Departures of note

Josef Settele was a German biologist and ecologist who became one of the world's most prominent researchers on the biodiversity crisis. A lepidopterologist by training, he worked for decades at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and served as an adjunct professor of ecology at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, specializing in butterflies, insect evolution, and the relationship between biodiversity and land use. He was a leading contributor to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the UN body known as the World Biodiversity Council, and co-authored its landmark global assessment reports. He also served on Germany's Advisory Council on the Environment (Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen) from 2020. Settele was widely known for bringing the species crisis to public attention through lectures, interviews, and books, including his works on the 'triple crisis' linking biodiversity loss, climate change, and pandemics. He died unexpectedly at the age of 65.