The importance of ecological and land use legacies for conservation (Symposium)
Tracks
Programme
| Friday, July 10, 2026 |
| 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM |
| Room C2 |
Details
Overlooking historical ecological changes and human-environment interactions can lead to misinterpretations of recent ecosystem processes and hence to misinformed conservation decisions (1). Yet scientific assessments are frequently shaped by data availability rather than the magnitude of past changes in landscapes, ecosystems and species, which often predate monitoring efforts (2,3). This can mask the role of historical drives in recent biodiversity change and lead to ecological legacies being overlooked (4,5). In this symposium we will discuss how we can overcome major challenges posed by hidden historical drivers and ecological legacies, to inform sustainable and effective decision-making in conservation: We will discuss 1) the extension of ecological baselines further back in time to reveal unexpected patterns and hidden drivers of ecological change; 2) quantification of time-delayed responses such as extinction debts and colonization credits in ecosystems for identifying windows of opportunity in conservation. Lastly, with this contribution we aim to challenge the conservation community to integrate historical socio-ecological perspectives into future decision making by relying on recent advancements in the fields of digitization and data processing (3).
Speakers and Presentation Titles
Mr. Luke Dedecke
Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg
Is the Landscape History of the Black Forest Shaping its Biodiversity?
Ms. Francesca Drăguț
Swiss Federal Institute For Forest, Snow And Landscape Research
Habitat Change Mapping Using Historical Aerial Imagery and Deep Learning
Dr. Dominik Kaim
Jagiellonian University
Factors affecting grassland continuity in the Carpathians
Dr. Naia Morueta-Holme
Associate Professor
Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen
Insights from historical resurveys for understanding biodiversity change
Dr. Laetitia Navarro
Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC)
Mobilizing historical data for long-term ecological knowledge and biodiversity conservation of Spanish carnivores
Mr. Simone Roverelli
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Historical Legacies Shape Contemporary Human–Bear Interactions: How Past Management Drives Wildlife Coexistence Challenges in Romania
Ms. Magdalena Sobczak
Jagiellonian University
Land use legacies and biodiversity-rich grassland prioritization in the Polish Carpathians
Organiser
Catalina Munteanu
Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
Laetitia Navarro
Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC)
