Applied conservation practices are the core of my research interest. I am working as a PhD student at the University of Bern on a BiodivERsA funded project for the conservation and restoration of degraded ecosystems and their biodiversity, more specifically on the impacts of translocations of flora and fauna for conservation and restoration projects (TRANSLOC). The TRANSLOC Project involves a collaboration with ten partners across Europe and its goal is to assess the ecological, evolutionary and social impacts of reintroductions. Our work will improve our understanding about the factors contributing to translocation efficacy and enable us to publish improved guidelines for the execution and monitoring of translocations and the evaluation of their success, in collaboration with the IUCN Conservation Translocation Specialist Group. The different range of case studies (plants, birds, mammals) of the project and involved stakeholders aim to improve multi directional collaborations worldwide.
Habitat protection and restoration have been identified as the most important conservation methods and successful reintroductions of species allow restoring ecosystem functions important to other species as well as local ecology. Furthermore, selecting case studies in several taxa to produce generalized guidelines allows future usage for further different plant and animal species in need (e.g. forest restoration after fires events, populations at the edge of extinction, etc.).
