news 2020

It has been all over the popular news: a Dutch man who has not been able to move or talk for eight years due to severe brain injury can once again function normally with the use of sleeping pills. Neurobiologists Conrado Bosman and Cyriel Pennartz of the UvA's Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences are among the scientists behind a study that tries to unravel the working mechanism of this phenomenon.

The loss of large mammalian frugivores as seed dispersers in tropical ecosystems will have severe consequences for many rainforest plants. This is the conclusion from a study using empirical data and simulations of fruit-eating mammals and palms, both iconic elements of tropical forests worldwide. The authors of the study, including UvA researchers Jun Ying Lim and W. Daniel Kissling, have published their results in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

How can we best protect the Earth's biodiversity and ecosystems? Long-term ecosystem restoration strategies should be looking more closely at the complexity of ecosystems, including species interactions and evolution, says an international group of scientists, including UvA soil ecologist Elly Morriën, in the renowned scientific journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.