Behavioural Ecology, Animal Behaviour and Wildlife Management

The activities of this research group are concerned with behaviour, ecology and management of animal populations. The main goal is to identify adaptative mechanisms of behavioural and ecological responses to environmental variations, both at the intraspecific and interspecific levels, also to detect their potential consequences for community- and ecosystem-level processes, using meso-large mammals (ungulates, carnivores) as preferred study species. Many activities have implications to suggest evidence-based measures for the management and conservation of animal populations and for the mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts.

Research lines

• Adaptive mechanisms of interspecific interactions and coexistence, e.g., competition, facilitation, predator-prey relationships.
• Social, foraging and spatiotemporal behaviour.
• Environmental drivers of individual phenotypic quality and population dynamics.
• Impacts of ungulates on ecosystems and human activities, as well as mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts.
• Counting methods of wild ungulates.
• Conservation of endangered populations of ungulates.