Hidden Pathways to Extinction

Giovanni Strona (Italy, 1982) is an Associate Professor in Ecological Data Sciences at the University of Helsinki. His research lies at the interface between ecology, computer science and physics. He has published tens of influential scientific papers on macroecology and biodiversity research, with novel insights in theory and methods. In recent years, he has advanced our understanding of the role of ecological interactions in the ongoing mass extinction, quantifying the relative impact of co-extinctions on global biodiversity loss. His findings identify key ecological mechanisms that might dramatically amplify global change's detrimental effects and reveal how a planetary ecosystem collapse might be much closer than we thought.

• 1. Introduction2. We are Chicxulub3. Ecological networks4. Integrating interaction types5. Modelling co-extinctions6. Extinction sequences7. The specialization paradox8. Nestedness and ecological network stability9. Life cycle complexity10. Planetary life annihilation11. Higher-order interactions12. Biological invasions13. Artificial Intelligence and the future of biodiversity

“This undoubtedly leads to a slight dissipation of the core take-home message, structuring things in this way does provide valuable and almost overwhelming examples for where this broad family of ecological models and techniques can take you, and the range of research questions you might begin answering with them. For an ambitious student of ecology, Hidden Pathways to Extinction provides a strong conceptual background, a number of clearly worked examples, and a truly excellent set of references.” (Simon A. F. Darroch, The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 99 (3), September, 2024)