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De biologie van het natuurbehoud

De biologie van het natuurbehoud is een relatief jonge, multidisciplinaire wetenschap. Ze ontstond om een antwoord te geven op de crisis van de biodiversiteit en is er op gericht de impact van menselijke activiteiten op de biodiversiteit te meten en hiervoor milderende of corrigerende maatregelen te ontwikkelen. Gebruik makend van de resultaten van populatiebiologie, evolutieleer, ecologie en ethologie, ontwikkelt de biologie van het natuurbehoud methodologieën die specifiek aangepast zijn aan het analyseren en het vermijden van het risico op uitsterven van bedreigde soorten en populaties. Terzelfdertijd wordt aandacht besteed aan het opsporen en het tegengaan van degradatie, achteruitgang, verarming en fragmentering van planten- en dierengemeenschappen. De afdeling Biologie van het Natuurbehoud van het Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen ontplooit activiteiten in beide van deze deelgebieden.

Op het vlak van bedreigde soorten, zijn onderzoek en studies er vooral op gericht soorten en populaties in gevaar op te sporen en hun geschiedenis, biogeografie, eco-ethologie en populatietrends te bestuderen. Verder wordt gewerkt aan het voorspellen van de populatiedynamica en het risico op uitsterven van kleine populaties, aan het ontwikkelen van methodes voor het verzamelen van gegevens die aangepast zijn aan kwetsbare soorten (in het bijzonder technieken voor het individueel merken,herkennen en monitoring) en aan het ontwikkelen en toepassen van herstelprogramma's.

Op het vlak van ecosystemen, zijn de onderzoeksprojecten voornamelijk gericht op de identificatie, de evaluatie en het omschrijven van biologisch belangrijke gebieden, op het definiëren van selectiecriteria voor beschermingszones en op het opstellen van voorwaarden waaraan netwerken van beschermde gebieden minimaal moeten voldoen. Belangrijke bijdragen hiervoor, zijn het opstellen van een typologie voor en lijsten van habitats en het opsporen van gevaren en bedreigingen. Verder loopt er onderzoek naar de principes van habitat-beheer en hun toepassing op complexe gebieden en naar methodes voor het evaluren van trends, biologische indicatoren en milieu-effect-studies.

The activities of the Section of Conservation Biology are organized into five programmes inscribed within the pluriannual plan of the Institute. These programmes include both permanent activities and targeted projects undertaken at the request of actors in the field of nature conservation.
(
nederlandse vertaling zal binnenkort worden gedaan)

 

THREATENED SPECIES AND POPULATIONS:
Direct contribution to the preservation of fragile species or populations, through, in particular, the preparation of conservation or recovery plans and a participation in their implementation. Development of methodologies appropriate to the evaluation of extinction risks of populations, to the diagnosis and quantification of risk factors, to the identification and monitoring of corrective measures. A limited number of groups of plants and animals is involved in the programme, their selection determined by contingencies related to conservation priority needs as well as by the expertise accumulated by the Section. Current projects are conducted within the framework of the implementation of the Bonn Convention and concern critically threatened migratory species, Sahelo-Saharan antelopes on the one hand, the curlew Numenius tenuirostris on the other hand. Recently completed projects addressed the conservation of the Mediterranean Monk Seal, Monachus monachus, of the Hazel Hen, Bonasa bonasia, in the Ardennes, of the European Lady's Slipper Orchid, Cypripedium calceolus, Gorilla gorilla.

 





LONG-TERM EVOLUTIONS:
Study and quantification of middle- and long-term dynamic trends of populations or species belonging to sensitive groups. Methodological contribution to the development of data-gathering and interpretation systems. This programme exploits the opportunities for continuity of research provided by the administrative structure of the Royal Belgian Institute and includes projects which have been sustained over several decades. The main components of the programme are the study of populations and movements of European birds through ringing, the study of bat distribution, abundance and ecology in Belgium, the monitoring of forest and peri-urban avifaunas.

 



 

IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF FRAGILE
COMMUNITIES
:
Contribution to the identification and elaboration of networks of protected areas, established, in particular, within the framework of European directives and international conventions. Identification and characterisation of fragile communities, evaluation of their state of conservation, of their trends, of their range and of the risk factors to which they are submitted. Definition, selection and evaluation of networks of protected areas based on an adequate representation of distinct plant and animal communities. Design of management techniques contributing to the preservation of fragile communities. Conception of management and incitation measures applicable outside protected areas and contributing to an overall improvement of the quality of communities. Currently running projects include the development of a habitat typology, initiated for Europe within the CORINE programme of the European Communities, extended to the Palaearctic Region in collaboration with the Council of Europe and the Barcelona Convention, now adapted to several continents. They also include validation projects, oriented towards relations between habitat typologies and faunal elements and towards the evaluation of scale factors; they use several ensembles of bio-indicators, among them the litter fauna, orthopterans, amphibians and reptiles, birds, bats, primates.

 



BIOINDICATORS:
Evolutionary biology, eco-ethology and biogeography of species and groups of species of high relevance to nature conservation and with strong bioindicator characteristics. Development and  experimentation of methodologies of biodiversity evaluation relying on indicators. Study of the applicability of these methods to various approaches of the conservation of the natural heritage. Experimentation of environmental monitoring methods relying on the observation of the evolution of the richness of sample sites in species belonging to indicator groups, or of appropriate parameters and indices related to that richness. Current projects concern mammals, in particular bats, birds, terrestrial orchids and selected groups of invertebrates.

 

 

 

INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT:
Integration of the preoccupations of conservation of the natural heritage in land planning policies. Identification of sites of conservation importance, characterisation of ecologically sensitive areas, management techniques. Definition and application of the special protection area concept. Establishment of protected areas, parks and nature reserves. Elaboration of management and action plans for protected areas or species. Inventories. Conception, implementation and evaluation of awareness campaigns in favour of protected areas or species. Site evaluation methodologies. Relations between agriculture, environment and biodiversity. Land planning and impact study methodologies. Biological potential of administrative entities. This programme incorporates in its conceptual core results of projects pertaining to other programmes, but its field of application is situated somewhat downstream, at the level of the integration of biological data in conservation programmes and of their interaction with economical and social constraints. Studies in support of the implementation of the European directives on wild birds and on fauna, flora and habitats, on the one hand, of the Bonn, Bern and biodiversity conventions, on the other hand, fit in this programme. The programme also includes ecological network studies in urban and suburban areas, management, improvement and restoration programmes in favour of sites of importance for the conservation of bats, the elaboration of management plans for nature reserves belonging to non-governmental organisations and a participation in a habitat rehabilitation and monitoring programme in the Hercynian ranges of Central Europe.



 Scientific staff

Maurice Leponce
Section Head
DrSc. Agronomiques
Ecological patterns ans processes, entomology, soil fauna,
Ingénieur agronome biodiversity assessment, habitats, protected areas

Roseline C. Beudels-Jamar de Bolsée
DrSc. - Biologique
Senior Scientist
Assistant-Manager of the Section
 Eco-ethology of mammals and birds, population dynamics
threatened species, protected areas

Marie-Odile Beudels
Licenciée en Philosophies & Lettres
Monument and site history, public awareness,
environment education, museology, threatened species
programs, Webmaster

René-Marie Lafontaine
Licencié en Sciences Biologiques
Ornithology, entomology, threatened Species,
 protected areas, ecological assessment

Maurice Leponce
DrSc. Agronomiques
Ecological patterns ans processes, entomology, soil fauna,
Ingénieur agronome biodiversity assessment, habitats, protected areas
 

Post PhD student

Thibaut Delsinne
DrSc en Sciences Biologiques
Terrestrial insect ecology. Dry woodland. Vegetation- insect relations.
Ant communities.Aridity gradients.

PhD students

Yaëlle Bouyer
Doctorante FRIA

Use of space and predation by Eurasian Lynx. Modelization of the possible return
of a large carnivore in Benelux.
License en Biologie des Organismes. Anges (France). 2009
Master: Zones humides. Anges (France) 2010

Fanny Brotcorne
Doctorante FNRS
Msc en Sciences Psychologiques. ULB. 2006
Master complémentaire: Biologie des Organismes et Ecologie. ULG. 2008
Thèse: Eco-éthologie et analyse de viabilité de populations de Macaques à longue queue
(Macaca fascicularis) à Bali (Indonésie): impact du type d'habitat et du degré d'anthropisation

Nicolas Granier
Doctorat en cours: écologie comportementale de communautés non habituées de chimpanzés,
Pan troglodytes verus . Mont Nimba. Guinée, Côte d’Ivoire et le Liberia.
Licence et Maîtrise de Biologie Cellulaire et Physiologie
Recherche en Primatologie (PRG).
Ecologie comportementale, Chimpanzé, Utilisation de l’habitat, Saisonnalité,
Phénologie des fruits, Grande Faune, Approche Transfrontalière de la Recherche et Conservation.

Justine Jacquemin
Doctorante FRIA
Msc en Bioingénierie (Zoologie Appliquée)
Neotropical ant assemblages and ecology

Charles-Albert Petre
Doctorant Belspo (Action 2)
License en Biologie Animale. ULB. 2005
DEA en Eco-éthologie et conservation de la biodiversité. ULg. 2007
Wildlife conservation and forest management

Adeline Stercks
Doctorante FNRS
Msc en Bioingéniérie (Zoologie Appliquée)
Eco-ethology of bonobos

Franck Trolliet
Doctorant: thèse Lac Tumba- RDC
License en Biologie des Organismes. (France)
Recherche en primatologie ULG
 

Scientific collaborators:

Pierre Devillers: Ecology and conservation of plant communities, habitat
characterisation and classification, plant systematics and
ecology, ornithology, protected areas

Jean Devillers-Terschuren: Ecology and conservation of plant communities, habitat
characterisation and classification, plant systematics and
ecology

Jacques Verschueren: Eco-ethology of mammals and birds, threatened species,
protected areas


Technical staff :

Isabelle Bachy: Scientific photography, image databases,
animal detection methodologies

Jacques Fairon: Bats

Yves Lauren : Databases , animal detection methodologies

Didier Vangeluwe: Ornithology, bird-ringing