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

ibis.iSDM

Integrated model for BiodIversity distribution projectionS (ibis.iSDM)

Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Plant Functional Acclimation and Trait Evolution (PlantFATE)

Projects

Chamois picture taken near the Rax

Designing a resilient and coherent Trans-European Network for Nature and People (NaturaConnect)

Wetland calm pond surrounded by golden vegetation and brilliant colors of fall foliage forest

European Union Biodiversity and Climate strategies Assessment (BIOCLIMA)

Upper Bhima basin

fairSTREAM

RESIST_banner

Resilience of Ecosystem Services provided by Intact and Sustainably managed Terrestrial ecosystems (RESIST)

Staff

Gergana Daskalova profile picture

Gergana Daskalova

Schmidt Science Fellow (BEC)

Jodey Peyton profile picture

Jodey Peyton

Researcher (BEC)

Eleanor Warren-Thomas profile picture

Eleanor Warren-Thomas

Guest Research Scholar (BEC, IBF)

Florian Hofhansl profile picture

Florian Hofhansl

Research Scholar (NODES, BEC)

News

Route of the waterfalls with 14 waterfalls in corupa one of the last areas of the Atlantic forest in Brazil.

22 August 2024

Meeting ambitious restoration targets in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest

IIASA researchers contributed to a new study showing that efforts to meet restoration targets for the globally important, biodiversity rich forests found along Brazil’s Atlantic coast will only be effective with a sustainable intensification of cattle farming.
Tropical forest

12 August 2024

RESIST updates

The RESIST project has made significant progress through active collaboration with IIASA's National Member Organizations (NMO). Key recent achievements include setting up collaborations with national researcher partners and consulting with local experts and stakeholders in respective case study regions (listed below).
Dehydrated earth or farmland with corn plant struggling for life in dry cracked earth.

25 April 2024

Climate change could become the main driver of biodiversity decline by mid-century

Global biodiversity has declined between 2% and 11% during the 20th century due to land-use change alone, according to a large multi-model study published in Science. The projections show that climate change could become the main driver of biodiversity decline by the mid-21st century.

Focus

Butterfly on a pink flower

17 July 2024

Biodiversity lessons from nature

IIASA researchers Silvia Artuso and Juliette Martin reflect on a recent workshop presented at the Institute as part of the IIASA School Engagement Initiative, during which they introduced students to systems analysis and took them on an adventure to explore the amazing biodiversity of Laxenburg park.

27 June 2024

fairSTREAM

In the fairSTREAM project, IIASA researchers from the Equity and Justice, Water Security, and Biodiversity, Ecology, and Conservation research groups aim to address issues of fairness. This is crucial for managing risks in nexus challenges where conflicting views on procedural and outcome fairness often remain unresolved and jeopardize finding solutions.
fairSTREAM

Publications