This was a quite interesting discussion about the ongoing biodiversity crisis and what we can do to stop it. Despite the often discouraging news and trends that we observe globally, the shared consensus was that we can turn the trends around and move into a more biodiversity positive direction. It was a great experience for me as a scientist to get a chance to discuss this topic with representatives from politics and a grassroots citizen movement:
- Basile van Havre - Special Advisor for biodiversity to the Government of Canada
- Joel Scott-Halkes - Co-founder and Lead Strategist at Wild Card

In this 1-hour public seminar (youtube link) I present our latest advances in the field of spatial biodiversity modeling. The focus is on the application of deep learning models in this line of research, which I showcase based on a recent study on the distribution of high-biodiversity-conservation-value forests in Sweden. For that task I present a deep learning segmentation model that can utilize several layers of environmental information, including satellite data, lidar data, and soil information to detect Sweden's remaining high conservation value forests, producing a national data product for decision makers (BIOSCANN).

Here we estimate the number of recent bird extinctions, including those that have gone unnoticed due to a lack of data/research effort. The result of a great collaborative effort, led by Robert Cooke, with Søren Faurby, Ferran Sayol, Tobias Andermann, Alexandre Antonelli, Tim Blackburn, and Manuel Steinbauer.

The original article in Nature Communications:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43445-2

See the popular science summary of our study in The Guardian:
https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/19/human-driven-extincition-of-bird-species-twice-as-high-as-thought-study-says-aoe

The Benzelius prize in the category natural science and medicine was awarded to Tobias Andermann for his outstanding research on biodiversity, using interdisciplinary methods. The Benzelius Awards are given out annually by the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala to reward and draw attention to the achievements of young researchers. 

In this interview, Tobias Andermann talks about his research and how he ended up working on the topics that he is currently researching. He talks about the biodiversity crisis and how we can use computers and big data to gain new insights into the natural world around us. Also, check out his recommendations to young aspiring scientists.

Our two review articles on the state of Madagascar's biodiversity, published in the journal Science, have drawn a lot of media attention.Linked here is the news article published by Uppsala University news, summarizing the key points covered in the review articles.

In the review articles we synthesize all publicly available information and data on the distribution of biodiversity and the extinction threats of individual species. We evaluate the current status and the future directions of conservation efforts to protect the extraordinary divers but severly threatened biodiversity on the island of Madagascar.

Our new Bayesian Neural Network approach, published in Nature Communications, was featured in the SciLifeLab Data Highlights.

​

"In summary, Andermann and colleagues used an entirely data-driven approach to explore paleovegetation, in particular the origin and expansion of open vegetation. They showed that their Bayesian deep learning model was able to use fossil evidence as a basis for animal-plant interactions. The model, once trained, could then use this information to model how the vegetation changed over millions of years."

The AI-based biodiversity prediction approach presented in our most recent publication, was featured as a Data Highlight by SciLifeLab.

​

“Using a combination of different publicly available data sources, we have produced a deep learning model that can predict the number of species that a given site can sustain, given the site’s geographic, climatic, and biotic features. ... Such tools will be important when deciding on where to create protected areas or which sites to set aside for biodiversity offsets, using a fully data-driven approach.” says Tobias Andermann, first author of the study.

In this Q&A style news article, Tobias Andermann tells about his research backgroud, his future aims, as well as his role within the DDLS network.

The Royal Academy of Forestry and Agriculture (Kungliga Skogs- och Lantbruksakademien - KSLA) awarded Tobias the prize for his recently defended PhD thesis (finished doctoral degree in Feb 2021).

​

This award is awarded once a year to a person in Sweden, who has presented an outstanding doctoral dissertation at a university or college with relevance to the academy’s focus areas or related activities. The prize was given to Tobias in person by H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf at the Blå Hallen in Stockholms Stadshus.

Watch the recorded talk by Tobias Andermann outlining the research vision for the Biodiversity Data Lab and a summary of his previous research.

A short interview from Sverige Radio where Tobias Andermann is explaining the utility and challenges of big data in biodiversity research.

In this live TV interview Tobias Andermann discusses the scale of the current biodiversity crisis and why we should care. Watch the recorded interview by clicking on the button below. 

The Faculty of Science at the University of Gothenburg awarded the annual research prize for the best doctoral thesis in 2021 to Tobias Andermann, with the following justification: "Despite the short time that has passed since then, the research and publications presented in Tobias Andermanns dissertation have already had a clear impact in the field of evolutionary biology, especially in understanding the current crisis of biodiversity. More specifically, this dissertation promotes the field of evolutionary biology, by showing how big data can be effectively processed and analysed to inform us about current and past changes in biodiversity - a topic of the highest relevance internationally and in Sweden. Tobias has produced remarkable research during his doctoral studies that has already received a large media coverage."