Research at the Biodiversity Unit
Research at Biodiversity Unit focuses broadly on biodiversity and ecosystem functions and –services.
The research infrastructure including the botanical garden and two field stations, long-term experiments and environmental monitoring datasets and scientific collections provides an excellent support for multidisciplinary research on topical questions such as climate change, biodiversity crisis, and the sustainable use and protection of natural resources in both natural and man-made environments.
In addition to its own research, the Biodiversity Unit promotes multidisciplinary research at the university and serves as a showcase for public outreach.
Our research
New publications
Insights Into Spatial Orientation and Cognition in Tarantulas (Araneae: Theraphosidae) Under Natural Conditions, With Notes on Possible Ontogenetic Niche Shifts (2026)
Ecology and Evolution
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)
Subfamily Agriotypinae Haliday, 1838 (2026)
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book)Meta-transcriptomic profiling of Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes persulcatus ticks from Finland reveals diverse RNA viromes, community structuring, and emerging viral lineages (2026)
Archives of Virology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)
Teeth, size or screen time? How media and biological traits shape public interest in dinosaurs (2026)
Biology Letters
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)
New data on spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) of the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant, with new species and records (2026)
ZooKeys
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)
Transformative citizen science in the Afrotropics (2026)
Nature Reviews Biodiversity
(B1 Other refereed article (e.g., editorial, letter, comment) in a scientific journal)
The Invisible Web: Linking Diet and Gut Microbiota Across Time and Space in Odonates (2026)
Microbial Ecology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)
A new species of ant-eating spider (Araneae: Zodariidae) from the Kyzylkum Desert of Uzbekistan, with colour variation possibly associated with substrate (2026)
Journal of Natural History
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)
Extensive climate-induced range shifts in butterflies across the globe (2026)
Nature Ecology and Evolution
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)
Beyond Awareness: Unresolved Puzzles in Biodiversity Finance (2026)
BIODIFUL-blogi
(E1 Popularised blog post)