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Climate change
Climate change is today one of the major threats to biodiversity, since it will cause abiotic
conditions to change quickly and dramatically, not allowing species to adapt and evolve, just like
is going to affect human life. For this issue please see Chapter 7.
3. Conservation of the environment and biodiversity
In order to tackle major threats to the environment and biodiversity several tool, instruments,
policies, organizations, movements and initiatives has been consistently developed since 1940’s
when it became evident that industrialization has led to air pollution and that pesticides had a
negative impact on the environment.
Several sciences and professions can contribute to the conservation of the environment and
biodiversity, but a particular science has emerged from the observed biodiversity loss –
Conservation Biology. It is a multidisciplinary science that develops methods and techniques that
help to prevent, reduced and overcome biodiversity loss.
Conservation Biology and Roadkill’s – a path to reduce road (and other grey
infrastructures) habitat fragmentation impacts
As seen before one of the main threats to biodiversity is habitat fragmentation, which
can be caused by several situations, including roads. On this particular issue, Conservation Biology
studies how, when and where animals try to cross the roads and provides solutions that can both
promote animal natural movements accordingly to their ecology, and at the same time enables
the infrastructure safe use.
Image 18. Overview of a road Overpass. The Overpasses provide a way of animals to move, in
safety, above the roads, under natural habitats conditions. These passages are constructed in
order to support natural vegetation (IENE,2020).
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein.
