Understanding the pre-Homo sapiens baseline of the temperate forest biome is crucial for interpreting present-day biodiversity patterns, ecosystem functioning, and guiding restoration. In this review, we synthesize palaeoecological and ecological evidence to reassess vegetation structure across humid-temperate Europe during the Neogene (23–2.6 Myr) and Quaternary (2.6 Myr–1900 CE). We integrate data from multiple proxies – including pollen, macrofossils, isotopic composition, dental ecometrics, microcharcoal, and ancient environmental DNA – to evaluate whether Europe's temperate biome was dominated by closed-canopy forests, open grassland or by more heterogeneous woodland–grassland mosaics. Converging lines of evidence indicate that mosaic woodland vegetation – landscapes combining open, loosely wooded, and closed-canopy patches – prevailed throughout these periods, likely in large part maintained by abundant wild large herbivores. Following the Late-Pleistocene megafaunal collapse, tree cover expanded under reduced herbivore pressure. From the Mesolithic onward, humans increasingly shaped vegetation through burning and hunting. Since the Neolithic, our ancestors partially recreated lost disturbance dynamics through the use of domestic herbivores but also introduced novel drivers that produced ecosystems without historical analogues. These results challenge the traditional paradigm of closed-canopy forests being the dominant natural vegetation type in Europe, showing that homogenous closed-canopy forests are a recent phenomenon that only became the dominant “natural” vegetation after the decline of wild large herbivores and the loss of historical cultural management. Recognizing the woodland-grassland mosaic biome as the dominant natural baseline has major implications for conservation, rewilding, and biodiversity restoration strategies that reflect the ecological and evolutionary history of the temperate zone.

Assessing temporal and spatial changes is essential to understand the real impact of wildlife hunting for human consumption and trade across tropical regions. We found 56 species of wild-trapped vertebrates offered for sale in Equatorial Guinea in 2025, by surveying urban markets and rural areas, and recorded their use, prices, and conservation status. Most of the animals (94.2%) were offered for meat consumption, while animals offered for medicine/rituals or for the pet trade reached 4.4% and 1.4% of the individuals recorded, respectively. The taxonomic composition of wild meat differed between the two main urban markets, in Malabo and Bata cities, and between these markets and their surrounding rural areas. Worryingly, the supply of globally endangered pangolins was four times greater in the source rural areas than in the Bata market. Prices were higher in urban markets than in rural areas, and higher for globally threatened species regardless of their market availability. We also compared taxonomic composition of wild meat with that collected 35 years earlier from the same two urban markets. The range of hunted species was similar, but their conservation status has worsened according to the IUCN Red List. While only two of the species recorded in 2025 were globally threatened in 1990, wildlife hunting is now involving at least 15 globally threatened and 8 near threatened species, representing 27% and 14% respectively of all the species recorded and 17% and 4% respectively of all individuals trapped. While hunting these threatened species is prohibited by law, they are sold at higher prices and with impunity due to the lack of effective law enforcement. Targeted educational campaigns to reduce demand, by changing consumer attitudes towards wild meat, together with cultural-, and development-based strategies tailored to specific taxa and user groups are urgently needed to halt the unsustainable hunting of threatened species in Equatorial Guinea. • Long-term monitoring is essential to assess the real impact of wildlife hunting across tropical regions • We surveyed wildlife offered for sale in Equatorial Guinea in 2025, and compared it with data collected 35 years ago. • We found significant changes in the proportion of species offered for meat consumption. • Hunting is now involving at least 15 globally threatened and 8 near threatened species.

• We applied the Life Framework in combination with PPGIS data on landscape values. • We identified three life frames: living with/in , living from , and living as nature. • Living in/with related to mapping intrinsic values in protected areas. • The spatial distribution of the life frames showed high variability and overlaps. • Using life frames with PPGIS revealed protected areas heterogeneous meanings.

Intensive forestry practices have transformed boreal forest landscapes, with profound consequences for biodiversity. Species dependent on old-growth forest characteristics are particularly vulnerable to habitat loss and structural simplification. We analyzed population trends and habitat preferences of the red listed and legally protected orchid Goodyera repens using 30 years (1993–2022) of data from the Swedish National Forest Inventory, examining occurrence, colonization, and extinction probabilities in relation to stand characteristics. Goodyera repens declined dramatically over the study period, with occurrence probability decreasing from 1.9% in 1993–1997 to 0.6% in 2018–2022—a 66% decline. Occurrence probability increased strongly with basal area, stand age, and moss species richness, with basal area emerging as the strongest predictor across all models. The species exhibited a very low colonization rate (0.7% over 10 years) combined with high local extinction risk (75.2%), with extinction probability increasing sharply when basal area declined between surveys (e.g. due to clear-cutting). This reflects the fundamental mismatch between the species' requirements for old-growth forest conditions and modern forestry operating on 60–100 year rotations that prevent forests from developing old-growth characteristics. The 66% decline documented here is most likely a direct consequence of forestry practices that systematically remove old-growth habitat by harvesting forests at the stage when they become suitable for the species. Without fundamental changes to forest management that allow forests to develop and maintain old-growth conditions across the landscape, G. repens and other old-growth specialists will continue to decline toward potential regional extinctions in coming decades.