Miguel Bastos Araújo, PhD
@miguelbaraujo.bsky.social
Research Professor, Leader of the Biodiversity Futures Lab at MNCN-CSIC and UÉ. Biogeographer seeking to understand how different facets of life distribute in space and time, and why. Viewpoints expressed here are personal.
A new study from our lab, published today in @global-ecology.bsky.social, presents a framework for building and evaluating species distribution models in freshwater systems. See blog post: www.maraujolab.eu/2026/09/01/h...
Hierarchical modelling of freshwater species distributions -
A new study tests how spatial extent, river-network structure and environmental predictors affect species distribution models for freshwater […]
maraujolab.eu
I stopped arguing about the obvious more than 20 years ago. But for those still lacking clarity of mind, here’s a visually instructive graph.
"Paper parks" are not just poorly managed protected areas. They are places where management is absent, and they shouldn't count towards #conservation targets like KMGBF Target 3. New publication by Stewart et al. Biological Conservation. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A framework for identifying paper parks
The term ‘paper park’ is widely used to label protected areas that only exist ‘on paper’. Identifying and rectifying paper parks could be critical for…
sciencedirect.com
Vegetation carbon stocks in Spain declined 12% between 2017 and 2024, a loss of 150 million tonnes carbon. 2026 fires further intensify decline in carbon stored in woody biomass. We risk turning a sink into a source of emissions—transforming a solution into a problem. eartharxiv.org/repository/v...
I am deeply honoured to have been elected a Fellow of the @linneansociety.bsky.social, an institution with a unique place in the history of biology and whose mission remains essential to understanding, communicating and protecting biodiversity.
Predicting how #ecosystems respond to change is hard, in part due to differing scales of ecological and biogeographical data. This Essay by Nuria Galiani and @miguelbaraujo.bsky.social explores how new large-scale eco data opens insights into the shaping of #biodiversity🧪#AcademicSky bit.ly/43y4KDk
@plosbiology.org - The integration of biogeography and ecology has been limited. The emergence of new methods and high-quality ecological network data at biogeographical scales promote deeper integration of biogeography and ecology. @mncn-csic.bsky.social journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Biotic interactions biogeography: A framework for understanding how species interactions shape biodiversity patterns across scales
Biogeography and ecology have long developed in parallel. This Essay explores how new data on species interactions across large scales now allow their integration, opening fresh insights into how biod...
journals.plos.org
Published in Frontiers of Biogeography, new study found that larger animals capture more energy per species in productive #ecosystems - but rising human pressure disproportionately shrinks their abundance, reshaping how energy flows through #ecological #communities. ⤵️ @biogeography.bsky.social
In Productive Ecosystems, Larger Animals Capture More Energy Per Species – but Human Pressure is Reshaping the Balance | Blog
A global analysis of more than 12,000 bird and mammal species reveals that ecosystems do not share energy evenly across body sizes and human activities influence this.
blog.pensoft.net
We are launching the Biodiversity Futures Working Groups. The call supports small, focused synthesis groups addressing frontier questions in biodiversity science. We welcome proposals from researchers at any career stage. Deadline: 30 June 2026, 23:00 CET www.maraujolab.eu/2026/05/09/2...
2026 Announcement - Biodiversity Futures Working Groups -
At a glance Up to €10,000 in catalytic support per working group Two in-person meetings (3-5 days each) […]
maraujolab.eu
How general are aquatic food-web responses to climate change? You can't answer that from one site. New paper proposes PondNet, scaling up the IberianPond Network to a global experiment. @mncn-csic.bsky.social @mncn-bgcg.bsky.social nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
PondNet – towards a global network of experiments on the effects of climate change on aquatic ecosystems
Global change is reshaping the distribution of biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems. Predicting the long-term consequences of such changes remains a challenge due to a need for a clear unde...
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
In the opening session of the 2026 @sotm2026.bsky.social, I had the pleasure to deliver a keynote address exploring the opportunities to move beyond individual species modelling and to embrace the modelling of community dynamics, with a focus on the emergent properties of such systems. #sotm2026
Our paper on decline of marine fish biomass was featured in the weekend edition of @lemonde.fr : www.lemonde.fr/planete/arti...
Avec plus de 21 °C en moyenne, l’océan frôle de nouveaux records de température
Les eaux atteignent en surface près de 0,5 °C de plus que la moyenne estimée entre 1993 et 2022, d’après les données du programme européen Copernicus.
lemonde.fr
When the sea will not let species move: ocean currents as hidden barriers to climate adaptation. @mncn-csic.bsky.social @mncn-bgcg.bsky.social
Conservation requires looking beyond Red Lists alone. Across European food webs, non-threatened species play a strong role in maintaining network connectivity. With @fmestre.bsky.social @vinibastazini.bsky.social @consbiog.bsky.social @mncn-csic.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Contrasting Roles of Threatened and Non‐Threatened Species in European Food Webs
Aim Assess the structural importance of threatened and non-threatened species within European food webs by quantifying their roles in maintaining network connectivity. Location Europe. Methods W...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
As a follow-up to our paper in @currentbiology.bsky.social- Expanding European Protected Areas in Through Rewilding-we provide an interactive visualisation tool enabling users to explore local opportunities for rewilding: www.maraujolab.eu/2026/03/09/s...
Supporting strategic land acquisition for rewilding in Europe -
Effective rewilding requires an ambitious vision, but also robust tools to support implementation. One of the practical challenges […]
maraujolab.eu
In productive ecosystems, larger animals capture more energy per species biogeography.pensoft.net/article/1644...
Body mass–abundance relationships reveal uneven global energy distribution across body size classes in vertebrates
The relationship between species body mass and abundance (MAR-SPP) is a fundamental feature of ecosystems, reflecting whether energy is accumulated in few large organisms or dispersed amongst several ...
biogeography.pensoft.net
Analysis in the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic, and the Northeastern Pacific, based on 702,037 estimates of biomass change from 33,990 fish populations recorded between 1993 and 2021. www.maraujolab.eu/2026/02/25/o... @shaharchaikin.bsky.social @jdgonzalezt.bsky.social
A huge thank you to @efe.com for their fantastic coverage of our new paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution today! 🌊🐟 efe.com/medio-ambien... @mncn-csic.bsky.social @mncn-bgcg.bsky.social @miguelbaraujo.bsky.social @jdgonzalezt.bsky.social
El calentamiento oceánico provoca un descenso de la cantidad de peces del 20% anual - EFE
El calentamiento crónico y prolongado que sufren los mares está detrás del descenso de casi el 20 por ciento anual de la biomasa de peces.
efe.com
Good to see our research reported in the Guardian
Shahar Chaikin@shaharchaikin.bsky.social · 7mo agoThank you to @theguardian.com for doing such a fantastic job communicating our findings to the public today. You can read their coverage here: @mncn-csic.bsky.social @miguelbaraujo.bsky.social @csic.es www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Some argue protected areas in fire-prone landscapes can undermine forest carbon (fuel build-up → higher fire risk). This paper shows Spanish protected areas consistently outperform comparable unprotected lands, strongest in National Parks. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
🌿SOTM2026 Pre-conference workshops 1️⃣ BioShifts: Explore 30k+ range shift observations using the BioShiftR package. 2️⃣ Spatial and Temporal Simulation: Learn to simulate species dynamics using ecodynsim & RISDM R packages. 🔗 speciesonthemove.com/workshop
A dupla tutela do ICNF é um problema estrutural, porque cria ambiguidade, permite orientações contraditórias e enfraquece a posição de quem tem de decidir no terreno. www.publico.pt/2026/01/25/a...
O ICNF existe para preservar bens públicos. Convém não esquecer
A dupla tutela do ICNF é um problema estrutural, porque cria ambiguidade, permite orientações contraditórias e enfraquece a posição de quem tem de decidir no terreno.
publico.pt
Meet our new PhD student: Diana Buitrago: www.maraujolab.eu/2026/01/12/t...
Team: Diana Lucía Buitrago Torres -
Team: Diana Lucía Buitrago Torres Meet Diana, a PhD researcher with Araújo Lab at the MNCN-CSIC. What specific research projects have you been involved with in the past, and what role did you play? I...
maraujolab.eu
Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity is open for nominations. Do you know an outstanding person, group or organisation who could receive this year’s €1 million Prize? Any initiative or individual making a significant contribution to climate action is eligible. gulbenkian.pt/en/the-found...
And the next International Biogeography Society meeting @tibsaarhus2026.bsky.social @biogeography.bsky.social is in…
🎙️In this month's episode of #InsideBiodiversity, Prof @miguelbaraujo.bsky.social discusses how climate change impacts biodiversity and the consequences for nature conservation 🐝 🌿 He explores how this information can be used to identify protected areas. 🎧✨ Listen now: insidebiodiversity.podigee.io
👉 Investigadores descubren que los depredadores no son minoría. El estudio de más de un millón de especies terrestres desafía la idea clásica de la pirámide de la biodiversidad. Nos lo cuenta uno de sus autores, @miguelbaraujo.bsky.social (@mncn-csic.bsky.social):
Más depredadores de lo esperado: la pirámide de la biodiversidad es más bien un cuadrado
Descubren que los depredadores no son minoría. El estudio de más de un millón de especies terrestres desafía la idea clásica de la pirámide de la biodiversidad.
theconversation.com
