The largest biodiversity time-series database on the planet – created by the University of St Andrews - has had a major new release. The BioTIME database offers unprecedented insight into how biodiversity is changing through time across the globe, spanning nearly 150 years of ecological records from 1874–2023.
Sustainability is the imperative of our time. The Sustainability Transformation Doctoral Education Pilot (SusTra) presents an essential opportunity for everyone to engage with our open Studia Generalia lectures in autumn 2025.
According to a new study, the number of species in the wildlife trade may exceed previous estimates, underscoring the urgent need for more comprehensive monitoring systems and regulation to improve the sustainability of the trade.
Researchers working in Finland propose that the unique light environment of the Earth’s Polar regions creates conditions that result in circumpolar hybrid zones around the North and the South Poles. These extreme conditions increase the synchrony of reproductive phenology among species, i.e., force all species into a smaller window for reproduction. This will sustain biodiversity in the long term.
Calculating the biodiversity footprint provides a new way of looking at the impact of an organisation's activities on biodiversity, both locally and globally. The calculation combines the biodiversity and carbon footprints and highlights which of the University's activities leave the largest footprint.
A recently published article studies the mutually beneficial ecological relationships and evolutionary adaptations of tarantulas. The study reveals that the infamous spiders are actually often on friendly terms with amphibians, reptiles, and even army ants, which are known to feed on spiders. The researchers suggest that the dense hair covering tarantulas may have in fact evolved as a defence mechanism against these predatory ants.
A recent genetic discovery has revealed that the pale grey plumage of the tawny owl is linked to crucial functions that aid the bird's survival in cold environments. As global temperatures rise, dark brown plumage is likely to become more common in tawny owls living in colder areas.
The University of Turku has received €3.3 million in EU funding for a doctoral training project that responds to the current need for experts by training 25 doctoral researchers from fields related to green and digital transition.
The Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve in Peru has often been described as the most biodiverse rainforest in the world. For example, in recent decades, scientist have discovered several new bird species from the region. The researchers of the University of Turku in Finland have studied the insect biodiversity in Allpahuayo-Mishana for over twenty years. In their latest study, the scientist described a new wasp genus, Capitojoppa, to science.
A recent analysis of what drives different scientific and societal interest in global species suggests we are missing knowledge on more than half of the world’s biodiversity.