Projects
Community-based biodiversity conservation in the Rusizi plain Burundi (RUBICOM). University of Antwerp
Prioritizing conservation and restoration targets for freshwater biodiversity in Flanders KU Leuven
Riverine biodiversity is deteriorating rapidly as a result of multiple interacting anthropogenic pressures. Freshwater species are subject to physico-chemical pollution originating from various sources (e.g. agriculture, industries, households), hydro-morphological alterations (e.g. construction of dams, river calibration), and the introduction of invasive species (e.g. topmouth gudgeon, Chinese mitten crab, round goby in Flanders). ...
Biodiversity Conservation to Mitigate the risks of emerging infectious diseases (BCOMING). University of Antwerp
Sabbatical Olivier Honnay: Reconciling biodiversity conservation with food production in sub-Sahara Africa: which role for sustainable intensification of agriculture? KU Leuven
The interpretation of the sabbatical period comprises three activities: 1) Writing a literature review on existing evidence for the effectiveness of sustainable intensification of agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for preserving natural ecosystems, and for the occurrence of rebound effects (` Jevons' paradox). If possible, this review will take the form of a quantitative meta-analysis. If too little data is available in the ...
African biodiversity dynamics: interactions between ecological processes and conservation actions Meise Botanic Garden
Citizen Science Data for Biodiversity Conservation Policy in Agricultural Landscapes Ghent University
The aim of the project is to investigate how opportunistic citizen science data can support biodiversity conservation policy in agriculture in an era of growing environmental concerns and increasing land use intensity. To reach that goal, we will aggregate species records, obtained through citizen science (waarnemingen.be), into species groups and define different relevant measures of biodiversity. Species distribution models will be used to ...
Citizen Science Data for Biodiversity Conservation Policy in Agricultural Landscapes KU Leuven
The aim of the project is to investigate how opportunistic citizen science data can support biodiversity conservation policy in agriculture in an era of growing environmental concerns and increasing land use intensity. Species distribution models will be used to reduce the simultaneous effects of several biases that occur in opportunistic citizen science data. A combined approach will be proposed to minimize bias and we will use landscape ...
Towards compassionate conservation in the EU: aligning EU’s biodiversity laws with animal welfare Ghent University
Despite the emergence of Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union that stipulates that since animals are sentient beings, when formulating and implementing the EU’s policy, both the Union and the Member States shall pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals, EU’s animal welfare policy is still approached very separately which undermines integration and thus downplays the very key rationale of Article 13. ...
Mitigating an amphibian pandemic by embedding biodiversity conservation in contaminant exposed agricultural landscapes Ghent University
Urgent measures are necessary to mitigate the impact of the fungal amphibian skin disease chytridiomycosis, which is emblematic for global disease driven loss of biodiversity. Here we aim at steering chytrid epidemiology towards a state of host-pathogen co-existence instead of epidemics by exploiting micropredator community dynamics in a context of aquatic eutrophication and contamination.