Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LightNews

Pieter De Frenne

@pieterdefrenne.bsky.social

510 followers 380 following 5 posts

Plants | Climate change | Ecology | Biodiversity | Professor @ForNaLab.bsky.social @fbwugent.bsky.social @ugent | Runner | Associate Editor @jappliedecology.bsky.social

Environmental science 53%

Agriculture 18%

more

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Jonathan Lenoir, Mathias Disney , and 1 more Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Jonathan Lenoir, Mathias Disney, Julie L. Lockwood

Pieter De Frenne @pieterdefrenne.bsky.social · 18d

Fibre-optic cables (also used for internet) can be used as a novel means of continuous measurements of #forest #microclimate in space and over time, at 25-cm spatial and 1-minute temporal resolution

New paper @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social:
doi.org/10.1111/2041...

Pieter De Frenne @pieterdefrenne.bsky.social · 28d

Cool method to know which insect species visited a flower🌼: Using Flower eDNA Metabarcoding to Identify the Effects of Forest🌳 Structure and Microclimate on Flower-Visiting Arthropods🪰🐝 doi.org/10.1002/edn3...

Reposted by Brian J. Enquist, Pieter De Frenne, Julie L. Lockwood , and 1 more Brian J. Enquist, Pieter De Frenne, Julie L. Lockwood, Juan Rocha

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 29d

One in six species on Earth experienced extraordinarily high temperatures across more than 25% of their range in 2024--the hottest year on record. For most, this was the second year of extreme heat, likely compounding risks. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The number of terrestrial vertebrate species highly thermally exposed (>25% range) over time versus the mean global terrestrial temperature anomaly (denoted by color scale of points).

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne, Neil Pederson, Brian J. Harvey

Rupert Seidl @rupertseidl.bsky.social · Sep 8

Climate change increasingly alters the interactions between forest disturbances. Here we present a framework for quantifying dist. interactions and compile evidence for their impacts. Led by @dudney-joan.bsky.social with @brian-j-harvey.bsky.social & @julieedtree.bsky.social doi.org/10.1146/annu...

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne, Pieter A. Zuidema

Journal of Applied Ecology @jappliedecology.bsky.social · Sep 5

Plant species–habitat networks in a mosaic landscape of restored and fragmented tropical forests 🌲🌏

Highlights the role of species interactions and their correlated traits such as dispersal syndromes in promoting landscape-scale connectivity 📊🧪

🔗 doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Reposted by Julia Koricheva, Pieter De Frenne, Jeremy T. Kerr

Jonathan Lenoir 🌳🌲🌴 @jonlen.bsky.social · Aug 21

I made a 20-min 📽 on the relevance of #microclimates for modelling the distribution of #forest species living beneath the 🌳 canopy

shorturl.at/zvLm7

Vidéo de Jonathan Lenoir sur les processus de microclimats et la modélisation.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

Jonathan Lenoir 🌳🌲🌴 @jonlen.bsky.social · Jul 18

Just published in Insect Conservation & Diversity 🪳

We studied the local abundance of Elater ferrugineus, the rusty click beetle, along urban to rural gradients 🏤🏡🏕🌳 in 🇪🇺

Urbanisation ↘️ the local abundance of E. ferrugineus, while the amount of tree cover had a ➕️ influence

doi.org/10.1111/icad...

Functional trait variation of an emblematic saproxylic beetle along rural‐to‐urban gradients across Europe

Urbanisation reduced the local abundance of Elater ferrugineus L., but tree cover increases it. This deadwoods species can persist even in highly urbanised areas. The traits of E. ferrugineus do not...

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

ForNaLab @fornalab.bsky.social · Jun 25

ForNaLab at @nerdland.be festival 2025!
The results are now online on our website:
canopychange.ugent.be/Nerdland.htm...

🌡️ Microclimate mapping of the festival island!
🔬 Stomata counting for a citizen science experiment!
✨ BK Worm Charming!!
🍂 Soil fauna safaris!

#citizenscience #burgerwetenschap

Nerdland – CanopyChange

Op Nerdland festival voerden we een experiment uit tezamen met meer dan 400 festivalbezoekers! We stelden onszelf de vraag of zomereiken een verschillend aantal huidmondjes op hun bladeren hebben afhankelijk van het microklimaat dat ze ervaren. Een zomereik die op een parking staat, ervaart andere temperaturen dan een zomereik die in een bosje op een eiland staat. Zomereiken die op de parking van het provinciaal domein Puyenbroeck staan zullen in de zomermaanden warmere temperaturen ervaren omdat ze in volle zon staan omgeven door asfalt. Zomereiken in een bosje op een eiland van het provinciaal domein zijn daarentegen omringd door andere bomen, staan in de schaduw en zijn omgeven door water. Wanneer bomen droogtestress ervaren sluiten ze hun huidmondjes, de poriën in het blad waarmee ze CO2 opnemen, maar ook waterdamp verliezen. Zo houden ze meer water vast en kunnen ze vermijden dat blaadjes verwelken. De hypothese luidde daarom dat zomereiken op de parking sneller hitte- en droogtestress ervaren vergeleken met zomereiken op het festivaleiland en bijgevolg verwachten we dat bomen op de parking meer huidmondjes hebben om hun waterverlies efficiënter te regelen.

canopychange.ugent.be

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

Jonathan Lenoir 🌳🌲🌴 @jonlen.bsky.social · May 10

Allometric equations underestimate woody volumes of large solitary trees outside forests #LSTOFs 🌳

We used terrestrial lidar scanning #TLS & scanned 215 #LSTOFs along rural to urban gradients across 9 🇪🇺 cities to assess their woody volumes 🧪🌐🍁

Below is one #LSTOF near Amiens 🇨🇵

shorturl.at/hEzfv

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

Jonathan Lenoir 🌳🌲🌴 @jonlen.bsky.social · May 5

#CoolTree project on the benefits of large solitary trees #LSTs & trees outside forests #TOFs in rural & urban landscapes: cultural heritage values, regulating services & local refugia

@pieterdefrenne.bsky.social
@kvanmeerbeek.bsky.social
@karen-depauw.bsky.social
@fspicher.bsky.social

🌐🌍🍁

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

Jonathan Lenoir 🌳🌲🌴 @jonlen.bsky.social · May 5

We monitored air 🌡 & vapour pressure deficits below the crown of >200 large solitary trees #LSTs 🌳 along rural-to-urban gradients for 3 tree species (oak, ash, and lime) across 9 European cities 🏫 We found that #LSTs shape their own species-specific microclimate to host 🐝🦋🐿🦇🌾☘️🌻🌼

shorturl.at/3xPRd

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

ForNaLab @fornalab.bsky.social · Mar 19

ForNaLab wins the Sustainability Research Award Rudi Verheyen 2024! FNL was selected by a jury for its work on 'Forest conservation and restoration in a changing world'. Kris Verheyen, Lander Baeten, @pieterdefrenne.bsky.social & Jan Mertens received the price & gave an inspiring talk together.

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne, Christoph Scherber, Eric Higgs , and 3 more Pieter De Frenne, Christoph Scherber, Eric Higgs, Marcus Collier, Alejandro Ordóñez, Christine N. Meynard

ECONOVO - DNRF Center of Excellence @econovoau.bsky.social · Mar 14

1/6 Paper Alert📢📢📢
New publication from #ECONOVO on the widespread ecological novelty across the terrestrial biosphere🌱

Read the article here:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Key take homes below👇

Widespread ecological novelty across the terrestrial biosphere - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Even outside urban and agricultural areas, ecosystems are vastly transformed as a result of human activities. Here the authors map patterns in climate change, defaunation and floristic disruption to q...

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez @frodsan.bsky.social · Feb 20

The fallacy of single imputation for #traits databases: Use multiple imputation instead @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social #ecopubs

doi.org/10.1111/2041...

The past few years have seen the publication of many new trait databases. A common problem with large databases is a lack of completeness, or inversely, the high prevalence of missing values.
Biologists have developed several methods to impute (fill in) missing values. This allows ordinary statistical procedures to be used in analyses and the use of only complete cases, with a concomitant loss of power and accuracy, can be avoided.
Often, biologists use simulation to test new methods by deleting values from a dataset and recording how well the imputed values match the known, removed values.
Here we argue that this is a poor measure of the strength of an imputation method. We also describe the importance and logic of the statistical procedure of multiple imputation, which requires that the imputations need not be precise or accurate estimates of the missing data.

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne, Bernd Lenzner

Jonathan Lenoir 🌳🌲🌴 @jonlen.bsky.social · Feb 17

Amazing #Tansley #Review from Barnabas Daru on harnessing #herbarium data 🌿🌾☘🌸 to track hidden dimensions of plant biogeography, including plant redistribution: #species #range #shifts ⬇️

@newphyt.bsky.social

shorturl.at/7epYs

Tracking hidden dimensions of plant biogeography from herbaria

Plants are diverse, but investigating their ecology and evolution in nature across geographic and temporal scales to predict how species will respond to global change is challenging. With their geogr...

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · Feb 16

Disequilibrium in plant distributions: Challenges and approaches for species distribution models - check our new review in @journalofecology.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/1365... 🍃🌦️♨️🌿 #SDM #plants #speciesdistributions #ranges

Disequilibrium in plant distributions: Challenges and approaches for species distribution models

Plant distributions are often in disequilibrium with climate, not occupying all suitable habitat and present in conditions that no longer support long-term population persistence. This proves a chall...

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

Jeremy Borderieux @jeremborderieux.bsky.social · Jan 29

📯🌲| The last article from my thesis is now out in @peercomjournal.bsky.social !
We tackled how the different drivers of forest temperature determine plant communities. We found that shaded valley bottoms harbor 5 (30%) more cold-adapted species! doi.org/10.24072/pcj.... Will it lead to microrefugia?

Cool topoclimates promote cold-adapted plant diversity in temperate mountain forests

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

Charlotte Møller @cmoeller.bsky.social · Jan 22

📢 New publication!!
Recently, I finally got to publish the last chapter from my PhD 🌿
We used a reciprocal transplant along a gradient of forest management intensity to study local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity - read more below:
academic.oup.com/aobpla/artic...

Local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity in two forest understorey herbs in response to forest management intensity

This study explores how forest management, and the underlying environmental variables impacts local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity in two understorey

academic.oup.com

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

Methods in Ecology and Evolution @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social · Jan 21

Check out our new blog post to find out more about the article 'Ten practical guidelines for microclimate research in terrestrial ecosystems' by @pieterdefrenne.bsky.social and team! 🌎 🧪

Read the blog here 👉 https://buff.ly/4h32ybX

Pieter De Frenne @pieterdefrenne.bsky.social · Jan 17

Another reason for dogs to be kept on the path - in addition to their potential substantial nitrogen and phosphorus inputs

@aer-ese-bes.bsky.social @britishecolsoc.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1002/2688...

Nutrient fertilization by dogs in peri‐urban ecosystems

Dogs are an underestimated source of nutrient fertilizer and can bring in 11 kg N and 5 kg P per ha per year. Their impact in sensitive ecosystems with plants adapted to nutrient-poor conditions can ....

Pieter De Frenne @pieterdefrenne.bsky.social · Jan 17

"Dogs walked off-lead access more areas of protected lowland heaths, causing more disturbance to rare ground nesting birds."

www.britishecologicalsociety.org/dogs-walked-...

@britishecolsoc.bsky.social @aer-ese-bes.bsky.social

Dogs walked off-lead cause 20% more disturbance to protected lowland heaths - British Ecological Society

Resarch reveals how dogs walked off-lead access more areas of protected lowland heaths, causing more disturbance to rare ground nesting birds.

www.britishecologicalsociety.org

Reposted by Niklaus E. Zimmermann, Pieter De Frenne

WSL Umweltforschung @wslresearch.bsky.social · Jan 17

More frequent, more intense, affecting larger areas: over the last 40 years, mega-droughts have become more severe and are increasingly damaging ecosystems. This is shown by a study led by the WSL and published in @science.org www.wsl.ch/en/news/mega... @dirknkarger.bsky.social
📷 Dirk Karger 🌐

Dead vines in the region around Los Andes in the western catchment area of Aconcagua, a region that has been particularly hard hit by the ongoing drought in Chile. Photo: Dirk Karger, WSL

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · Jan 16

Ancient ginkgo trees, some over 600 years old, show no signs of aging, maintaining vitality similar to younger trees. A study shows that their stem cells and immune defenses remain robust over centuries, explaining their extraordinary lifespans. In @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/scottt...

A stock image of a ginkgo tree. They’ve lived through the ice age, the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs and brushed off an atomic blast just a mile away. Here’s the story of this living fossil that refuses to age—or die.

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

ForNaLab @fornalab.bsky.social · Jan 15

New reflection paper by Eline Lorer & Dries Landuyt: ‘From Prototype to Reality: Moving Beyond the Technology Hype in Ecological Research’.

A reflection on their sensor development trajectory

@The Bulletin @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1002/bes2....

#ecology #microclimate #sensor

From Prototype to Reality: Moving Beyond the Technology Hype in Ecological Research

Click on the article title to read more.

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

ForNaLab @fornalab.bsky.social · Jan 13

In the latest NatuurFocus, we present this framework, developed for Aelmoeseneiebos, our research forest with high scientific and ecological value. The goal: inspire scientists & nature managers to adopt similar practices & strengthen dialogue to protect nature during research.

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

ForNaLab @fornalab.bsky.social · Jan 13

Field experiments in natural areas are crucial to study environmental change but can pose risks to these ecosystems and their species. To minimize impacts, we propose a careful framework in NatuurFocus to balance potential damage against scientific value.

📸 by @habenblondeel.bsky.social

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

ForNaLab @fornalab.bsky.social · Jan 10

Hej Bluesky!
We are ForNaLab:
🌼 a team of researchers passionate about Forest & Nature at Ghent university
📈 scientists delving deep into fundamental and applied questions

We will be posting here on
🔭 the process of doing science
✨ new research results

stay tuned! 🎉

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

Tommaso Jucker @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social · Jan 9

#oneforjournalclub

Woody growth of coarse roots of deciduous trees continues throughout the winter!

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

No winter halt in below-ground wood growth of four angiosperm deciduous tree species - Nature Ecology & Evolution

As wood growth in deciduous tree stems halts during winter, it has been assumed that wood growth in coarse roots follows the same pattern. This study on the growth of stem and coarse roots of four Eur...

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne, Paul Kardol

Jonathan Lenoir 🌳🌲🌴 @jonlen.bsky.social · Dec 17

Everything you ever wanted to know to get started on #microclimate is compiled there ⬇️ in 🔟 guidelines 🤓 Unpack each 1️⃣ to select the right variable, the most relevant spatiotemporal scale, the best sampling design & to tailor your analyses to your study question

🧪🌐🍁

shorturl.at/VYP8f

Reposted by Pieter De Frenne

Jonas Lembrechts @jlembrechts.bsky.social · Dec 17

Paper in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social here: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Great collaborative effort with @pieterdefrenne.bsky.social, @kvanmeerbeek.bsky.social, Julia Kemppinen, Karen De Pauw and MANY other microclimate experts

Ten practical guidelines for microclimate research in terrestrial ecosystems

Most biodiversity dynamics and ecosystem processes on land take place in microclimates that are decoupled from the climate as measured by standardised weather stations in open, unshaded locations....

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com