Tobias Kuemmerle

@tkuemmerle.bsky.social

1.9K followers 500 following 270 posts

Geographer @ Humboldt-University Berlin. | working on land use and its impact on biodiversity

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Environmental science 68%

Geography 17%

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Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 9h

Die Antwort ist: ja! Elch (und wahrscheinlich auch Wisent) kommen wieder und würden bei uns genug Lebensraum finden, wenn wir sie willkommen heissen. Mehr dazu hier: www.hu-berlin.de/de/pr/nachri... ... und der wissenschaftliche Artikel hier: doi.org/10.1111/ddi....

Elche und Wisente würden ausreichend Platz in Deutschland vorfinden – wenn sie es zu uns schaffen

Neue Studie zeigt Chancen und Herausforderungen für eine Rückkehr von Wisent und Elch

www.hu-berlin.de

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 9h

www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft...

Kommt der Elch zurück nach Deutschland?

Elche leben nicht nur in Schweden, Norwegen und Kanada. Auch in Deutschland werden die Tiere immer wieder gesehen, vor allem im Osten. Werden die Einzelgänger hierzulande wieder heimisch? Antworten au...

www.spiegel.de

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 2d

www.tagesschau.de/ausland/euro...

Wie Rumäniens Urwälder illegaler Rodung zum Opfer fallen

Einer der letzten großen Urwälder Europas befindet sich in Rumänien. Doch Millionen von Kubikmetern Holz werden dort illegal geschlagen, Korruption und schwache Kontrollen helfen dabei. Umweltschützer...

www.tagesschau.de

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 2d

"...what happens in Sweden matters far beyond Sweden. If a country with some of the world’s largest intact boreal forests chooses to double down on short-term extraction, it will not only undermine the EU’s climate goals — it will send a dangerous signal to other forest nations..."

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 2d

news.mongabay.com/2025/11/why-...

Why Sweden’s forest policy matters to the world (commentary)

The deep, dark forests of northern Europe supplied people with wood, timber and food for millennia. They gave rise to myths, legends and fairy tales, and offered refuge to the persecuted. Over time, t...

news.mongabay.com

Reposted by Tobias Kuemmerle

Diversity and Distributions @consbiog.bsky.social · 6d

🐍 Over 35 years of #deforestation have reshaped #snake communities in the South American #Chaco 🌎.
Generalist species are expanding, while many specialists lose #habitat, leading to a sharp drop in diversity and growing biotic homogenization.
@alfredoromero.bsky.social

🔗 doi.org/10.1111/ddi....

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 10d

🐺 Wolves have not yet reached a favourable conservation status in most European countries
🐺 Many populations do not meet the effective size required for long-term genetic and demographic sustainability
🐺 Wolf populations across Europe are primarily threatened by overhunting (incl. illegal killing)

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 10d

All of this very true - there is no scientific basis for the change in legislation that was enacted this year:
🐺 Current monitoring does not allow for a reliable estimation of wolf numbers in Europe
🐺Available demographic data are heterogeneous, approximate, largely qualitative, and unverifiable.

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 10d

Restore strict protection for wolves in Europe

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Reposted by Tobias Kuemmerle

Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · 16d

Brazil, Australia and Italy have the highest satisfaction scores in Nature’s global 2025 PhD survey. A Nature Careers article examines what makes earning a doctorate in these countries different. #Academicsky 🧪

Are these the happiest PhD students in the world?

Brazil, Australia and Italy have the highest satisfaction scores in Nature’s global 2025 PhD survey — but are these nations really the best places to do a doctorate?

go.nature.com

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 18d

What makes positive outcomes more likely during and after times of shocks? We suggest:
- proactively create resilient institutions,
- that are focused on local capacity building,
- that enhance social stability, &
- that are built on internal motivations for conservation

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 18d

Socio-economic shocks are fairly common, especially at broader scales (key for large carnivores) and longer time frames (key for conservation planning). Consider shocks, and the risks and potential opportunities they bring is thus critically important (but rarely done).

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 18d

Key finding across cases: central role of institutions in mediating shock impacts - determining whether impacts ar positive or negative.

Asiatic cheetah - Photo: Erfan Kouchari / Wikimedia Commons

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 18d

We developed a framework, rooted in social-ecological systems theory, to identify key pathways of how shocks impact large carnivores - and exemplify this framework with three case studies (jaguars, snow leopards, Asiatic cheetah)
@biogeoberlin.bsky.social @arashghoddousi.bsky.social

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 18d

Socio-economic shocks (e.g., wars, pandemics, economic crises) can cause deep changes in social-ecological systems - how does this impact biodiversity?

New paper by @ranjmurali.bsky.social out in @peopleandnature.bsky.social that explores this question for large carnivores 👉 buff.ly/9NLJij4

Snow leopard - Photo: Eric Kilby / Wikimedia Commons

Reposted by Tobias Kuemmerle

People and Nature @peopleandnature.bsky.social · 18d

🐆 New research - Socio-economic shocks don't just impact human societies, but can also affect large carnivores ➡️ buff.ly/9NLJij4

@biogeoberlin.bsky.social @ranjmurali.bsky.social @tkuemmerle.bsky.social @alfredoromero.bsky.social @arashghoddousi.bsky.social

Reposted by Tobias Kuemmerle

Cihan Çelik @cihancelik.bsky.social · 19d

Beim Versuch, nach rechts abgewanderte Wähler zurückzugewinnen, riskiert der Kanzler durch seine Rhetorik die Entfremdung von Millionen Deutschen mit Migrationsgeschichte- auch meine. Mein Gastbeitrag als Angesprochener für @spiegel.de
www.spiegel.de/politik/ciha...

Meinung: Cihan Celik zu Stadtbild-Debatte: Was Merz in der migrantischen Community auslöst

Mit seinen Worten entfremdet Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz Millionen Deutsche mit Migrationsgeschichte von der deutschen Gesellschaft. Für Menschen wie mich ist das eine bestürzende und schmerzvolle Er...

www.spiegel.de

Reposted by Tobias Kuemmerle

Biogeography Berlin @biogeoberlin.bsky.social · 19d

Reminder to take a look at the new paper by Hugo Cabral and colleagues: Diversity Loss and Homogenization in Snake Communities in a Deforestation Hotspot -> out now in Diversity and Distributions.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

#newpaper #snakes #chaco #deforestation #diversityloss

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 22d

Overall, this shows a major homogenization across snake communities, driven by land use change. This could lead to major knock-on effects (loss of key ecosystem functioning and services) as entire functional groups of snakes are lost in many places.

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 22d

Surprising finding: more winners than losers of land-use change! Yet, habitat specialist (semiarboreal and semifossorial species) consistently lose out, while many generalist species are winners. Important: many specialist species are data deficient and we could not model them.

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 22d

We modeled 72 out of 142 snake species in the Chaco, using time-calibrated SDM 👉 this allowed us to reconstruct habitat change 1985-2020.

Main result: major decline in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic snake diversity in the Chaco (in >75% of all snake communities) due to land-use change.

Changes in different facets of snake diversity in the Chaco, showing an overall decline in all facets in most regions.

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · 22d

Deforestation leads to an erosion of snake diversity in the #GranChaco. Paper led by Hugo Cabral just out in @consbiog.bsky.social 👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #Chaco #herptiles @biogeoberlin.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu #TropicalDryForests

Lygophis anomatus - the snake species that lost most habitat in our study (Photo Diego Carús)

Reposted by Tobias Kuemmerle, Éva E. Plagányi, Trevor A. Branch , and 1 more Tobias Kuemmerle, Éva E. Plagányi, Trevor A. Branch, Juan Rocha

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 24d

Interesting. This says in words some stuff that has bothered me for a long time - like why European and American scientists get to parachute in to research the African fauna that I literally grew up with, but it would seem really odd if I started a project on moose or reindeer.

People and Nature @peopleandnature.bsky.social · 24d

🦒Biologists are often drawn to charismatic species but they do not always have the opportunity to study them. This study reveals some fierce competition in certain academic fields, and illustrates unequal social distribution of research opportunities➡️https://buff.ly/kjYUIBg

Reposted by Tobias Kuemmerle

Diversity and Distributions @consbiog.bsky.social · 24d

🌱 A new study reveals the dual role of common #mammals as #dispersers of #plants and micro-invertebrates across isolated #wetlands 🦌

Read more 👉 doi.org/10.1111/ddi....

Reposted by Tobias Kuemmerle

Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · Oct 9

Podcast 🎧 von DLF Kultur:

Wissenschaftsfreiheit in Gefahr 🧪

www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/felsen-in-de...

Hochschulen - Wissenschaftsfreiheit in Gefahr

Immer häufiger werden Wissenschaftler in ihrer Arbeit behindert oder sogar bedroht. Die Entwicklung an der Harvard-Uni zeigt, welche Folgen das haben kann.

www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de

Reposted by Tobias Kuemmerle, Matthias Baumann

Biogeography Berlin @biogeoberlin.bsky.social · Oct 8

@camillabrunet.bsky.social is a conservation-behavior #scientist interested in wildlife management, #conservation, movement and spatial #ecology. She will start her #phd studies, where she will investigate how changes in agricultural land use can influence the behavior of large mammals.
#newmember

Tobias Kuemmerle @tkuemmerle.bsky.social · Oct 7

Great to have Meredith visit us today! Working with her and Ricardo Torres on the paleoecology of the fantastic #macrauchenia, according to Darwin the `strangest animal ever discovered`!

Reposted by Tobias Kuemmerle

Mongabay @mongabay.com · Oct 7

Brazil’s antitrust regulator, CADE, decided to suspend the Amazon soy moratorium from Jan. 1, 2026.

Depending on the probe’s course of action, this could dismantle one of the nation’s most important private sector pacts credited with slowing deforestation of the rainforest for soy plantations.