Project description
Designing connected landscapes: quick fix or deadlock for biodiversity conservation
Habitat loss is arguably the greatest threat to the world’s biodiversity. As human activities involve expanding built areas, options to preserve large extents of natural habitats are reduced. The spatial organisation of the remaining habitats (configuration) and the potential for organisms to move among habitat remnants in the landscape (matrix permeability) thus appear as critical variables. However, the window of opportunity offered by the management of theses variables along with the amount of habitat has been the subject of debate among scientists since the 1970s, thus limiting the possibilities for decision support in spatial planning. The EU-funded SCALED project aims to solve this debate by combining modelling and empirical approaches at various spatial scales and for multiple organisms.
Objective
"The accelerating loss and fragmentation of natural habitats are major threats to biodiversity, the very foundation of our life-supporting system. High land pressure at the global scale reduces opportunities to preserve large amounts of habitat. Habitat configuration (i.e. spatial arrangement) and matrix resistance (i.e. easiness for animals to move between habitat patches) remain the only possible adjustment variables to sustain biodiversity. What the management of habitat configuration and matrix resilience offers as ""window of opportunity"" for conservation has been subject to debate since the 1970s. Resolving this debate is now critical. This is the objective of this project.
SCALED will investigate key ecological processes for multiple organisms and at multiple scales to:
1) understand the circumstances under which different habitat configurations - at fixed habitat amount - can lead to higher or lower levels of biodiversity; 2) understand and quantify the role of matrix resistance - at fixed habitat amount and habitat configuration – in shaping biodiversity in landscapes;
3) generalize and predict how habitat amount, habitat configuration and matrix resistance affect biodiversity with trait-based and process-based modelling.
SCALED combines a new model based on traits and processes at the individual-level with a set of multi-scale innovative empirical experiments, monitored with ambitious sampling designs and a range of advanced tools including landscape genetics and movement telemetry.
SCALED will offer a unique opportunity to validate our predictive model with unprecedented observations of movement, demographic and species-interaction processes under crossed conditions of habitat amount, habitat configuration and matrix resistance. SCALED can also bring wide applications, because public and private land planners deeply need effective decision guidelines and readily usable tools able to bring scientific support to land planning decision-making.
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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.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
ERC-STG - Starting Grant
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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) ERC-2020-STG
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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.
75794 PARIS
France
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.