Migrating flies vital for people and nature

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Exeter

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Marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

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Credit: Dr Will Hawkes

Buzzing insects may be seen as pests – but globally, hundreds of fly species migrate over long distances, with major benefits for people and nature, new research shows.

Bugs such as houseflies, fruitflies, blowflies, hoverflies and mosquitoes all belong to an order called Diptera – which contains over 125,000 known species, and possibly over a million in total.

The new study finds that almost 600 of these species are likely to be migratory – and the true number is probably far higher.

This is important because these insects play multiple important roles, including as pollinators, pest controllers and decomposers.

With insect numbers declining worldwide, the review highlights the need for complex, connected habitats to support flies along their epic journeys.

“Migrating flies play an unparalleled range of ecological roles – making them a major force in ecosystems and the economy,” said Dr Will Hawkes, from the Centre of Ecology and Conservation on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

“Many of the species that benefit humans are under threat from climate change and other human impacts – and many could disappear without ever being documented unless action is taken. 

“To conserve them, it will not be enough to protect or restore habitat at single locations; the entire migratory route must be capable of sustaining these insects.”

Dr Karl Wotton said the priority should improving “connectivity” – linking insect-friendly areas across landscapes.

“Worldwide, factors including urbanisation, intensive agriculture and destruction of wetlands have made large areas unfriendly to insects – potentially creating damaging gaps on insect migration routes,” Dr Wotton said.

The study defined migratory behaviour using 13 criteria, but Dr Wotton said it could be defined as “undistracted and straightened-out continuous flight” (not stopping to feed or mate, for example).

The team found evidence of migration in species from 60 out of the 130 families in the Diptera order – with hoverflies showing the strongest evidence for migration.

While the total of 592 possible migrants is just 0.5% of recorded Diptera species, the researchers think many more may migrate.

Of the possible migrants identified, 62% are pollinators, 35% are decomposers, 18% are pests, 16% can transmit diseases, 10% are pest controllers, and all play a role in moving nutrients.

Highlighting the impact of some key migratory species, the researchers note that pollinating hoverflies alone have been found to visit 52% of major food crop plants globally (these crops have an estimated worth of around US$300 billion per year).

Highly mobile species may also connect distant habitats – moving genetic material, such as pollen, back and forth, boosting the genetic diversity of plants.

As well as the loss of direct benefits, the decline of such insects also affects wider biodiversity.

For example, numbers of insect-eating birds in North America have dropped by an estimated 2.9 billion in the last 50 years – while numbers of non-insectivorous birds have increased by 26.2 million.

The researchers highlighted examples of notable migrating flies:

• The larvae of just two hoverfly species (marmalade and vagrant hoverflies) eat an estimated 10 trillion aphids each year in southern England alone – showing their vast power as pest controllers.
• Autumn houseflies (Musca autumnalis) play a vital role as decomposers. A study on the closely related housefly (Musca domestica), showed that the larvae produced by just 50 flies (25,000 eggs) can decompose up to 444kg of pig slurry, transforming it into organic compost. Autumn houseflies have been found migrating through high passes in the Pyrenees.
• Other fly species embark on a more sinister journey: reindeer botfly may track reindeer on their own lengthy migrations – and the female flies expel their larvae into the noses of reindeer to live in their throats until spring.
• Some migrating flies are moving into new areas due to global warming; mosquitoes have recently carried malaria into mountainous regions of Nepal.

Dr Myles Menz, from James Cook University, concluded: “What we’ve uncovered is that Dipteran migrants are vital to the planet’s ecosystems, yet they are hugely underappreciated. This review will hopefully inspire many more studies into this fascinating and important world of fly migration.”

The study was funded by the Royal Society.

The paper, published in the journal Biological Reviews, is entitled: “Lords of the flies: dipteran migrants are diverse, abundant and ecologically important.”

Pied hoverfly

Credit

Dr Will Hawkes

An autumn housefly (Musca autumnalis)

Credit

Ian Andrews

Journal

Biological Reviews

DOI

10.1111/brv.70017 

Article Title

Lords of the flies: dipteran migrants are diverse, abundant and ecologically important

Article Publication Date

1-Apr-2025

  

Hidden signals in water reveal disease early in tomato plants

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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Tomato plants displaying Fusarium wilt, illustrating the visible symptoms and emphasizing their subjective interpretation.

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Credit: (Credit - Shani Friedman (Goldfarb))

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed an innovative method for the early detection of Fusarium wilt in tomato plants by monitoring subtle changes in the plants' water use. The study demonstrates that measuring water-relation traits such as transpiration rates can identify the disease well before visual symptoms appear. This breakthrough provides a sensitive, quantitative approach to assessing disease severity, pathogen virulence, and plant susceptibility, offering breeders and researchers a powerful tool to mitigate crop losses and improve agricultural sustainability.

Link to the photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sPu5PL2okE9MrfRIEyVjcNMUMe8uKKDy?usp=drive_link

A study led by PhD student Shani Friedman (Goldfarb), under the supervision of Prof. Menachem Moshelion from the Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has demonstrated a new approach to detect Fusarium wilt in tomatoes at its earliest stages, long before symptoms become visible. This research offers significant implications for plant science, providing breeders and scientists a robust method to improve early disease detection and deepen understanding of plant-pathogen interactions.

Fusarium wilt, caused by the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, is a devastating disease that results in substantial economic losses worldwide. Traditionally, the detection of plant diseases such as Fusarium wilt relies on visual assessments, which can often be subjective and inaccurate. By the time symptoms are visible, substantial damage has usually already occurred.

This study, however, takes a different approach, focusing on precise water-relation measurements using a high-throughput physiological phenotyping system. The research team employed advanced lysimeter technology to continuously monitor transpiration rates and biomass changes of tomato plants in a semi-controlled greenhouse environment. Remarkably, they observed a decrease in the plants' transpiration rates days to weeks before any visual symptoms appeared.

“This research demonstrates that water-related physiological traits like transpiration can act as sensitive, reliable early indicators of Fusarium infection,” explained Shani Friedman. “We were able to quantitatively measure how plants respond to the pathogen well before they exhibited the traditional visible symptoms of disease.”

The study's quantitative method not only detects disease early but also measures pathogen virulence and plant susceptibility. This gives researchers and farmers clear, numeric data to determine how aggressively a pathogen is affecting crops, and to assess how different tomato varieties resist or tolerate Fusarium wilt.

Dr. Shay Covo, a key collaborator from the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, emphasized the broader relevance of the findings:

“This quantitative approach opens new directions for studying plant–pathogen interactions. It enables us to understand better how pathogens influence plants at the early stages of the disease” Prof. Menachem Moshelion highlighted the potential of the methodology beyond tomato plants: “Our approach opens exciting possibilities not just for tomato plants, but for agricultural practices in general. Early detection through physiological monitoring can significantly reduce crop losses and enhance sustainable agricultural management.”

This innovative methodology has potential beyond tomatoes. The research team also successfully applied it to potato plants infected with late blight, demonstrating the versatility of their physiological monitoring system for other important plant diseases.

Aerial view of tomato plants connected to lysimeter units, illustrating the high-resolution setup used to track water-use dynamics and biomass in real time.

Tomato plants growing in a semi-controlled greenhouse on a high-throughput lysimeter-based physiological phenotyping platform. This system allows continuous measurement of plant water use.

Erlenmeyer flasks containing cultures of different Fusarium isolates used to infect tomato plants in the study.

Credit

(Credit - Shani Friedman (Goldfarb))

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Journal

Plant Disease

DOI

10.1094/PDIS-07-24-1523-RE 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Early Detection and Quantification of Fusarium Wilt in Greenhouse-Grown Tomato Plants Using Water-Relation Measurements

Tomato plants delay shoot meristem maturation to achieve heat-stress resilience

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters

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Tomato plants slow shoot meristem maturation to achieve heat-stress resilience

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Credit: IGDB

As global temperatures continue to rise, extreme heatwaves pose a significant threat to agricultural productivity. Studies estimate that for every 1°C increase above pre-industrial levels, crop yields decline by approximately 6-8%. The ability of plants to withstand heat stress is therefore critical for ensuring food security, yet the underlying molecular mechanisms have largely remained elusive.

Now, however, a new study led by Prof. XU Cao's team at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences sheds light on an adaptive strategy that may be pivotal in developing heat-resilient crop varieties amid escalating climate change. Specifically, the study reveals a novel mechanism by which tomato plants actively mitigate heat stress and stabilize yield through the developmental reprogramming of shoot apical stem cells.

The research was published in Developmental Cell on April 2.

Stem cells in the shoot apical meristem (SAM) are essential for aerial morphogenesis—the process by which plants develop above-ground structures—and directly influence crop yield. However, heat stress can cause abnormal differentiation or even necrosis of these stem cells, resulting in developmental defects, plant mortality, and significant yield losses. Understanding how SAM stem cells adapt to heat stress is therefore critical for advancing cultivation techniques and breeding more resilient crop varieties.

In their study, Prof. XU Cao and his team identified a key molecular adaptation mechanism in tomato plants. Under heat stress, reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulate and promote the phase separation of TERMINATING FLOWER (TMF), a floral repressor. This modification prolongs the transcriptional repression of floral identity genes by TMF condensates, effectively reprogramming SAM development. By delaying shoot maturation, the plant extends vegetative growth, allowing it to avoid premature reproductive transitions under unfavorable conditions.

During early vegetative growth, tomato plants can enter a dormancy-like state in response to heat stress, temporarily suspending their maturation program. Once temperatures normalize, development resumes, ensuring stable yields. This strategic suspension has been shown to prevent 34–63% of yield losses in the first fruit truss, highlighting its significant role in heat resilience.

The study proposes that this redox-controlled bet-hedging mechanism functions as a survival strategy for sessile plants, enabling them to delay flowering during adverse conditions while ensuring reproductive success once environmental stresses subside.

The researchers emphasized that this discovery provides a new conceptual framework for developing climate-smart crops with environmentally responsive yield stability. The mechanistic insights identified in this study could guide precision breeding efforts aimed at improving agricultural productivity in a changing climate.

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Journal

Developmental Cell

DOI

10.1016/j.devcel.2025.03.007 

Article Title

ROS Burst Prolongs Transcriptional Condensation to Slow Shoot Apical Meristem Maturation and Achieve Heat-Stress Resilience in Tomato

Article Publication Date

2-Apr-2025

 

50 years after the end of war: Voices from global Vietnam

Symposium with representatives of the Vietnamese post-war generations

Bielefeld University

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The social anthropologists Professor Dr Minh Nguyen and Dr Ngoc Luong are organising the Vietnam Symposium at Bielefeld University. Both academics originate from Vietnam and conduct research on social change in Southeast Asia.

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Credit: left: Bielefeld University/Sarah Jonek, right: Bielefeld University/Markus Richter

The Second Indochina War ended 50 years ago, but its traces remain. ‘The aftermaths continue to have an impact on families, culture and politics,’ says social anthropologist Professor Dr Minh Nguyen from Bielefeld University. Nguyen and her Bielefeld colleague Dr Ngoc Luong are organising the symposium ‘Half a Century after War: Voices from Global Vietnam’ to discuss these after-effects scientifically. The conference on 4 April will bring together perspectives from the post-war generations from Vietnam and the Vietnamese diaspora: researchers, the writer and bestselling author Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and the artist Maithu Bùi will come together at Bielefeld University.

30 April 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam War. Since the end of the war, millions of Vietnamese have left the country – as refugees, guest workers, students or skilled workers. This migration created new connections between East and West, North and South. The political scientist Assistant Professor Dr Kevin D. Pham from the University of Amsterdam examines in his book ‘The Architects of Dignity’ how Vietnamese thinkers question Western views of colonialism and independence. At the symposia, Pham and researchers from Vietnam, the USA and Canada will focus on the aspect of decolonisation.

Young art meets world-famous literature 

The artist Maithu Bùi, born in Plauen (Germany) in 1991, will be showing her works on violence and history as part of the symposia. Her works, which were also shown at the Berlin Biennale, represent the German-born generation’s view of the past.

The writer Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai will read from her novel ‘Dust Child’. The book tells the story of war from different perspectives. Researchers from the USA, Canada and Vietnam will then discuss different interpretations of the story.

Research on change

The degree will be rounded off by a panel discussion with eight researchers from Vietnam, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and the USA on current research into Vietnamese society. They will talk about the new anthology ‘Reconfiguring Vietnam: Global Encounters, Translocal Lifeworlds’. The two editors of the book will take part in the discussion: Professor Dr Minh Nguyen from Bielefeld University and Professor Dr Kirsten Endres from the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle (Saale).

The event will run in parallel on site and online. Simultaneous translation between English and Vietnamese will enable participants to exchange ideas across three continents. Participation is free of charge, registration is required.

Specialist for social change

Professor Dr Minh Nguyen, initiator and head of the symposium, comes from the northern Vietnamese city of Thai Binh. She is a researcher at the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University. Her focus of research lies at the interface of social anthropology and international development. Her work is sponsored by the highly endowed Consolidator Grant of the European Research Council (ERC). In her project ‘FinancialLives’, she examines how the everyday lives of workers in countries such as China, Vietnam and Laos are increasingly subject to the logic of financial markets. The project builds on her ERC Starting Grant project ‘WelfareStruggles’.

Further information

The event website can be found on Facebook. To participate on site, please register by sending an email to doan.vo@uni-bielefeld.de. Alternatively, it is possible to register for participation via video conference.

At the symposium, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai reads from her novel 'Dust Child', an international bestseller about the consequences of war in Vietnamese families.

Credit

Tapu Javeri

Earth observation and advanced modelling to improve climate predictions: The CONCERTO Project is launched

The new Horizon Europe project to enhance carbon cycle modelling, improve climate predictions and support climate policy

Pensoft Publishers

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CONCERTO Project

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Credit: Pensoft Publishers

Terrestrial carbon cycle dynamics remain one of the greatest sources of uncertainty in climate projections, with diverging estimates of ecosystem carbon uptake, affecting the accuracy of Earth system models.

To address these challenges, CONCERTO (Improved CarbOn cycle represeNtation through multi-sCale models and Earth obseRvation for Terrestrial ecOsystems), was launched in January 2025.

CONCERTO’s kick off meeting was held on 21-22 January 2025 in Milan, Italy, where representatives of the 13 consortium partners gathered, laying the groundwork for their four-year research goals. 

The project aims to advance the current understanding and modelling of the terrestrial carbon cycle, leading to reduced uncertainty in climate predictions and models. The project will also integrate cutting-edge Earth оbservation data, innovative land surface process models, data assimilation, and machine learning techniques to refine carbon cycle representation. Finally, by providing more accurate predictions of ecosystem carbon fluxes, the project will contribute to improved climate policy and support global efforts towards carbon neutrality.

"CONCERTO represents an important step towards improving Earth system models by leveraging the latest advancements in remote sensing and modelling techniques. By reducing uncertainties in carbon cycle predictions, we are paving the way for more effective climate mitigation strategies and informed policy decisions." says Manuela Balzarolo, project coordinator of CONCERTO.

More information about CONCERTO can be found on the project website. Follow us on LinkedIn, Bluesky, and YouTube for updates on research developments.

 

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CONCERTO receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement #101185000. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the EU nor REA can be held responsible for them.