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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard

@skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social
217 followers 201 following 46 posts

Phd-student in ecology at Aarhus University

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Reposted by Skjold Alsted Søndergaard
Journal of Applied Ecology @jappliedecology.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
@skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social explains how year-round grazing can be a driver of plant diversity 🌱🐄🌏 Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize 🏆🧪 Read more 👇
appliedecologistsblog.com
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Exciting first weeks at @oxfordecosystems.bsky.social & @naturerecovery.bsky.social at Oxford Uni. Great discussions on vegetation dynamics & restoration baselines. Next up: presenting the Danish Nature Indicator, a tool for prioritizing rewilding! www.oxfordecosystems.org/post/deep-ti...
oxfordecosystems.org
Deep-Time Perspectives on Vegetation Ecology: Skjold Søndergaard
Skjold Søndergaard discusses how long-term ecological processes inform contemporary approaches to vegetation restoration and biotic integrity.
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
(3) Wild boar is an especially important disturber - follow this link to see a commensalism between a Robin and a rewilding boar: www.facebook.com/groups/12735... #rewilding #birds #disturbance #speciesinteraction
facebook.com
Rødhalse elsker også svin🐗 | Facebook
Rødhalse elsker også svin🐗
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
(2) Disturbance-dependent foraging bird-mammals relationships are described in the literature, but largely for tropical and sub-tropical systems. It seems that birds relying on disturbance of vegetation or snow to forage through resource bottlenecks is missing from science in temperate zones.
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
(1) FIND THE LITTLE GUY! 🐦 In multiple rewilding sites in snow-covered Denmark it is possible to observe the revival of an old relationship between birds and megafauna, that is especially important during the winter.
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Unfortunately not!
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Can't wait to discuss my favorite topics (baselines, natural vegetation, grazing and nature restoration) with top ecological minds @jcsvenning.bsky.social, @hhbruun.bsky.social and Jacob Heilmann-Clausen at this years Nature Meeting in Denmark! #naturmødet #shiftingbaselines #urørtskov
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
Glad to see our study making it on the cover of @jappliedecology.bsky.social. More results from this projects are on their way on the response of pollinator resources, pollinators and birds! #naturalgrazing #rewilding
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Indeed! And grazing isn’t just grazing! We studied 30 natural areas in Denmark and the ones grazed year-round were doing significantly better regarding plant diversity: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
From Grasslands to Forblands: Year‐round grazing as a driver of plant diversity
Our results indicate that typical, seasonal grazing may be counterproductive in terms of promoting plant diversity. We found the most effective management strategy for conserving species-rich forb co...
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Spending time with rewilded herbivores is humbling. Every week reveals new items on the menu. New leaves of invasive Rosa rugosa are eaten, despite thorns and seemingly being out of reach #rewilding #invasive #herbivory
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Yes. The grasslands are currently conserved through mowing, but mowing has obvious negative effects on habitat structural variation. Especially shrubs, tussocks and ant hills are excluded
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Agreed. To my knowledge, even in Transsylvania (where we are both going incidently!) extensive grazing is decreasing and plant diversity is suffering because of it... M. Janisova has pointed out that even traditional mowing involved spring and autumn grazing in the past, but this has also ceased
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Could the diversity of the peri-Carpathian grassland-woodland mosaics be a product of the "least-unnatural" disturbance regime with the fewest bottlenecks from abandonment or intensification in temperate Europe? I will be exploring this hypothesis - please reach out if you have input! 4/
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
These hyper-diverse communities often occur on sites with long continuity (Bronze age) of low-intensity, human disturbance. We know low-intensity agriculture can simulate aspects of natural disturbance through grazing, haymaking, pannage, coppicing and pollarding. 3/
Vegetation of species-rich forest-steppe meadows at Tugár-rét in the Mátra Mts. In the background, the Ágasvár hill (788 m a.s.l.) with the remains of a medieval castle and a hillfort from the Late Bronze Age. From "A coexistence hotspot - From the extremely species-rich White Carpathian meadows towards the Peri-Carpathian forest-steppe. Rolecek, J."
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Jan Roleček has revealed that the unique grassland-woodland mosaic that holds the record for plant alpha diversity in Europe has a fragmented distribution along the perimeter of the Carpathians: doi.org/10.1111/jbi..... Interestingly, they occur across different types of soil and light intensity 2/
doi.org
Peri‐Carpathian Forest‐Steppe Grasslands: Distribution, Indicator Species and Extreme Species Richness
Aim We aim to refine the definition of peri-Carpathian forest-steppe grasslands, provide an updated distribution map, identify consensus indicator species and summarise data on their extreme species.....
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Preparation for what will undoubtedly be the highlight of my PhD. Jakub Těšitel and Jan Roleček from Brno University giving a preview of the mindblowing ecosystems of the White Carpathians which hold world records for small-scale plant species richness. 1/
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Reposted by Skjold Alsted Søndergaard
Asger Svenning @asgersvenning.com · 14/04/2025
I am excited to share that my first first-author paper, “A General Method for Detection and Segmentation of Terrestrial Arthropods in Images,” is now available on preprint. If you are interested take a look at my blog (asgersvenning.com/flat-bug/) or consider reading the pre-print (linked below).
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Det er sgu utroligt de gentager den samme fejl igen og igen
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Fences are misunderstood! Electric fence around the property enables peaceful coexistence between us and the neighbors: large grazing mammals roaming freely year-round. Temporary plastic wire allows them to graze the garden. Fences are an opportunity for wilder ecosystems, when done right #rewilding
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Why should you let cattle roam your garden in late winter? To limit grasses and benefit flowering forbs! Read our paper just out in @jappliedecology.bsky.social with Camilla Fløjgaard, @r-ejrnaes.bsky.social and @jcsvenning.bsky.social besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Noget vildt er på vej!🐷
facebook.com
Vi - Naturfotograf Jeppe Svendsen, Natur🛡️Søndergaard og Kragelund - en lysåben mose er stolte over at præsentere første trailer til “VILDSKABENS VEJE”.... | By Martin | Facebook
Vi - Naturfotograf Jeppe Svendsen, Natur🛡️Søndergaard og Kragelund - en lysåben mose er stolte over at præsentere første trailer til “VILDSKABENS VEJE”....
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Wild pollinators in introduced spring ephemeral always makes me wonder about interglacial range-filling. Would Cyclamen have made it to Scandinavia in a human-free Holocene? Does it matter if c-album really likes it - and I like them both?
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Thanks!
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
I’m curios - what does the British flora say about the ecology of the wild daffodil? What are its preferences regarding light and soil moisture? And here I’m asking about wild populations
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Reposted by Skjold Alsted Søndergaard
Martin Stoltze @mstoltze-se.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
USA har aldrig været en moralsk supermagt. Europa burde have fundet sine egne ben for længe siden. Trump er horribel, men for de mange Europæiske politikere, der har troet på en slags særligt værdifællesskab med USA er det meget godt at få revet plasteret af. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Let’s be clear – the US never had moral supremacy. With Trump, it’s not even pretending any more | Owen Jones
The president has replaced the ‘good guys’ myth with unapologetic brute force and greed – it could be a major mistake, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones
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Reposted by Skjold Alsted Søndergaard
Sofie Graarup Jensen @sofiegraarup.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Nå, men ligger alle jeres naboer også og pøser gylle ud på frossen jord de her dage?
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Reposted by Skjold Alsted Søndergaard
Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
On #moose/(Eurasian) #elk in Europe: "the retreat of A. alces in large areas of Europe was likely caused by anthropogenic landscape change (e.g., deforestation) and overhunting by humans during the late #Holocene rather than by climate warming" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #defaunation
sciencedirect.com
Impact of global environmental changes on the range contraction of Eurasian moose since the Late Pleistocene
Climatic oscillations are considered primary factors influencing the distribution of various life forms on Earth. Large species adapted to cold climat…
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Reposted by Skjold Alsted Søndergaard
Rasmus Ejrnæs @r-ejrnaes.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Blinded by short memories, our dreams reach no further than pleasant farmland and carefully managed woodland. The awesome large mammals, wiped out by human exploitation, also vanished from our minds. Time is up for science-based restoration targets. Thnx @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social.
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Mammut-kløsten….
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
/5 Natural herbivore communities are limited by carrying capacity and biomass-dominated by megaherbivores. Large- and megaherbivores closer to natural densities have very strong effects on vegetation, exemplified in Southern Africa's new "elephant problem". For a deep dive, see our new study:
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Shifting baselines and the forgotten giants: integrating megafauna into plant community ecology
The extensive, prehistoric loss of megafauna during the last 50 000 years led early naturalists to build the founding theories of ecology based on already-degraded ecosystems. In this article, we out...
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
/4 Knepp is a pioneer and contributes immensely to public opinion and knowledge of rewilding. BUT they avoid controversy by keeping their herbivores safely below carrying capacity. This means reduced herbivore functionality - likely explaining why Knepp is no botanical success
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
/3 We need greater focus on which processes are and which aren't restored in agricultural rewilding. But we can't study what isn't there. We need a new OVP in Europe, this time with Elephants and wolves!
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Agricultural rewilding or naturalistic grazing is THE most promising compromise between exploitation and conservation for the EU’s 20% protected areas. BUT - we have to ensure that natural grazing functionality is actually restored. See our study of early attempts that need more work:
sciencedirect.com
Opportunities and barriers for promoting biodiversity in Danish beef production
Grazing at near-natural stocking rates is increasingly rare, whereas abandonment and overgrazing is common, despite both leading to loss of threatened…
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
“The question is one of teleology, of final ends: the fundamental goal of all rewilding … is the restoration of self-willed ecology, while the fundamental goal of all agriculture is the production and sale of food.“ 1/
noemamag.com
Dispelling The Myth Of The Wild | NOEMA
Agriculture and rewilding, culture and nature, are often regarded as stark antitheses. New insights from ecology, however, suggest a path by which these seeming opposites may be reconciled.
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Konsekvenserne er useriøs reservering af plads og beskyttelse af natur. Mon Klelund-modellen + store græsserer kunne redde sommerfuglene?
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Rasmus Ejrnæs @r-ejrnaes.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Hvordan tager vi fuldt ansvar for dyrenes ve og vel? @sofiegraarup.bsky.social, Fløjgaard og jeg hævder i denne kronik, at der mangler vigtige overvejelser, når Dyreetisk Råd udtaler sig om store dyr i indhegnede rewildingprojekter. www.altinget.dk/miljoe/artik...
altinget.dk
Det er ikke kun naturen, der har brug for rewilding. Det har Dyreetisk Råd også : Miljø - Altinget.dk
Det er tankevækkende, at aflivning af dyr falder så naturligt for os, når det er de to værste straffe for mennesker er netop dødsstraf. Aflivning af dyr beskrives af Dyreetisk Råd som en form for akti...
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Chris van Swaay @chrisvanswaay.eurosky.social · 29/12/2024
At the end of the year we can look back at the butterfly year 2024 in NL. What went up, what went down, and what species things did we notice? A threat in English. /1
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
Nationalparkloven bidrager med lige præcis 0 yderligere juridisk beskyttelse af dansk natur. Det virker vanvittigt, men den er god nok
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Reposted by Skjold Alsted Søndergaard
Morten DD @mortendd.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
Trophic #rewilding with horses & cattle at the Mols Laboratory, Denmark, inspiring many other projects in the country. A summary of 2024 😍 #dkpol #dknatur #biodiversitet
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
Danish National Parks are paper parks - nothing but words on a page or an advertisement in the supermarket. As you can tell from the add, we proudly reserve our NP’s for intensive agriculture… #dkpol
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Morten DD @mortendd.bsky.social · 25/12/2024
I modsætning til nærmest alle andre modtager Molslab IKKE landbrugsstøtte. #Rewilding Mols er derfor helt afhængig af brugerbetaling og frivillige bidrag. Hvis du er fan, vil vi derfor blive vildsomt glade for en donation på MobilePay til 600412. Kh alle os på Molslab. OG glædelig jul 😍 #dknatur
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
May your favorite ecosystem have its natural processes restored and strictly protected! Merry Christmas!
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
Jeg har bestemt lyst! Men markedet virker propfyldt, også med naturpodcasts…
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Vildt at formanden for Skovsgaard fonden også er i bestyrelsen for DN lokalafdelingen i Svendborg😬
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Helt enig! Tjek mine indslag længere nede i tråden
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
A shame when political ideas of “pristine wilderness” come in the way of possibly restoring ecosystem processes. Not saying hippos necessarily restore the Magdalena ecosystem, but likewise we have no proof that they destroy it.
By Joschua Knuppe
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
More research over longer time could give answers Semi-aquatic mammals serve as important ecosystem engineers globally, regulating nutrient flows and plant competition doi.org/10.1111/brv.... Obviously, the diversity of extinct semi-aquatic SA mammals did the same
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
OR, could the cocaine hippos have restored lost functions of now-extinct South American megafauna? We lost an entire order of South American ungulates (Notoungulata) to human hunting in the Late Pleistocene, some of which were likely semi-aquatic. And what about the multiple aquatic giant sloths?
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Check your baseline! It’s reasonable to assume that hippos in Colombia is a problem but studies don’t find the expected eco-catastrophe (doi: 10.1002/ECY.2991) Is it due to previous degradation from agriculture or a yet-small population? www.facebook.com/100001523860...
facebook.com
Det endnu billigere skidt! Alexander Holm og Sebastian Klein har for nyligt dækket Pablo Escobars kokainflodheste på deres podcast Det Billige Skidt.... | By Skjold | Facebook
Det endnu billigere skidt! Alexander Holm og Sebastian Klein har for nyligt dækket Pablo Escobars kokainflodheste på deres podcast Det Billige Skidt....
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Skjold Alsted Søndergaard @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Reminds me of Rhys Lemoine's great piece on magpies. Intelligent birds that favor grazed vegetation and disturbance dependent foraging, i.e. associated with megafauna. Exciting to see if magpies return to the wild as trophic rewilding reintroduces large mammals to European landscapes!
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