Felix Pym

Interested in the Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions? 🦥🦣 Read our newly published research 'The timing and ecological consequences of the late Pleistocene megafaunal declines on the Isthmus of Panama: Implications for trophic rewilding' 🌎 sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Lake sediments from Panama trace megafauna declines over 17,000 years, linking herbivore loss to shifts in fire, forests, and fruiting plants—informing rewilding to restore ecosystem functions doi.org/hbq9xc phys.org/news/2026-03-r…

Link to the published paper here: doi.org/10.1016/j.quas… 📜

Huge thanks again to the co-authors @FFranco_Gaviria, Marco Raczka, Gbotemi Abraham Adediran, Stephen Sitch, and Dunia H. Urrego🔬

Following the recent publication of our paper on the timing and ecological consequences of the Late Pleistocene megafaunal declines on the Isthmus of Panama, the official press release is now live ⏰ Press release written in Spanish and English here: news.exeter.ac.uk/global-systems… 🌎

This research was undertaken at @ExeterGeography, supported by institutions in the UK and Colombia and funded by NERC GW4+ DTP2 @NERCscience.

For further insights into the first detailed multi-proxy record of megafaunal presence/absence and the effects of megafaunal declines on vegetation dynamics and fire activity spanning the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene in Panama, see our paper at doi.org/10.1016/j.quas… 🔬

Interested in the Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions? 🦥🦣 Read our newly published research 'The timing and ecological consequences of the late Pleistocene megafaunal declines on the Isthmus of Panama: Implications for trophic rewilding' 🌎 sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

#prehistoricplaneticeage #PrehistoricPlanet A TON OF NEW IMAGES! SEE THREAD BELOW!

From towering giants to baby sloths, it doesn’t get cooler than this. #PrehistoricPlanet: Ice Age — Streaming November 26

🦣New paper: #Megafauna with large size & flat-footedness + less related to tropical African/Asian fauna were more likely to go extinct in recent prehistory; consistent w direct #hunting including pre-sapiens human filtering👣 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11… #TraitEcology #Palaeoecology

In this paper, which is another output of the thesis by (now) Dr. João Nascimento, we present evidence that 'Variation in prey availability over time shaped the extinction dynamics of sabre-toothed cats'. doi.org/10.1093/jeb/vo… art by @felipecapoccia

Fantastic PhD project up for grabs! Interested in large mammal impacts on ecosystem flammability? Come explore this topic with wild horses 🐎🐎in US novel ecosystems. Apply now! 👀Deadline end of Jan 2025 phd.nat.au.dk/for-applicants… @ejlundyyy @JCSvenning Robert Buitenwerf and myself

A frugivorous bird's eye-view of Pleistocene landscapes: the way #birds disperse #seeds in fragmented anthropogenic landscapes is congruent with an ecological & evolutionary history with open vegetation created & maintained by megaherbivores @univcadiz besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/13…

Before human-driven degradation, European wildwoods were rich in hazel, oak, and yew—species thriving on disturbances likely caused by large herbivores. 🫎 🐘 🦬 Happy to finally share this work! 🥳🌳 lnkd.in/gXVWZQxy

There is currently a 2-year post-doc position to do some palaeoecology work in the Conservation palaeoecology Lab at Cambridge. More information here jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/48010/

Interested in #carnivores or #mammals? Check our new database of #carnivore functional traits including both extinct & recently #extinct species @GEB_macro🦁🐯🐅🐻‍❄️🦝🦊🐺🐆onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ge… #macroecology - big thx to @eamonn_wooster & @OwenMiiddleton for leading🐺🐯

After the recovery of some exciting 14C dates, I'm very happy to be back in the palaeo lab 🥼 Can't wait to discover this Pleistocene megafaunal story 🦥🔥🌿... 🚣‍♀️ @PastTeller