Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Friday, December 23, 2022
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Mediterranean forests are a global biodiversity hotspot. Here, the combined effects of climate change and human-driven land use have shaped and will shape the spatial distribution of species. Integrative and pro-active conservation actions will therefore be paramount to the long-term persistence of biodiversity in the area.
Building on species distribution models for the trees, birds, and butterflies of the European Mediterranean biome, on spatially-explicit models of the provision of regulating and cultural services provided by nature, and on a tight collaborative network with on-the-ground conservation practitioners and stakeholders, the postdoctoral researcher will generate spatially-explicit maps of conservation priorities for biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The analysis will rely on cutting-edge modelling and conservation planning to integrate the phylogenetic and functional facets of biodiversity, exploring the importance of climate change for species distributions, of climatic and socio-economic drivers of land use change, connectivity, and of economic costs to inform future steps in the protection of this biome. Next to spatial modelling efforts, the postdoc will co-design approaches with non-academic partners and stakeholders in the study region. This co-design is essential to represent the different views and values of stakeholders in one or multiple alternative conservation plans.
The postdoc is part of the BiodivERsA project INTEGRADIV (Efficient conservation of Mediterranean forests: an integrative assessment of the drivers and vulnerability of multi-taxa, multi-facet and multi-scale biodiversity patterns). Within this project the postdoc will collaborate with the other European consortium partners in successfully meeting the project objective of sustaining biodiversity in the most diverse region of Europe.
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