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Using a continental-scale animal tracking dataset, we show that variation in habitat use by a large carnivore (Eurasian lynx) is driven by gradients of human pressure and refuge habitat availability, with lynx increasingly depending on refuge habitats in human-dominated landscapes.

Using spatial capture-recapture analysis, we investigated the effects of forest disturbances on red deer densities in a in a transboundary protected forest landscape. We found positive, but context dependent effects of disturbance on deer densities.

We are excited to invite applications for a new PhD position on Land-Use Impacts on Biodiversity in the Bolivian Chiquitania. Join us at the Conservation and Biogeography Lab at Humboldt University Berlin!

We are excited to invite applications for a new PhD position on the Conservation Biogeography of Reptiles and Amphibians in South American Dry Forests. Join us at the Conservation and Biogeography Lab at Humboldt University Berlin!

Higher yields are often assumed to lead to less deforestation, because more can be produced on less land. We find that this assumption is wrong, especially where market-oriented commodity agriculture dominates. Interestingly, higher yields actually reduced deforestation in areas where much land was inhabited or managed by Indigenous Peoples.

We are excited to invite applications for a new tenure track professorship on Conservation & Development! Join us at the Geography Department of Humboldt-University Berlin to work with an interdisciplinary group of scholars focusing on human-environment relations, global change, and sustainability! We are looking for candidates working at the intersection of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, with experience in the Global South.

Large herbivores play key roles for ecological restoration and rewilding strategies. In our assessment of the recolonization potential of European bison and moose, we identified regions with high potential for natural recolonization, with a need for developing strategies for enabling coexistence between people and large herbivores. Likewise, we show where barriers to movement, rather than habitat availability, limit range expansion, emphasizing the need for restoring broad-scale connectivity.

Supply chain stickiness refers to the stability of trade relationships, affecting land use, deforestation and rural development outcomes. Here we found the main factors determining local stickiness in Brazil’s soy supply chain. They include soy processing infrastructure, export-orientation of production, farm-gate price volatility and other context-specific factors that can explain the occurrence of stickiness as a supply chain phenomenon with relevant consequences for social and environmental conditions in producer regions.

Conservation planning traditionally has focused on identifying priority areas for threatened species. We developed an approach to additionally consider those species – threatened or not – that are important for local communities who use them. In this way, planning for protected areas that benefit both, conservation and sustainable development goals becomes possible. For the Chaco, this shows that large areas exists where such co-benefits could be leveraged.

By coupling species distribution models with different dispersal scenarios, we highlight that the ability of large carnivores to colonize and ultimately coexist with people in shared landscapes is likely most constrained by human pressure and their impact on dispersal behavior and not by available habitat.