Emilio Vilanova

@evilanova.bsky.social

2.1K followers 1.5K following 120 posts

Venezuelan | 🌳 Forest ecologist /scientist. Senior Program Officer - Forest Carbon (ARR | IFM) @VERRA. Views and opinions are my own en English & Español.

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Environmental science 67%

Geography 17%

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Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · Dec 8

emiliovilanova.com/2020/07/30/m...

Más de 50 años de seguimiento a la ecología y dinámica de los bosques de Venezuela: un esfuerzo multinstitucional

A inicios de la década de los 1950s, bajo el liderazgo de los ingenieros forestales suizos Jean Pierre Veillon (1914-2002) y Hans Lamprecht (1919-2012), profesores del entonces Instituto de S…

emiliovilanova.com

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · 6h

news.mongabay.com/2025/11/the-...

The price of gold: In Venezuela, mining threatens Indigenous Pemón

CÚCUTA, Colombia — When Daniel Romero worked at a river mine in Canaima National Park, in southeastern Venezuela, he would wait until the sun had slipped behind the ancient sandstone tepuis before hea...

news.mongabay.com

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · 4d

Extreme warming of Amazon waters in a changing climate | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Extreme warming of Amazon waters in a changing climate

In 2023, an unprecedented drought and heat wave severely affected Amazon waters, leading to high mortality of fishes and river dolphins. Five of 10 lakes monitored had exceptionally high daytime water...

www.science.org

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · 12d

While not calling for widespread logging, this paper led by @ymalhi.bsky.social is a great example of the value of managed/logged forests in the tropics and summarizes the need to recognize them as tools for conservation and resources for people's livelihoods (3/3) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Logged tropical forests have amplified and diverse ecosystem energetics - Nature

Logged forests in Borneo have higher energy flow from vegetation to and broad range of bird and mammal species relative to old-growth forests and oil palm plantations, showing that they can ...

www.nature.com

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · 12d

...it is incredibly frustrating to continue reading about the need for Reduced Impact Logging or a plea to stop the complete disregard for forest management, especially when the only alternative is a complete land conversion with the well-known consequences of carbon and biodiversity losses (2/3)

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · 12d

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... I still remember my early days teaching forest management, ~ 20 years ago, using some of F.E. "Jack" Putz's early work to illustrate the need for improved management, especially in the tropics. While I enjoyed reading this new sort of "reflection" piece (1/3)

Stop disregarding tropical forest management as a conservation option

Most tropical forests with merchantable timber will continue to be logged selectively because not all species or trees produce merchantable wood (unle…

www.sciencedirect.com

Reposted by Mathias Disney, Emilio Vilanova

ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · 14d

Many congratulations to Adriane Esquivel, Rebecca Morgan and to all our colleagues supporting Amazon forest monitoring with RAINFOR and ForestPlots.net!
Our analysis of 30 years of Amazon forest change is highlighted on the cover of @natplants.nature.com.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Nature Plants @natplants.nature.com · 21d

The October issue is now fully online:

www.nature.com/nplants/volu...

Reposted by Emilio Vilanova

Canadian Journal of Forest Research @canjforestres.bsky.social · 20d

How do we define #forestdegradation in different ecosystems?

We are looking for papers that tackle the complexity of measuring degradation in temperate and boreal forests.

Details ▶️ buff.ly/1aULXb4

#EnvironmentalScience #CallForPapers

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · 21d

Great to see our paper (led by @nanimuelbert) about the increase in tree size in Amazonia featured on the cover!

Nature Plants @natplants.nature.com · 21d

The October issue is now fully online:

www.nature.com/nplants/volu...

Reposted by Oliver L. Phillips, Emilio Vilanova

Nature Plants @natplants.nature.com · 21d

The October issue is now fully online:

www.nature.com/nplants/volu...

Reposted by Daniel Müller, David Leclère, Guy Pe’er , and 1 more Daniel Müller, David Leclère, Guy Pe’er, Emilio Vilanova

Mongabay @mongabay.com · 27d

Global deforestation hasn’t slowed in any significant way in the four years since 127 countries pledged to halt and reverse forest loss and degradation by 2030.

The newly published 2025 Forest Declaration Assessment shows that nations are 63% off track from meeting their zero-deforestation target.

Global goal of zero deforestation by 2030 is severely off track

Global deforestation hasn’t slowed in any significant way in the four years since 127 countries pledged to halt and reverse forest loss and degradation by 2030. The newly published 2025 Forest…

news.mongabay.com

Reposted by Emilio Vilanova

Mongabay @mongabay.com · Oct 9

In 2024, the Amazon Rainforest underwent its most devastating forest fire season in more than 20 years.

According to a new study, the fire-driven forest degradation released an estimated 791 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2024, a sevenfold increase compared with the previous two years.

Amazon Rainforest hits record carbon emissions from 2024 forest fires

In 2024, the Amazon Rainforest underwent its most devastating forest fire season in more than two decades. According to a new study by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the fire-driven…

news.mongabay.com

Reposted by Emilio Vilanova

Journal of Ecology @journalofecology.bsky.social · Oct 9

🌳 Small elevation differences in an Amazonian forest affect tree growth and survival, partially explaining species' habitat preferences @danielfzuleta.bsky.social #AmacayacuFDP @ForestGEO 🏔️

Read more:https://buff.ly/kYEp7N4

Reposted by Emilio Vilanova

Verra - Standards for a Sustainable Future @verrastandards.bsky.social · Oct 6

Join Verra & Perennial for a webinar on the new DSM tool in the Verified Carbon Standard Program. Learn how it helps quantify greenhouse gas reductions in ALM projects. 📅 Oct 16, 11am ET. Register: bit.ly/4mRnftJ #ClimateAction #SoilCarbon verra.org/webinar-new-...

Webinar: New Digital Soil Mapping Tool

n Thursday, October 16, at 11:00 am ET, Verra and Perennial will be hosting a webinar to provide an overview of the new digital soil mapping (DSM) tool in the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program.

bit.ly

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · Oct 2

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires

Climate change and land mismanagement are creating increasingly fire-prone built and natural environments. However, despite worsening fire seasons, evidence is lacking globally for trends in socially ...

www.science.org

Reposted by Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Matthias Schleuning, Tommaso Jucker , and 2 more Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Matthias Schleuning, Tommaso Jucker, Emilio Vilanova, Boris A. Tinoco

Anna R Landim @annarl.bsky.social · Oct 2

Excited to share that the second paper of my PhD is out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🍈🦜🍒🐒🍊🐿️

We show that the functional diversity of seed-dispersal interactions in tropical forests takes circa 20 years to recover after deforestation.

You can read it here: www.cell.com/current-biol...

Delayed recovery of seed-dispersal interactions after deforestation

Landim et al. show that seed-dispersal interactions require about two decades to functionally recover in tropical forests in Ecuador, but the recovery time of seed-dispersal functions is delayed in pa...

www.cell.com

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · Oct 1

apnews.com/article/flyi... Amazon's 'flying rivers' weaken with tree loss, scientists warn of worsening droughts

As Amazon's 'flying rivers' weaken with tree loss, scientists warn of worsening droughts

Scientists warn that “flying rivers” — invisible streams of moisture that carry rain from the Atlantic Ocean westward across the Amazon — are weakening as deforestation and climate change advance.

apnews.com

Reposted by Patrick A. Jansen, Richard Waite, Dominik Wiedenhofer , and 4 more Patrick A. Jansen, Richard Waite, Dominik Wiedenhofer, Dolly Jørgensen, Zen Faulkes, Emilio Vilanova, Pieter Vantieghem

Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · Oct 1

The world has lost its most powerful advocate for nature and hope. Yet many remain who will continue her legacy and I know she will continue to inspire generations more.

A screenshot of a post by the Jane Goodall Institute on LinkedIn stating that they learned that Dr. Goodall passed away due to natural causes in California while on her speaking to her current speaking tour there.

Reposted by Emilio Vilanova, Xavier De Lamo

Nature @nature.com · Oct 1

Climate change is reshaping forests around the globe

go.nature.com/4mHKeXW

Trees of the Amazon are becoming even mightier

Forest giants are becoming bigger and more common than they once were.

go.nature.com

Reposted by Emilio Vilanova, Ignacio Quintero

Natalia Pérez-Amaya @nataliaperez-a.bsky.social · Sep 29

💥BREAKING: Birds in a tropical pluvial rainforest of the Chocó have been quietly changing in morphology for 109 years. Some have shrunk, others grown. Tails grew longer, bills grew deeper. Even in forests with continuous cover, climate change may be rewriting evolution in real time.

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · Sep 29

Perhaps the first formal paper on tropical forests ecology I read in college was one from Arturo Gomez Pompa a long time ago 😞

Emilio M Bruna @brunalab.bsky.social · Sep 29

An absolute GIANT in the study and conservation of tropical forests and one of the pillars of México’s ecological and ethnobotanical communities has passed on. Padrino to so many: Arturo Gómez Pompa news.mongabay.com/short-articl...

Arturo Gómez-Pompa, biologist who revealed the human history in “virgin” forests, has died, aged 90

In the steaming lowlands of Veracruz and the Yucatán, where strangler figs knot the canopy and howler monkeys bellow at dawn, a man with a field notebook kept noticing what others overlooked. Arturo G...

news.mongabay.com

Reposted by Garry Peterson, Emilio Vilanova

Emilio M Bruna @brunalab.bsky.social · Sep 29

Arturo Gómez-Pompa, biologist who revealed the human history in “virgin” forests, has died, aged 90

news.mongabay.com

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · Sep 26

Interesting analysis, thanks for sharing. Coincidentally I came across this paper for managed temperate forests where the effects of internal decay on above ground biomass estimation seemed insignificant besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Internal stem decay is not a major source of error for carbon stock estimates in managed temperate forests of Central Europe

Allometric biomass functions can be used for biomass and carbon stock estimates in managed temperate forests of Central Europe, even in stands with high shares of large old trees. It should be tested...

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Emilio Vilanova, Julen Astigarraga, Julie Peacock

ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · Sep 25

Big trees are on the rise.

30 years of Amazon forest measurements by RAINFOR partners show that, so far, any impact of #climatechange on forests and large trees have been more than mitigated by the positive effects of increased resources.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Reposted by Jens‐Christian Svenning, Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Emilio Vilanova , and 1 more Jens‐Christian Svenning, Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Emilio Vilanova, Victor Danneyrolles

juli g pausas @jgpausas.bsky.social · Sep 24

Sequoia sempervirens (redwood; world's tallest tree) is well adapted to high-intensity crown fires (eg 2020), but Sequoiadendron giganteum (giant sequoia; world's most massive tree) is adapted to surface fires only!
bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🧪🌍🔥🌿🌳🔥🪴 @botsocamerica.bsky.social

Sequoia sempervirens (Coast redwood) resprouting epicormically after a high-intensity fire

Sequoiadendron giganteum (giant sequoia) with a fire scar in the base from a surface fire

Reposted by Emilio Vilanova

CIFOR-ICRAF @cifor-icraf.org · Sep 23

The future of forests is being shaped in today’s classrooms. But are we teaching the right things?

A global study finds major gaps — from lack of Indigenous knowledge to gender bias.

Read why forest education must evolve:🔗 https://bit.ly/3EEghrZ

#Trees4Resilience

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · Sep 23

www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/...

Can Global South Countries Break Free from the Deforestation Trap? | Blog | Nature | PBS

Tropical rainforests regulate the global climate and sustain the planet’s richest biodiversity. Yet, despite more than a decade of government and

www.pbs.org

Reposted by Emilio Vilanova, Tana E. Wood

Nature Communications @natcomms.nature.com · Sep 22

A year-long experiment in a wet tropical #forest found that 4°C of warming boosted soil CO2 emissions by 42-204%. These high rates suggest tropical #soils may release more #carbon under future warming than #climate models predict.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Warming induces unexpectedly high soil respiration in a wet tropical forest - Nature Communications

A year-long experiment in a wet tropical forest found that 4 oC of warming boosted soil CO2 emissions by 42-204%. These high rates suggest tropical soils may release more carbon under future warming t...

www.nature.com

Reposted by Emilio Vilanova

Carbon Brief @carbonbrief.org · Sep 19

NEW – Growing trees for shade has ‘enormous’ potential for cutting cocoa emissions | @yaninequiroz.bsky.social

Read here ⬇️

Growing trees for shade has ‘enormous’ potential for cutting cocoa emissions - Carbon Brief

Growing tall trees to provide shade for cocoa plantations in west Africa could sequester millions of tonnes of carbon, according to a new study.

www.carbonbrief.org

Reposted by Tommaso Jucker

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · Sep 18

www.nature.com/articles/s41... "...Our analysis reveals a widespread decline in human-directed disturbances alongside a countervailing surge in less controllable, undirected ‘wild’ disturbances (fire, wind/geohazard and vegetation stress), which account for 24% of the total disturbed area..."

A shift from human-directed to undirected wild land disturbances in the USA - Nature Geoscience

Direct human impact on land disturbances in the USA is declining, while less controllable, undirected wild disturbances are increasing, according to a long-term record of high-resolution satellite ima...

www.nature.com

Emilio Vilanova @evilanova.bsky.social · Sep 17

www.forbes.com/sites/bobecc...

Brazil’s Bold Climate Finance Plan Could End Tropical Deforestation

The $125 billion Tropical Forest Forever Facility has the potential to end tropical deforestation. The business community has an essential role in making this happen.

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