Author Archives: lembrechtsjonas
What mountain roads do to root-associated fungi
Some papers just hit harder than others. And this latest one – just out in Molecular Ecology – sits right at the top of the epic scale. The topic? The impact of mountain roads on plant-fungal interactions. Here’s the thing: … Continue reading
The Tea Bag Index: simple on the surface, complex beneath
Oftentimes the simplest scientific methods hide a whole iceberg of complexity. The Tea Bag Index (TBI) is no exception. On the face of it, it’s brilliantly straightforward: bury some green and rooibos Lipton tea bags, dig them up after about … Continue reading
The graph that surprises nobody
Our recent paper in Nature summarizing the work of the Dark Diversity Network contains a simple – and for that reason rather horrifying – graph. It’s not much more than a linear regression, a line through some points: It summarizes … Continue reading
Global impoverishment of natural vegetation revealed by ‘dark diversity’
Back in 2019, we ventured into the field with a rather unusual mission: to search for the biodiversity that wasn’t there. At first glance, this might seem counterintuitive – after all, we’re accustomed to documenting what exists. Yet, by exploring … Continue reading
Non-native plants in the worlds’ cities
Non-native species have been widely studied for decades, and their affinity with urban environments is no surprise to anyone in the field. However, just how many non-native species dwell in our cities was so far unknown. With a global consortium … Continue reading
MicroFracNet
An add-on to the global EcoFracNet monitoring protocol Call to action: Monitor plant biodiversity and microclimate using a standardized design across scales from 0,5 m to 900 m to help us assess the scales at which biodiversity varies, and at … Continue reading








