The Viiankiaapa peat bog in Finland faces permanent destruction for a short-term mining project. Even more worryingly, this could be a dangerous test case for the interests of mining for minerals over...

Nature Ecology & Evolution - Citizen science platforms must mitigate against the threat of generative AI

Berlin (dpo) - Hurra! Die FIFA hat heute entschieden, dass Deutschland doch noch in der WM mitspielen darf. Insidern zufolge ging der Entscheidung ein

Industrial-scale mining in Africa to support global supply chains is leading to unprecedented deforestation across the continent, with 34 hectares of forest removed for every single hectare of active ...

Context Land-use change and intensification are major drivers of biodiversity loss. However, estimates of the effects of land use and land-use intensity on biodiversity on broad spatial scales rarely account for species-specific responses across large areas, instead averaging effects on local assemblages. Current understanding of biodiversity effects on broad spatial scales is therefore limited. Objective To investigate the broad-scale effects of land use and land-use intensity on habitat suitability for cropland and forest vertebrates throughout their contemporary ranges in Europe. To summarise regional-scale effects on vertebrate biodiversity patterns in Europe by synthesising the effects on range-wide habitat suitability for individual species. Methods Cropland and forest vertebrate occurrence records and geographic range estimates were combined with a European land-systems map. Species distribution models (SDMs) were used to estimate the effects of land use and land-use intensity on habitat suitability on a landscape scale throughout species’ ranges. Linear coefficients were specified to keep models interpretable, avoid overfitting and facilitate the use of priors based on expert knowledge. Regional-scale effects were explored for species groups based on habitat preferences, taxonomic groups and range sizes. Results Land use and land-use intensity significantly affected cropland and forest vertebrate habitat suitability on a landscape scale across Europe. The effects of land use and land-use intensity on habitat suitability varied among species groups. Land‑use intensification and urbanisation disproportionately favoured more widespread species. Conclusions Landscape-scale land use and land-use intensity help shape regional biodiversity patterns across Europe via their influence on habitat suitability throughout species’ contemporary ranges.

The study finds that large-scale forest protection under 30×30 could increase net forestry sector value as reduced supply raises prices, suggesting producer losses may be smaller than commonly assumed

Background Climate change is intensifying wildfire regimes across European forests, creating urgent management challenges. Fire acts as a powerful selective filter with highly variable, context-depend...

Introduction and Aim The mapping and monitoring of ecosystem size and extent is critical for assessing changes in the environment. Mapping approaches typically include the use of expert-based assess...

Interactive map of 3.4 million Bluesky users, visualised by their follower pattern.

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Trees4Adapt project launched to address risks from climate change and biodiversity loss through tree-based solutions

Ongoing climate change and human demands put increasing amounts of pressure on land and water. This is especially true for freshwater ecosystems, such as lakes, wetlands and ponds, which are rapidly d...

Chapter 3: Future interactions across the nexus of the Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Bi...

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 11 October 2025 (IUCN) – Nearly 100 additional wild bee species in Europe have been classified as threatened in a new assessment for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Sp...

Goodall was a pioneer in her field, both as a female scientist in the 1960s and for her work studying the behavior of primates

Scientific Data - Opportunity cost estimates for spatial conservation prioritisation across terrestrial Europe

European waterbird and seabird populations have been threatened by anthropogenic activities for decades. Effective strategies are needed to restore both populations and their habitats. However, the temporal period used to define the state of reference when setting restoration targets requires careful considerations to avoid the risk of shifting baseline. A risk of shifting baseline occurs if a population decreases before the time period used to set a baseline. In Europe, most bird monitoring schemes started after the 1970s, yet significant changes in population trends were already reported earlier in the 20th century. We assessed the risk of shifting baseline for 88 out of 170 waterbird and seabird species breeding in Europe. Building on historical ecology, we reconstructed population trends between 1900 and 2018 from information collected in both historical literature and monitoring scheme reports. Historical trends confirm variations in population trends for several waterbird and seabird species over the period 1900-1970, with 35 decreasing species, 38 fluctuating species, 15 increasing species and 82 species with unknown trends. A high risk of shifting baseline was identified for 28 species, for which restoration targets must consider historical trends spanning at least a century. The risk was low for 12 species, probably low for 41 species, probably high for 7 species and uncertain for 82 species. Our study highlights the crucial role of historical data collected prior to the large-scale implementation of standardized abundance monitoring, as it allows for the identification of appropriate baselines to guide the restoration of waterbird and seabird breeding populations.

The Triad framework seeks to balance the economic and ecological functions in forested landscapes by combining intensively, extensively, and unmana...