Pro-environmental behaviour increases among school students who participate in insect-related citizen science projects, according to new research from the University of Adelaide. Students who participated in citizen science project Insect Investigators, which engages students in the discovery of new insects, not only expressed an intention to change their personal behaviour but also to encourage others to protect nature. “As a…
This summer, I spent two months on the island of Lesvos, Greece, the setting of the National Science Foundation-sponsored Pollinators, Climate Change, and the Aegean Archipelago Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). Our team of seven students and four senior researchers from various backgrounds in the U.S. worked to untangle the interacting stressors impacting bees in…
In this work, combined efforts by Greek and Turkish scientists produced an updated validated NIS inventory of the Aegean ecoregion, covering 120 years of records up to August 2024. Of the 342 NIS currently present in the Aegean Sea, the majority (281 species) have invaded the South Aegean, followed by the North Aegean (128 species…
This study investigates the impact of three understorey management practices – herbicide application, understorey clearing, and undisturbed understorey – on the biodiversity of plant and arthropods in olive groves in the Gera region on Lesvos, Greece. The study found that herbicide application had a negative effect on plant diversity, but less pronounced effects on arthropods….
The eastern Mediterranean Sea has suffered severe impacts from climate change, causing the decline of native biodiversity. Based on a global systematic review, we found that climate change has been the main driver of local extinctions globally since the 1990s; the eastern Mediterranean is flagged as an extinction hotspot. This region is also a bioinvasions…
The study of Auchenorrhyncha species composition in Greek olive orchards is crucial due to the potential threat of Xylella fastidiosa invading the region. Recent studies have begun exploring agricultural landscapes, particularly olive and citrus orchards. From 2016 to 2022, biodiversity surveys were conducted in thirteen olive orchards across three regions of Greece: Peloponnese, Sterea Ellada,…
A Yale-led study warns that global climate change may have a devastating effect on butterflies, turning their species-rich, mountain habitats from refuges into traps. Think of it as the “butterfly effect” — the idea that something as small as the flapping of a butterfly’s wings can eventually lead to a major event such as a hurricane…
A new Nature publication shows how soil invertebrates influence the world beneath our feet and thus also ecosystem services worldwide. Since the Industrial Revolution, global changes have led to a decline in biodiversity. To address these changes, it is crucial to understand what constitutes healthy ecosystems – and how to protect and build them. A…
This Collective article presents 18 introduced taxa in the Mediterranean Sea, belonging to seven phyla and documented at 22 new locations and seven countries spanning from the Levantine to the western Mediterranean. These records include the first country records of the African mussel Perna perna (Syria), the sea slug species complex Elysia cf. marginata-grandifolia (Cyprus),…
With an area of 1,633 km2 and approximately 400 km of coastline, Lesvos isthe third-largest Greek island and the eighth-largest in the Mediterranean. Situated in the northeastern part of the Aegean archipelago and bordering Turkey, Lesvos has been known to host 59 ant species and morphospecies. In this article, we present a list of 84…