Search results

High above us, the atmosphere is teeming with life. Birds, bats and insects share the airspace, but divide it into different lanes of traffic. New research from Lund University in Sweden reveals how the atmosphere is an ecosystem, with complex ecological processes that affect how animals move between different altitude levels. We often consider the air as simply a void – but it is in fact alive an

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/hidden-highways-sky-mapped - 2025-12-13

A unique long-term study, in which samples were collected from the same population of blue tits over a 30-year period, shows that rising spring temperatures have doubled the incidence of avian malaria in southern Sweden. Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have collected samples every year from hundreds of blue tits in a single population at a local breeding area outside Lund. This has prov

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/warmer-nordic-springs-double-incidence-avian-malaria - 2025-12-13

Through the DNA analysis of old air samples collected by the Swedish Armed Forces, researchers at Lund University in Sweden can show that spore dispersal of northern mosses has shifted over the past 35 years. It now starts several weeks earlier, revealing how quickly nature’s calendar can reset in line with a warmer climate. “The samples have proved to be an unexpected, unique and very exciting ar

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/old-air-samples-military-reveal-climate-change - 2025-12-13

How should scientists handle deep disagreements? A new paper by researcher Juan Gefaell and Professor Tobias Uller at Lund University introduces a more constructive way to deal with disputes in ecology and evolutionary biology – by turning opponents into collaborators. “Despite some apparent challenges, it is feasible to apply adversarial collaboration to ecology and evolutionary biology disputes.

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/turning-scientific-rivals-partners - 2025-12-13

When the late summer sun falls over Ireland’s Wicklow Mountains, the slopes turn purple with blooming heather. Honeybees are moved to the heathlands for the sought-after heather honey, but their presence affects wild bumblebees. An Irish-Swedish research team has shown in a new study that wild bumblebees change their behaviour and are smaller in size when the number of beehives increases. The rese

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/honeybees-crowd-out-bumblebees-even-flower-rich-heathlands - 2025-12-13

Biologists Michael Bok and Cecilia Nilsson have been awarded the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant to further study how not to disrupt animal flight and the evolution of eyesight. Michael Bok, researcher, Lund Vision GroupCan you describe your research?I study the evolution of eyes and visual systems. This new grant attempts to discover how advanced visual abilities like colour and polarisation v

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/lund-university-researchers-awarded-major-eu-grant - 2025-12-13

Red-backed shrikes fly thousands of kilometres to reach Africa – and they do so with astonishing precision. Aided by new technology, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have been able to track the birds’ journeys in detail. It turns out that they may have a more complex genetic migration programme than researchers have previously been able to show. “We can now follow a bird’s location through

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/new-technology-reveals-migratory-birds-stunning-precision-flight - 2025-12-13

After climate change, biodiversity loss is the biggest environmental challenge facing the world today. The loss of plant and animal species also means a loss of the resources that humans obtain from well-functioning ecosystems. At Lund University, a project is underway in which researchers are studying how work to counteract these losses is carried out with so-called green infrastructure. In today

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/green-infrastructure-planning-and-designing-functioning-nature - 2025-12-13

Sweden does not need more cattle to save natural grazing land with high biodiversity. This is the conclusion of a new report by researchers at Lund University in Sweden. What is needed instead, according to the researchers, are economic incentives that make natural grazing profitable. Natural grazing land is a central part of the Swedish cultural landscape and important for biodiversity. Grazing a

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/profitability-not-more-cattle-needed-save-natural-grazing-land - 2025-12-13

In recent decades, the climate in Sweden has become about two degrees warmer on average and this year we have seen an unprecedentedly mild winter and early spring. How is nature responding – animals, insects, plants – to an increasingly mild climate? Researchers in Lund can provide the answer. Among other things, a new study shows that greenery in Sweden begins to appear between one to two weeks e

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/unusually-early-spring-how-nature-sweden-responding-increasingly-warm-climate - 2025-12-13

We appreciate your participation in the online conference, which was a very successful joining of about 100 participants. April 23 and 24 were two very rewarding days, filled with interesting sessions, poster presentations, office yoga, group discussions, as well as fruitful conversations and sharing of expertise. The event allowed for interesting discussions among researchers and stakeholders acr

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/thank-you-participating-cecs-online-science-says-conference-and-becc-merge-spring-meeting - 2025-12-13

A study from Lund University indicates that the flora of Skåne in southern Sweden changed drastically throughout the 1900s and up to the present day. The greatest decline in species diversity can be seen in forested areas in the northern and central parts of Skåne. “I was surprised that climate change has had the biggest impact”, says researcher Torbjörn Tyler of Lund University. The researchers’

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/dramatic-changes-regional-flora - 2025-12-13

The graduate research schools ClimBEco and the Bolin Centre Climate Research School (CRS) have recently initiated a collaboration with multiple climate-focused intentions. The joint activities will strengthen the course curriculum and network possibilities for the respective PhD students and contribute to the advancement of the climate and biodiversity research front.  “This is a fantastic way to

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/new-collaboration-strengthens-climate-and-biodiversity-research - 2025-12-13

A unique study has analyzed in detail how EU agricultural subsidies flow down to the local level. The new data show that most income support payments go to intensively farmed regions already above median EU income, while climate-friendly and biodiverse farming regions, as well as poorer regions, are insufficiently funded. Consequently, the majority of payments are going to the regions causing the

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/revealed-how-billions-eu-farming-subsidies-are-being-misspent - 2025-12-13

Population density, and not the proportion of green spaces, has the biggest impact on species richness of pollinators in residential areas. This is the result of a study from Lund University in Sweden of gardens and residential courtyards in and around Malmö, Sweden. The result surprised the researchers, who had expected that the vegetation cover would be more significant.“We have found that, in c

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/high-human-population-density-negative-pollinators - 2025-12-13

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden can now reveal what the Danish King Hans had planned to offer when laying claim to the Swedish throne in 1495: a two-metre-long Atlantic sturgeon. The well-preserved fish remains were found in a wreck on the bottom of the Baltic Sea last year, and species identification was made possible through DNA analysis. At midsummer in 1495, the Danish King Hans was e

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/atlantic-sturgeon-kings-pantry-unique-discovery-baltic-sea-wreck-1495 - 2025-12-13

CEC is one of the actors behind a new international education programme with the purpose to strengthen innovation in the public sector and support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The target group is public service professionals in Indonesia and Turkey, and it is now open for applications. The programme is a part of the Swedish Institute’s Public Sector Innovation Programme and this is the s

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/cec-provides-education-co-design-and-inclusive-public-environments - 2025-12-13

The climate crisis has received less media coverage during the corona pandemic despite that many think the climate challenges demand equally urgent attention. During the coming two weeks the United Nations gather the world in the Climate Dialogues 2020 “to increase the momentum for greater climate ambition” in an online format. Our climate researcher Markku Rummukainen comments on the event. When

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/global-climate-dialogues-boost-climate-work - 2025-12-13

Researchers at the Pufendorf Institute are working together in a Theme about Invasive Alien Plants, and are interested in finding out how the public, as well as experts, regard different plants in private gardens as well as in public spaces. Why are certain plants defined as more desirable than others, by whom, and how? Researchers now want to get help from the public to get a better understanding

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/researchers-want-know-how-public-perceive-invasive-alien-plants - 2025-12-13

How can previous warm periods in the ocean help us better understand the ongoing climate change? PhD student Sha Ni defends her dissertation at CEC this week with fossil findings that can improve the knowledge of the current global warming. Congratulations on your dissertation coming up! How would you describe your research to people unfamiliar with your field? “I study the past climate conditions

https://www.cec.lu.se/article/past-ocean-conditions-give-clues-marine-environmental-changes - 2025-12-13