Dr. Benjamin Bleyhl
About me
Hey, I'm Benjamin. I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Conservation Biogeography lab. Before, I was working here as a research assistant to identify European bison habitat in Germany together with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). After working in various projects with mainly small animals during my bachelors (counting butterfly eggs in the Pyrenees and getting to know each and every sand lizard of a small population near Münster), I went to Berlin to study the Masters in Physical Geography of Human-Environmental Systems. Here, the scale of my studies changed and I got more interested in larger animals (particularly, the largest land mammal in Europe: the European bison) and larger areas (mainly the Caucasus but also the Carpathians and other places). My research interest is focused on large mammal conservation and I thereby try to find ways where and how large mammals can persist and be integrated in human-dominated landscapes.
Curriculum Vitae
Publications
2021
Bleyhl, B., Ghoddousi, A., Askerov, E., Bocedi, G., Breitenmoser, U., Manvelyan, K., Palmer, S.C.F., Soofi, M., Weinberg, P., Zazanashvili, N., Shmunk, V., Zurell, D., Kuemmerle, T., 2021. Reducing persecution is more effective for restoring large carnivores than restoring their prey. Ecological Applications 31, e2338. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2338
Habibzadeh, N., Ghoddousi, A., Bleyhl, B., Kuemmerle, T., 2021. Rear-edge populations are important for understanding climate change risk and adaptation potential of threatened species. Conservation Science and Practice 3, e375. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.375
Lewińska, K.E., Buchner, J., Bleyhl, B., Hostert, P., Yin, H., Kuemmerle, T., Radeloff, V.C., 2021. Changes in the grasslands of the Caucasus based on Cumulative Endmember Fractions from the full 1987–2019 Landsat record. Science of Remote Sensing 4, 100035. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srs.2021.100035
2020
Kuemmerle, T., K. Perzanowski, and B. Bleyhl. European bison conservation must move beyond entrenched debates – response to Kerley et al. (2020). Animal Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12606
Buchner, J., H. Yin, D. Frantz, T. Kuemmerle, E. Askerov, T. Bakuradze, B. Bleyhl, N. Elizbarashvili, A. Komarova, K. E. Lewińska, A. Rizayeva, H. Sayadyan, B. Tan, G. Tepanosyan, N. Zazanashvili, and V. C. Radeloff. 2020. Land-cover change in the Caucasus Mountains since 1987 based on the topographic correction of multi-temporal Landsat composites. Remote Sensing of Environment 248:111967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.111967
Lewińska, K. E., P. Hostert, J. Buchner, B. Bleyhl, and V. C. Radeloff. (2020). Short-term vegetation loss versus decadal degradation of grasslands in the Caucasus based on Cumulative Endmember Fractions. Remote Sensing of Environment 248:111969. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.111969
Baumann, M., J. Kamp, F. Pötzschner, B. Bleyhl, A. Dara, B. Hankerson, A. V. Prishchepov, F. Schierhorn, D. Müller, N. Hölzel, R. Krämer, R. Urazaliyev, and T. Kuemmerle. (2020). Declining human pressure and opportunities for rewilding in the steppes of Eurasia. Diversity and Distributions, 26, 1058-1070. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13110
Ghoddousi, A., Bleyhl, B., Sichau, C., Ashayeri, D., Moghadas, P., Sepahvand, P., Kh. Hamidi, A., Soofi, M. & Kuemmerle, T. (2020): Mapping connectivity and conflict risk to identify safe corridors for the Persian leopard. Landscape Ecology, 35, 1809–1825. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01062-0
2019
Perzanowski, K., Bleyhl, B., Olech, W. & Kuemmerle, T. (2019): Connectivity or isolation? Identifying reintroduction sites for multiple conservation goals for wisents (Bison bonasus) in Poland. Animal Conservation, 23, 212-221. doi:10.1111/acv.12530
Bleyhl, B., Arakelyan, M., Askerov, E., Bluhm, H., Gavashelishvili, A., Ghasabian, M., Ghoddousi, A., Heidelberg, A., Khorozyan, I., Malkhasyan, A., Manvelyan, K., Masoud, M., Moqanaki, E.M., Radeloff, V.C., Soofi, M., Weinberg, P., Zazanashvili, N. & Kuemmerle, T. (2019): Assessing niche overlap between domestic and threatened wild sheep to identify conservation priority areas. Diversity and Distributions, 25, 129-141, doi:10.1111/ddi.12839
2018
Kuemmerle, T., Levers, C., Bleyhl, B., Olech, W., Perzanowski, K., Reusch, C. & Kramer-Schadt, S. (2018): One size does not fit all: European bison habitat selection across herds and spatial scales. Landscape Ecology, 33, 1559-1572. doi:10.1007/s10980-018-0684-2
Yin, H., Prishchepov, A.V., Kuemmerle, T., Bleyhl, B., Buchner, J., & Radeloff, V.C. (2018): Mapping agricultural land abandonment from spatial and temporal segmentation of Landsat time series. Remote Sensing of Environment, 210, 12-24. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2018.02.050
2017
Bleyhl, B., Baumann, M., Griffiths, P., Heidelberg, A., Manvelyan, K., Radeloff, V.C., Zazanashvili, N., & Kuemmerle, T. (2017): "Assessing landscape connectivity for large mammals in the Caucasus using Landsat 8 seasonal image composites". Remote Sensing of Environment, 193, 193-203. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2017.03.001
2016
Ziółkowska, E., Perzanowski, K., Bleyhl, B., Ostapowicz, K., & Kuemmerle, T. (2016): Understanding unexpected reintroduction outcomes: why aren't European bison do not colonize suitable habitat in the Carpathians? Biological Conservation, 195, 106–117.
doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2015.12.032
2015
Bleyhl, B., Sipko, T., Trepet, S., Bragina, E., Leitão, P.J., Radeloff, V.C., & Kuemmerle, T. (2015): Mapping seasonal European bison habitat in the Caucasus Mountains to identify potential reintroduction sites. Biological Conservation, 191, 83–92. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2015.06.011