“Challenging conservation: adattarsi al cambiamento”

Yesterday saw the conclusion of the first Italian conference for Early Career Researchers in conservation science, organised by SCB Italy and entitled “Challenging conservation: adattarsi al cambiamento”. Many of our PhD and MSc students, and collaborators attended the conference, held at Rome's Bioparco, with presentations and posters on their own research lines, from global to local perspectives.

Giordano Mancini took part with a presentation entitled “Assessing climate change impact to support extinction risk assessments in the IUCN Red List”, while Chiara Dragonetti presented her work entitled “Drivers of change in mountain areas of the world: a comparison between different mountain ranges”. Andrea Sacchi gave a speed talk entitled “Hotspots of risk for mammal species and Nature’s Contributions to People under global warming”. In addition, Andrea Tonelli, Federica Villa, Niccolò Ceci, and Marta Cimatti took part in the poster session with the following works respectively: “Identifying life-history patterns along the fast-slow continuum of mammalian viral carriers”, “Macroparasite infections and physiological stress in Eurasian red squirrels Sciurus vulgaris”, “Density of meso and macro mammals in a corridor area of the Central Apennines”, “Maintaining regions of high biodiversity value help preserve regulating Nature's Contributions to People under climate change”.

This conference was an exciting opportunity for discussion and exchange with several young researchers from all over Italy and even abroad. But it also gave BGC lab members the chance to be involved in the conference organisation, to have fun and to strengthen the bond between them and the other members of the MBC research group.