Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
The BES team examines interactions within and between terrestrial, aquatic, coastal and marine ecosystems, the services they provide, the biodiversity they host and their effects on human-well-being.
Our research aim is twofold. First, we advance integrated approaches to quantify, model and/or map (changes in) biodiversity and ecosystem services, based on the understanding of underlying biological, socio-economic and geophysical mechanisms and landscape characteristics.
Second, we explore pathways towards sustainable futures, by investigating the role and potential of nature to solve, at least partly, several sustainability challenges in a simultaneous way. We examine trade-offs between policy and management targets and investigate solutions to minimize these trade-offs and enhance synergies.
Our research follows an integrative/system perspective and uses a variety of methods, that includes modelling, mapping and participatory approaches, at various spatial and temporal scales. Our research relies on a wide range of disciplines (e.g. ecology, hydrology, economics) and on close cooperation with societal stakeholders. We generate knowledge on effective ways to manage ecosystems, biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services to support healthy, sustainable and resilient socio-ecosystems.
