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
Projects
Staff
News
![Dehydrated earth or farmland with corn plant struggling for life in dry cracked earth.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2024-04/dreamstime_m_15065652.jpg?itok=IbeULLuQ)
25 April 2024
Climate change could become the main driver of biodiversity decline by mid-century
![Red amazonian tree frog on a green branch at night](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2023-11/dreamstime_m_9580475.jpg?itok=RL5rxBK9)
17 November 2023
Prioritizing land to avoid species extinction
02 November 2023
Rubber trees and deforestation: quantifying the impact of rubber production on tropical forests and biodiversity
Events
Focus
27 June 2024
fairSTREAM
![fairSTREAM](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2024-06/Logo_fairSTREAM_long-01.png?itok=cUkON0Vc)
27 June 2024
The ibis framework – an integrated model for biodiversity distribution projections
![IBIS logo](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2024-06/Ibis%20logo.png?itok=FS_DGY1P)
Publications
Beher, J., Treml, E., & Wintle, B. (2024). 10 years of decision‐making for biodiversity conservation actions: A systematic literature review. Conservation Science and Practice e13170. 10.1111/csp2.13170. (In Press) Worthington, T.A., Spalding, M., Landis, E., Maxwell, T., Navarro, A., Smart, L.S., & Murray, N.J. (2024). The distribution of global tidal marshes from Earth observation data. Global Ecology and Biogeography e13852. 10.1111/geb.13852. (In Press) Nowosad, J. & Hesselbarth, M. (2024). The landscapemetrics and motif packages for measuring landscape patterns and processes. arXiv 10.48550/arXiv.2405.06559. (Submitted) Pereira, H.M., Martins, I.S., Rosa, I., Kim, H., Leadley, P., Popp, A., van Vuuren, D., Hurtt, G., Quoss, L., Arneth, A., Baisero, D., Bakkenes, M., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Chini, L., Di Marco, M., Ferrier, S., Fujimori, S., Guerra, C., Harfoot, M., Harwood, T., Hasegawa, T., Haverd, V., Havlik, P. , Hellweg, S., Hilbers, J., Hill, S., Hirata, A., Hoskins, A., Humpenöder, F., Janse, J., Jetz, W., Johnson, J., Krause, A., Leclere, D., Matsui, T., Meijer, J., Merow, C., Obersteiner, M. , Ohashi, H., De Palma, A., Poulter, B., Purvis, A., Quesada, B., Rondinini, C., Schipper, A., Settele, J., Sharp, R., Stehfest, E., Strassburg, B., Takahashi, K., Talluto, M., Thuiller, W., Titeux, N., Visconti, P., Ware, C., Wolf, F., & Alkemade, R. (2024). Global trends and scenarios for terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem services from 1900 to 2050. Science 384 (6694) 458-465. 10.1126/science.adn3441. Dragonetti, C., Daskalova, G. , & Di Marco, M. (2024). The exposure of the world’s mountains to global change drivers. iScience 27 (5) p. 109734. 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109734. O'Connor, L., Cosentino, F., Harfoot, M., Maiorano, L., Mancino, C., Pollock, L., & Thuiller, W. (2024). Vulnerability of terrestrial vertebrate food webs to anthropogenic threats in Europe. Global Change Biology 30 (3) e17253. 10.1111/gcb.17253. Hackländer, J., Parente, L., Ho, Y.-F., Hengl, T., Simoes, R., Consoli, D., Şahin, M., Tian, X., Jung, M., Herold, M., Duveiller, G., Weynants, M., & Wheeler, I. (2024). Land potential assessment and trend-analysis using 2000–2021 FAPAR monthly time-series at 250 m spatial resolution. PeerJ 12 e16972. 10.7717/peerj.16972. Folberth, C. , Wood, S., Wironen, M., Jung, M., Boucher, T., Bossio, D., & Obersteiner, M. (2024). Exploring the potential for nitrogen fertilizer use mitigation with bundles of management interventions. Environmental Research Letters 19 (4) e044027. 10.1088/1748-9326/ad31d8. Hesselbarth, M. & Wiegand, K. (2024). A simulation study comparing common methods for analyzing species–habitat associations of plants. Journal of Vegetation Science 35 (2) e13243. 10.1111/jvs.13243. Lewis, C.H.M., Little, K., Graham, L., Kettridge, N., & Ivison, K. (2024). Diurnal fuel moisture content variations of live and dead Calluna vegetation in a temperate peatland. Scientific Reports 14 (1) 10.1038/s41598-024-55322-z.