Biodiversity Dynamics and Conservation

- The levels of biodiversity: species diversity, genetic and functional diversity. Impacts of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning; relationships between biodiversity and human well-being.
- The distribution of animal biodiversity at the global scale. Factors determining biodiversity variation across space and through time. Biodiversity hot-spots; biogeographical drivers of the distribution of animals.
- Measuring animal biodiversity. Classical and recent approaches to animal monitoring. Approaches for measuring species occurrence and abundance. Capture-mark-recapture.
- Molecular approaches for the assessment of biodiversity. DNA barcoding, Environmental DNA and DNA metabarcoding. Comparisons and integration between classical and molecular approaches for biodiversity monitoring.
- National and international legislation for wildlife conservation and management. The red-lists of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The European legislation: Habitat Directive and Birds Directive.
- Animal management and conservation. Assessing and managing the impact of environmental modifications on animal biodiversity. The drivers of biodiversity decline and extinction: habitat loss and degradation, diseases, overexploitation, climate change, invasive species. Use of correlative and mechanistic modeling to measure the impact of environmental alteration on wildlife.
- Planning of protected areas for wildlife conservation: local-scale and multi-scale management. In-situ and ex-situ conservation. Translocations for wildlife management: introductions, supplementations and re-introductions.
- Impacts of invasive alien species on animal biodiversity. Approaches for the management and the mitigation of the impact of invasive species.