Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026 Thank you so much! 🙏🙏 Glad you found it interesting. 010
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026📰 For a clear and accessible overview of our study, see this excellent news story by @rthornton28.bsky.social. bsky.app/profile/rtho... 033
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026🙏 This study would not have been possible without the support of Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellowship ( #Fulbright #USIEF). Many thanks to the @uofa-eeb.bsky.social @uarizona.bsky.social for hosting me, and to UArizona High Performance Computing for the resources that made this work possible. 120
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026📄 Interested in learning more? 📖 Paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415... 🔓 Free full-text version (no subscription): rdcu.be/fo5a0 📝 A more accessible summary of the study: rdcu.be/fqAt2 110
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026🙏 Many thanks to my co-authors, John Wiens and Dirk Karger (@dirknkarger.bsky.social), and to the researchers worldwide who collected and generously shared the biodiversity data that made this study possible. Special thanks to Dirk for his help generating the daily climate data used in this study. 131
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026One final point: these are not model predictions. They are climate-related local extinctions already observed across thousands of populations during recent climate warming. Climate change is already reshaping biodiversity worldwide.🌍📈🌡️🌳🪲🦎🦩🦔🐟 153
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026Take away: Climate-driven biodiversity loss is becoming a global crisis. Our findings suggest climate risks to temperate biodiversity have been underestimated and challenge long-held assumptions about where biodiversity faces the greatest climate risks. 185
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026🌴Does this mean tropical species are no longer vulnerable? No. In several tropical animals, >50% of species surveyed experienced climate-related local extinctions. Our findings show climate risks to temperate biodiversity may have been underestimated, not that tropical species are less vulnerable. 141
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026But could species simply escape climate change by moving to cooler places? Not in most cases. More than 70% of species showed no evidence of expanding their ranges into cooler areas. For many species, persistence may depend more on avoiding local extinction than on range expansion. 141
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026🚨Another important difference: In temperate species, climate impacts weren't limited to the warmest edge of their ranges. Local extinctions also occurred across the rest of their ranges and increased with recent warming. In tropical species, extinctions remained concentrated at the warmest edge. 121
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026🌡️ So why were temperate species more affected? One major reason is that many temperate regions have warmed more rapidly in recent decades than the tropics. Across our dataset, climate-related local extinctions were more frequent in regions that experienced greater warming. 132
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026🔍 Could this simply reflect factors other than climate change? We took several steps to minimize that possibility, including carefully filtering out sites affected by land-use change and showing that differences in survey methods and effort across studies could not explain the pattern. 150
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026📊❗Surprisingly, we found climate-related local #extinctions were more frequent in temperate species than tropical species. Nearly half of temperate species (49%) had already disappeared locally from the warmest parts of their ranges, compared with one-third (33%) of tropical species. 132
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026🗺️ To find out, we compiled data from 63 studies that surveyed species at the same locations over time, spanning 5,151 species and 39,157 survey sites. We then compared how often species had already disappeared locally from the warmest parts of their ranges across tropical and temperate regions. 153
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026🍁But recent studies have suggested that the answer may not be so simple. As #heatwaves become more frequent and intense, and warming accelerates in many temperate regions, some studies predict that the strongest future impacts of climate change on biodiversity may also occur outside the tropics. 141
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026🏝️ So why were #tropical species expected to be especially vulnerable to climate change? Because tropical climates are relatively stable year-round, many species were thought to be adapted to a narrower range of temperatures and already live close to the warmest temperatures they can tolerate.doi.orgPutting the Heat on Tropical AnimalsImpacts of climate warming in the tropics—the cradle of biodiversity—are often predicted to be small relative to those in temperate regions (1, 2), because the rate of climate warming in the tropics i... 121
Gopal Murali @gopalmurali.bsky.social · 29/06/2026🚨New paper🚨 For decades, it was widely assumed tropical species would be hit hardest by #ClimateChange. Turns out climate-related local #extinctions are already more frequent among temperate species. Read our new study 🧵 @natclimate.nature.com doi.org/10.1038/s415... #BiodiversityLoss #SciSkydoi.orgTemperate local extinctions from climate change are outpacing tropical extinctions - Nature Climate ChangeThe authors analyse global-scale resurvey data for 5,151 species to reveal the sensitivity of tropical versus temperate species to climate change. They show significantly higher frequencies of local e... 36846
Reposted by Gopal MuraliProf Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · 19/06/2026Surprising result: Temperate local extinctions from climate change are outpacing tropical extinctions. Across 39,157 sites, climate-related local extinctions affected 49% of temperate species compared with 33% of tropical spp. Biodiversity loss is a global crisis. www.nature.com/articles/s41...nature.comTemperate local extinctions from climate change are outpacing tropical extinctions - Nature Climate ChangeThe authors analyse global-scale resurvey data for 5,151 species to reveal the sensitivity of tropical versus temperate species to climate change. They show significantly higher frequencies of local e... 02511
Reposted by Gopal MuraliMUSER PRESS @muser.press · 22/06/2026A global study of 5,151 species found climate-driven local extinctions are more common in temperate regions than in the tropics. The findings suggest biodiversity is already being reshaped by rising temperatures. DOI: doi.org/hb77dp #ClimateChange #Biodiversity #TemperateRegionsmuser.pressTemperate species found more vulnerable to climate change than previously thought • Muser PressLocal extinctions associated with climate change are occurring more frequently in temperate regions than in tropical ones, according to a global analysis 066
Reposted by Gopal MuraliOded Berger-Tal @odedberger-tal.bsky.social · 27/03/2026@yaelbird.bsky.social and @gopalmurali.bsky.social developed a wildlife-oriented soundscape map for Israel, revealing that road noise negatively impacts 43% of non-urban lands and 23% of protected areas. Open access in @peopleandnature.bsky.social besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.comEffect distances of road traffic noise on wildlife behaviour: A soundscape mapping approach using bird habitat selectionRead the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. 021
Reposted by Gopal MuraliCorey Bradshaw @conservbytes.bsky.social · 10/12/2025Effects of future climate extreme heat events and land use changes on land vertebrates "By [2100], ... 7895 species are expected to face extreme heat events and/or unsuitable land use changes across their entire range, & thus potentially go globally extinct" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...onlinelibrary.wiley.comEffects of Future Climate Extreme Heat Events and Land Use Changes on Land VertebratesOur study demonstrates how the combined effects of extreme heat events resulting from climate change and land-use change may impact land vertebrates worldwide by 2100. Using global projections across... 0117
Reposted by Gopal MuraliAmbio - A Journal of Environment and Society @ambio-journal.bsky.social · 08/11/2025New publication: Rethinking desert definitions: Bridging the gap between science, policy, and conservation Open access link: link.springer.com/article/10.1...link.springer.comRethinking desert definitions: Bridging the gap between science, policy, and conservation - AmbioDeserts are often misperceived as desolate, non-productive landscapes. This perception contributes to the misuse of terms like ‘semiarid’ and ‘desertification’, creating ambiguity in how deserts are d... 035
Reposted by Gopal MuraliPLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 22/10/2025Human-induced pressures are expected to intensify this century. @uriroll.bsky.social &co present #ProactiveConservationIndex, a new tool for #conservation prioritization regarding future threats for any group of species, & apply it to all terrestrial #vertebrates @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3WVRpRH 185
Reposted by Gopal MuraliSimon Baeckens @simonbaeckens.bsky.social · 08/09/2025Extreme climate events can catalyze rapid evolutionary change! in our new Current Biology (@currentbiology.bsky.social) piece, Colin and I argue it’s time to study their evolutionary consequences systematically — beyond opportunistic observations. www.cell.com/current-biol...cell.comEvolutionary consequences of extreme climate eventsSimon Baeckens and Colin Donihue review case studies of rapid evolutionary change in response to extreme climate events and sketch a framework for future studies in the rapidly changing climate of the... 25019
Reposted by Gopal MuraliNature @nature.com · 11/08/2025Nature research paper: Stronger El Niños reduce tropical forest arthropod diversity and function go.nature.com/40WEeCGgo.nature.comStronger El Niños reduce tropical forest arthropod diversity and function - NatureTime-series data from tropical forests tracking weather and declines in arthropod diversity and function show that fluctuations in species were largely dependent on their El Niño sensitivity and ecological specialization. 0287
Reposted by Gopal MuraliEliot Miller @eliotmiller.bsky.social · 31/07/2025🫠. A tree came out today with 9,072 bird species, all placements based on actual DNA. It looks like they used eBird 2022 taxonomy; 10,096 were recognized back then. That means these folks just dropped (molecularly well informed) knowledge on 83% of the world's birds. www.cell.com/current-biol...cell.comA new time tree of birds reveals the interplay between dispersal, geographic range size, and diversificationFlight may affect the dispersal and evolution of birds. Using a new evolutionary tree, Claramunt et al. find that efficient fliers have broader geographic ranges, and speciation reduces range size, bu... 13616
Reposted by Gopal MuraliSam England @samjakeengland.bsky.social · 24/07/2025Why do treehoppers look so weird?! Our latest paper, out this week in @pnas.org, suggests a perhaps unexpected reason - static electricity ⚡ We show that treehoppers can detect the electrostatic cues of predators and that their crazy shapes may boost their electrosensitivity! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...doi.orgElectroreception in treehoppers: How extreme morphologies can increase electrical sensitivity | PNASThe link between form and function of an organism’s morphology is usually apparent or intuitive. However, some clades of organisms show remarkable ... 13421166
Reposted by Gopal MuraliBES Macro @besmacro.bsky.social · 30/06/2025Ecology and Biogeography of Sexual Size Dimorphism in Squamates, Liang et al., GEB onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... 022
Reposted by Gopal MuraliEthan Linck @elinck.bsky.social · 11/06/2025maybe my favorite paper I've written, I have a synthesis out today early access in @asn-amnat.bsky.social today that attempts to answer a simple but slippery question: what is an elevational range? doi.org/10.1086/737130 612343
Reposted by Gopal MuraliJeremy Cohen @drjerbs.bsky.social · 10/06/2025NEW SCIENCE! 🚨🚨🚨🧪🪶🌐 Our paper is now online at @natecoevo.nature.com! “Geographic redistributions are insufficient to mitigate exposure to climate change in North American birds”. We know birds are moving north with climate change, but what are the consequences? www.nature.com/articles/s41... 34416
Reposted by Gopal MuraliBrian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · 10/06/2025“observed patterns of island biodiversity … demonstrate that neutral models can make accurate predictions of higher-order diversity statistics. “ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1... 🧪🌐onlinelibrary.wiley.comQuantitatively Testing Predictions From Mechanistic Models: A Case Study for Island BiodiversityA key test of an ecological model is whether it can quantitatively predict unseen aspects of the data not used in model fitting. Here, we test whether a model fitted only to island alpha diversity ca.... 1348
Reposted by Gopal Murali🍁 Alex Smith 🍁 @alexsmithants.bsky.social · 03/06/2025“There’s just no moths on that sheet.” @tessairini.bsky.social writes in the @theguardian.com about #InsectDecline with #DanJanzen, #WinnieHallwachs and the caterpillars of the Area de Conservacion Guanacaste #ACG in #CostaRica @gdfcf.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/... 13113
Reposted by Gopal MuraliBrian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · 02/06/2025Amazon rainforest adjusts to long-term experimental drought ..."After elevated tree mortality during the first 15 years, ecosystem-level structural changes resulted in the remaining trees no longer experiencing drought stress." 🧪🌐🌾 www.nature.com/articles/s41...nature.comAmazon rainforest adjusts to long-term experimental drought - Nature Ecology & EvolutionDrought is a growing issue in tropical rainforests. Here, the authors revisit a long-term rainfall manipulation experiment in the Amazon to show that tree mortality was followed by community-level adj... 27232
Reposted by Gopal Muraliignacio quintero @ignacioq.bsky.social · 02/05/2025Happy to share my new article on how morphological diversification proceeds during evolutionary radiations: "The diffused evolutionary dynamics of morphological novelty" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 🧵 1/12pnas.orgThe diffused evolutionary dynamics of morphological novelty | PNASRates of evolution are fundamental to understand the processes that shaped the history of life. The predominant view holds that high rates of pheno... 310247
Reposted by Gopal MuraliPatrick Waeber @powaeber.bsky.social · 31/03/2025Human pressures reshape biodiversity, but not always in expected ways. No global biotic homogenization found. Impacts vary by threat, taxa, and scale. #LandUse #Overexploitation #Pollution #ClimateChange #Invasives 👉Conservation must get specific #KnowYourPressure #TailorYourStrategy #BendTheCurvenature.comThe global human impact on biodiversity - NatureKey measures of biodiversity were quantified and found to be affected by human pressures that shifted community composition and decreased local diversity across terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecos... 0105
Reposted by Gopal MuraliJames T. Stroud @jameststroud.bsky.social · 25/03/2025Exciting news! @wcratcliff.bsky.social and I published an essay last week in @nature.com reviewing the substantial contributions of 'long-term' studies to evolutionary biology www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/n 19537
Reposted by Gopal MuraliDan Baldassarre @evornithology.bsky.social · 28/02/2025Welp this is horrifying. These researchers quantified the "stratigraphy" of plastic waste used in Common Coot nests. Using expiration dates, they found one nest that contained 635 (!!!) pieces of trash, including plastic dating back to 1991. esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... 04719
Reposted by Gopal MuraliNicholas Wu @nicholaswu.bsky.social · 06/03/2025New paper in @nature.com led by @patricepottier.bsky.social! We demonstrated global vulnerability of amphibians to warming, threatening 10% of >5,000 species examined. How did we do it? See thread🧵 Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 713662
Reposted by Gopal MuraliAdrián García-Rodríguez @adriangarcia-r.bsky.social · 26/02/2025📢Our new paper on alien vertebrates in the world's mountains is now out @naturecomms.bsky.social. Using data on 700+ spp across ~3,000 mountains we explore their distribution patterns,flows across realms, presence in protected areas, and the factors driving these trends. 🐟🐸🦎🦜🦝⛰️ 👉 rdcu.be/ebidurdcu.beThe global distribution patterns of alien vertebrate richness in mountainsNature Communications - Among contemporary threats to mountain biodiversity, biological invasions have been understudied. This large-scale synthesis on alien vertebrates in global mountains delves... 54219
Reposted by Gopal MuraliDaniel Jablonski @dj-herpetology.bsky.social · 01/02/2025Our study on Duttaphrynus melanostictus evolution published in Nature Communication. We showed how these toads likely spread across the Indian Ocean via human transport, from ancient trade routes to modern shipping. 🌍🐸 @chrisdufresnes.bsky.social @naturecomms.bsky.social @comeniusuni.bsky.social 1114
Reposted by Gopal MuraliMichael Kearney @ecophys.bsky.social · 16/01/2025The late Eric Pianka made thousands of observations of desert lizard body temperature and activity. We used them to test biophysical models of their cost of living and projected the models to past and future climates in Africa and Australia #unimelb #ARC @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...science.orgClimate change and the cost-of-living squeeze in desert lizardsClimate warming can induce a cost-of-living “squeeze” in ectotherms by increasing energetic expenditures while reducing foraging gains. We used biophysical models (validated by 2685 field observations... 14213
Reposted by Gopal MuraliAlex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 23/12/2024I'm very happy to announce I just published a paper from my post doc with Gavin Thomas in @natureecoevo.bsky.social! So if you're interested in #macroevolution, #phylogenetics and sexual size dimorphism (SSD), strap in doi.org/10.1038/s415...doi.orgEvolution of sexual size dimorphism in tetrapods is driven by varying patterns of sex-specific selection on size - Nature Ecology & EvolutionA phylogenetic comparative analysis of male and female body size across tetrapods globally shows that directional change in size is usually greater in males but reveals different underlying mechanisms... 310437
Reposted by Gopal MuraliAlex Gunderson @agunderson.bsky.social · 11/12/2024New work from the lab! Annelise Blanchette found that brown anole lizards may be the most lead (pb) tolerant vertebrate known to date by integrating physiological studies of field and lab exposed animals and transcriptomics #urbanecology #ecotox #anolis 🦎 1/n www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...biorxiv.orgExtreme lead tolerance in an urban lizardLead (Pb) is an extremely toxic heavy metal pollutant pervasive in many environments with serious health consequences for humans and wildlife. Identifying organisms that can serve as biomonitors of le... 44317
Reposted by Gopal MuraliMilan Chytrý @milanchytry.bsky.social · 04/12/2024🌍🌱 It’s often believed that plant communities with greater phylogenetic diversity also have higher functional diversity. In other words, the more evolutionary lineages present, the greater the range of traits. But is this always true? 23613
Reposted by Gopal MuraliClara Marino @claramarino.bsky.social · 04/12/2024🚨Paper out! I am very proud to announce the publication of my very last #PhD article, exploring the vulnerability of terrestrial #vertebrates to #invasivespecies. Check the paper: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... With C. Bellard @celinebellard.bsky.social, B. Leroy, and G. Latombeonlinelibrary.wiley.comExposure and Sensitivity of Terrestrial Vertebrates to Biological Invasions WorldwideTo reach the COP 15 objective of diminishing the impacts of biological invasions on native biota, one needs to identify the most vulnerable areas to this threat for prioritizing conservation actions..... 35714
Reposted by Gopal MuraliMike Barker @barkerms.bsky.social · 26/11/2024Come join us in Tucson!! I am excited to announce a tenure track faculty position on the genomics of resilience @uofa-eeb.bsky.social! Read more about the position in the updated link below! We will begin reviewing applications on December 9! arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree... 114190
Reposted by Gopal MuraliGwen Pearson @bug-gwen.bsky.social · 26/11/2024Why are so many bugs shiny? New experiments with jumping spiders suggest the bling is visually confusing! Story also includes disco balls and Harry Styles. For Reasons 😆🧪 pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/a-b...pursuit.unimelb.edu.auA bit of bling helps insects dazzle their predatorsBeyond just looking stunning, shininess may help insects confuse predators to avoid being eaten, finds a University of Melbourne study 519140
Reposted by Gopal MuraliRichard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 24/11/2024The world has to smell the climate change coffee www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/11... Climate change is real, and progressing very fast. Despite that COP29 offered less than 0.3% of world GDP to emerging economies to help them address the problems that the developed world created.taxresearch.org.ukThe world has to smell the climate change coffeeThe world is apparently unaware of the importance of climate change. According to the IMF, world GDP is about $110 trillion per annum: Yesterday, COP 29 agreed to provide assistance of £300 billio... 118280
Reposted by Gopal MuraliKeller Kopf @kellerfish.bsky.social · 24/11/2024First post here. I’ll unpack our new paper @science.org highlighting the loss of old animals and calling for ‘longevity conservation’ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...science.orgLoss of Earth’s old, wise, and large animalsEarth’s old animals are in decline. Despite this, emerging research is revealing the vital contributions of older individuals to cultural transmission, population dynamics, and ecosystem processes and... 823293