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D-Index & Metrics

Ecology and Evolution

D-Index
33
Citations
4082
World Ranking
7901
National Ranking
103

Overview

Thomas Merckx is affiliated with Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium and conducts research primarily within the fields of Environmental Science and Agricultural and Biological Sciences. Their work frequently addresses topics related to species distribution and climate change, plant and animal studies, and ecology and vegetation dynamics.

Their research spans several subfields, including ecology, evolution, behavior and systematics, ecological modeling, genetics, nature and landscape conservation, and ecology. Specific focus areas include the biology and taxonomy of Lepidoptera, animal behavior and reproduction, insect and arachnid ecology and behavior, and the impact of light on the environment and health.

Merckx's recent publications demonstrate an emphasis on ecological adaptations and behavioral responses in insects, particularly moths and butterflies. Notable papers include:

  • "Urbanization extends flight phenology and leads to local adaptation of seasonal plasticity in Lepidoptera" (2021) published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • "Dim light pollution prevents diapause induction in urban and rural moths" (2023) published in Journal of Applied Ecology
  • "Ecological and life-history traits predict temporal trends in biomass of boreal moths" (2023) published in Insect Conservation and Diversity
  • "Evolutionary change in flight-to-light response in urban moths comes with changes in wing morphology" (2024) published in Biology Letters
  • "An experimental test of changed personality in butterflies from anthropogenic landscapes" (2020) published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

Merckx has published frequently in venues such as Insect Conservation and Diversity, bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Applied Ecology, and Biology Letters.

Collaborations have been established with several recurrent co-authors, including:

  • Sami M. Kivelä
  • Tuomas Kankaanpää
  • Matthew E. Nielsen
  • Mahtab Yazdanian
  • Hans Van Dyck

Best Publications

  • Urbanization drives cross-taxon declines in abundance and diversity at multiple spatial scales.

    Elena Piano;Elena Piano;Caroline Souffreau;Thomas Merckx;Thomas Merckx;Lisa F. Baardsen

  • Body-size shifts in aquatic and terrestrial urban communities.

    Thomas Merckx;Caroline Souffreau;Aurelien Kaiser;Lisa F Baardsen

  • Optimizing the biodiversity gain from agri-environment schemes

    Thomas Merckx;Ruth E. Feber;Philip Riordan;Martin C. Townsend

  • Macro-moth families differ in their attraction to light: implications for light-trap monitoring programmes

    Thomas Merckx;Thomas Merckx;Eleanor M. Slade;Eleanor M. Slade

  • Life-history traits and landscape characteristics predict macro-moth responses to forest fragmentation

    Eleanor M. Slade;Eleanor M. Slade;Thomas Merckx;Thomas Merckx;Terhil Riutta;Daniel P. Bebber

  • Urbanization drives community shifts towards thermophilic and dispersive species at local and landscape scales

    Elena Piano;Elena Piano;Katrien De Wolf;Katrien De Wolf;Francesca Bona;Dries Bonte

  • The dragonfly delusion: why it is essential to sample exuviae to avoid biased surveys

    Eva M. Raebel;Eva M. Raebel;Thomas Merckx;Philip Riordan;David W. Macdonald

  • Reshaping agri-environmental subsidies: From marginal farming to large-scale rewilding

    Thomas Merckx;Thomas Merckx;Henrique M. Pereira;Henrique M. Pereira

  • Effect of field margins on moths depends on species mobility: Field-based evidence for landscape-scale conservation

    Thomas Merckx;Ruth E. Feber;Rebecca L. Dulieu;Martin C. Townsend

  • The evolution of movements and behaviour at boundaries in different landscapes: a common arena experiment with butterflies

    Thomas Merckx;Hans Van Dyck;Bengt Karlsson;Olof Leimar

  • Elevational species richness gradients in a hyperdiverse insect taxon: a global meta-study on geometrid moths

    Jan Beck;Christy M. McCain;Jan C. Axmacher;Louise A. Ashton

  • Hedgerow trees and extended‐width field margins enhance macro‐moth diversity: implications for management

    Thomas Merckx;Thomas Merckx;Lorenzo Marini;Lorenzo Marini;Ruth E. Feber;David W. Macdonald

  • The Urban Heat Island and its spatial scale dependent impact on survival and development in butterflies of different thermal sensitivity.

    Aurélien Kaiser;Thomas Merckx;Hans Van Dyck

  • Urbanization‐driven homogenization is more pronounced and happens at wider spatial scales in nocturnal and mobile flying insects

    Thomas Merckx;Thomas Merckx;Hans Van Dyck

  • Landscape structure and phenotypic plasticity in flight morphology in the butterfly Pararge aegeria

    Thomas Merckx;Hans Van Dyck

  • Shelter benefits less mobile moth species: The field-scale effect of hedgerow trees

    Thomas Merckx;Ruth E. Feber;Claire Mclaughlan;Nigel A.D. Bourn

  • Increased body size along urbanization gradients at both community and intraspecific level in macro-moths.

    Thomas Merckx;Aurélien Kaiser;Hans Van Dyck

  • Conserving threatened Lepidoptera: Towards an effective woodland management policy in landscapes under intense human land-use

    Thomas Merckx;Thomas Merckx;Ruth E. Feber;Daniel J. Hoare;Mark S. Parsons

  • Habitat fragmentation affects habitat-finding ability of the speckled wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria L.

    Thomas Merckx;Hans Van Dyck

  • Multi-scale effects of farmland management on dragonfly and damselfly assemblages of farmland ponds

    Eva M. Raebel;Eva M. Raebel;Thomas Merckx;Thomas Merckx;Ruth E. Feber;Philip Riordan

Frequent Co-Authors

Hans Van Dyck
Hans Van Dyck Université Catholique de Louvain
David W. Macdonald
David W. Macdonald University of Oxford
Henrique M. Pereira
Henrique M. Pereira Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Frederik Hendrickx
Frederik Hendrickx Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Philip Riordan
Philip Riordan University of Southampton
Erik Matthysen
Erik Matthysen University of Antwerp
Eleanor M. Slade
Eleanor M. Slade Nanyang Technological University
Dries Bonte
Dries Bonte Ghent University
Luc De Meester
Luc De Meester Freie Universität Berlin
Luc Lens
Luc Lens Ghent University

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