Trait-based approaches in conservation

Manuela Gonzalez-Suarez
School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, manuela.gonzalez@reading.ac.uk

(Seminar in English)

Anthropogenic impacts on the world’s ecosystems have led to a widespread and accelerating loss of biodiversity. No area of the planet can be considered pristine any longer, yet not all areas or species are affected equally by human impacts. Some species have characteristics, traits, that make them more (or less) vulnerable to threats, and threats can be localized and varying in intensity. In this talk I will discuss how we can use data describing species morphological, behavioural, and ecological traits to better understand and predict vulnerability to extinction and to individual anthropogenic threats. I will present different trait-based approaches, discuss the issue of data limitation and end proposing some possible future directions in macroecological conservation.

Recent publications:

González-Suárez, M; Zanchetta Ferreira, F; Grilo, C (in press) Spatial and species-level predictions of road mortality risk using trait data. Global Ecology and Biogeography

Gonzalez-Voyer, A; González-Suárez, M; Vilà, C; Revilla, E (2016) Large brain size indirectly increases vulnerability to extinction in mammals. Evolution 70: 1364–1375. DOI: 10.1111/evo.12943.

González-Suárez, M; Bacher, S; Jeschke, J.M. (2015) Intraspecific trait variation is correlated with establishment success of alien mammals. The American Naturalist 185:737-746.