Mission statement

Our goal is to understand the processes that drive biodiversity patterns and their spatio-temporal dynamics across scales, the assembly of ecological communities, the factors that determine the value of landscapes for ecosystem service provision

By observing and predicting the long-term effects of global change and of socio-economic activities (including climate and landuse change, landscape fragmentation and habitat loss, biological invasions) on biodiversity patterns, we want to provide the knowledge basis for sound conservation management and ecological restoration.

Current news

  • Marbled tree bug mass occurrence expected for Vienna in 2019 (2019-04-30)
    For those who missed yesterday's edition of ORF Zeit im Bild about the current mass occurrence of Pentatomidae (marbled tree bug) featuring relevant statements by Franz Essl, the report is available on ORF TVthek. https://tvthek.orf.at/profile/ZIB-1/1203/ZIB-1/14011922/Baumwanzen-Plage-in-Oesterreich/14487800
  • Television: Dramatisches Insektensterben (2019-02-18)
    For those who missed yesterday's edition of ORF's Zeit im Bild 2 about the massive insect loss featuring relevant statements by Franz Essl (University of Vienna - CVL), the report is available on ORF TVthek.
    Link: https://tvthek.orf.at/profile/konkret/13887640/konkret/14004243/Dramatisches-Insektensterben/14445535
  • Zeitungsbericht: Betoniergehabe: Österreich könnte bald zugepflastert sein (2019-02-18)
    Wenn so gedankenlos weitergebaut wird wie bisher, ist Österreich bis zum Jahr 2050 praktisch zugepflastert - von den klimatechnischen Folgen ganz zu schweigen. Wie kann der Flächenfraß gestoppt werden?

    Unser Kollege Franz Essl (University of Vienna - CVL) kommt dazu in der aktuellen Ausgabe von profil zu Wort.
    profil: https://www.profil.at/wissenschaft/verbauung-flaechenwidmung-oesterreich-10643712
  • Radio Feature: "Artenvielfalt - Wandernde Tierarten lange unbemerkt" (2019-01-25)
    Wie lange dauert es, bis man bemerkt, dass sich eine Tier- oder Pflanzenart in einem neuen Lebensraum angesiedelt hat? Damit hat sich ein Team aus Tschechien, Serbien, Deutschland und Österreich in einer neuen Studie beschäftigt. Manchmal könne es Jahre und Jahrzehnte dauern, bis man sogenannte "invasive Arten" überhaupt bemerkt.
     
    Mit: Franz Essl, Ökologe und Biodiversitätsexperte

Recent Publications

2019

Alexandra | Marques, Inês S. | Martins, Thomas | Kastner, Christoph | Plutzar, Michaela C. | Theurl, Nina | Eisenmenger, Mark A.J. | Huijbregts, Richard | Wood, Konstantin | Stadler, Martin | Bruckner, Joana | Canelas, Jelle P. | Hilbers, Arnold | Tukker, Karlheinz | Erb, Henrique M. | Pereira: Increasing impacts of land use on biodiversity and carbon sequestration driven by population and economic growth.
Nature Ecology and Evolution 3 (4): 628-637 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0824-3
Sabine B. | Rumpf, Karl | Hülber, Niklaus E. | Zimmermann, Stefan | Dullinger: Elevational rear edges shifted at least as much as leading edges over the last century.
Global Ecology and Biogeography 28 (4): 533-543 https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12865
Bea | Maas, Sacha | Heath, Ingo | Grass, Camila | Cassano, Alice | Classen, Deborah | Faria, Pierre | Gras, Kimberly | Williams-Guillén, Matthew | Johnson, Daniel S. | Karp, Valerie | Linden, Alejandra | Martínez-Salinas, Julia M. | Schmack, Sara | Kross: Experimental field exclosure of birds and bats in agricultural systems — Methodological insights, potential improvements, and cost-benefit trade-offs.
Basic and Applied Ecology 35: 1-12 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2018.12.002
Harald G. | Zechmeister, Michaela | Kropik, Michaela | Popovtschak, Gabriele | Scharrer-Liška: Bryophytes in a latrine as indicators of climate change in the 17th century.
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-019-00717-6
Robin J. | Pakeman, Amanda | Bates, Richard T. | Corlett, Graeme S. | Cumming, David | Johns, Lian Pin | Koh, Rafael | Loyola, Bea | Maas, Liba | Pejchar, Richard B. | Primack, Tracey J. | Regan, Robin | Roth, Laurent | Godet, Danielle | Descoteaux, Vincent | Devictor: Fifty years of biological conservation.
Biological Conservation 230: A1-A4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.12.005
Abraham J. | Miller-Rushing, Richard B. | Primack, Vincent | Devictor, Richard T. | Corlett, Graeme S. | Cumming, Rafael | Loyola, Bea | Maas, Liba | Pejchar: How does habitat fragmentation affect biodiversity? A controversial question at the core of conservation biology.
Biological Conservation 232: 271-273 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.12.029

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