Although we know where #deforestation occurs, our knowledge of how deforestation unfolds in space & time is limited. We developed frontiermetrics, a tool deriving eight metrics measuring speed, severity and spatiotemporal patterns to characterize deforestation frontiers for #ecology & #conservation

Have you already checked out Pablo Yair Huais and colleagues' new paper out now in Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation @rsecjournal.bsky.social? It asks how deforestation progresses in space and time by introducing the R package frontiermetrics! doi.org/10.1002/rse2.7009 #newpaper #R

Very bad weather in Berlin right now so we are sharing some cuties that sweetened our rainy day - and will hopefully do the same for you (whatever the sky may look like for you today)... Fotos taken by our #cameratraps in #Bolivia & #Argentina in 2024. Enjoy 🐆🐄! #biogeography #research #fieldwork

And there were a whole lot of amazing poster presentations: @julidecarre.bsky.social, @camillabrunet.bsky.social, @rubenchn.bsky.social, and Imogen Schwandner introduced the 850 participants from more than 25 countries to their important research!

@alfredoromero.bsky.social and @francescobini.bsky.social held presentations! Alfredo talked about understanding challenges and opportunities for wildlife community conservation amidst shifting socio-ecological systems in deforestation frontiers, whereas Francesco introduced a different topic:

As promised some contributions of the lab at the ECCB 2026 in Leiden @eccb26leiden.bsky.social: @tkuemmerle.bsky.social organized the symposium "Archetype analysis for conservation science and practice" together with @ranjmurali.bsky.social - with amazing contributions, discussions and new ideas!

At the beginning of July Gabri defended his PhD!! His paper was about the restoring of the European bison in contemporary landscapes. Congratulations on a truly impactful research, great results and a great defense!! #phd #defense #dissertation #congratulations #bison #biogeography #rewilding

Last week a whole lot of our lab attended #eccb @eccb26leiden.bsky.social in Leiden (NL) - an amazing experience for connecting, learning, presenting, as well as exchanging opinions, research approaches and questions. Stay tuned for some posts & pics of our lab's contributions!

Delighted to welcome Corvin Pacher to our team!! He is a Geography student at our institute @humboldtuni.bsky.social and will be part of our team as a student collaborator - looking forward to working together!! #newmember #studentcollaborator #huberlin #biogeography #welcome

We leveraged tracking data on 3,069 individuals of four ungulate species to perform a continental, multi-decadal assessment of large #herbivore responses to #forestdisturbance. We found long-lasting positive impacts on habitat suitability, with considerable variation across species and seasons.

Don't forget to check out @julianoeser.bsky.social's new paper published in @natecoevo.nature.com: doi.org/10.1038/s415... - based on a massive collaborative effort with partners from across Europe, we highlight why strongly increasing forest disturbances are good news for Europe’s large herbivores:

For the last two days, the @humboldt-foundation.de's annual meeting converted our campus & lab into a buzzing place of 670+Humboldtians from 70+countries, that were here to connect, take a look at our institute and posters. It was lots of fun as well as thought-provoking! #AvHConnectedForImpact

Restoring river connectivity can boost forest resilience under climate change—but requires long-term commitment. Our results highlight the importance of sustained restoration for conservation in regulated rivers. #conservation #research #restoring #connectivity credit: Afzali et al, 2026

We used 40 years of satellite data + causal methods to assess riparian forest health. Key finding: restoration leads to delayed but measurable recovery, despite increasing drought stress. #Danube #riparianforest #biogeography #recovery credit: Afzali et al, April 2026

From Degradation to Recovery 🌿 New study shows riparian forests along the Danube can rebound after restoration! The paper is led by Hamid Afzali, @tkuemmerle.bsky.social, @matthiasbaumann.bsky.social and colleagues and out now in Environmental Research Letters! doi.org/10.1088/1748... #newpaper

Climate change is confronting us with some pretty high (!!!) temperatures in Berlin right now. The Green Classroom of the Geography Department presents a great oasis for a lunch break together and some breeze in the trees! #greenclassroom #lunch #hu #climatechange #berlin

Last week the physical geograohy course led by Prof. Dirk Pflugmacher @d-pflug.bsky.social and @camillabrunet.bsky.social went on an excursion to Grünewald. The groups did a trial of bird acoustic sampling and dendrometry to measure trees biomass!!

Today is the last day of the field excursion: some last tests in the laboratory, digitizing results and talking about challenges as well as successes!! Looking forward to the poster presentations in some weeks 🤩 #excursion #fieldtrip #fieldwork #biogeography #class #huberlin #university

Setting up beetle traps, counting plant and animal species, photographing canopy cover and being eaten alive by mosquitoes can be summed up as quite a successful week! #excursion #biogeography #huberlin #university #fieldwork #biodiversity #brandenburg #class

This week the biogeography course led by @alfredoromero.bsky.social and @scjaehnig.bsky.social went on an excursion to Brandenburg. The three groups did fieldwork in and on the edge of coniferous and deciduous forests and water landscapes, measuring biodiversity, temperature and soil attributes:

Last weekend the #longnightofscience took over the @humboldtuni.bsky.social's scientific campus. Of our lab Imo prepared a workshop about camera traps and @matthiasbaumann.bsky.social a pop quiz about biogeography! We had lots of fun & are looking forward to next year! #university #huberlin #LNDW

Temperate #old-growthforests are vital climate refugia by providing stable microclimate conditions, supporting biodiversity, carbon storage, and resilience to drought and disturbance. Protecting and reconnecting these forests is key to reducing biodiversity loss and strengthening climate adaptation.

Old-growth forests are biotic microrefugia - new paper out in @conservationsp.bsky.social led by @georghaehn.bsky.social Vanessa Berger @geobotanymluhalle.bsky.social @gonzalezgvictor.bsky.social @michakoehlerbotany.bsky.social @borjajimalf.bsky.social @tkuemmerle.bsky.social & Francesco M. Sabatini

For this week's 'Biogeography in the Field' course @camillabrunet.bsky.social and @alfredoromero.bsky.social took the students to do a practice in Rodelberg. They tried the sampling methods that they will use during the exercitation of one week in Brandenburg. #class #huberlin #biogeography

We had an amazing time with Matías Mastrángelo as our visitor!! Interesting exchanges, discussions and new perspectives - happy to have had you and looking forward to our next meeting! #visitor #exchange #science #biogeography #huberlin

We evaluated how tree cover & home gardens in Rwanda influence landscape connectivity & biodiversity. Tree-cover connectivity (from exotic plantations) was negatively associated with woody plant & bird diversity, whereas home-garden connectivity showed positive effects as ecological stepping stones.

Not All Tree Cover Connects: Home Gardens Outperform Plantations for Biodiversity in Rwanda -> #newpaper out in Landscape Ecology by @pingsun.bsky.social and colleagues: @bakaplin.bsky.social , @matthiasbaumann.bsky.social, @tkuemmerle.bsky.social, Jörn Fischer link.springer.com/article/10.1...

They show the significant loss of native forests from 2014-2024, which was masked by gain in plantations on farms. This could affect the local biodiversity & livelihoods of millions of poor people! ->Need for distinction between native forest loss & plantation driven gains in monitoring restoration.

Check out this #newpaper by Dhanapal Govindarajulu & colleagues in Environmental Research Letters!! Contrasting patterns of deforestation and reforestation in India’s tropical dry woodlands -> iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... @tkuemmerle.bsky.social @matthiasbaumann.bsky.social #biogeoraphy

...but also some sad news: @maria-vallejos.bsky.social left us for Argentina last week. The goodbye brunch only helped a little bit with the farewell... We wish her only the best and hope she visits us soon!! #goodbye #biogeography #huberlin