biodiversity
Parasites: often overlooked but important for biomedical research
European biomedical researchers show a rising interest towards parasites, often regarded as natural oddities in the past but now recognised as vital parts of natural ecosystems, in addition to having a sizable impact on human health worldwide. Parasites are an incredibly diverse and broad group of organisms, comprising plants, animals and microscopic beings alike. Their ...
A scientist’s opinion: interview with Dr Rachel Paterson on the importance of parasite research
Dr Rachel Paterson works at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, where she studies host-parasite interactions in wildlife, tackling crucial aspects related to conservation and ecosystem functioning. Since 2024, she has led the IMPACT project. The main goal of this project -funded by Biodiversa+ (European Biodiversity Partnership), the European Commission, and national funding organisations across ...
‘The EU needs to be better prepared for new and emerging plant pests’
Plant pests can have severe consequences for the economy, environment and food security, as was seen with a bacterial pathogen that has already killed millions of olive tress across Southern Europe. Experts Sarah Hackfort and Chiel Scholten (Technolopis Group, Germany and The Netherlands) wrote a study for the European Parliament’s Panel for the Future of ...
A scientist’s opinion: interview with Dr Ragni Fjellgaard Mikalsen about solutions against wildfires
From innovative seed balls to virtual reality training for firefighters - the large-scale EU Green Deal TREEADS project she was leading with 47-48 partners from 13 to 14 European countries and Taiwan, resulted in 26 different solutions and technologies for integrated fire management and adaptive forest restoration: Dr Ragni Fjellgaard Mikalsen is Senior Research Scientist ...
A scientist’s opinion: interview with Prof. Juan Picos about solutions against wildfires
How can we make the European landscape more resilient to wildfires? Experts are testing out different prevention strategies on different areas through predictive models and computer simulations. One of them is Prof. Juan Picos from the University of Vigo (Spain), co-coordinator of the cross-border EU-funded FIREPOCTEP+ project. He will speak at the workshop ‘Nature-based solutions ...
Towards a planetary boundary framework
In 2009, a team, led by the climate scientist Prof Johan Rockström, identified nine natural processes that regulate Earth’s biosphere and keep it stable. These include climate change, biosphere integrity, land-system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, novel entities, ocean acidification, stratospheric ozone depletion and aerosol loading. For each of these processes the team defined the ...
Primary forests: ‘Allowing biodiversity to spread out again’
“Primary forests can help the EU meet several of its objectives, including its targets under the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the EU Forest Strategy 2030. They would also help with key climate objectives by providing long-term carbon storage”, says expert Bart Nyssen. Nyssen is a forest ecologist at the Department of Earth & Environmental ...
A scientist’s opinion: interview with Dr Samanta Bačić on nature-based solutions for climate adaptation
Dr Samanta Bačić is a Senior Assistant in the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy at the University of Split, Croatia. Her primary area of expertise is in geoinformatics with a focus on Geographic Information System (GIS) models tailored for urban environmental management in the context of climate change and green transition goals. She ...