Ecological and Biological Research

Understanding and tackling the decline of insects is sponsored by European Commission — Horizon Europe. Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: researchers better understand the status and population trends of insect species and the drivers of their decline; competent authorities in charge of biodiversity policies at all levels are capable of taking informed decisions, based on better understanding and valuation of socioeconomic benefits and ecological importance of insects, including for climate action; society and relevant land managers are better informed and equipped to tackle the drivers of the decline of insects. Scope: Insects play a vital role contributing to ecosystem functions in addition to pollination, such as decomposition and nutrient cycles, soil formation (including carbon sequestration) and pest control, control functions essential for maintaining ecosystem complexity, and are an indispensable part of the food chain. Those functions are key for climate change mitigation and allow the provision of ecosystem services which have economic benefits and support human well-being. Additionally, insects play a key role in other socioeconomic areas such as medical and pharmaceutical applications (e.g. antimicrobial peptides), forensic science or biotechnology. The dramatic decline of insects, estimated around 75% in the last three decades, is raising increasing concern among scientists and in the public, since it could have far-reaching implications. In order to be able to tackle this decline, there is a need to improve our understanding of the drivers of loss and how they interplay. A better knowledge of insects themselves is necessary. With targets 4 and 5 of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, the EU took, among others, the commitment that by 2030 habitats and species show no deterioration in conservation trend and status, at least 30% reach favourable conservation status or at least show a positive trend, and that the decline of pollinators is reversed. According to the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, Member States shall put in place appropriate and effective measures to improve pollinator diversity and reverse the decline of pollinators by 2030. This is reflected in target 4 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The European Climate Law requires Member States to adopt and implement national adaptation strategies and plans in which they should promote Nature-based Solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation. These policies and legislations have reached the implementation stage in the EU and worldwide. Successful proposals are expected to: improve understanding and identification of insects’ diversity, including through genomic approaches; focus on less known insect groups. In particular a solid knowledge has already been generated regarding pollination and pollinating insects through past and ongoing projects, therefore they are not expected to be subject to new research under this topic; assess the status and trends of insects and analyse multiple drivers affecting them, as well as the ecosystem services that insects provide, at different spatial scales. A comprehensive integrative taxonomy approach should be adopted, incorporating a multidisciplinary framework, including ecology and ecotoxicology, and integrating methods that address the diverse needs of insects across their entire lifecycle, ensuring the identification of essential habitat resources at each stage of development. To assess the status and trends of insects and the effectiveness of strategies, proposals should develop and test approaches for long-term monitoring schemes for insects, possibly building on existing national or EU biodiversity monitoring schemes and pilots developed by Biodiversa+; devise, test and promote effective strategies to mitigate the major drivers of insects’ decline. Analyse the ecosystem functions underpinned by insects and undertake qualitative and quantitative valuation of ecosystem services emanating from those functions; explore how to implem Programme areas: Horizon Europe (HORIZON), Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment, Biodiversity and Natural Resources Keywords: Biodiversity conservation, Biodiversity, conservation biology, conservation genetics, Conservation biology, ecology, genetics, Environmental Conservation, Environmental protection, Environmental stressors, Environmental toxicology at the population and ecosystems level, Habitat Systems, Habitat and species restoration and rehabilitation, Natural resources and environmental economics, Nature conservation, Protection of environment (before, during and after), Species interactions (e.g. food-webs, symbiosis, parasitism, mutualism, bio-invasion), Insects, biodiversity, climate change, conservation, decline, ecology, ecosystem, habitat, pollinator, species

Advancing integrated scenarios and prediction models for informing transition to a nature positive society is sponsored by European Commission — Horizon Europe. Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes: advanced knowledge and understanding how ecosystems respond to multiple plausible futures shaped by human-induced pressures, supporting the design of long-term, nature positive and equitable policies; strengthened collaboration across bio-physical , socio-economic and humanities disciplines, resulting in more integrated and robust scenario frameworks that capture interactions, trade-offs and synergies across biodiversity, climate, food, water, air, health, energy and economy; advancement of comprehensive ecosystem prediction models and scenario-based assessments that integrate direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity loss, applicable across terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems; a consistent and transparent framework for model intercomparison and cross-scale scenario building, improving the relevance and usability of modelling outputs for policy , business and international assessments (e.g., IPBES, International Panel on Climate Change - IPCC). Scope: To address the objectives of the European Green Deal, the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, the EU Nature Restoration Regulation and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), as well as Sustainable Development Goals, actions funded under this topic should support the scientific development of A) integrated scenarios, B) predictive models and C) model intercomparison experiments for Member States and Associated Countries. Developments should be verified in case studies covering at least 2 European biogeographic regions [1] and spanning key economic sectors to inform systemic policy transformations and enable long-term planning for a nature positive society. Proposals should: design and develop components of a European integrated prediction and scenario framework to forecast how natural ecosystems respond to a wide range of human-induced ecosystem interactions including climate change, pollution, socio-economic transitions such as conflicts, pressures, and policy interventions. These frameworks should link ecosystem functions with key economic sectors, such as agriculture and fisheries, and test their resilience and tipping points under multiple plausible futures; make use of long-term monitoring data across biodiversity, land use, climate, and socio-economic variables to improve reliability and real-world relevance. They should also quantify uncertainty in model projections and ensure scenarios incorporate dynamic feedback loops between ecosystems and socio-economic systems, and identify risk distributions relevant to frontline socio-ecological communities; test and assess the suitability of the IPBES Nature Futures Framework for European application and align modelling approaches with international efforts and assessments under IPBES and IPCC. Proposals should seek to address knowledge gaps identified by the relevant IPBES assessments and if appropriate provide recommendations to policymakers; advance model intercomparison capabilities to improve robustness, consistency and transparency in scenario-based assessments. To this end, the suitability of remote sensing data for scalability and intercomparison between different models and across different regions should be assessed. Proposals should include case studies that cover at least two European biogeographic regions with global relevance to verify the developed scenarios, models and intercomparison experiments. Case studies should consider different geographical scales and explore ecosystem tele coupling across Europe and beyond. Scenario development should involve relevant stakeholders—including public authorities, economic sectors, and civil society—in co-creating narratives and ensuring policy applicability. Socio-economic transitions and equity and justice considerations concerning trade-offs and distributional impacts across regions and communities (i.e. across biodiversity, climate, food, water, Programme areas: Horizon Europe (HORIZON), Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment, Biodiversity and Natural Resources Keywords: Biodiversity conservation, Biological systems analysis, modelling and simulation, Earth Observation / Services and applications, Ecology, EU biodiversity strategy, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, biodiversity, climate change, drivers of biodiversity loss, earth observation, freshwater ecosystems, intercomparison, marine ecosystems, model, modelling, nature conservation, scenario, terrestrial ecosystems