SPECO DOCTORAL PRIZE IN ECOLOGY - 2022 EDITION
RESEARCHER FROM THE "REN CHAIR IN BIODIVERSITY" WINS THE 2022 EDITION OF THE DOCTORAL PRIZE IN ECOLOGY - FUNDAÇÃO AMADEU DIAS, ORGANIZED BY SPECO – THE PORTUGUESE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY
The winners of the 2022 edition of the Doctoral Prize in Ecology - Fundação Amadeu Dias, organized by SPECO - the Portuguese Ecological Society, were already announced. The 1st prize of this edition was awarded to Joana Bernardino, researcher at CIBIO-InBIO/BIOPOLIS, whose doctoral thesis focused on understanding and addressing bird collisions with power lines.
Joana Bernardino developed her PhD project as part of the "REN Chair in Biodiversity" team. During her PhD, the researcher tried to understand which biological, environmental and infrastructure-related factors that explain the collision of birds with power lines. She also conducted a compilation and meta-analysis of studies worldwide that have evaluated the effectiveness of wire-marking as a way to increase visibility of overhead wires for birds and reduce the collision risk. In addition to the overall evaluation of the performance of anti-collision devices, this meta-analysis evaluated, for the first time, the factors that may influence their effectiveness, including the type of line, the habitat crossed by it (as a proxy for the species present there), and the characteristics of the devices themselves. She also developed two studies that increased the understanding of the environmental and methodological factors responsible for biases in the quantification of bird fatalities at power lines.
The results of the research conducted have immediate application in the practices of transmission and distribution companies, in terms of choosing the best solutions to mitigate and monitor the impacts of their projects on birds. An example of this is the incorporation of the results obtained in the Portuguese guidance for monitoring impacts of very-high voltage lines on birds and evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation measures (“Manual para a monitorização de impactes de linhas de muito alta tensão sobre a avifauna e avaliação da eficácia das medidas de mitigação”). These good practice guidelines resulted from a collaborative work between CIBIO-InBIO/BIOPOLIS, REN and the Portuguese Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests.
In addition to Joana Bernardino, this year's edition of the Ecology PhD Prize - Fundação Amadeu Dias also distinguished the work of Miriam Romagosa, researcher at Okeanos (Research Institute of Marine Sciences), University of the Azores and Gonçalo Curveira Santos, researcher at cE3c (Center for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Change), Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, second and third places respectively.
The three winners of the 2022 edition of the Ecology PhD Prize will receive the award and present their work at the 21st National Ecology Meeting, which this year will be held from 4 to 9 July at the University of Aveiro, integrated in the 2nd SIBECOL Congress (Iberian Society of Ecology).
Related scientific articles:
Bernardino et al. (2018). Bird collisions with power lines: State of the art and priority areas for research. Biological Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.02.029
Bernardino et al. (2019). Re-assessing the effectiveness of wire-marking to mitigate bird collisions with power lines: A meta-analysis and guidelines for field studies. Journal of Environmental Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.109651
Bernardino et al. (2020). Response of vertebrate scavengers to power line and road rights-of-way and its implications for bird fatality estimates. Scientific reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72059-7
Bernardino et al. (2022). Ecological and methodological drivers of persistence and detection of bird fatalities at power lines: Insights from multi-project monitoring data. Environmental Impact Assessment Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2021.106707