Strengthening the impact of biodiversity conservation.
Hi! I am a conservation biologist and ecologist working internationally in the field of Conservation Science. My research and outreach activities integrate inter- and trans-disciplinary perspectives into a bigger picture of biodiversity conservation and management. I currently lead two new research projects that are focused on the conservation and management of biodiversity in tropical cacao and mediterranean olive agroforesty systems: "ECO-CACAO" & "ECO-OLIVES"
My projects focus on the conservation of terrestrial biodiversity through the understanding and management of ecological functions, services and dis-services mediated by birds, bats and arthropods. Cross-disciplinary concepts continuously flow into the design, application and communication of my work - for example, through collaboration with sustainability stakeholders, social scientists and journalists, or the co-development of concepts for advanced interaction and decision-making.
The outcomes of my projects strengthen transdisciplinary perspectives on sustainable land use development and are translated to diverse audiences to promote the implementation of scientific evidence into practice. These goals are also the basis of my teaching and mentoring at the University of Vienna (UVIE), the supervision of international theses, and my work as an Associate Editor for scientific journals (BIOC & PECON). The variety of this work reflects the diversity of perspectives that are key to inform and promote solutions for sustainable transformation processes to the benefit of the environment and human well-being.
My research in keywords (alphabetic order): Agroecology, Biodiversity Conservation, Conservation Science, Cross-disciplinary approaches, Ecological Modelling, Ecosystem Service Management, Environmental Education, Functional Diversity Analyses, Landscape Ecology, Multitrophic Interactions, Science Communication, Socio-Ecology
Short CV | Publications | Talks | ORCID | Elise Richter Network (short bio) | Twitter | Contact
Hi! I am a conservation biologist and ecologist working internationally in the field of Conservation Science. My research and outreach activities integrate inter- and trans-disciplinary perspectives into a bigger picture of biodiversity conservation and management. I currently lead two new research projects that are focused on the conservation and management of biodiversity in tropical cacao and mediterranean olive agroforesty systems: "ECO-CACAO" & "ECO-OLIVES"
My projects focus on the conservation of terrestrial biodiversity through the understanding and management of ecological functions, services and dis-services mediated by birds, bats and arthropods. Cross-disciplinary concepts continuously flow into the design, application and communication of my work - for example, through collaboration with sustainability stakeholders, social scientists and journalists, or the co-development of concepts for advanced interaction and decision-making.
The outcomes of my projects strengthen transdisciplinary perspectives on sustainable land use development and are translated to diverse audiences to promote the implementation of scientific evidence into practice. These goals are also the basis of my teaching and mentoring at the University of Vienna (UVIE), the supervision of international theses, and my work as an Associate Editor for scientific journals (BIOC & PECON). The variety of this work reflects the diversity of perspectives that are key to inform and promote solutions for sustainable transformation processes to the benefit of the environment and human well-being.
My research in keywords (alphabetic order): Agroecology, Biodiversity Conservation, Conservation Science, Cross-disciplinary approaches, Ecological Modelling, Ecosystem Service Management, Environmental Education, Functional Diversity Analyses, Landscape Ecology, Multitrophic Interactions, Science Communication, Socio-Ecology
Short CV | Publications | Talks | ORCID | Elise Richter Network (short bio) | Twitter | Contact
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News & Updates
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Two new research projects started in February/March 2022:
ECO-CACAO & ECO-OLIVES! Regular updates will be posted here. Also, feel free to get in touch - I'm happy to provide more information and discuss potential collaborations!
New positions & theses will be made available by August!
Please stay tuned! We also welcome proposals for scientific theses: please send a CV and concrete ideas for a research project considering funding options to me. 
July 2022 Finally back to a in-person Meeting of the Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) - this time in the beautiful city of Cartagena - and to the field in Peru (Carolina, Blanca and Pablo have started their postdoctoral and doctoral research in ECO-CACAO - stay tuned via Twitter)! Our eargerly awaited symposium on "Overcoming implicit bias in the tropical science community" demonstrated that we face complex challenges in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion among our own ranks - but also that we have many straightoward solutions at hand that can be immediately implemented into scientific best practice to support the achievement of our shared goals as a community. Find the first two talks of the symposium here (PDF Symposium Introduction & PDF Authorship Bias) and stay tuned for the PDFs/recordings of other talks of this session that will be posted here ASAP! June 2022 Such a special time right now! I'm beyond grateful for having received a Teaching Award in the category "Communicating the Relevance and Impact of Course Content" by the University of Vienna. It has been an extremely busy month in which I completed intensive trainings for my new projects, wrote and submitted a project grant and had my very first hearing for a tenure track position! To my colleagues of the Elise Richter Network (ERN), Women in Biology (WoBio) and the Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) & its DEI Committe: thank you all very much for your support and stay tuned! May 2022 This month has been incredibly productive and exciting! Again, a new article went online from our project REGRASS in Biological Conservation! We kicked of our project ECO-OLIVES in the field, even got featured on YouTube (canopy fogging is really a wild method - but I can't wait for the metabarcoding results!) and we had our first meeting with organic olive farming stakeholders in Germany and Austria. Our new project ECO-CACAO has been featured in a very nice Rudolphina article - on the same day I joined a Women in Biology strategy workhop and got honoured for my Elise-Richter research project and met many fellows from the Elise Richter Network. I'm so much looking forward to the next few months full of field work, exciting meetings like ATBC 2022 (in person AND abroad - wow!) and new publications - so please stay tuned, we're just getting started :) April 2022 Already at the beginning of this month, I have good news to share: two new publications are out from our projects DiFFcacao and REGRASS (see here); my new research project "ECO-OLIVES" has been featured in a STANDARD newspaper article and I joined the Women in Biology Network at the University of Vienna. Behind the scenes, we make good progress with the selection of study sites for "ECO-OLIVES" and "ECO-CACAO" and will launch our new project website in May. For all agroecologist: we are currenntly running a survey about reporting standards in agroecology that is lead by members and partners of the EU SHOWCASE project - please have a look and feel free to share! More exciting news (and articles!) coming up soon - thank you for staying tuned. February/March 2022 The war in Ukraine currently overshadows everything and yet does not stop us from moving forward - on the contrary, there is even a lot of solidarity and new cooperation coming up! Above of this update and in my Twitter you can see how we support #ScienceForUkraine and watch our progress in building our new projects (also see our new Twitter account "AgroEcoDiv"). We're holding back on superficial social media posts right now but are still happy to say that we're making good progress and will soon be able to share more good news about publications, projects and collaborations! Never let it get you down. January 2022 Major news: We are hiring a PhD to join our amazing international team in the "ECO-CACAO" project! Please share this job posting with potentially interested candidates or simply retweet it - and thank you very much for your support. This and next month, everything revolves around the preparations for my two new projects "ECO-CACAO" & "ECO-OLIVES". I'm honored to be part of the Elise Richter Fellowship Network now and look forward to being able to fully focus on my research projects now - after so many years of fighting precarious employment and multiple biases in academia! Check back from time to time, I'll keep you posted. December 2021 There is very good news and I am over the moon! While I started to coordinate many exciting projects of the University of Vienna as Sustainability Officer of the Faculty of Life Sciences in October and already look forward to the start of our DACH project "ECO-CACAO" in January 2022, I received another positive decision letter from FWF today: my Elise Richter project "ECO-OLIVES" on "Ecological Intensification of olive agroforestry systems" got funded, too! I'm so much looking forward to finally start this work, building new collaborations and working on my own research group! The new websites for my two new "ECO-FARM" projects "ECO-CACAO" & "ECO-OLIVES" will be released early next year - so feel free to get in touch and stay tuned! For example, follow me on Twitter to read more about our recent work in the ATBC DEI Committee or a new survey on wild bee knowledge and conservation which I'm coordinating in Austria... and many more news coming in almost daily. Last but not least: happy holidays and a good start into 2022 to you all! November 2021 Some exciting scientific events are happening this months and I feel both excited and honored to co-chair and moderate the "Production Day" of the 2nd International Agrobiodiversity Congress as well as to give a talk at the Evolutionary Zoology Seminar at the Department of Biosciences at the University of Salzburg (see more in "Talks & Events"). Also, I'm so excited to announce a NEW PUBLICATION and see our work on "Trait-dependent responses of birds and bats to season and dry forest distance in tropical agroforestry" from the DIFF-cacao project in Peru finally online (see more in "Publications & Press"). More exciting news to follow soon since I'm currently very busy starting new projects (yes, in addition to the new projects mentioned below!) - stay tuned (e.g., via Twitter ) & stay healthy. October 2021 New project! This month, I started my new position as Sustainability Officer of the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Vienna, looking forward to get started with many exciting new projects to promote sustainable development in research, teaching and our general workflow. At the same time, we have just advertised a new position in our ECO-CACAO project and are already looking forward to receiving international applications! Feel free to get in touch about potential collabortion in our new project on biodiversity-friendly cacao agroforestry management that builds on our DiFF-cacao project in Peru and other international networks. September 2021 The annual conference of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerlnd (GfÖ) takes place right at the beginning of the month and I was allowed to give a talk about my research for which I was awarded the GfÖ prize last year - where I also addressed the issue of lack of diversity and precarious employment in science. Movements like #IchbinHanna in Germany (i.e. on Twitter), hot debates around contract reforms at universities in Austria and a digital webinar series on academic diversity in Switzerland show not only this month but regularly and increasingly how urgent it is to promote diversity in science! August 2021 Proud to see a photo from our REGRASS project on the cover of the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Ecology to bring some extra attention to our REGRASS project and the hard work of our teams at the University of Vienna and BOKU Vienna! The data set behind our publication can be accessed and downloaded here via Phaidra (Maas et al. 2021). July 2021 Two new articles were published this month and related to some nice media response (see Publications & Press). We presented the results of our society climate survey in a plenary session of the ATBC 2021 Annual Meeting - already working on their publication in Biotropica and a couple of other exciting activities to be announced soon... A photo from our REGRASS-project made it to the cover of Journal of Applied Ecology, which also featured our work via a blog post in The Applied Ecologist. So please stay tuned & healthy, feel free to get in touch about these projects and save the dates for upcoming conferences such as the Virtual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ 2021; 30 August-01 September) and the 2nd International Agrobiodiversity Congress (15-18 Nov. 2021), where I will be involved as a plenary speaker and co-organizer! June 2021 What a month! I am very happy about the great interviews I had with The Conversation Africa (Podcast Pasha)* and the EU Horizon Magazine; that I have been invited to speak at the EU Research & Innovation Days on 24th June; that two more papers from our research project REGRASS have been published; AND: I received funding for a three year research project on biodiversity management in Peruvian cacao agroforestry systems for my PI position at the University of Vienna - together with funds of my research partners Teja Tscharntke at the University of Göttingen and Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter at the University of Würzburg in Germany. We are very much looking forward to this 'DACH project' in collaboration with our international partners (e.g. Bioversity International & CIAT and the EU SHOWCASE project) - please stay tuned and feel free to get in touch! *The Podcast 'Pasha' is also accessible via Spotify May 2021 Our new articles from the REGRASS project are out, and I had the pleasure of presenting the results of our recent research on biodiversity management for sustainable agricultural landscapes as a speaker at the round table of the EU LIFE project Olivares Vivos; and the importance of gender in ecological research as a guest speaker at the Emerging Issues Seminar of the Society for Biological Conservation (which was also recorded via Vimeo). Please see my website for further details and announcements of upcoming publications, talks and events. April 2021 Very happy to announce that two manuscripts have been accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Ecology and in Ecology and Evolution - so please stay tuned for further updates (e.g., via my Twitter). Six (!) more publications are currently at an advanced review stage, so we are optimistic to have more good news to share very soon. In April, I completed several trainings in "teaching competence" at CTL Vienna in preparation of my fourth own lecture at the University of Vienna (to be announced soon) - I can only say this much: It will focus on science communication in ecology and career advancement, building on my recently completed three-month training and new networks in digital communication, journalism and science communication in Austria & Europe. All this is super exciting to me. Please stay tuned & stay safe. March 2021 This month, we are very proud to present two new open access publications! Our publication on biased author- and leadership in ecology and conservation was published in Conservation Letters - just in time for #IWD2021. Our large survey showing divergent farmer and scientists perceptions towards agricultural biodiversity is out in Biological Conservation. More articles coming soon - stay tuned here and on Twitter. February 2021 Things are simmering in the manuscript kitchen! Please stay tuned for upcoming publications, press releases and presentations on ecosystem services, agricultural sustainability and diversity in scientific communities. Also, I'm looking forward to advance my science PR and outreach skills in a three-month certification course on "digital communication" and implement this knowledge into my future projects. January 2021 This year I'm looking forward to starting new projects and getting to work with even more inspiring people around the globe! My last PostDoc projects are coming to an end (we all can't wait to share the results with you soon!) and new cross-disciplinary work is ready to start soon. I can only reveal that they all focus on (1) combining biodiversity conservation and food production by (2) integrating ecosystem services of birds, bats and arthropods into landscape management and (3) coordinating diverse perspectives and interests through cross-disciplinary approaches and science communication. If you are interested in such topics, feel free to get in touch via Twitter or Email to discuss potential collaborations! December 2020 A very unusual year is coming to and end, for me, mainly with gratitude to have remained healthy and active and a lot of science communication such as wrapping up my press office work for the Austrian Conservation Dog Center (Naturschutzhunde), running the GfÖ Twitter Account, participating in SkypeAScientist, giving online lectures in conservation science & science communication, and working on a brochure summary of our REGRASS project for farmers and everyone else interested in farmland-biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Stay tuned for updates in 2021 and have healthy and relaxing holidays! November 2020 Our recent science journalism publication on sustainability transformation of tropical agroforestry systems in TREE is freely available via this link until 07 January 2021 (please share)! Meanwhile, we are working diligently on data sets, publications and webinars in our ongoing projects and in the ATBC DEI committee. Please stay tuned and stay safe! October 2020 The pandemic restricts us all very much, but could not stop me from a field trip to Italy to prepare the upcoming ECOLIVES project (biodiversity and ecosystem services in olive agroforestry systems) - at least mapping potential study sites is still possible. If you want to receive weekly updates on my work and be the first to hear about the start of this project, follow me on Twitter or get in touch directly via Email! September 2020 I'm honored and excited to have received the GfÖ prize from the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland for my ecological research linked to science communication and journalism! Our new collaborative paper in Trends in Ecology and Evolution highlights novel opportunities to protect ecosystem services and human well-being by transforming tropical agroforestry towards higher socio-ecological standards! I love the "journalistic style" of Science & Society articles in TREE and look forward to publishing more of such concept papers in the future. Also: check out our updates DIFFcacao project website for more updates from our ongoing cacao agroforestry projects in Peru. August 2020 A new collaborative paper on bat conservation and zoonotic disease risk is published in Animal Conservation, as well as a preprint of our work on ant community composition in newly established grasslands in Austria (REGRASS project), currently under review in Ecology and Evolution. More updates on ongoing publications coming soon! July 2020 I use the summer break between two projects for writing applications, publications, and giving interviews - as well as for my press & media work with conservation dogs in Austria, as one of the first certified teams in Austria for collision monitoring of birds and bats. Stay tuned and follow my Twitter (@MaasBea) for weekly updates on our work. June 2020 We published a call to the entire scientific leadership to center diversity, equity and inclusion at all COVID-19 related efforts in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Our call was written in response to the pandemic but also applies to the current riots about lack of diversity and persistent racism within and beyond academia. Stay tuned and follow my Twitter (@MaasBea) for weekly updates on our work. May 2020 I'm excited to announce that I have joined the ATBC Diversity&Inclusion Committee and that we are currently working on online events and actions to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in our international scientific community. Keeping up academic work during COVID-19 has been really challenging and I'm very grateful to my international colleagues for our fruitful collaboration in teaching, mentoring, research, editing and writing publications - stay tuned or follow my Twitter (@MaasBea) for weekly updates on our work. April 2020 See our BiolCons editorial on COVID-19 impacts on biodiversity conservation, revealing editorial insights beyond direct consequences of the pandemic and the opportunity to remind people of the links between healthy, resilient ecosystems and human well-being. Stay tuned for more updates on ongoing publications (ORCID; Google Scholar), scientific events and research projects from me and my international collaborators to be posted here and on Twitter (@MaasBea)! March 2020 We could finish our yearly DiFFcacao project meeting in Peru just in time before international borders were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All colleagues are currently well and safe. Nobody can say for sure how things will continue. Our team of editors at Biological Conservation is working on an editorial on the topic. Best wishes to all my colleagues and their families around the globe - I hope you are all safe and well! |
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