Project Portugal 2020

Operation code Code that identifies each project carried out using European funding.

Conclusion date

Summary

Concept and approach This project complements and expands the work to be developed by the ERA Chair created through the project “TROPIBIO - Expanding potential in TROPIcal BIOdiversity and ecosystem research towards sustainable life on land”, which was approved under the Call H2020-WIDESPREAD-2018-04. This ERA Chair aims at expanding the research and innovation potential of CIBIO-Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, a research centre hosted by ICETA - Instituto de Ciências, Tecnologias e Agroambiente da Universidade do Porto, to develop excellent research towards innovation, contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems, and ultimately to sustainable socioeconomic development and the reduction of poverty. The ERA Chair is rooted on a network of TwinLabs, which are partnerships established between CIBIO and institutions from Portuguese-speaking African countries to jointly develop research, advanced training and capacity building. The project will help develop an ambitious program of research focusing on three lines of research identified as priorities by the ERA Chair, but greatly expanding their scope, breadth and innovation potential. Research plan and methods The operation is organised in three interrelated research lines (RL), which were designed to achieve the general and specific goals of the project, and which are briefly outlined below. Research Line 1 - Tropical biodiversity assessments and conservation planning under global change The RL corresponds to one of the thematic priorities identified under the ERA Chair TROPIBIO, and it focuses on biodiversity assessments and conservation planning. The RL will increase the biodiversity information in the focal countries, and will help identify biodiversity hotspots, upgrading the network of protection areas, and improving their management. The RL will involve five streamlined and interrelated activities: i) Biodiversity assessments, involving surveys of target groups and rapid biodiversity assessments; ii) taxonomy, phylogeny and phylogeography, involving integrative studies to advance the taxonomy and evolutionary history of poorly known groups, and thus providing baseline information to their conservation; iii) biodiversity information, involving the study of biological collections, the dissemination online of biodiversity data and the development of a DNA barcode reference collections; iv) conservation planning, involving the development of networks of protected areas and interlinking corridors, providing high biodiversity coverage and robust to climate and land use changes; and v) management of protected areas, involving studies on the relations between human populations, wildlife and ecosystems, and providing critical evidence to support the management of protected areas. Research Line 2 - Conservation and management of flagship species This RL also corresponds to one of the priority thematic areas identified in the ERA Chair, and it focuses on the conservation biology of highly threatened flagship species. The RL will increase the knowledge on the biology and ecology of flagship species, to promote their conservation, maintain their keystone role in ecosystems, reduce human – wildlife conflicts, and foster their use to sustain activities such as eco-tourism. The RL will involve four streamlined and interrelated activities: i) Development and optimisation of monitoring methods, to devise cost-effective approaches to monitor the distribution and populations of the focal species; ii) population size and distribution, aiming at understanding environmental and anthropogenic factors determining species range and abundance; iii) key ecological resources, to understand the main resources required to assure the viability of these species, including, e.g., water, food and habitat; and iv) human-wildlife interactions, to assess conflicts, attitudes and uses of the target species by humans and how this affects their conservation. Research Line 3 – Biodiversity and ecosystem structure, function and services in tropical ecosystems. This RL considerably expands one of the three priority thematic areas identified in the ERA Chair, focusing on ecosystem structure, function and services. The RL will enhance our understanding on how biodiversity underpins ecosystem structure and function, and how this in turn supports the services delivered to people. The RL will involve five streamlined and interrelated activities: i) Biodiversity and ecosystem structure, function and services, focusing primarily on how defaunation of medium and large-bodied vertebrates is affecting forest ecosystems ; ii) long-term ecosystem trends, aiming to understand the effect of ecosystem structure, function and services of slow and/or rare processes; iii) ecological intensification in production tropical landscapes, aiming to understand and intensify the natural services of pest control and pollination; iv) forest ecosystem restoration, aiming to devise cost-effective approaches to the ecological restoration of tropical forest ecosystems; and v) biodiversity and ecosystem benefits to people, aiming to understand the contribution of conservation to people living within and around protected areas. Scientific outcomes and exploitation of results The project will contribute to fill important information gaps, which are relevant from the scientific and applied standpoints. In particular, it will provide a better understanding on: i) biodiversity levels and distribution on the focal countries; ii) the design and adaptive management of protected areas; iii) the ecology and management strategies for highly-threatened species; iv) the relations between biodiversity and ecosystem structure, function and services; v) the restoration of tropical ecosystems; and vi) the benefits of biodiversity to people. The project will also enhance the capacity of CIBIO to develop research on tropical species and ecosystems, including their protection and restoration within highly complex social-ecological systems. This will enhance CIBIO’s notoriety and visibility, which in turn will enhance its capacity to produce scientific outputs, and to access research funding from the European Union and other international organisations (e.g., World Bank). The results obtained will be disseminated to the wide scientific community, through publications and presentations in conferences and other meetings. Also, results will be presented in Portuguese to the scientific communities of the focal countries, thereby promoting their uptake and exploitation by the local scientific communities and other stakeholders. To further promote the exploitation of results, information will also be provided to decision-makers and managers in the focal countries, through technical reports in Portuguese, round-table discussions, workshops and meetings.