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Fernando Blanco

@fernandoblancos.bsky.social
235 followers 144 following 21 posts

Paleobiologist studying the evolution of ancient ecosystems/Severo Ochoa Fellow at Estación Biológica de Doñana/Tocateclas

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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Thrilled to start today as a Severo Ochoa Fellow at the Doñana Biological Station @ebdonana.bsky.social ! ! Over the next three years, I will study the macroecological evolution of vertebrate faunas across deep time 🌍🦴
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Iris Menéndez @paleoiris.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
🧵 Why are there so many habitat-specialist squirrels? A new global study explores how habitat specialization has shaped squirrel evolution 👇🐿️🌍
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Guillermo Navalón @gnavalon.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Beyond excited to announce that as of today I officially started a Ramón y Cajal 5-year senior fellowship (tenure-track) at University of Alcalá in Madrid, if you are interested in birds & vertebrate macroevolution & you like sun & good food, hit me up to explore postdoc or PhD opportunities!
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Estación Biológica de Doñana - CSIC @ebdonana.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
#EBDSeminars Join us to explore ecosystem resilience through mammal communities spanning millions of years! 🔹Connecting the past: how ecological networks reveal the dynamics of ancient ecosystems 🔸 @fernandoblancos.bsky.social 📅6th November, 13:00h CET Live: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhu_...
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Estación Biológica de Doñana - CSIC @ebdonana.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
🦴 The Doñana National Park serves as a natural laboratory for investigating fossilization processes in a Mediterranean climate. Published in PLOS ONE, a new study offers a new perspective on bone weathering. 🔗 www.ebd.csic.es/en/outreach/... 📄 journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
A new chapter begins! Starting this September, I’ll be working on bird macroevolution at @ebdonana.bsky.social . Excited for this new adventure and the amazing research ahead 🐦🐤🪶
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Instituto de Investigación en Cambio Global @iicg-urjc.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
👨‍🔬Also Joaquín Calatayud, #IICG researcher, is co-authors of the new article ‘Two major ecological shifts shaped 60 million years of ungulate faunal evolution’, published in @natcomms.nature.com   👀You can read it here👇
doi.org
Two major ecological shifts shaped 60 million years of ungulate faunal evolution - Nature Communications
Here, the authors analyze a fossil dataset spanning 60 million years to investigate ecological stability. Their network analysis identifies prolonged stability interrupted by two major functional transitions in ungulate assemblages linked to tectonic and climatic events.
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Here you can find a link to my full CV: drive.google.com/file/d/1xH5P...
drive.google.com
Fernando Blanco CV (ENG).pdf
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
🚨 I'm looking for #Postdoc opportunities starting this September! 🧑‍🔬🔍 I'm a highly motivated researcher with experience in R, network analysis, and multivariate statistics. My focus is on the evolution of ecosystems and biodiversity over deep time.
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SEPaleontologia @sepaleontologia.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
¡Nueva publicación de soci@s! 🗣️ Un nuevo estudio liderado por @fernandoblancos.bsky.social  explora cómo los cambios ambientales impactaron en los grandes #mamíferos y sus ecosistemas durante el Neógeno 🐘🌍 👉 Léelo aquí: sepaleontologia.es/?p=1423 #SEPsocios #Paleontología #CambioClimático
sepaleontologia.es
60 millones de años en movimiento: cómo los cambios ambientales transformaron a los mayores herbívoros del planeta—y cómo sus ecosistemas resistieron - sepaleontologia
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
La Tierra puede acercarse al tercer colapso ecológico www.lavanguardia.com/sociedad/202...
lavanguardia.com
La Tierra puede acercarse al tercer colapso ecológico
MADRID, 05 (SERVIMEDIA) Los ecosistemas de la Tierra afrontaron dos reorganizaciones abruptas por cambios ambientales como glaciaciones o movimientos tectónicos en los úl...
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Los ecosistemas resistieron cambios muy abruptos en el pasado, pero ahora pueden colapsar www.lavanguardia.com/vida/2025060...
lavanguardia.com
Los ecosistemas resistieron cambios muy abruptos en el pasado, pero ahora pueden colapsar
Madrid, 5 jun (EFE).- Un equipo de científicos ha comprobado la capacidad de adaptación que tenían los ecosistemas del pasado a las perturbaciones más abruptas, como las...
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
9/ This paper is the result of over 7 years of work—a true collective effort. Huge thanks to all my co-authors for making this possible! @ohsanisidro.bsky.social @singerstone.bsky.social @amniotalab.bsky.social et al. 📸 @singerstone.bsky.social
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
8/ But here’s the concern: We are now in a period of accelerated functional loss—driven by habitat destruction, climate change, and overexploitation. If this continues, we may be on the brink of a third global tipping point—one driven by humans.
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
7/ Despite major extinctions (including the Late Pleistocene megafaunal collapse), the basic functional scaffolding of herbivore faunas stayed stable for the last 4.5 million years. Ecosystems “changed players,” but kept the same formation—until now.
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
6/ 🌀 Second tipping point (~10 Ma):
Driven by global aridification and the spread of C4 grasslands, this restructured herbivore faunas again. Forested browsers declined, grazers with tougher teeth rose. Functional diversity began a long decline that continues today.
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
5/ This event also led to an acceleration in functional diversity increase. For the first time, all major herbivore orders—Proboscidea, Artiodactyla, and Perissodactyla—coexisted across continents, expanding ecological roles and reshaping ecosystems at a global scale.
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
4/ 🌀First tipping point (~21 Ma):
Triggered by tectonics—Africa and Eurasia connected via the Gomphotherium land bridge.
This unleashed a wave of faunal migrations and global functional reorganization (Proboscideans out of Africa for the first time).
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
3/ Across time, we found long phases of functional stability, where ecosystems retained their structure despite species turnover. But we also found two major, irreversible tipping points in global herbivore faunas—moments of drastic ecological reassembly.
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
2/ We used network analysis and trait data (like body size & tooth shape) from 3,000+ species to reconstruct the functional structure of global ungulate ecosystems over the past 60 million years. Rather than focusing on taxonomy, we asked: What ecological roles they played?
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
1/ Large herbivores (like ancient elephants, rhinos, deer) aren’t just big plant-eaters—they’re ecosystem engineers. They shape landscapes, disperse seeds, and influence soil and fire dynamics. But how did they evolve as climates and continents shifted? 📸 @singerstone.bsky.social
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
🦏🦣🦌 LARGE paper alert!!! We tracked 60 million years of large herbivore evolution—over 3,000 fossil species—to uncover how ecosystems have changed and reorganized through time. What we found might help us understand the next big tipping point 🧵👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Two major ecological shifts shaped 60 million years of ungulate faunal evolution - Nature Communications
Here, the authors analyze a fossil dataset spanning 60 million years to investigate ecological stability. Their network analysis identifies prolonged stability interrupted by two major functional tran...
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James Witts @jdwitts.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Back from a fun 10 days @imsi.institute in Chicago 🇺🇲, working as part of an Interdisciplinary Research Cluster on 'Advances in Mathematical Modelling of mass extinction events'. Great collaborations and some thought-provoking work!
A diverse group of 7 people pose in front of a large banner showing the work of the Institite for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation.A large mirrored bean-shaped sculpture surrounded by people, green trees, and skyscrapers under a blue sky.A man draws and explains a series of complicated models on a blackboard while a woman watches.A sign projected on the floor saying 'mass extinction'.
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Andrej Spiridonov @andrejpaleo.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Call for a postdoc position at Vilnius University. If you are interested in doing innovative macroevolutionary, macroecological, geobiological research in my group please write me: andrej.spiridonov@gf.vu.lt or PM. Duration of the project 2 years, budget up to 130K euro. 1/2 #Paleobio ⚒️ #Geology
Recurrence plotStylized computer enhanced picture of conodonts
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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Burgos retreat at @cenieh.bsky.social with some Amniota Lab members! Ignacio Lazagabaster, @fernandoblancos.bsky.social , @paleoiris.bsky.social @singerstone.bsky.social & @ohsanisidro.bsky.social Fossils, science, food and good vibes #paleobiology #AmniotaLab #MACPALS
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Instituto de Geociencias (CSIC-UCM) @igeociencias.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Hoy se celebra el Día Mundial del Clima, un sistema complejo que incluye a la hidrosfera, la atmósfera, la geosfera y la biosfera.
macrovector / Freepik
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Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. @arctomet.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
Shupinski AB, Craffey M, Smith FA, Lyons SK. Different mammals, same structure: co-occurrence structure across the Plio-Pleistocene transition. Paleobiology. Published online 2025:1-10. doi:10.1017/pab.2024.53 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Different mammals, same structure: co-occurrence structure across the Plio-Pleistocene transition | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core
Different mammals, same structure: co-occurrence structure across the Plio-Pleistocene transition
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Ana Rosa Gómez Cano @argomezcano.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Hola! El 26 de marzo a las 15:00 en la Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas (UCM) proyectamos Off the Archeological Record. Después, abrimos debate en una mesa redonda con la arqueóloga y guionista Paloma Zarzuela, y las paleontólogas Mª Ángeles Álvarez Sierra y Dánae Sanz
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Brilliant paper! Functional networks are key to understanding past ecosystems. Exciting to see this research evolving—more work to come!
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Peter Roopnarine @peterroopnarine.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Late for Darwin's big day, but a new paper adding to his great theory, addressing the persistence of ecological systems on long timescales. "Selection, evolution and persistence of paleoecological systems" www.frontiersin.org/journals/ear... #evolution #paleontology #selection
frontiersin.org
Frontiers | Selection, evolution and persistence of paleoecological systems
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Juan L Cantalapiedra @singerstone.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
In 2021, in a paper led by @fernandoblancos.bsky.social published in @science.org we analyzed the evolution of functional faunas in large mammals from the Iberian Peninsula over the last 20 million years. …
science.org
Punctuated ecological equilibrium in mammal communities over evolutionary time scales
Functional richness in past mammal communities increased ecosystem resilience.
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Juan L Cantalapiedra @singerstone.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Hey everyone! Since I’m new to BlueSky, I thought I’d share a quick summary of some of the main projects I’ve worked on over the past three years. Buckle up for some paleontology! 🦴⚒️💻
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Don't miss the chance to attend this incredible meeting in Zurich this July! Mark your calendar and join us for insightful discussions and networking opportunities 👇👇
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Prof Alex Dunhill @profalexdunhill.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Hiya @thepalass.bsky.social meeting delegates, I'm Alex and I lead the Palaeo@Leeds Research Cluster. If you're an undergrad/postgrad looking for a PhD position for '25 start, please find me for a chat at the #PalAss24 meeting - see below for some of the projects on offer.
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IceLab @icelabumu.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Network of the networks represented in academic starter packs! Interactive and searchable here: ketikagarg.github.io/blueSkyAcade... #academicsky
ketikagarg.github.io
Interactive Network Visualization with D3.js
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Claudia Bank @cbank.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
The Institute of #ecology and #evolution at @unibern.bsky.social is looking for two tenure-track assistant professors (APTT): APTT Mathematical or Computational Ecology 👩‍💻 APTT #Conservation #Biology 👨🏾‍🔬 More info: tinyurl.com/IEEjobs Application deadline: 1 March 2025
Panorama view onto the old town of Bern and the alps behind it on a sunny day.
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
📢 Registrations and Abstracts are now open! Don't miss the chance to join us @cpeg-cpb25.bsky.social (Twitter). Submit your abstract and register today! 👇👇
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Serjoscha Evers @sirjoscha.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Second paper in Ecology & Evolution out in two consecutive days! 🐢🤩🐢 "Functional and character disparity are decoupled in turtle mandibles", w team fr MfN Berlin (incl. @plannapus.bsky.social) I guess the German chancellor would call this a "Doppel-Wumms" 😜 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Functional and Character Disparity Are Decoupled in Turtle Mandibles
Here, we compare functional disparity measured by biomechanical proxies and character disparity measured by discrete morphological characters in turtle jaws. Exploration of mandibular patterns reveal...
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Here is a link to my full CV: drive.google.com/file/d/12a_y...
drive.google.com
Fernando Blanco CV (ENG).pdf
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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
I'm looking for a #Postdoc position ! 🧑‍🔬🔍 I'm a highly motivated researcher with experience in R programming, network analysis, and multivariate statistics. My focus is on the evolution of ecosystems and biodiversity over deep time. Any retweets or shares are greatly appreciated! 🙏
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