Measuring, Modelling and Selecting Biodiversity Conservation Areas Under Climatic and Socioeconomic Challenges

Description

The course will cover the fundamental concepts of biodiversity conservation planning; the physical and anthropic factors that drive the spacio-temporal distribution of organisms; the cutting-edge tools that support optimal decision-making on where and when protected areas need to be established; and the grand challenges and future research avenues under the Age of Big Data. Attendees will gain a robust theoretical background with which they will be able:

1) to recognize the multi-dimensionality of biodiversity, biodiversity benefits oh human societies and the main impinging threats (e.g. climate change and land use);
2) to design simple models to predict biodiversity occupancy in space and time (niche and species distribution models);
3) navigate amoung the history of spatial conservation planning and its research trends;
4) to understand that the science behind the strategic allocation of protected areas is far from trivial.

Attendees will be introduced to optimization principles and methods. The flexible nature of some optimization techniques will be discussed and highlighted, as it allows planners: 1) to play around a palette of model complexity (i.e.data types); 2) to control predictive data uncertainty of spatial and temporal nature, and 3) to integrate important rules of thumb for unforeseen scenarios be tackled.

Emphasis will be given to resource allocation models that work either to maximize conservation benefits (species persistence, habitat connectivity) or to minimize conservation costs (i.e. financial spending, socioeconomic conflicts), under the real-world conditions. A quick overview of four spatial priorization models will be offered such that attendees taste resource allocation problems that span distinct commanding goals and data types. The workable problems are included in the following software: Marxan; Zonation, MulTyLink e iC5.

The course is structured around general theoretical classes intercalated with practical group sessions on computer.

Coordinator(s)

Diogo André Alagador

lecturer(s)

Diogo André Alagador

responsible unit

Research Center on Biodiversity Évora and Genetic Resources of University of Évora (CIBIO-UE).

recipients

University students, master´s students, doctoral students and interested professionals in the areas of biological and environmental sciences, amoung others.

Requirements

Not applicable

Minimum number of participants

8

maximum number of participants

16

price

Students: 75€
General public: 125€

Participation certification

Yes

Detailed program

Download here

Schedule

14h to 18h