Luca Santini

Advancing causal inference in ecology: Pathways for biodiversity change detection and attribution Understanding the causes of biodiversity change is essential for addressing environmental challenges. While causal attribution has advanced in other fields, ecologists remain cautious about causal...

Here we review causal inference in ecology to attribute change in biodiversity research. We identify common challenges and provide an overview of different approaches. By Franziska Shrodt and many others besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Why relying on the "equlilibrium assumption", i.e., biodiversity being in an equilibrium state w/ its environmental conditions, to model biodiversity trends in response to environmental changes?

➡️ We propose a paradigm shift: embracing the quasi-permanent non-equilibrium state 🤯

shorturl.at/qU99d

Correcting environmental sampling bias improves transferability of species distribution models Sampling bias is an inherent problem in widely available biodiversity data, undermining the robustness of correlative species distribution models (SDMs). To some extent, subsampling occurrence data c...

Important paper!
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Triangle of links between the processes, highlighting their general interactions.

Animal energetics, movement, and coexistence are inextricably linked. What insights emerge when we consider these processes together? In our new paper, we present a conceptual framework that integrates these domains, outlines their connections, and highlights the value of their joint study.

with @m-dimarco.bsky.social, Pierfilippo Cerretti, Marta Carboni and @luigimaiorano.bsky.social

SDMs are powerful tools, but only if feed them with the right variables (be biologists, not blind programmers!). We show how data dredging approaches relying on the 19 bioclimatic variables can lead to misleading predictions & interpretation. Led by @giordanomancini.bsky.social
shorturl.at/Y2BpC

3-year #Postdoc opportunity at the University of York!
I am #hiring a Postdoc to join my URF project on exploring how #biodiversity change is unfolding in the #Anthropocene.

Deadline: 10th August 2025.

All details and the link to apply: shorturl.at/qOQst

@anthropocenebio.bsky.social #ecology

Read our latest paper on the application of macroecological theory to better understand human impact on biodiversity, great collaborative work led by @pierregauz.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

This study was led by Laura Paltinieri, @anabenlop.bsky.social & @lsantinieco.bsky.social as part of the EU COST Action network ClimBats. You can read Laura's blog on this paper here:

besclimatechange.wordpress.com/2025/07/01/h...

🌍🌐🧪

Please share.
We have a fully-funded PhD position on animal migration. If interested, please apply by 27 July. More about us: shawanchowdhury.com. @idiv-research.bsky.social @monashbiol.bsky.social @uq-cbcs.bsky.social

#PhDposition #Ecology #Conservation #Migration #Rstats #AcademicTwitter

Presenting my poster on mammalian population density responses to anthropogenic gradients today at 16:30, find me at panel N. 84 #iccb2025.bsky.social

The first paper of the "Urbis project" focusing on the urban ecosystem of Rome is out in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening!
Here we characterize the urban landscape and propose a multiscale framework to better support urban biodiversity research and planning
doi.org/10.1016/j.la...

About to start my course for the Early Career Conference of the Italian Chapter of the SCB

PhyBaSE: A Bayesian structural equation model approach to causal inference in phylogenetic comparative analyses One of the main limitations of phylogenetic comparative analyses is that associations between traits can only be interpreted as correlations. Here, we present a novel Bayesian structural equation ...

PhyBaSE: A Bayesian structural equation model approach to causal inference in phylogenetic comparative analyses
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Geography and availability of natural habitat determine whether cropland intensification or expansion is more detrimental to biodiversity - Nature Ecology & Evolution Both agricultural expansion and intensification drive biodiversity losses. Here the authors quantify and compare globally the biodiversity impact of land conversion and yield increases.

Geography and availability of natural habitat determine whether cropland intensification or expansion is more detrimental to biodiversity
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Correlation coefficients between bat forearm length and climatic variables

New paper published in Ecography coming out of the ClimBats COST Action on effects of climate on #bat morphology across space and time. Led by @laura-paltrinieri.bsky.social, @anabenlop.bsky.social and @lsantinieco.bsky.social 🦇🌡️🌧️

nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Check out our latest paper on climate-driven changes in bat morphology across space and time, see thread by @laura-paltrinieri.bsky.social 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

I'm thrilled to share our new review paper with the world.

In this study, featuring a long list of collaborators from the COST Action ClimBAT, we predict that climate change will reshape European bat communities and functional assemblages 🦇🦇🦇 with potential major consequences for ecosystems. @orlyrazgour.bsky.social
shorturl.at/HRMtY

Our paper presenting the predictions of generation length for all amphibians and reptiles is finally published online in Ecography! Great work led by Giordano Mancini. They'll soon be incorporated in the sRedList platform!

Personally, I find it odd that some reviewers write essays on how to improve an ms

I feel they misinterpret the role of reviewer - to check the quality of the ms and any errors

Instead approaching the task as if they are being asked to rewrite the ms with their own arguments & style

The #biosphere is changing: Check our global mapping of ecological novelty in wild #ecosystems (due to #climatechange, #defaunation & floristic disruption) - just out in @natureecoevo.bsky.social ♨️🐘🌿🌐 Big thx to @mattkerr.bsky.social for the huge effort! #novelecosystems #invasivespecies #megafauna

🌿 PhD Opportunity in Agroecology & Biodiversity! 🦋

Join our work group at the University of Göttingen!

Fully funded PhD (TV-L E13, 65%) on carabid communities & biological control in agroecosystems in the HEAVEN project.

📆 Apply by 20.03.2025

👉🏼 obp.uni-goettingen.de/de-de/OBF/In...

Recentring the research and teaching mission of universities: The horror of tracking my work hours Blogging all things ecology and evolution

Tracking my work hours reveals a crisis brewing in academia. Being a successful academic shouldn't require us to also be an accountant, HR manager, safety coordinator, travel agent, etc. #WorkLifeBalance #academia
bit.ly/49Zc0KN

DOGE firings rattle Colorado ferret program as populations are on the mend The federal firing spree in February hit Colorado’s black-footed ferret hub hard, where two-thirds of the recovering population is bred and housed

DOGE firings rattle Colorado ferret program as populations are on the mend

New PhD position @mncn-csic.bsky.social to work on biodiversity risk assessments, together with @miguelbaraujo.bsky.social and myself. More details here:
www.anabenitezlopez.com/job-offer-ph...

GitHub - benjamin-rosenbaum/bayesian-intro: Introduction to Bayesian statistics Introduction to Bayesian statistics. Contribute to benjamin-rosenbaum/bayesian-intro development by creating an account on GitHub.

I completely re-worked my course "Introduction to Bayesian statistics with brms" and taught it for the 1st time this week. It is meant as a tutorial for ecologists, but should be general enough for other sciences as well
github.com/benjamin-ros...
#stats #Rstats #brms #Stan #Bayesian

In the meantime, you can still add your voice to the call for the RS to stand up for its values, as over 3300 members of the scientific community have already done. occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2025/...

Questioning the sixth mass extinction The idea that Earth is currently experiencing a sixth mass extinction is widespread. We critically evaluate this claim. Very few studies have tested this idea. Some studies showed that recent extincti...

Questioning the sixth mass extinction
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

Causal Inference With Observational Data and Unobserved Confounding Variables As ecology tackles progressively larger problems, we are moving beyond the scales at which randomised controlled experiments are feasible. Using observational data for causal inference raises the pro...

Do you ignore the effects of #ConfoundingVariables in your models? Do you remove correlated variables because of a statistical test rather than causal reasoning? If so, read this paper by @jebyrnes.bsky.social and @lauradee.bsky.social! #AcademicSky 🧪🌏

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....