Research visit to the Fuller Laboratory at Queensland University in Brisbane, Australia
Federico Morelli and Yanina Benedetti, from the Community Ecology and Conservation (CEC) research group, in the Faculty of Environmental Science, started a research visit at the Queensland University, Brisbane (Australia) with Richard Fuller, who is one of the most influential conservation ecologists nowadays. The Fuller Laboratory is a vibrant, active and interdisciplinary group, focusing mainly applied topics in wildlife and human interactions, biodiversity and conservation, spanning the fields of conservation planning, conservation psychology and urban ecology. See more information about the Fuller Lab here: https://www.fullerlab.org/
The Queensland University it's the most famous research institution from Queensland, and one of the most important institutions in Australia, providing to visitors a very stimulating atmosphere in the scientific campus: Worldwide researchers are working in synergy, sharing ideas and projects. The research collaboration is focused on many shared interests between CEC research group and the Fuller Laboratory, mainly related to topics of urban ecology, avian ecology and conservation of nature in the modern cities, especially under climate change scenarios.
Recently, CEC research group won a GACR project, focused on the evaluation of the main impacts of urbanization on ecology and behaviour of wild organisms, by considering the effects of land use, vegetation structure and urban greenery, as well as noise and light pollution on the distribution of species. More information here: https://www.fzp.czu.cz/en/r-9411-projects-and-partnerships/r-9880-projects/r-13341-effects-of-urbanization-on-multilevel-avian-diversity
From the expected results, we would be able to suggest nature-based solutions in urban ecosystems. This project is one of the shared interests discussed on the research visit at the Queensland University, to assess the effects of human settlements on biodiversity in different urbanization process, as European and Australian cities. Additionally, we discussed how animals, especially species defined as "urban exploiters", are slowly and peacefully colonizing our cities, finding food and refuge (e.g. the Australian Ibis (Threskiornis molucca) that is a bird species widespread across much of Australia continent, and quite common in the streets of big and dense cities, as Brisbane). During the research stay, we visited also one of the most dense populations of kangaroos in Queensland.
