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 widely in the media:

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

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