Publications

In an article published in Nature Climate Change, researchers from the Forest Biology Center at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań show that climate change is leading to a decline in seed production by trees. Seed production in major European tree species has declined by more than 30% over three decades, even after accounting for the…

A paper by Freerk Molleman and Urszula Walczak from the Department of Systematic Zoology and published in Proceedings B and collaborators, shows that two species of tropical butterfly both respond to humidity, but using different mechanisms. Experiments in which humidity during rearing was varied show that adult eyespot size in one species (Mycalesis mineus) responded…

A paper published in Nature Ecology and Evolution by Soumen Mallick and colleagues, including Freerk Molleman from our institute, uses detailed satellite images from forests in Germany to show that trees tend to show delayed budburst the spring after they have been severely attacked by caterpillars. They also showed that this delay then reduces insect…

Diversifying selection on a key regulator of missing-self innate immunity Rocco F. Notarnicola et al. (2026, https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag082) show how an innate immune regulator (CFH), thought to be conserved by its interactions with self-components, is instead very polymorphic and under diversifying selection, likely due to selective pressures from pathogens like Borrelia highjacking it to evade immunity….

In the study published in Ecology Letters  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70377 Neha Pandey and colleagues report that populations in which males are aggressive and armoured in lethal weapons are less stable compared to populations in which males are benign. Populations with aggressive males are mores sensitive to population disturbances and show slower recovery. This research was funded by NCN grant UMO-2020/39/B/NZ8/00152/4…

In their recent article published in Evolutionary Applications (DOI: 10.1111/eva.70180), Bartosz Łabiszak and Witold Wachowiak examined adaptive variation in Scots pine across a wide environmental gradient in Northern and Central Europe and assessed the extent of genomic offset under projected future habitat conditions. Their findings highlight a strong role of temperature in shaping population-level adaptation and reveal…

Two recent articles by Prof. Wachowiak’s team (Molecular Ecology and BMC Plant Biology) provide complementary evidence on the repeatability of hybridization between Pinus sylvestris and Pinus mugo. Analyses of thousands of individuals from multiple contact zones show that, despite environmental differences, early stages of hybrid speciation follow a similar pattern. The studies document widespread, asymmetric gene flow and strong selection…

Publication by Michał Bogdziewicz et al. engages with a recent paper by Meersch and Wolkovich, to discuss how the summer solstice serves as a fixed, range-wide cue that synchronizes temperature sensing for flowering in European beech. Unlike growth processes, where local adaptation to environmental conditions is beneficial, masting relies on synchrony among individuals to enhance…

A review by Michal Bogdziewicz and co-authors published in Annual Reviews in Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics explores the phenomenon of mast seeding, where perennial plants produce highly variable and synchronized seed crops. It synthesizes current knowledge on the mechanisms plants use to achieve this variability, from hypersensitivity to weather cues to interactions between pollination, fruit…

An article co-authored by Zbigniew Celka has been published in the journal Ecological Indicators, focusing on indicator species in three forest types of Poland (Tilio-Carpinetum, Galio-Carpinetum, and Stellario-Carpinetum). The study revealed both new species that currently best characterize the described associations and a significant group of mosses with strong bioindication potential. Link to the paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113339