Integrated research and nature conservation
Interactions with society to monitor, quantify and restore biodiversity and ecosystem functions.
Green toad (Bufotes viridis). Illustrated by Olga Vinnere Pettersson.
The Department of Ecology and Genetics (IEG) has a long history of interactions with agencies where we have been involved in monitoring of specific populations, species and ecosystems and used our competence to inform decision makers about the status and future strategies for sustainable management of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
Our aim is to continuously use our expertise in ecology, genetics and conservation biology and integrate that with policy establishment and direct management via interactions with, for example, county administrative boards and other agencies and companies with commissions associated with biodiversity and ecosystem services. The initiatives have so far predominantly been on a regional or national scale, but recently also include international collaborations to address global biodiversity and ecosystem functioning issues. We are convinced that the current challenges linked to loss of biodiversity and changes in ecosystem functioning should be addressed based on directed multi-disciplinary scientific investigations driven by collaborative networks with a mix of specific expertise.
At this stage, the initiatives are predominantly run by independent research groups and depend on resources provided by external funding agencies or specific clients, but our vision is to establish a more advanced support function with instrumentation and manpower that allow us to engage in more large-scale and long-term commissions. Listed below are examples of ongoing partnerships between IEG and different stakeholders - here you can read more about specific projects we are involved with.