Biodiversity

Not only animals and humans host a complex community of microorganisms – plants do this as well. Researchers at ETH Zurich have recently published two new studies that shed light on fundamental aspects of these close – and often overlooked – relationships.

Groundwater is also an ecosystem, but little is known about the biodiversity underground. Eawag researchers have now documented the diversity of life in Swiss groundwater in a pilot study – and discovered previously unknown species of amphipods in the process. Here they relied on a citizen science approach.

Formerly widespread, native crayfish in Switzerland are now highly endangered. With support from Eawag, experts are doing everything they can to preserve the secretive river dwellers.

Microbes self-organise to grow into fascinating and complex patterns. The diversity of these patterns depends on a previously unknown factor, as researchers at Eawag have discovered. This might re-define how we view the concept of microbial biodiversity.

The Amazon rain forest may have reached a tipping point. According to a recent study, it now emits more CO₂ than it absorbs, which could speed the pace of climate change. Charlotte Grossiord, an expert in forest ecosystems and the head of EPFL’s Plant Ecology Research Laboratory, spoke with us about the mechanisms behind this shift and why we should be worried.

Where plant diversity decreases, the diversity of insect life, and therefore biodiversity as a whole, also decline. For example, specialist insects that rely on a few plant species are absent from intensively managed meadows and pastures and dark beech forests because their food plants are no longer to be found there. This is the finding of an international study coordinated by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL).