Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity
Source: https://www.york.ac.uk/anthropocene-biodiversity/ Parent: https://www.york.ac.uk/about/departments/
World-leading interdisciplinary research into the complexities of biodiversity change in the Anthropocene, funded by the Leverhulme Trust
The Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity examines how the relationship between humanity and the natural world is changing, and how we might develop and maintain a sustainable Earth.
Human activities have caused the world’s physical and biological processes to change so significantly that we increasingly think of Earth as having entered a new era – the ‘Anthropocene’.
This disruption has resulted in the extinction of many species, but the Anthropocene is also a time of biological gains; it may eventually be considered one of the greatest boosts to biological diversity in history. We aim to understand the causes and consequences of biodiversity gains and losses, and inform and influence how society responds.
Research programmes
Biodiversification
Understanding how human impacts and biological processes underpin the gains and losses of biodiversity and ecosystems.
Philias and phobias
Identifying the causes and consequences of varied human attitudes to the growth and loss of biodiversity.
Utility
Establishing the gains and harms people experience from biodiversity altered by humans and novel ecosystems.
Moulding the future
Integrating knowledge to foster further gains, without compromising human wellbeing or risking ‘past’ biodiversity.
Latest news
News
Ancient baobabs hold the secret to rainfall
12 March 2026
Estelle Razanatsoa, Lindsey Gillson and colleagues' new paper uses stable carbon isotopes from baobabs in Madagascar to reconstruct long-term rainfall records.
News
From Cape Town to York: 'Unruly' Sparks LCAB Dialogue on Human-Animal Relations
11 March 2026
The powerful South African play 'Unruly' came to LCAB on 26 February 2026.
News
Three months in the Rainforest - in Devon?!
10 March 2026
If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise. It’s unlikely to be bears but if you're somewhere along the UK’s west coast you may just find yourself in a rainforest, or at least a temperate one. Kian Hayles-Cotton reflects on his PhD fieldwork.
News
The Black Death’s counterintuitive effect: as human numbers fell, so did plant diversity
9 March 2026
Fossilised pollen grains in sediment cores extracted from lakes and bogs contain information about plant communities that existed thousands of years ago.
People
Our Centre represents an interdisciplinary collaboration between multiple departments at the University of York, the University of Sherbrooke, University College London and the University of St Andrews.
Our expertise is wide-ranging and our researchers consider the changing relationship between humanity and the natural world, and how we might maintain and develop a sustainable Earth.
Professor Lindsey Gillson - Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity
Cross-cutting themes
Invasions
Societal responses to the 'otherness' of species that are perceived to be foreign.
Hybrids
Generation of, attitudes towards and uses of hybrids in different cultures and times.
Inequalities
Perceived and actual benefits and harms caused to, and obtained from, ecosystems.
Rewilding
Exploring the social and biodiversity drivers and consequences of 'rewilding' and habitat 'restoration' strategies
Extinction and de-extinction
Considering the extinction events of the past, how these link with the proposed “sixth mass extinction” of the present and the development of de-extinction.
Change is a defining feature of the Anthropocene, requiring agile and creative adaptations. LCAB research helps to leverage human ingenuity to create, conserve, restore and adapt social-ecological systems that safeguard biodiversity, while meeting the needs of people in ways that are fair and just.
Professor Lindsey Gillson, Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity