Wildlife & Conservation at Uni Freiburg

Temporal displacement of the mammal community in a protected area due to hunting and recreational activities Recreation (i.e., hiking and biking) and hunting can occur simultaneously in time and space, and both sources of disturbance affect wildlife behavior, leading to reactions resembling anti-predator be...

🔥Hot off the press:
We assessed intensities of hunting and recreation on the temporal activity of red & roe deer, wild boar, red fox, and lynx in the Bavarian Forest National Park, finding that hunting is a strong driver behind wildlife temporal behavior!

📄Read more here: doi.org/10.1002/eap....

Red deer individual landscapes of fear in response to human recreation We assessed the individual responses of red deer towards recreational activities in the Bavarian Forest National Park, using GPS-telemetry data and modelle

New Paper Altert! 📄
Red deer individual landscapes of fear in response
to human recreation: doi.org/10.1093/behe...

🦌 Population patterns in red deer behaviour masked strong between-individual variation in plasticity to recreational disturbance. 🥾🚶

Group picture of the people attending the 2025 EUROwildcat meeting.

This year’s EUROwildcat workshop was held in the beautiful town of Melk, in Austria’s scenic Wachau region. Around 50 participants attended, engaging in many fruitful discussions on wildcat conservation and new research ideas. Learn more about EUROwildcat: euromammals.org/eurowildcat/

System diagram illustrating the main components of the deadtrees.earth platform and their interactions. Users can search and filter the database, visualize and download orthophotos, and explore a large-scale mortality map. The processing server generates Cloud Optimized GeoTIFFs (COGs) by pulling GeoTIFF files and pushing processed COGs to the storage server.

Have you heard of deadtrees.earth? 🌳

🌲This community-sourced and rigorously curated dataset can serve as a comprehensive reference dataset to uncover tree mortality patterns from local to global scales!

📰Read more about it in our new paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.rs...

Group picture of attendees of the eurolynx meeting 2025 in Belgium Semois Valley National Park, sitting on a green field and smiling towards the camera.

This month we visited the new Belgium national park in the Semois Valley who hosted an inspiring and fun meeting of the #EUROlynx network! Around 100 attendees enjoyed three packed days of talks and an excursion in this beautiful region, with plenty of new ideas for research coming up too! 🐈🐾

Members from the research group in the Bavarian Forest National Park pose together for a group picture

Members from the research group in the Bavarian Forest National Park pose together for a group picture

This week we are sad to say goodbye to our placement PhD student Yuanyuan from China, who has stayed with us for one year. Her work focuses on investigating reintroduction success in crested ibis in China. 🪶
It was a pleasure having you here and we wish you all the best! 💚

Map showing th distribution of the standardized GPS data (green circles), of den sites (orange triangles) used for the analysis of movement patterns and den use of female lynx, and of field-checked kill sites and corresponding dens (blue squares) used to analyse kill site distribution in relation to the den.

A new #EUROLYNX paper out on variability in the movement and foraging behaviour of female Eurasian #lynx during the denning season across Europe! 🐈

🐾Movement metrics and kill-to-den distances were evaluated using GPS data from two climatic regions.
📄Read more here: doi.org/10.1002/oik....

Illustration of two moose with GPS-collars and their process of habitat selection.

GPS data from 392 moose in Sweden shows they prefer deciduous & young #forests, avoid roads, and select large, connected patches. Forest management should prioritize preserving and connecting these habitats to support #wildlife and biodiversity. 🌲🦌 doi.org/10.1016/j.fo...

group photo of lab members attending the conference

photos of lab members presenting at the conference

photos of lab members presenting at the conference

photos of lab members presenting at the conference

Last week, we had the pleasure of presenting a range of our ongoing lab research at the @int-wildcongress.bsky.social in Lillehammer Norway! 🌍

Topics included studies on camera traps, wild boar, wolves, red deer, browsing, lynx, trophic cascades, ticks & human wildlife interactions! 📸🐗🐺🦌🌲🐈🦊🪲🌱

New imaging tech maps plant phenolics in #forests from air and space, improving ecosystem and plant health monitoring! 🌿 #remotesensingtechnology #remotesensing

Have a look at our study on this topic: doi.org/10.1016/j.rs...

Figure showing the distribution of possbile movement distances in a mark-recapture experiment of Necrodes littoralis in the Bavarian Forest National Park.

Have you seen this paper on the dispersal ability of the carrion beetle Necrodes littoralis? 🪲

Some beetles were recaptured at distances over 30 km! These results have important implications for conservation efforts and for preventing disease spread from carcasses.

doi.org/10.1111/jen....

Anthropization impacts the selection of resting sites and their centrality in movement networks: wild boar across Europe as an example For many animal species, resting and activity happen at distinct sites. As animals are limited in how far they can travel between resting and foraging sites, the spatial layout of those sites may con...

New research on wild boar resting sites in Europe! 🐗

In anthropized landscapes, where resting sites are sometimes a limiting resource for many animals, their spatial layout may play an often unnoticed yet important role in allowing animal movements across the landscape.🌳

doi.org/10.1002/oik....

PhD-project | slu.se SLU - Science and Education for Sustainable Life

Are you interested in passive acoustic monitoring? Do you want to learn more about Broadleafification?

Why not apply at SLU in Umeå, Sweden for a PhD position where you will study vocalizing species like birds, bats and beetles.

Deadline: 22.09.2025
URL: www.slu.se/en/about-slu...

Graphical abstract of the research paper

New paper on assessing macroinvertebrate species composition in forest streams using LiDAR data 🌲

This highlights the utility of LiDAR data for stream assessment, offering a novel approach to understanding
stream-catchment interactions in forested landscapes.

🔍Read more doi.org/10.1016/j.ec...

Camera traps and deep learning enable efficient large‐scale density estimation of wildlife in temperate forest ecosystems We tested the effect of using a readily available deep learning algorithm for animal species classification on the population density estimates of eight wild mammal species in 10 protected areas (Da)...

Our new research demonstrates how AI can reduce the time needed for classification of camera trap images. 📸

Using deep learning, automated analysis achieves 90% accuracy in identifying European wildlife, streamlining population monitoring across Germany. 🦊🐗

📜Read more: doi.org/10.1002/rse2...

Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems - Nature Ecology & Evolution The number of individuals in a given space influences animal interactions and network dynamics. Here the authors identify general rules underlying density dependence in animal networks and reveal some...

Check out this new paper: Higher population density boosts individual connectivity in animal networks.

Spatial links grow more than social ones at high densities, affecting ecological processes.

These rules can help predict animal network structures. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

New study on early detection of bark beetle infestation using remote sensing! 🌲🪲🛰️

Forest vitality from healthy to bark beetle-affected states can be mapped, supporting early intervention strategies and continuous cost-effective monitoring of forest health from space!
📃 www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/16...

Conference participant and a PhD student smiling infront of her poster at the poster session.

🐾 Our PhD student Yutong Liang presented her first project on lynx excursion behaviour at the Movement Ecology of Animals conference (25 July to 1 August) in Ventura, CA with a poster and flash talk! 🎤📊🐱

#GordonResearchConference
#MovementEcology #WildlifeResearch #Lynx #PhDLife

picture of job description pdf page 1

picture of job description pdf page 2

Are you looking for a job in remote sensing and forest ecosystems? Come join our team in the Bavarian Forest National Park under the "KI-RECOVER" project. 🛰️🌲

Detailed job description attached (in German)

Have a look at this new article: The study highlights strong microbial interconnections in Bavarian Forest soils, aiding forest management and conservation efforts. doi.org/10.1016/j.ec...

Figure showing regional effect represented by the difference in topic prevalence between levels of national (SZ and Bild) or regional (LR and PNP) newspapers. The following topics had a tendency for national newspaper coverage: 1. lethal management control; 4. conflicts in connection with wildlife parks; and 6. evolutionary research, wolf contact with dogs. Whilst the following topics had a tendency for regional newspaper coverage: 2. monitoring; 3. livestock attacks; 5. wildlife parks (Bavarian Forest National Park); 7. wolf management (Saxony/Brandenburg), 8. educational work; 9. political debate on wolf population regulation; and 10. debates on hunting.

🗞️New paper on print media coverage on the recolonization of the wolf in Germany 🐺
The most frequent topics include lethal control, wolf monitoring, and livestock depredation, with educational work being prominent only in regional coverage.
🔍Read more: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Are you a hunter in Germany, or do you know any? We are looking for participants to help us in our research on wild boar and African Swine Fever! 🐗
We would be happy for any who participate in this anonymous questionnaire: questionpro.eu/a/TakeSurvey...

Sind Sie Jäger in Deutschland, oder kennen Sie einen? Wir suchen Teilnehmer*innen, die uns bei unserer Forschung zum Thema Wildschwein und ASP unterstützen! 🐗
Wir freuen uns über jeden, der sich an diesem anonymen Fragebogen beteiligt: questionpro.eu/a/TakeSurvey...

PDF invitation to join the virtual webinar

Save the Date! 🗓️On August 6th at 16:00 CET our very own Dr. Marco Heurich will be presenting at the Wildlife Management For Wilderness Areas webinar.
🔗Register here: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Figure showing average daily carcass temperatures for each placement series, based on data of the four respective wild boar carcasses. Carcass temperatures varied over the year, with higher values occurring during warmer months, and generally being much warmer than daily mean air temperature. The recorded average daily carcass temperatures ranged from − 3.1 to 43.3 °C, with a median of 7.5 °C and a mean of 9.8 °C.

New paper on caracass decomposition implications for disease management! ☠️🦠

Natural decomposition caused elevated carcass temperatures and pH changes, but neither exceeded the thresholds required to inactivate African swine fever in wild boar in this study. 🌡️🐗

📄 Read more: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

🦌New article out: Management strategies like winter feeding in protected areas can alter nutrient cycles, impacting soil, plants, and wildlife. These changes may affect ecosystem functions and conservation efforts. Read more: doi.org/10.1016/j.je...

Human and apex predators shape lower trophic levels through top-down control Apex predators are thought to regulate ecosystems through top-down control, but the extent of their impact often varies, potentially due to difference…

Exciting new paper out from one of our PhD students on how humans and apex predators shape lower trophic levels through top-down control! 🚶‍♀️🐅🐗🦌

This study underscores the crucial role of sustaining apex predator populations in ecosystems.
📜Read more: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Four young fieldworks standing in the forest holding their sampling equioment with big smiles on their faces

Last week we completed our soil sampling for the Horizon Europe project WILDCARD wildcard-project.eu, which is investigating the effects of rewilding in forest and agricultural lands on carbon sequestration and diversity. We are excited to contribute with our sites and look forward to the results! 🌲

Picture showing Dr. Stefano Palmero holding his graduation hat, standing together with the defence comittee following his successful PhD defence presentation.

This weekend we celebrated another successful PhD completed in our department on large carnivore monitoring, congratulations Dr. Stefano Palmero!🥳🎓🐾

#lynx #eurolynx #conservation #cameratrapping #carnivoremonitoring #PhDone

New PhD position on large mammals and land-use change in Europe | Conservation Biogeography Lab We are excited to invite applications for a new PhD position on large mammals and land-use change in Europe. Join us at the Conservation and Biogeography Lab at Humboldt University Berlin!

Come join us at the Conservation Biogeography Lab @biogeoberlin.bsky.social @humboldtuni.bsky.social and carry out work on megafauna in Europe

pages.cms.hu-berlin.de/biogeo/websi...