Franky BOSSUYT

Passionate about rewilding and agriwilding as measures for biodiversity restoration and farming with nature, I teach courses on vertebrate biodiversity, evolution, and agroecology. I lead a research team focused on agriwilding, which involves creating wild, productive ecosystems that stimulate evolutionary processes under ecological succession. My primary research interest is in how these processes can serve both biodiversity restoration and food production. Together with my partner, I run 'de Wildernis' (www.dewildernis.online), an agriwilding project where my team conducts research on the design of agroecosystems, water management, natural pest suppression, yield, and biodiversity restoration.

Selected Publications

Bossuyt, F. (2024). Reviving our Planet by Transforming the Food System. Book Chapter, in press.

Bossuyt, F., Schulte, L.M., Maex, M. Janssenswillen, S., Novikova, P.Y., Biju, S.D., Van de Peer, Y., Matthijs, S., Roelants, K., Martel, A., Van Bocxlaer, I. (2019). Multiple Independent Recruitment of Sodefrin Precursor-Like Factors in Anuran Sexually Dimorphic Glands, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 36 (9): 1921–1930.

Maex, M., Treer, D., De Greve, H., Proost, P., Van Bocxlaer, I. & Bossuyt, F. (2018). Exaptation as a Mechanism for Functional Reinforcement of an Animal Pheromone System. Current Biology 28, 18, p. 2955-2960.

Stegen, G., Pasmans, F., Schmidt, B. R., Rouffaer, L., Van Praet, S., Schaub, M., Canessa, S., Laudelout, A., Kinet, T., Adriaensen, C., Haesebrouck, F., Bert, W., Bossuyt, F. & Martel, A. (2017). Drivers of salamander extirpation mediated by Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans. Nature. 544, 7650, p. 353–356.

Van Bocxlaer, I., Loader, S.P., Roelants, K., Biju, S.D., Menegon, M. & Bossuyt, F., 2010 - Gradual adaptation toward a range-expansion phenotype initiated the global radiation of toads. Science 327, 679-682.