shape subcanopy environments, affecting biodiversity and ecosystem processes. Empirical forest microclimate studies are often restricted to local scales and short-term effects,...

doi.org

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Joan Díaz-Calafat @jdiazcalafat.bsky.social · Jan 14

Thanks so much! Definitely agree - photo surveys are great for spotting those rare pollinators. It’s wild that no Mutilid wasps were found in 50k visits. Just goes to show how many other interactions out there we may still be missing out on!

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