The BEC Group develops and applies state-of-the art ecological knowledge, methods, and tools to understand ecosystem functioning, biodiversity change, and feedbacks in coupled social-economic-ecological systems. We use this knowledge to develop management options to achieve biodiversity and sustainability goals
The BEC group is the institute’s hub of applied ecology and conservation research. The group provides the needed ecological and conservation insights to help IIASA promote institutional, demographic, behavioral, technological, social, and economic changes that achieve development goals sustainably.
The group’s key research areas include:
- Ecological responses to natural and anthropogenic drivers of change, for example, land and water management and climate change.
- How to prioritize conservation efforts to maximize positive impacts at scales from local to global (e.g., habitat restoration and conservation, and species management plans).
- How species and ecosystems contribute to selected ecosystem services and human wellbeing.
Models, tools, datasets
Integrated model for BiodIversity distribution projectionS (ibis.iSDM)
Plant Functional Acclimation and Trait Evolution (PlantFATE)
Projects
Designing a resilient and coherent Trans-European Network for Nature and People (NaturaConnect)
European Union Biodiversity and Climate strategies Assessment (BIOCLIMA)
Streamlining participatory approaches and agent-based models to explore ideas of fairness at the food-water-biodiversity(FWB) nexus (fairSTREAM)
Resilience of Ecosystem Services provided by Intact and Sustainably managed Terrestrial ecosystems (RESIST)
Staff
Eleanor Warren-Thomas
Guest Research Scholar (BEC, IBF)
Chloe Dawson
Guest Research Scholar (BEC)
Adrienne Etard
Research Scholar (BEC)
Florian Hofhansl
Research Scholar (NODES, BEC)
News
19 October 2026
13% of Earth's land identified as biodiversity conservation hotspots
As governments prepare to gather in Yerevan, Armenia, this week for the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP17), new research identifies 13% of Earth's land area as hotspots for biodiversity conservation, highlighting where conservation efforts are most urgently needed.
07 July 2026
New framework identifies freshwater conservation priorities
Freshwater ecosystems are under growing pressure worldwide, but conservation resources are limited. A framework developed by IIASA researchers and partners can help identify where conservation could prevent biodiversity loss and where restoration efforts are likely to have the greatest ecological impact across the United States and Europe.
05 May 2026
Amazon understory forests show short-term boost in CO₂ uptake – but this comes at a cost
Tropical forests are one of the planet's most important carbon sinks – often also called "the lungs of the Earth". But their future in a high-CO₂ world remains uncertain. IIASA researchers contributed to a new study, which suggests even small understory trees in the Amazon may initially buffer climate change more strongly. Their long-term capacity to store carbon could, however, be restricted by nutrient availability, highlighting the vulnerability of these ecosystems under future climate conditions.
Events
Yerevan, Armenia
IIASA at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference
St. Pölten, Austria
IIASA at European Researchers' Night
Royal Belgian institute of Natural Sciences, Rue Vautier 29, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
The Final Event of NaturaConnect: Pathways to a Trans-European Nature Network
Focus
Annual Report 2025
Annual Report 2025: Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program Highlights
Balancing the needs of people and nature is one of the defining challenges of our time. Throughout 2025, the Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program advanced research on how societies can pursue climate, biodiversity, and development goals while managing growing pressures on land, water, energy, and ecosystems.
31 October 2025
From YSSP to Guest Research Scholar: My journey with IIASA
What begins as a summer research experience can sometimes grow into a lasting collaboration. In this blog post, Jaewon Son reflects on her path from participating in the 2024 IIASA Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP), to returning as a Guest Research Scholar with the Equity and Justice Research Group.
Publications
Benavides, E., Graham, L., Sadler, J.P., Wayman, J.P., Méndez-Sánchez, F., Ortiz-Alacaraz, A., & Matthews, T.J. (2026). When data are scarce and ranges are small: modelling trade-offs in fine-scale insular species distributions. Ecological Modelling 522 e111848. 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2026.111848.
Farooq, H., Harfoot, M.B.J., Rahbek, C., Visconti, P. , & Geldmann, J. (2026). Global vertebrate hotspots: Linking biodiversity importance and threat across taxa. One Earth e101866. 10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101866.
Milner‐Gulland, E.J., Farrelly, É., Bromwich, T., Haverkamp, C., Karlsdottir, S.A., Kumpel, N.F., Pardo, L.E., Shaw, R., White, T.B., Broekhoven, G., Jones, S.K., Obersteiner, M., Visconti, P. , Yamamoto, K., & Barrett, M. (2026). A Critical Year for Nature: Now Is the Time to Accelerate Action on the Global Biodiversity Framework. Conservation Letters 19 (5) e70089. 10.1111/con4.70089.
Groom, Q., Antipasado, L., Barrios, S., Bensusan, K., Clubbe, C., Frohlich, D., Meeus, S., Wilkinson, T., & Peyton, J. (2026). The flora of the Chagos Archipelago: a conservation checklist of native and introduced plant species. Biodiversity Data Journal (In Press)
Marino, C., Philippe-Lesaffre, M., Coutinho Soares, F., de Oliveira Caetano, G.H., Etard, A. , Butt, N., Capdevila, P., Irl, S.D.H., Leclerc, C., Lenoir, J., Patiño, J., Rigal, F., Benítez-López, A., & Bellard, C. (2026). Global threat exposure of islands in a changing world. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 123 (32) e2534106123. 10.1073/pnas.2534106123.
Chu, Z., Kappas, T., Ahmed, M.A., Graham, L., Antonelli, A., & Cabral, J.S. (2026). Evaluating potential restoration strategies for vascular epiphytes with niche-based community mechanistic models. Journal of Applied Ecology 63 (8) e70533. 10.1111/1365-2664.70533.
Milenkovic, M., Hofhansl, F. , Weinacker, R., Sturn, T., Karanam, S., Wild, B., Hollaus, M., Neumayr, C., Iglseder, A., Pfeifer, N., Zappa, L., Bruckman, V.J., Breitfuss-Schiffer, R., Schumacher, B., Gresse, H., Joly, A., Bonnet, P., Shchepashchenko, D. , See, L. , McCallum, I. , & Fritz, S. (2026). Tree-quest: A citizen science app for collecting single-tree information. Ecological Informatics 97 e103897. 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2026.103897.
O'Connor, L.M.J., Cosentino, F., Demarquet, S., Gaüzère, P., Hackbarth, T.X., Maiorano, L., Mancino, C., Renaud, J., Si‐Moussi, S., Verburg, P.H., & Thuiller, W. (2026). Threats to Nature's Contributions to People Provided by Terrestrial Vertebrates Across Europe. Diversity and Distributions 32 (7) e70210. 10.1111/ddi.70210.
Fuß, T., Bistarelli, L.T., Talluto, L.H. , del Campo, R., Altermatt, F., Masese, F.O., & Singer, G. (2026). Community Assembly Processes Change With Location and Environmental Distinctiveness in River Networks. Global Ecology and Biogeography 35 (7) e70275. 10.1111/geb.70275.
Nakkazi, M.T., Nkwasa, A. , La Fuente, S., Lekarkar, K.L., Suresh, K., Peyton, J. , Beusen, A., & van Griensven, A. (2026). Future nutrient pollution poses a threat to Africa’s freshwater fishes. Environmental Research: Water 10.1088/3033-4942/ae892f. (In Press)