Research

Sustainable development, as outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), necessitates the preservation of biodiversity, specifically emphasized by SDG 15. Within Central Europe, habitats of wildlife populations are limited and sufficient gene flow is mandatory for their long-term survival. While significant progress has been made in protection of habitats on sites, functional connectivity has not been recognized so far within landscape planning processes. Simultaneously, sustainable development also demands a transition to renewable energy sources to achieve climate neutrality. Within Austria’s aims to meet 100% of its energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030, a focus is laid on additional wind power production with the federal state of Lower Austria representing by far the largest potential for development. While both aims are absolutely necessary for sustainable development, they are seemingly contradictory, calling for integrative studies to generate fundamental for landscape planning. Hence, this study aims to evaluate the impact of existing and future renewable energy projects on wildlife functional connectivity in Vienna and Lower Austria. We specifically focus on (1) modeling functional connectivity across various taxa on a fine spatial scale, (2) assess the effects of current and proposed wind power plants on connectivity, and (3) support regional spatial planning by providing our models to stakeholders. Ultimately, this integrative approach is meant as a first step to resolve conflicts between renewable energy expansion and biodiversity preservation, promoting sustainable development.

Our general aim is to get an understanding of how social behavior is shaped by environment conditions and how individual vital rates vary with individual characteristics, social behavior and environmental conditions. To this end, we ask the following specific questions: 1) How can the social structure of snowfinches during winter be characterized, and how is the social structure influenced by environmental conditions? How long do groups of individuals identified to be socially linked stay together along the year? 2) Which phenotypes are dominant under different social environments, and how is this relationship influenced by environmental conditions? 3) Has social behavior , in particularly consequences in terms of getting access to resources such as food and roosting sites 4) How is social behavior linked to vital rates under different environmental conditions? Can social behavior mitigate environmental effects on survival and reproduction?

Climatic changes can pose challenges for wildlife. In the Alpine region, for example, the Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra), a flagship species of the alpine and montane regions of Europe, reacts sensitively to changes in its habitat. This research project therefore aims to investigate climatic influences on the Alpine chamois in order to assess how this wild ungulate species reacts to changing environmental conditions. Specifically, camera traps will be used in combination with climate data loggers to investigate the activity of the animals and their spatio-temporal behavior in relation to climatic factors (e.g. temperature extremes in summer and winter). In this context, camera traps provide a non-invasive survey method that is ideal for documenting the natural behavior of animals in their habitat. In total, these cameras (as well as the climate data loggers) will collect data over a year and a half, which will be scientifically evaluated on an ongoing basis. The long project duration ensures that both the activity of the Alpine chamois and their spatio-temporal behavior in relation to climatic effects can be analyzed over the entire annual cycle. Results from this project will contribute to a better understanding of the habitat selection of Alpine chamois. Consequently, findings from this project will provide basic knowledge for management measures to conserve this ungulate species in the Alpine region.