Johannes Merz
@mosssoup2
Master BiodivEcoEvo student in Leipzig, interested in (plant) Ecology, Conservation/Restoration; and evo approaches to eco questions ;)
Cytotyping expedition through western Germany to close some data gaps of diploid Euphorbia cyparissias 🌿
Invasive fern Azolla filiculoides is spreading across the pond cultural landscape of northern bavaria 🌿 you can even see it on aerial pictures 🥲
Cuscuta spp. (dodder) is a fancy parasitic plant that twines around other plants. After germination, the seedling has only a brief window to find a host. Once attached, it forms haustoria that penetrate host tissues and connect to the vascular system, while its own root degenerates 🌿
Botanical mapping in northern Bavaria today for future red lists :) This mapping quadrant reached almost 700 vascular plant species. Esp. the extensively used carp ponds are great 🌿🌻 images: Utricularia x neglecta, and Cuscuta europaea, Butomus umbellatus
Scolia hirta, quite strange wasp that can smell burrowed larvae of certain beetle which the female diggs up to lay their eggs in it🥚 threatened with extinction in Germany, but apparently rather common in Leipzig 🐝
Ophrys apifera is flowering in Leipzigs restored open pit coal mining sites where the coal excavators dug up some ancient shorelines with calcareous sands 🌊 which are nowadays quite nice nutrient-poor and base-rhich pioneer meadows 🌿
Sphagnum angustifolium together with Aulacomnium palustre at the edge of Pomponrahka ombotrophic bog in SW Finland :)
currently the forest patches around Leipzig are full of Amata phegea, a nice butterfly that quite rare in Germany but very common locally 🦋
Sphaerocarpos cf europaeus, a strange looking liverwort growing on bare disturbed soil in extensively managed arable fields, endangered across Europe 🌿
Preprint available :) Small-scale fen restoration brings back key species and ecosystem functions 🌿
Did you know there are freshwater sponges in Germany? Spongilla lancustris is a demosponge growing in shallow, clear and clean ponds, lakes etc. it becomes dormant in winter and can survive dry periods! seen today in a dry pond in northern bavaria :)
Restored open pit coal mining site near Leipzig, quite interesting pioneer habitat :)
Some white beams endemic to franconia, northern bavaria :) Karpatiosorbus franconica and Hedlundia pulchra
A collapsing Palsa in northern Finland; seen this week. Palsas are peat-covered hills, often a few meters high, that contains a core of permafrost. They are only found in areas of discontinuous permafrost 🧊, They will be likely gone soon due to climate change 🌿 nordia.journal.fi/article/view...
Gymnomitrion species from the arctic tundra :) G. concinnatum, G. corallioides (with sporophyte), G. brevissimum