Jens‐Christian Svenning

Jens-Christian Svenning

@jcsvenning.bsky.social

6.2K followers 620 following 320 posts

Scientist: #biodiversity, #macroecology, #climatechange, #restoration & #rewilding, #novelecosystems, #plants & #vegetation, #megafauna, #human-#nature relations & #remotesensing. Director, https://econovo.au.dk/

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Jens-Christian Svenning is a Danish ecologist, biogeographer and academic. He is a professor at the Department of Biology at Aarhus University, Denmark where he also serves as the director of DNRF Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), established in 2023. .. more

Environmental science 59%

Geography 16%

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Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · Jan 1

The evidence for Homo sapiens playing the dominant role in the global #megafauna #extinctions constitutes one of the clearest, well-supported patterns in #ecology. See our 2024 review www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #paleobiology #archeology #hunting #ecosystem #Pleistocene #defaunation #rewilding

The late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions: Patterns, causes, ecological consequences and implications for ecosystem management in the Anthropocene | Cambridge Prisms: Extinction | Cambridge Core

The late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions: Patterns, causes, ecological consequences and implications for ecosystem management in the Anthropocene - Volume 2

www.cambridge.org

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

Stephen Murphy (smurph) @smurph.bsky.social · 2d

Yes! Just for starters: @ehiggs.bsky.social @7toucans.bsky.social @marcuscollier.bsky.social @mattkerr.bsky.social @jcsvenning.bsky.social

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 2d

Anyone else have a coauthor who is so much fun to write with that you just find yourself grinning in some combination of satisfaction and pride as you edit a manuscript?

If not, get yourself one.

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

Miguel Clavero @chikichanka.bsky.social · 3d

Our work on the huge, and diverse impacts of Atlantic blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, in the Ebro Delta just made 100 GS citations
Nice achievement for a wonderful collaboration with @nfranchv.bsky.social and some other clever colleagues
@ebdonana.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Severe, rapid and widespread impacts of an Atlantic blue crab invasion

The Atlantic blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) has rapidly invaded coastal environments in the western Mediterranean, but there is no consistent assessm…

www.sciencedirect.com

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning, Federico Riva, Juan Antonio Hernández‐Agüero

Camille Magneville @cmlmagneville.bsky.social · 4d

Happy to see our paper out! 🎉
We assess the relative roles of past/present environmental & anthropogenic drivers shaping functional & phylogenetic diversity in Mediterranean forests, highlighting the key role of past climate stability 🌳
➡️https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geb.70177

(1/8)

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning, Julie L. Lockwood, Irena Šímová

Brian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · 4d

Sad news … we lost a visionary scientist. His work and writing changed my understanding of the rules of ecological systems and evolutionary history

juli g pausas @jgpausas.bsky.social · 21d

I'm very sad to say William Bond, of the University of Cape Town & Fellow of the Royal Society (@royalsociety.org ), has passed away. It is a great loss. He was an enthusiastic ecologist and a critical thinker. I learned a lot, and I still had a lot to learn from him. RIP. 😢

🧪🌎🔥🌿🌳🪴🌐 #PlantScience

Three books by W. Bond and collaborators: Fire and plants (1996), Fire in Mediterranean ecosystems (2012), and Open ecosystems (2019).

Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · 4d

Lion attack in Europe just 6000 years ago 🦁👣 #megafauna #carnivore #bigcats #Holocene

Andrej Spiridonov @andrejpaleo.bsky.social · 5d

Sometimes archeological and fossil records preserve incredible evidence of past interactions: human who lived in what is now Bulgaria, was attacked by the European lion, survived, and was cared for.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
🧪 #Geology ⚒️ #Paleobio #Archeology

Trauma on human paleoskull and the matching to the lion bite.

Comparison of the mould of the human skull and left carnassial teeth of the lion and cross-sections.

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

Andrej Spiridonov @andrejpaleo.bsky.social · 5d

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

Herbert Nickel @herbertnickel.bsky.social · 5d

A charming new paper from @jcsvenning.bsky.social 's department provides more strong evidence "that the closed-forest model commonly used in restoration does not match the evolutionary history or ecological preferences of most temperate forest plants" and "that dense
1/
phys.org/news/2025-05...

Where traditional livestock grazing in forests hasn't been abandoned, like on this woodpasture in Georgia, forests likely still resemble their pre-human state shaped by large herbivores. In such forests high diversity of forest plants still can be found. Credit: Szymon Czyżewski

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning, Ondřej Mottl

Milan Chytrý @milanchytry.bsky.social · 6d

The website for the 68th Annual Symposium of the International Association for Vegetation Science has been launched:
2026gijon.iavs-meetings.org
Many thanks to Borja Jiménez-Alfaro and his colleagues for this invitation.
See you in June in Gijón, on the northern coast of Spain.

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

Yadvinder Malhi @ymalhi.bsky.social · 6d

Wonderful collection of articles exploring what the concept of anthromes - human-modified biomes - means for our understanding of the global carbon cycle
🌐

Plants, People, Planet @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social · 7d

Editorial introducing the Special Collection: #Anthromes and terrestrial carbon – from the deep past to net-zero

Anthony P. Walker, et al.

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

@ultracricket.bsky.social @kathrynbaragwanath.bsky.social @ymalhi.bsky.social

#PlantScience

Aerial view of a terraced farming system.

Reposted by Catherine J. Frieman

Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · 6d

Elephants along with red deer, horses and wolves on the Spanish coast, not so long ago 🐘🦌🐎🐺🐾🇪🇸 #megafauna #lastinterglacial phys.org/news/2025-12...

Prehistoric elephant footprints documented for first time in Murcia's fossil dunes

An international team, involving researchers from the University of Seville, the Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences in Granada and the University of Huelva, has identified the first fossilized ver...

phys.org

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

Mick Westbury @mick2474.bsky.social · 7d

🦙🧬Pleased to present our new paper out in @natcomms.nature.com 🧬🦙

Palaeogenomics of early camelid use in the Atacama Desert (Chile).

We used ancient DNA to revisit animals being hunted/herded >3,000 years ago.

Manuscript here: rdcu.be/eVwwl
#aDNA #popgen

Thread below🧵
Reposts appreciated :)

Reposted by Federico Riva

Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · 7d

New #INTEGRADIV paper shows #paleoclimate stability is major driver of functional & phylogenetic diversity in animals & plants across Mediterranean #forests🌿❄️ Important implications for impacts of #climatechange ♨️Thx to @cmlmagneville.bsky.social for leading!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Echoes of the Past: Long‐Term Climate Stability Shapes Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity in Euro‐Mediterranean Forests

Aim Understanding the relative influence of past and present environmental and anthropogenic drivers on biodiversity is crucial for predicting future biodiversity trends. We assessed how past climat...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 9d

A third of tree species in heavily hunted Amazonian forests are struggling to reproduce

There are no animals left to disperse their seeds

Conserving forests means more than stopping deforestation. We need to stop defaunation too
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning, Tobias Kuemmerle, Johannes Kamp , and 4 more Jens‐Christian Svenning, Tobias Kuemmerle, Johannes Kamp, Matthias Baumann, Sabina Burrascano, Jonas Trepel, Benjamin Wildermuth

Conservation Biology Göttingen @consbiogoe.bsky.social · 10d

Come work with us! #PhD position on #ecosystem and #biodiversity effects of large #herbivores on the Eurasian steppes now announced: www.euraxess.de/jobs/395512

Nice combination of fieldwork and meta-analysis, co-supervised by @jonastrepel.bsky.social and ejlundgren.github.io

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning, Paul Glasziou, Matthias Baumann

Red Hot World @redhotworld.bsky.social · 10d

Want to see billionaire brainwashing in action?

Seven out of ten Brits are big fans of renewable energy and want to see lots more of it.

But they think the majority of people DON’T support it.

That disconnect isn’t an accident. 🧵

Giant offshore windfarm supported by 7 out of 10 Brits

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning, Alejandro Ordóñez

ECONOVO - DNRF Center of Excellence @econovoau.bsky.social · 11d

Congrats to Marco Davoli, former PhD student in @jcsvenning.bsky.social's team, for winning the 2024 Early Career Researcher Award for a paper from his PhD!

Congratulations to Marco and co-authors for this outstanding achievement! 👏
#Conservation #RestorationEcology #Wildlife #ResearchExcellence

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning, Juli G. Pausas

Jacek Debiec, MD, PhD, DPhil 🌎 🧠 @drjacekdebiec.bsky.social · 11d

Technological progress comes with social costs. A new paper by Stefan Thurner et al. shows that "polarization started to increase exactly with the advent of smartphones and social media."

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Why more social interactions lead to more polarization in societies | PNAS

Over the past two decades, the number of close social connections increased substantially, at least by a factor of two. At the same time, societal ...

www.pnas.org

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

GMA Lab @globalmammal.bsky.social · 14d

🎉Proud to share GMA Lab member Marco Davoli won the Early Career Researcher Best Paper Award2024 @consbiog.bsky.social🏆Thanks to @jcsvenning.bsky.social @tobiaskuemmerle.ecoevo.social.ap.brid.gy Sophie Monsarrat Jennifer Crees Michela Pacifici Andrea Cristiano onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning, Inês S. Martins

BES Macro @besmacro.bsky.social · 14d

Join the BES Macro committee!

We're recruiting a vice chair and 1-2 ordinary members to help us make macroecology & macroevolution a better place.

More information on how to apply in the link, and come chat at #BES2025 if you happen to be around!

www.britishecologicalsociety.org//wp-content/...

A male greater bird-of-paradise (brownish crow-like thing with a fluffy golden tail, yellow head, and green face) on a tree branch, for attention. Photo by Tim Laman via the Cornell Lab of O.

Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · 16d

Beautiful "new" violet species🌿#plants

PhytoKeys @phytokeys.pensoft.net · 17d

Researchers describe and illustrate 𝑉𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑎 𝑦𝑢𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠, a new violet species distributed in Guangxi, China.

🔗 doi.org/10.3897/phyt...

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 16d

A close-up of one of Ireland's three native translucent rainforest ferns: Tunbridge filmy.

Best appreciated in the wet, its fronds swell and glisten with fat drops of succulence.

Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · 17d

Excited to see this contribution to our understanding of the #megafauna-soil nutrient links out in Nature Ecology & Evolution! Big thanks to @andrewabraham.bsky.social for leading this work 🐘🧂#salt #sodium #herbivores

Andrew Abraham @andrewabraham.bsky.social · 17d

Earth's largest land animals are limited by salt.

Sodium availability constrains the density and distribution of elephants, giraffes and rhinos across Africa, and offers a new explanation for the so-called 'missing megaherbivores'.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Free access: rdcu.be/eTPY2

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

Andrew Abraham @andrewabraham.bsky.social · 17d

With many thanks to: @celestemare.bsky.social, @ymalhi.bsky.social, @duvallecology.bsky.social, @jcsvenning.bsky.social, @fonsvanderplas.bsky.social, and many others not on bluesky

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning, Yadvinder Malhi, Brian J. Enquist , and 7 more Jens‐Christian Svenning, Yadvinder Malhi, Brian J. Enquist, Simon L. Lewis, Mathias Disney, Tommaso Jucker, Martin Ehbrecht, Drew Peltier, Jonathan von Oppen, Celesté Maré

Andrew Abraham @andrewabraham.bsky.social · 17d

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

PhytoKeys @phytokeys.pensoft.net · 17d

Researchers describe and illustrate 𝑉𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑎 𝑦𝑢𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠, a new violet species distributed in Guangxi, China.

🔗 doi.org/10.3897/phyt...

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

juli g pausas @jgpausas.bsky.social · 17d

*The role of fire on Earth*

The final version of this paper is now available #OA in BioScience 75 (12) @aibsbiology.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...
🧪🌍🔥🌳🌿🌐 wildfire #ecoevo @cideinvestiga.bsky.social @csicdivulga.bsky.social

juli g pausas @jgpausas.bsky.social · Aug 25

New paper: The role of fire on Earth
doi.org/10.1093/bios... BioScience @aibsbiology.bsky.social
Fire affects all major components of the Earth system: atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, anthroposphere, & biosphere. Fire is an intrinsic factor on our planet.

🧪🌍🔥🌳🌿🌐 wildfire

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning

Erle Ellis @erleellis.bsky.social · 17d

Culture shapes conservation.
& Culture is evolving....🌎🌐
Foundational principles of an applied cultural evolutionary science for natural resource management and conservation royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...

Foundational principles of an applied cultural evolutionary science for natural resource management and conservation

Abstract. Culture, as the filter through which people view the world and a key determinant of human behaviour, is central to the practice of natural resour

royalsocietypublishing.org

Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · 18d

An extinct condor from the open & semi-open ecosystems of eastern Brazil in the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene - part of a diversified guild of scavenging #birds that suffered severe #extinction when South America's rich #megafauna was decimated by Homo sapiens www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Reposted by Katharine Hayhoe, Julie L. Lockwood, Stephen D. Murphy , and 1 more Katharine Hayhoe, Julie L. Lockwood, Stephen D. Murphy, Sandra Dullau

Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · 19d

Solar panel areas can be designed to be better for bird diversity than cropland: Ecovoltaic solar energy development can promote grassland bird communities besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #solarpanels #birds #energy #greenenergy #jernmarker