Updated: 21/08/2025
New publications are indicated with *
Reassembly project: Description of the chronosequence, tree community and environmental conditions
Escobar S, Newell FL, Endara MJ, Guevara-Andino JE, Landim AR, Neuschulz EL, Hausmann R, Müller J, Pedersen KM, Schleuning M, Tremlett CJ, Villa-Galaviz E, Schaefer HM, Donoso DA, Blüthgen N (2025) Reassembly of a tropical rainforest: A new chronosequence in the Chocó tested with the recovery of tree attributes. Ecosphere 16: e70157 Published: The basic article for Reassembly
Nußer R, Bianco G, Kraus D, Larrieu L, Feldhaar H, Schleuning M, Müller J (2024) An adapted typology of tree-related microhabitats including tropical forests. Ecological Indicators 167: 112690 Tree host multiple microhabitats
Preprints
Newell FL, Villa-Galaviz E, Tremlett CJ, Escobar S, Argoti A, Büttner N, Carvajal J, Checa MF, Krauth K, Pazmiño-Otamendi G, Pedersen KM, Tamayo B, Müller JE, Guevara-Andino J, Endara MJ, Schaefer HM, Donoso DA, Blüthgen N (2025) From agriculture back to tropical rainforest: When does ecological succession stabilize hot and dry extremes? SSRN pre-print https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5197166
Nußer R, Escobar S, Blüthgen N, Schaefer HM, Newell FL, Endara MJ, Guevara-Andino JE, Feldhaar H, Kraus D, Thom D, Müller J (2025) Recovery of tree-related microhabitats in a tropical rainforest after agricultural abandonment. SSRN. doi: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5290406
Ehbrecht M, Lehmann T, Escobar S, Donoso D, Endara MJ, Guevara-Andino JE, Blüthgen N (2025). Recovery of forest structural complexity during secondary succession in the tropics. EcoEvoRXiv: https://doi.org/10.32942/X20S6T
Synthesis
Preprints
Escobar S, Endara MJ, Blüthgen N, Brehm G, Burneo S, Diniz U, Donoso DA, Erazo S, Feldhaar H, Grella N, Keller A, Landim AR, Leonhardt S, Marín-Armijos D, Müller J, Neira-Salamea K, Neuschulz EL, Newell FL, Pedersen KM, Roedel MO, Schleuning M, Tschapka M, Guevara-Andino JE (2025) Recovery of phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic structure in trees and animals along a chronosequence of tropical forest regeneration DOI: https://doi.org/10.32942/X2JK9V
Villa-Galaviz, E., Brehm, G., Burneo, S., Diniz, U. M., Donoso, D. A., Endara, M.-J., Erazo, S., Escobar, S., Falconí-López, A., Farwig, N., Feldhaar, H., Garcia Villamarin, M., Guevara-Andino, J. E., Grella, N., Heer, K., Heethoff, M., Keller, A., Landim, A. R., Leonhardt, S. D., Marín-Armijos, D., Metz, T., Müller, J., Neira-Salamea, K., Neuschulz, E. L., Pedersen, K. M., Rödel, M.-O., Schaefer, M., Schleuning, M., Schmitt, T., Tamargo, E., Tartara, A., Tinoco, B. A., Tremlett, C. J., Tschapka, M., Unsicker, S. B., Blüthgen, N. (2025) Variation in successional niche turnover of multiple taxa in a recovering tropical rainforest EcoEvoRXiv: https://doi.org/10.32942/X2934Z
Ants
Hoenle PO, Merkel C, Donoso D, Argoti A, Blüthgen N, von Beeren C (2024) Hunting habits die hard: Conserved prey preferences inarmy ants across two distant neotropical rainforests. Ecosphere 15: e4812
Hoenle PO, Staab M, Donoso DA, Argoti A, Blüthgen N (2023) Stratification and recovery time jointly shape ant functional reassembly in a Neotropical forest. Journal of Animal Ecology 92: 1372-1387
Hoenle PO, Donoso DA, Argoti A, Staab M, von Beeren C, Blüthgen N (2022) Rapid ant community reassembly in a Neotropical forest: Recovery dynamics and land-use legacy. Ecological Applications 32: e2559
Booher DB, Hoenle PO (2021) A new species group of Strumigenys (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Ecuador, with a description of its mandible morphology. ZooKeys 1036: 1-19
Hoenle PO, Lattke J, Donoso D, von Beeren C, Heethoff M, Schmelzle S, Argoti A, Camacho L, Ströbel B, Blüthgen N (2020) Odontomachus davidsoni sp. nov. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), a new conspicuous trap-jaw ant from Ecuador. ZooKeys 948: 75-105
Deadwood
Falconí-López A, Grella N, Donoso DA, Feldhaar H, Tremlett CJ, Müller J (2024) Patterns of deadwood amount and deadwood diversity along a natural forest recovery gradient from agriculture to old-growth lowland tropical forests. European Journal of Forest Research 143: 1321–1332
Dung beetles
Pedersen KM, von Beeren C, Oggioni A, Blüthgen N (2024) Mammal-dung beetle trophic networks: an improved method based on gut content DNA. PeerJ 12: e16627
Marín-Armijos D, Chamba-Carrillo A, Pedersen KM (2023) Morphometric changes on dung beetle Dichotomius problematicus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) related to conversion of forest into grassland: A case of study in the Ecuadorian Amazonia. Ecology and Evolution 13: e9831
Pedersen KM, Blüthgen N (2022) Seed size and pubescence facilitate secondary dispersal by dung beetles. Biotropica 54: 215-225
Litter decomposition
Preprints
Tartara A, Neira-Salamea K, Endara MJ, Escobar SP, Genoveva GL, Guevara-Andino JE, Rödel MO, Sayer EJ, Villa-Galaviz E, Blüthgen N, Heethoff M (2025). Leaf litter Decomposition dynamics across a Recovering Tropical Forest in the lowland Ecuadorian Chocó. EcoEvoRxiv: https://doi.org/10.32942/X2T337
Predation (Reptile and amphibians)
*Fuchs N, Tamargo López E, Rödel MO (2024): Holcosus bridgesii (Blue-bellied Whiptail). Diet. Herpetological Review 55(4): 567-568
*Fuchs, N. & M.-O. Rödel (2025) Reproductive ecology, behaviour and development of the direct-developing frog Pristimantis latidiscus (Anura: Strabomantidae). Salamandra 61: 307-319
Vélez M, Rödel MO, Carvajal V, Donoso DA, Guerra MA (2025) First report of flesh-fly (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) myiasis in little-devil poison frog (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from Ecuador. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 27: 101093 Poison frogs with fly parasite
Wiedebusch MLM, Torres-Carvaja O, Rödel MO (2025) First observation of a Tropidophis boulengeri mating in the field (Reptilia: Squamata: Tropidophidae). Salamandra 61: 101-107 Snuggling up: courtship behaviour of the Northern Eyelash Boa described for the first time
Bock S, Arroba-Lopéz TE, Velez-Giler HL, Moreira V, Wiedebusch MLM, Neira-Salamea K, Wilkinson M, Fuchs N, Schönleitner M, Rödel MO, Ron SR (2024): Two new species of Caecilia (Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from the Ecuadorian humid Chocó. Salamandra 60: 209-236 Two new worm-like amphibian species discovered
Fuchs N, Schönleitner M, Rödel MO (2024) Leptodactylus rhodomerus (Red-thighed thin-toed frog). Thanatosis. Herpetological Review 55(3) Playing death: thin-toed frogs
Rödel MO, Bock S, Ernst M, Griesbaum F, Lindner T, Tartara A, Penner J, Neira-Salamea K (2024) Reproduction, development and morphological plasticity in the direct-developing frog Pristimantis rosadoi. Salamandra 60: 42–50
Griesbaum F, Lindner T, Bock S, Ernst M, Neira-Salamea K, Moreira V, Erazo S, Penner J, Rödel MO (2023) Nine predation events by snakes from the Chocó rainforest of Ecuador. Herpetology Notes 16: 749-756
Rödel M-O, Loaiza-Lange A, Penner J, Neira-Salamea KD, Salazar-Valenzuela D (2023) A mouth full of blood – autohaemorrhaging in three Ecuadorian snakes (Squamata: Colubridae & Tropidophiidae). Herpetology Notes 16: 25-30
Thomas O, Preston S, Cole T, McDonald RV, Castellano I, Neira-Salamea K (2023) Records of seven species utilizing the upper canopy in Northwestern Ecuador. Reptiles & Amphibians 30: e19692
Pollination
Villagomez G, Keller A, Rasmussen C, Lozano P, Donoso D, Blüthgen N, Leonhardt S (2024) Nutrients or resin? The relationship between resin and food foraging in stingless bees. Ecology and Evolution 14: e10879
Preprints
Diniz UM, Böttger D, Viteri-Lalama SF, Frühholz K, Pitz M, Windl J, Rasmussen C, Keller A, Brehm G, Leonhardt SD (2025) Stratification along tropical forest succession enhances pollinator diversity via functionally unique canopies. bioRxix, doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.23.634515
Diniz UM, Brehm G, Andino JG, Leonhardt SD, Keller A (2025) The decades-long recovery of nocturnal bees in logged forests is counteracted by broad resource range and reliance on pioneers. EcoEvoRXiv, doi.org/10.32942/X2D06M
Frühholz K, Kuba K, Pitz M, Windl J, Rasmussen C, Brehm G, Keller A, Leonhardt SD, Diniz UM (2025) Improving allometric models to estimate the proboscis length of tropical bees. (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.21.639535v1)
Böttger D, Diniz UM, Keller A, Leonhardt SD, Brehm G (2025) Diversity of moth communities is higher in the understorey than in the canopy of a tropical lowland rainforest in NW Ecuador. EcoEvoRXiv: https://doi.org/10.32942/X2C04J
Brehm G, Böttger D, Diniz UM, Donoso DA, Kortmann M, Müller J, Rabl D, Keller A, Laguerre M (2025). Illustrated catalogue and preliminary phylogeny of 330 species of Arctiinae moth species from the Chocó rainforest in NW Ecuador: most species are undescribed. EcoEvoRXiv: https://doi.org/10.32942/X2S349
Rapid biodiversity assessments
*Kümmet, S., Müller, J., Burivalova, Z., Schaefer, H. M., Gelis, R., Freile, J., Busse, A., Püls, M., Kriegel, P., Seibold, S., Blüthgen, N., de la Hoz, M., Schleuning, M., Neuschulz, E. L., Mitesser, O., Kortmann, M. (2025). Acoustic Indices Predict Recovery of Tropical Bird Communities for Taxonomic and Functional Composition. Conservation Letters 18, 4: 18, e13131.
Kortmann M, Chao A, Schaefer HM, Blüthgen B, Gelis R, Tremlett CJ, Busse A, Püls M, Seibold S, Kriegel P, Rabl D, de la Hoz M, Şekercioğlu CH, Schleuning M, Feldhaar H, Newell FL, Kümmet S, Mitesser O, Peters MK, Müller J (2025) Sample coverage affects diversity measures of bird communities along a natural recovery gradient of abandoned agriculture in tropical lowland forests. Journal of Applied Ecology 62: 480-491 Sample coverage matters: succession of bird communities
Grella N, Pedersen KM, Blüthgen N, Busse A, Donoso DA, Falconí-López A, Fiderer C, Heurich M, de la Hoz M, Kriegel P, Newell FL, Püls M, Rabl D, Schäfer HM, Seibold S, Tremlett CL, Feldhaar H, Müller J (2025) Vertebrate diversity and biomass along a recovery gradient in a lowland tropical forest. Biotropica 57: e13417. Caught on camera: Natural comeback of wild forest animals.
Gindhart R, Müller J, Burivalova Z, Blüthgen N, Busse A, de la Hoz M, Donoso DA, Feldhaar H, Grella N, Kortmann M, Kriegel P, Kümmet S, Newell FL, Püls M, Schaefer HM, Seibold S, Tremlett CJ, Mitesser O (2024) The impact of land-use on the acoustic behavior of cicadas in the Chocó lowland tropical forest of Ecuador. Insect Conservation and Diversity 18: 177-190 Sounds disturbing – how the cicada communities’ song patterns change with forest loss
Falconí-López A, Mitesser O, Schaefer HM, Blüthgen N, Busse A, Feldhaar H, Freile J, Gelis R, Grella N, Heibl C, Kortmann M, Newell FL, Rabl D, Schleuning M, Seibold S, Şekercioğlu CH, Tinoco BA, Tremlett CJ, Müller J, Donoso DA (2024) Habitat niches of bird species along a recovery gradient in the Chocó tropical forest. Ecological Indicators 166: 112260 Birds don´t come easy
Müller J, Mitesser O, Schaefer HM, Seibold S, Busse A, Kriegel P, Rabl D, Gelis R, Arteaga A, Freile J, Leite GA, Nascimento de Melo T, LeBien JG, Campos-Cerqueira M, Blüthgen N, Tremlett CJ, Böttger D, Feldhaar H, Grella N, Falconí-López A, Donoso DA, Moriniere J, Buřivalová Z (2023) Soundscapes and artificial intelligence provide powerful tools to track biodiversity recovery in tropical forests. Nature Communications 14: 6191
Preprints
Kümmet S, Müller J, Burivalova Z, Schaefer MH, Gelis R, Freile J, Busse A, Püls M, Seibold S, Blüthgen N, de la Hoz M, Schleuning M, Neuschulz E, Mitesser O, Kortmann M (2025) Acoustic indices predict recovery of tropical bird communities for taxonomic and functional composition. bioRxiv. doi:https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.25.645239
Seed dispersal
Landim AR, Neuschulz EL, Donoso I, Sorensen MC, Mueller T, Schleuning M (2025) Functional connectivity of animal-dispersed plant communities depends on the interacting effects of network specialization and resource diversity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 292: 20242995
Preprints
Landim AR, Albrecht J, Brito J, Burneo S, Erazo S, Tinoco BA, Tschapka M, Neuschulz EL, Schleuning M (2025) Delayed recovery of seed-dispersal interactions after deforestation. BioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.11.641853
Seedling recruitment
Preprints
Tamargo López E, Martinelli E, Müller T, Donoso DA, Endara M-J, Blüthgen N, Unsicker SB, Heer K, Farwig N. 2025. Prior land use shapes the functional composition of tree-seedling communities along a tropical forest chronosequence. EcoEvoRxiv. Available from https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/8612/
Theory and modeling
Metz, T., Drossel, B. (2025) Species with weak dependence on the mutualistic partner make mutualistic network assembly more predictable. Theoretical Ecology 18, 17
Peralta, G., CaraDonna, P.J., Rakosy, D., Fründ, J., Pascual Tudanca, M.P., Dormann, C.F., Burkle, L.A., Kaiser-Bunbury, C.N., Knight, T.M., Resasco, J., Winfree, R., Blüthgen, N., Castillo, W.J., Vázquez, D.P. (2024) Predicting plant–pollinator interactions: concepts, methods, and challenges. Trends Ecol. Evol. 39, 494–505
Castillo WJ, Burkle LA, Dormann CF (2024) Dynamics of a plant–pollinator network: extending the Bianconi–Barabási model. Applied Network Science 9: 26
Metz T, Blüthgen N, Drossel B (2023) Shifts from non-obligate generalists to obligate specialists in simulations of mutualistic network assembly. Oikos 2023: e09697
Becker L, Blüthgen N, Drossel B (2022) Stochasticity leads to coexistence of generalists and specialists in assembling mutualistic communities. American Naturalist 200: 303-315
Primates
Gottstein, M., Morelos-Juárez, C., Schaffner, C.M. et al. (2024) Same-sex sexual behavior in brown-headed spider monkeys (Ateles fusciceps fusciceps) during grappling between two subadult males. Primates 65, 379–382