Greek summer school CBCD

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Lectures

L1: Halting further biodiversity loss: Why? (2h)
Andrew Ramsey, University of Cumbria, UK

The session will outline the international and European political commitments towards reducing the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. It will presents biodiversity loss and the current extinction crisis in the light of other historical declines in biodiversity. The current and predicted extinction rates for a range of species groups and ecosystems will be outlined. The importance of this biodiversity loss will be evaluated in terms of use and non-use values for the humankind. Examples will be drawn from a range of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and will include data from academic, NGO and governmental organization. The session will conclude with a number of reasons arguing why biodiversity should and must be conserved.

S1: Ecosystem services and nature conservation: triumph of utilitarianism? (2h)
Gabor Lövei, University of Aarhus, Denmark

This talk introduces a discussion session where the participants will be familiar with the concept of ecosystem services, the millennium Ecosystem Assessment, with particular reference to cultivated and man-managed areas. Particular attention will be given to such areas as habitats for endangered flora and fauna - which is especially relevant in Europe. The presentation will be followed by a moderated discussion where two groups will argue for and against the utilitarian concept for nature protection: why is it useful to use the ecosystem services concept for conservation biology? Is such an approach limiting and ultimately futile to enhance the effectiveness of conservation of biodiversity?

S2: Genetic manipulation and biodiversity conservation (2h)
Gabor Lövei, University of Aarhus, Denmark

This session will review the main activities of plant and animal genetic manipulations and their possible effect on biodiversity at several levels (infra-vs. supra-individual levels). Aspects where this technology can help conservation biology will be discussed. The participants will become familiar with the main arguments for and against using or allowing genetic manipulations and the release of genetically modified organisms in nature, as well as the possible beneficial applications for conservation biology. The session will conclude with a moderated student debate on the above issue.

L2: Conservation Biology: the European paradigm (2h)
Andrew Ramsey, University of Cumbria, UK

This session will introduce what conservation biology is doing to address the catastrophic loss in biodiversity. This will include an introduction to a number of conservation strategies drawn from a wide range of issues including in and ex situ conservation, reintroduction, habitat restoration, genetic issues, legislative issues, economic and political influence, modelling and technological efforts. The science of how all these issues are brought under the umbrella of conservation and how this can aid in the fight to maintain biodiversity will be discussed. Examples will concentrate on EU case studies and will attempt to illustrate a paradigm for conservation biology in the EU.

L3: Global climate change and biodiversity (2h)
John Halley, University of Ioannina, Greece

This lecture will discuss the variability of earth’s climate as a natural as well as an anthropogenic phenomenon. The climate of the earth has always been changing, often in dramatic and sudden ways, with major consequences for biodiversity. This can be seen through the analysis of data from the past. So how do we make sense of the complex diversity of climatic changes? We will lay out some guidelines, including a discussion of how the current change in climate is distinguished from natural changes. This leads us to a discussion about the likely effects of the current global warming on biodiversity.

S3: Biodiversity assessment: how to measure life? (2h)
Vassiliki Kati, University of Ioannina, Greece

This session will start with a BBC video presenting the variety of life on Earth, the state of the planet, mass extinction events and the present human-induced biodiversity decline. Famous conservation biologists demonstrate their techniques to assess biodiversity and measure species richness in the world, including the tropics, or in deep oceans. Students will have to fill a test evaluating the knowledge acquired from the multimedia session. A talk will summarize the current methods and problems in measuring the diversity of life.

L4: Monitoring European bird diversity (2h)
Dario Massimino, Univesity of Milano—Bicocca, Italy

This session will be concerned with the implementation of the Bird Directive, not only as a guideline to conserve birds themselves but also as a tool to maintain a sufficient extension of bird’s habitats and to conserve other taxa covered when birds are used as focal species to assess land suitability to species and community conservation. To this end, some basic concepts about bird sampling and bird census will be introduced while some more information will be given about bird counting by point count approach and the possible use of the very large database that may be produced to classify the birds according to their status (SPEC) by means of this and other approaches.

L5: Conservation biology in practice: case studies throughout Europe (2h)
Andrew Ramsey, University of Cumbria, UK

In theory, the science and application conservation biology has the potential to halt or even reverse the current decline in biodiversity. This session looks at the realism of trying to conserve species in the real world and discusses some of the pitfalls of applying conservation theory to conservation practice. The content will concentrate, though not exclusively, on the conservation of butterflies and will draw on classic examples form throughout the world as well as drawing on the session leaders own research and a number of current examples drawn from throughout the EU.

L6: Mountain ecosystems: how to maintain plant diversity? (2h)
Panayotis Dimopoulos, University of Ioannina, Greece

This session will outline the ecological value of mountainous ecosystems as refugia of biodiversity in the context of climate change, focusing particularly on plant diversity. It will present the ecological classification of Europe’s alpine areas based on life zones, elevation and bioclimatic characterization. The session will discuss the mechanisms regulating the plant species richness and explaining the high endemism of the montane zone above the timberline. Finally, case studies in the Mediterranean basin and in Greece will be presented, while the threats and the conservation measures to maintain mountain phyto-diversity will be extensively discussed.

L7: Designing protected areas: theory and practice (2h)
Vassiliki Kati, University of Ioannina, Greece

This session will outline the available methodologies and approaches to design protected areas so as to maximize biodiversity conservation within optimal ecological networks. The methods will be classified according to data availability for optimal decision-making. We will discuss about the reserve selection problem at different areas on Earth and at different scales. The lecture will be enriched with several problem-solving case studies.

L8: Ecological networking: conservation outside protected areas (2h)
Dario Massimino, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

This lecture will discuss the problem of locating and managing various types of corridors and buffer zones to connect core (protected) areas and to give a perspective of persistence to those species that still have important populations on lands whose fate may very soon change dramatically. It will focus on ecological networks and the possible ways to locate them and validate their location.

L9: Modelling extinction and loss of diversity in small populations (2h)
John Halley, University of Ioannina, Greece

This lecture introduces the various mechanisms that lead to the extinction of small populations and how these are modelled. The mechanisms include demographic and environmental stochasticity, allele effects and spatial fragmentation. Population viability analysis (PVA) aims to forecast the effect of these on a population’s likelihood of survival. We will discuss how successful has it been and why there has been such fierce controversy surrounding PVA. How useful are models generally in these kinds of situations? I will illustrate some lessons through the specific example of the management of ungulate populations in South African protected areas.

L10: Ecological economics: foundation for sustainable nature conservation (2h)
Martin Dieterich, University of Hohenheim, Germany

The lecture will present basic principles of Ecological Economics, and compare those to standard neoclassical economic paradigms and principles. The basic obstacles for nature conservation imposed by the standard market approach will be explained and illustrated. Models and routes on how to better integrate nature conservation and economy driven interests under the market system will be discussed.

S4: The role of local societies in national park management (2h)
Dario Massimino, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

This discussion forum will illustrate how parks for nature conservation may be created at national, regional or even communal or multi-communal level. Although the quality of the land may differ, the main difference among these three different levels consists in the regulations to establish the park and in management of the established park. Students will discuss the role of the local societies and how it differs in the above three levels. Not only the benefits but also the limits of a consensus-based approach will be discussed, as opposed to a material reality based approach, which avoids legitimizing existing patterns of environmental degradation. The example of Queen Elizabeth National Park (Uganda) will be used to illustrate this issue.

L11: Conservation policy: nature conservation in cultural landscapes (2h)
Martin Dieterich, University of Hohenheim, Germany

The session will outline some of the basic challenges nature conservation faces in a cultural landscape context. These challenges include conservation on private lands and active participation by land users and other stakeholders. Model programs and projects from the South German State of Baden-Württemberg will be presented and critically evaluated.

L12: Establishing and managing Natura 2000 network: the case of Greece (2h)
Panayotis Dimopoulos, University of Ioannina, Greece

This session will present the historical background for the implementation of the Habitat Directive (92/43 EU) in Greece and the mapping procedure in the Natura 2000 sites based on vegetation units and habitats. The session will outline the methodology for the conservation status assessment of habitat types and plant species, and the current monitoring system of the applied management measures. It will present the evaluation of the efficiency of management measures taken in the sites of Natura 2000 network. The session will generate discussion on the interface of administration and science, taking case studies.