Movement Ecology Group

The Movement Ecology Group  (MEG) focuses on the movement ecology of mammals and large terrestrial vertebrates. Namely, its research activities aims to better understand the ultimate and proximate drivers of animal movement in terrestrial ecosystems, also with the goal of quantifying the influence of human activities (e.g. agriculture, hunting, forestry) and inform conservation policies. Some of the main scientific questions that will be tackled by MEG include:

1. Quantify the relative influence of natural and anthropogenic resources (e.g., crop development; masting), human disturbance and predation risk, over the movement patterns of large mammals in anthropized ecosystems. Namely, understanding how large mammals living at the interface of woodlands, croplands and urban areas move and select habitat patches, in order to balance resource acquisition with their perceived predation risk stemming from humans and large carnivores.
2. Use models of animal movement to guide the management of wildlife diseases, under a One Health Approach. For example, characterizing the movement of wild boars to guide management strategies for the control of African Swine Fever in Europe.
3. Use data from GPS telemetry and accelerometers to quantify the post-release behavior of large vertebrates, in conservation translocations. This will allow to disentangle the effect of captive breeding and/or different acclimatisation and release methods, over space use, movement periodicity and habitat selection.
4. Predict movement corridors for mammals in Europe, by combining GPS telemetry data, large datasets about animal distribution (e.g., GBIF), expert knowledge and models for environmental suitability and connectivity. Then using predictions about movement corridors to better understand wildlife–transportation collisions and design mitigation measures.