J.-C. Svenning

Preventing extinction in an age of species migration and planetary change

This study assesses how including migrant species in conservation policies can reduce extinction risk and alter global conservation priorities.

Distribution and extent of suitable habitat for geladas (Theropithecus gelada) in the Anthropocene

This study models the impact of climate change on gelada habitat distribution, finding a significant reduction in suitable habitat by 2070 and suggesting anthropogenic pressures contribute to niche truncation.

Megafauna diversity and functional declines in Europe from the Last Interglacial (LIG) to the present

This study estimates European megafauna diversity and functional declines from the Last Interglacial to the present, finding severe defaunation driven by human impact rather than climate change.

Occurrence-based diversity estimation reveals macroecological and conservation knowledge gaps for global woody plants

The paper estimates global woody plant diversity using occurrence records, revealing knowledge gaps and conservation priorities in underexplored regions.

The evolutionary history of spines: a Cenozoic arms race with mammals

This study investigates the evolutionary history of spines in plants, finding that spine diversification was driven by mammal herbivory rather than climate, with regional patterns linked to herbivore diversity.

Socioeconomics and biogeography jointly drive geographic biases in our knowledge of plant traits: a global assessment of the Raunkiaerian shortfall in plants

The paper assesses global plant trait data completeness, showing socioeconomic and biogeographic factors drive geographic biases and highlights the value of regional databases in improving data coverage.

Identifying the potential for sustainable human wildlife coexistence by integrating willingness to coexist with habitat suitability models

The paper develops a framework to identify areas with high potential for sustainable human-wildlife coexistence by integrating human willingness-to-coexist with habitat suitability models, applied to elephants and rhinos in Maasai Mara.

Worldwide late-Quaternary population declines in extant megafauna are due to Homo sapiens rather than climate

The paper analyzes genome data to show that Homo sapiens, not climate, caused population declines in megafauna over the last 100,000 years.

Quantifying the Human Cost of Global Warming

This paper quantifies the human cost of global warming by estimating how many people will be outside the historical climate niche under different warming scenarios.

Widespread latitudinal asymmetry in marginal population performance

The paper tests if high-latitude margin populations perform better than low-latitude ones under climate change, finding low-latitude margins perform worse across species and habitats.

Using recent baselines as benchmarks for megafauna restoration places an unfair burden on the Global South

This paper shows that using recent baselines for megafauna restoration unfairly burdens Global South countries, proposing the Megafauna Index to assess restoration responsibility across different temporal benchmarks.

Undersampling correction methods to control γ-dependence for comparing β-diversity between regions

This study evaluates undersampling correction methods for β-diversity to reduce γ-dependence, finding that diversity accumulation curves outperform null models in removing γ-dependence.

Extinctions have strongly reduced the mammalian consumption of primary productivity

The paper estimates that mammalian herbivory consumes 7.3% of global plant productivity in natural areas, but this would be 13% without human-driven extinctions, indicating a >50% reduction.

Species packing and the latitudinal gradient in beta-diversity

The paper tests whether beta-diversity contributes to the latitudinal gradient in species richness by analyzing tree species data across East Asia.

Functionally unique, specialised, and endangered (FUSE) species: towards integrated metrics for the conservation prioritisation toolbox

The paper develops the FUSE index to identify species that are both functionally unique and endangered, enhancing conservation prioritisation by integrating functional diversity with extinction risk.

Areas of global importance for terrestrial biodiversity, carbon, and water

The paper identifies global terrestrial areas prioritized for conservation to maximize synergies between biodiversity, carbon retention, and water provisioning.

Exploring a natural baseline for large herbivore biomass

The paper estimates natural baseline biomass for large herbivores using consumer-producer relationships, finding current levels are much lower than expected and suggesting significant restoration potential.

Megafauna decline have reduced pathogen dispersal which may have increased emergent infectious diseases

This study links megafauna extinction to reduced pathogen dispersal, suggesting it may have increased zoonotic disease emergence in humans.

Recent global changes have decoupled species richness from specialization patterns in North American birds

The paper quantifies how climate and land use changes over 50 years have weakened the positive relationship between species richness and specialization in North American birds.

Multi-taxon inventory reveals highly consistent biodiversity responses to ecospace variation

The paper uses an ecospace framework to analyze multi-taxon biodiversity across 130 sites in Denmark, finding consistent responses to environmental variation and highlighting the role of organic matter for fungi and insects.

Anthropocene refugia: integrating history and predictive modelling to assess the space available for biodiversity in a human-dominated world

The paper introduces the concept of Anthropocene refugia to identify areas protected from human activities that can support biodiversity, using historical and predictive modeling approaches.

LIDAR explains diversity of plants, fungi, lichens and bryophytes across multiple habitats and large geographic extent

This study evaluates LIDAR's ability to estimate biodiversity across four species groups in multiple habitats over a large area, finding several LIDAR measures strongly correlate with species richness.

Wild Steps in a Semi-wild Setting? Habitat Selection and Behavior of European Bison reintroduced to an Anthropogenic Landscape

This study examines habitat selection and behavior of European bison in a reintroduction site, finding that topography and management area significantly influence their spatial use.