Project description
Retention forestry and large mammals in European forests
Retention forestry aims to reduce the negative effect of forest transformation and homogenisation on biodiversity. It is a promising tool to meet sustainability goals like those set forth in the EU Forest and Biodiversity strategies, and the practice has been adopted in some forests in Central Europe. The planning of efficient retention strategies depends on ecological knowledge, but it is unknown how large terrestrial mammals respond to variable retention harvesting in temperate forests. The EU-funded ConFoBiNM project will investigate how the large mammal community changes in response to varying levels of retention forestry. It will use the Black Forest in Germany as a model system for multiple-use continuous-cover forest landscape in Central Europe, and will apply a combination of advanced survey techniques (camera trapping) and Bayesian statistical methods.
Objective
The integration of conservation into production forest management is crucial to achieve desired biodiversity goals at the EU level. Retention forestry, which was introduced as a tool to mitigate the negative impact of transformation and homogenization of forests, is now common practice in Central European forests. The design of efficient retention strategies hinges on ecological knowledge, yet research-based evidence for its effectiveness is lacking. In particular, responses of large terrestrial mammals to variable retention harvesting are unknown. I will address this knowledge gap by using a combination of advanced techniques and statistical methods to investigate how the large mammal community changes in response to varying levels of retention forestry in multiple-use forests, and assess the interplay between retention forestry and the surrounding landscape. I will (a) quantify mammal species richness, species-specific abundance and β-diversity across a gradient of retention forestry and landscape forest cover, and (b) determine a threshold of retention at which significant responses occur. I expect that retention will enhance mammal diversity, but not below a certain threshold or below a certain amount of forest cover. I will use the Black Forest in Southwestern Germany as a model system for multiple-use forests in Central Europe, and conduct camera-trapping in 135 plots embedded in patches of mixed-montane forests which differ along 2 gradients of retention and landscape fragmentation. I will use multispecies hierarchical modeling in a Bayesian framework to quantify the effects of retention forestry on mammal species at different spatial grains. This multidisciplinary research combines spatial ecology, with landscape and forest ecology and will integrate for the first time ecological study of large mammals and retention forestry in Central European landscapes.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries forestry silviculture
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology mammalogy
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
79098 Freiburg
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.