PhD position @w-u-r.bsky.social:

Exploring community relations among land management
strategies, #conservation & livelihood outcomes around
#Gorongosa National Park
#Mozambique

Deadline: Sept 30th

More info: tinyurl.com/gorongosaPhD

As part of ABC-Futures project: www.wur.nl/en/project/a...

Doing research in a cloud forest is incredible but sometimes you need to proceed meter by meter with such effort 🇪🇨🐻

Sneak peek into the venue of @scbeurope.bsky.social ECCB 2026 in Leiden, the Netherlands, very exciting conference is in the making! Stay tuned and save the dates:
6-10 2026

Attacking civilians continue:

At least 224 Iranians have been killed in Israeli strikes since hostilities began on Friday, with 90% of casualties reportedly civilians.

+80 people killed over the past 2 nights in #Tehran by Israeli strikes, mostly civilians, among them +20 children… Reckless and unprovoked attacks by a regime that can openly convince the world that committing a genocide is legitimate. Sheer moral bankruptcy of all those who just watched this unfold

Great fun teaching Experimental Design for Ecology @w-u-r.bsky.social for the first time!

Student groups come up with ecological questions, design & implement experiments in the field & the lab, & analyze & present their results over 4 weeks!

Inspiring talks by Future for Nature Award 2025 laureates, from fighting to save #pangolins and Andean #bears to finding solutions to save #amphibians from Chytrid fungus

During difficult times for #conservation, we should (more than ever) unite as a community & support each other
#futurefornature

Our Science of Conservation course is ongoing in beautiful North Drakensberg Nature Reserve in South Africa with participants from 11 countries.

The participants will take a inter-/transdisciplinary approach to look into the conservation challenges of the surrounding area.

published in @consletters.bsky.social!

Unlocking the Value of Ranger-Based #Monitoring for #Biodiversity #Conservation and Protected Area Management

We showcase 6 key lessons & a decision framework toward more effective use of ranger-based monitoring

conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Published in Biological #Conservation!

Space use of a diverse #megafauna community in a #rewilding area in the southwestern #Carpathians

We showed that landscape composition is important for allowing a diverse megafauna community to share space w/ people.

OA:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We’re holding an #interdisciplinary PhD course on ‘science of #conservation’ in South Africa this March.

It involves a range of lectures, group-work activities and a mini-project applying social and ecological tools in N Drakensberg.

Apply here (only a few spots left):
www.pe-rc.nl/TheScienceof...

Published in Conservation Biology!

Effectiveness of protected areas in the #Caucasus Mountains in preventing #rangeland #degradation

Using greenness indicators in 52 PAs from 1988-2019 we showed that they’re ineffective in preventing degradation

OA:
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Let’s start the new life here with an amazing video of a Persian leopard in the Alborz Mts of Parvar PA, Iran.

Courtesy of H. Tizrooyan

Excited to share the new IUCN Red List assessment of the Persian leopard co-led by Igor Khorozyan & myself:

www.iucnredlist.org/species/1596...

While the subspecies retained its Endangered status since the last assessment 15 yrs ago, regional conservation initiatives are gaining momentum

There is still time to register for the SCB-Europe fall webinar next week:

bit.ly/3Q7KRwO

Check the detailed program here:

conbio.org/groups/secti...

Hi Bluesky peeps!
I’m a conservation researcher with an eye on effectiveness of protected areas, monitoring tools, human-wildlife conflict & poaching.

I love mountains and work in the Caucasus, Central Asia & Iran where I study mainly big cats (leopard, cheetahs, snow leopards) & mountain ungulates