Silviu Petrovan

Biography

I am broadly interested in understanding the effects of anthropogenic changes on biodiversity and improving evidence-based solutions for counteracting negative effects at population or landscape scale. My main areas of work have been on:

1. road impacts (mortality, fragmentation, isolation, pollution) and evidence-based mitigation sollutions for amphibian and small and medium-sized mammals. This includes movement patterns and using road-based surveys for large-scale monitoring.
2. harnessing the power of citizen science in long-term datasets for biodiversity monitoring, including for emerging wildlife diseases.
3. how landscape management shapes the outcome of plant-animal interactions such as grazing and species distribution in relation to lagomorphs. My current work at Conservation Evidence includes running the international expert assessments of evidence as well as editing the annual What Works In Conservation volume. I also contribute as an author to various elements of evidence synthesis. Some of my research work has been featured in the media:

   • Toads: Amphibians surprise biologists by climbing trees

     New Scientist

   • Climate change threat to seabirds must be properly considered for their conservation to be effective (phys.org)

   • Wildlife and livestock a risk factor in future pandemics, say studies

     Infectious diseases

     The Guardian

   • https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/conservation-costs-are-rarely-reported...
   • https://phys.org/news/2020-06-human-interactions-wild-farmed-animals.html
   • https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8458857/161-ways-prevent-pandemic-Cambridge-University-study.html
   • https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/06/uk-common-toad-numbers-down-two-thirds-in-30-years
   • http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/05/toads-nearly-endangered-after-suffering-massive-decline-in-30-ye/
   • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39857697
   • https://www.farminguk.com/news/Britain-s-brown-hares-could-benefit-from-non-native-crops-grown-for-bioenergy_46390.html
   • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-40445379
   • https://theecologist.org/2017/jun/06/how-planting-bioenergy-crops-could-help-stop-britains-brown-hare-becoming-extinct