Biodiversity monitoring and conservation

Monitoring ecosystem restoration with eDNA

In this project, we apply methods based on environmental DNA (eDNA) to advance terrestrial biodiversity monitoring, with a special focus on restored ecosystems. By measuring biodiversity change in forests at different stages of growth in Colombia, we aim to evaluate the application of eDNA based approaches in monitoring forest ecosystem recovery.

Shift eDNA - Assessing species distribution changes using eDNA

Marine ecosystems are suffering from global warming and shifts in the distribution of certain fish species toward higher latitudes have already been observed. The “Shift eDNA” project aims to implement a long-​term monitoring in different types of ecosystems worldwide (polar, temperate, tropical) to assess species range shift, based on a novel combination of eDNA metabarcoding and deep neural networks.

Environmental DNA analyses to support wildlife species conservation in Bhutan

In this project, we will use CRISPR-​Cas analyses to detect eDNA of emblematic mammalian species from the water samples to boost detection, and identify the moments and the place when the livestock is most at risk from attacks as well as the crop-​raiding. Hence the project will serve to open new opportunities in the planning of socially, culturally, or technically innovative projects fostering strategies for the conservation of wildlife species, its detection, and management and planning for mitigating Human-​wildlife conflict.

Management and conservation of urban wildlife

Cities are rapidly expanding both in extent and human population. However, not only humans occupy urban habitats. We share urban spaces with a wide array of wildlife, and the wildlife diversity in urban spaces often outperforms that of surrounding areas. Mammals are of particular interest to study due to their high diversity of ecological traits and habitat requirements, as well as their potential for zoonotic diseases. For urban conservation measures, it is crucial to know which species exist in cities and how species composition changes over time. However, many mammals are elusive, nocturnal, and difficult to identify to the species level even upon close examination. Management and conservation of urban wildlife relies on the development of effective and cost-efficient monitoring methods.

VOODOO: Viral eco-​evolutionary dynamics of wild and domestic pollinators under global change

This project aims to assess the risk of spill-​over of honeybee viruses to wild pollinators. It has been shown in experiments that visiting the same flowers as honeybees exposes wild pollinators to honeybee viruses. Specifically, we want to find out how urban and agricultural land use and their respective floral resource availability impacts honeybee virus prevalence in the wild pollinator community.

Agrometric

In collaboration with AXA Climate, we hope to provide a simple, quick, and cost-​effective, way to quantify biodiversity at the farm scale so that farmers may be further encouraged to make these changes by offering protection through agricultural insurance in the face of any potential loss to profits. 

MAESTRO

In this project we want to characterize and assess the effects of climate and fishing on the functional diversity of exploited communities during the last three decades in the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, to forecast how exploited communities will respond to the upcoming warming until the end of this century, and to investigate, for several climate change scenarios, alternative harvesting strategies targeting different species and trait groups in order to minimize the impacts of fishing on functional diversity.

ACTNOW

Launched in 2022, the ACTNOW project uses eDNA metabarcoding technology to monitor marine biodiversity in the Mediterranean's rocky subtidal habitats, a critical initiative driven by ETH Zürich and the University of Montpellier. This forward-thinking project aims to support regulatory frameworks by providing precise biodiversity assessments and tracking invasive species, thereby guiding the future establishment of Marine Protected Areas in alignment with the EU's 2030 Biodiversity Strategy.