Research profile

What do we do in BCL?

Well, first, we seek to understand: How do ecological communities function? How are species related to their environment? Which mechanisms regulate biodiversity patterns, and how do they do so? What is the effect of climate change on species communities? What is the impact of anthropogenic pressures on wildlife and natural ecosystems?

Then, we seek to transform knowledge into policy and practice. We address major conservation challenges such as protected area management, conservation actions for endangered species, sustainable livestock grazing, sustainable spatial planning of windfarms and other infrastructures, climate-biodiversity policy, and human-large carnivore conflict mitigation, to name a few… Yes, the field of action is broad and still growing, responding to emerging challenges… However, all research activities have a common basis: they align with conservation biology principles and tend to have an applied character.

Keywords

applied ecology
biodiversity
climate change
community ecology
conflict mitigation
conservation
species ecology
endangered species
environmental policy
indicators
landscape ecology
monitoring
protected areas
reserve design
road ecology
social surveys
spatial planning of RES (Renewable Energy Resources)
sustainability (SDGs)
wildlife management

Policy is the first broad field. We work in the science-policy interface, and we promote the preservation of roadless areas by supporting wilderness culture. We also work in the sustainable development sphere. We generate win-win solutions for sustainable spatial planning of renewable energy infrastructures, minimizing land and biodiversity impacts without undermining green energy production goals.

Biodiversity conservation is our main expertise. Our biological research field is broad, and our taxonomic expertise covers butterflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies, herpetofauna, birds and mammals, often combining different taxa into compound multi-taxa biodiversity research. The six topics are classified under six taxonomic categories.

Citizen science projects are classified under the taxonomic group studied.

Each project can appear under several categories, when different taxa are involved. Some projects have their own project page to further explore their outputs and impact. For the full inventory of research projects before BCL birth (2017) see the CV of V. Kati (Who we are).