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Research Mission
EVitA- the Research Programme of IZW:
investigation of the vitality and adaptability of wildlife
populations in species of outstanding ecological interest facing
anthropogenic challenges
1. Adaptation: Analysis
of evolutionary traits and their potential adaptive value in the
life history of wildlife species.
Currently, there is little understanding of the potential adaptive
value of many traits of wildlife species owing to their complexity
and the difficulty of measuring that value. Such traits may, however,
influence the vulnerability of wildlife populations and species
to direct or indirect anthropogenic challenges such as climate change.
The focus theme "Adaptations" in the Research programme
EvitA concentrates on traits in the fields of reproduction, nutrition,
social behaviour, coping with wildlife diseases, pathogens and parasites
as well as their genetic basis and its consequences.
Our starting point is the pervasive evidence from much recent
theoretical and empirical work that key adaptations are the consequence
of selection pressures that are the result of important evolutionary
conflicts of interest. Recent advances in the theory of life history
and much empirical evidence also suggest that organisms have to
decide how much of their limited resources they allocate to each
trait during development and that the amount allocated will affect
the degree to which the trait will be optimised with respect to
a particular function. Organisms my have developed evolutionary
rules of allocation that reflect trade-offs between different traits
and functions as the consequence of an organism’s condition, current
requirements or other relevant factors.
Research projects:
- Inter-specific evolutionary conflicts: competition and niche
breadth within European ungulates (roe deer, bison), adaptations
to plant secondary compounds (roe deer, apes)
- Intra-specific evolutionary conflicts: different interests
of various classes of group members that compete for limited
resources such as food or mates, especially the sexual conflict
between females and males, including mating tactics and sperm
competition (spotted hyenas, bats)
- Reproduction: physiological and cellular basics of spermatogenesis
and its adaptations to mating activity, behavioural rhythms
and seasonal environmental changes (roe deer, carnivores)
- Evolution and adaptive value of reproduction patterns: adaptive
value of gestation and pattern of embryo development with species
that have an extraordinarily long gestation (elephants) or short
or overleaping gestation periods (super foetation in European
hare)
- Physiological strategies in nutrition and energy allocation:
Characterisation of nutritional niches of nutritional specialists
and generalists and their physiological and morphological preconditions,
as well as an assessment of the energy requirements and physiological
rules of energy allocation in advantageous and disadvantageous
environmental conditions (roe deer)
2. Wildlife Diseases: Analysis of causes, distribution
and evolutionary impact of wildlife diseases.
Diseases, especially infectious diseases, may influence the vitality
of wildlife populations and in the interplay with pathogens lead
to adaptations in the immune system of wildlife host species. Many
of the relevant infectious diseases have an anthropogenic component,
in that human-induced environmental changes facilitate the transition
of pathogens from livestock and domestic animals or people to wildlife,
or vice versa. The focus on causes, distribution and evolutionary
consequences of wildlife diseases and their influence on the dynamics
of captive and free-ranging wildlife populations explicitly considers
diseases that may be transmitted between wildlife and domestic animals,
diseases of wildlife in captivity, zoonoses and anthropogenic influences
on the spread and distribution of diseases and pathogens. These
studies therefore concern pathogen transmission between wildlife,
people and domestic animals, aim to elucidate the development and
distribution of important wildlife diseases in free-ranging and
captive wildlife populations and clarify the pathogenesis of these
diseases as well as their immunological and genetic basis.
Research projects:
- mechanisms of pathogenesis and immune response: characterisation
of pathogenesis of selected diseases, including the identification
of the pathogens (balanoposthitis in bison), as well as the
innate immune response and its evolution (beta-defensins in
bovids, function of immune cells in ungulates);
- epidemiology and phylogeny of pathogens: appearance and
transmission of virus, bacteria and parasites with relevance
to the population dynamics of host populations or species (lagomorphs,
ungulates, raptors and predators), including such with zoonotic
potential (transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE));
- pathomorphology and clinical diagnosis: pathomorphological
and clinical investigations of diseases of wildlife in captive
or free-ranging populations (infections, metabolic diseases,
reproductive dysfunctions);
- diseases as an ecological factor: influence of diseases
and pathogens on the population dynamics of wildlife populations
(corona viruses in the spotted hyena, reproductive dysfunctioning
in rhinos, European Brown Hare Syndrome in European brown
hare).
3. Conservation: Clarification of the biological basis and development
of methods for the protection of threatened wildlife species.
The focus theme "Conservation" comprises the establishment
of the scientific basis for a successful and sustainable management
of highly threatened wildlife species in situ and ex situ.
This includes tackling quite a number of problems, such as the determination
of factors that threaten wildlife, particularly causes of mortality,
genetics as a basis of population dynamics of small populations
and hence their declines, the management of reproduction in wildlife
populations (assisted reproduction as well as control of reproduction)
and the management of pathogens and the interactions of wildlife
with local people. Our aim is to develop concepts and methods to
improve population development. As there is little knowledge in
this area, this focus theme emphasises the development of new and
improving already existing methods and procedures that are applicable
to the protection of endangered wildlife species.
Research projects:
- genome conservation: maximising the genetic diversity of
smaller populations and endangered species by developing methods
for cryo-conservation of sperms (elephants, rhinos and big cats),
ova and ovum tissue as well as the transplantation of ovum tissue
for reactivation of reproduction (felids);
- assisted reproduction: development of methods of assisted
reproduction for highly endangered wildlife species and its
optimisation and application in captive breeding programs (elephants,
rhinos, felids);
- minimally invasive methods: development and modification
of non-invasive and minimally invasive methods (1) for the assessment
of reproduction and health status through samples of faeces,
urine or saliva, or blood gently taken by blood-sucking bugs,
(2) for the extraction of DNA from hair, biopsies and faecal
samples, (3) for the application of imaging methods to non-invasively
visualise, assess and describe internal (reproductive) organs;
- concepts for reproduction control: development of concepts
and methods for contraception in zoo animals (ursids, felids)
and the population control of local wildlife (wild boar);
- land use conflicts and wildlife populations: studying the
effects of selected forms of human land use on behaviour, dynamic
and structure of herbivore and carnivore populations (non-access
wildlife areas, wildlife corridors, illegal and legal forms
of hunting, extensive cattle-breeding);
- causes of mortality: analysis of factors that may threaten
wildlife populations to assist conservation efforts (white-tailed
sea eagle, European brown hare, bats).
Where does the IZW run projects?
The IZW runs projects in Germany, Europe, Africa, Asia and North America
(IZW world-wide)
National and international cooperation
The IZW enjoys close relationships with and conducts joint projects with
research institutes and universities and various institutions dedicated
to biological conservation, such as protected area administrations:
- participation in and active development of inter-institutional research
networks (for example the research network on biodiversity within the
group of German Leibniz institutes to which the IZW belongs (www.wgl.de);
- the implementation of many cooperation contracts and research projects
with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Free
University Berlin, and other German and international universities;
- participation in research and teaching activities in the postgraduate
college on "evolutionary transformations and faunistic transitions"
in conjunction with the Natural History Museum at the Humboldt-University
of Berlin;
- Cooperation in the field of infection biology and immunity
as participant in an interdisciplinary network (cluster) with
the Institute of Biology of the Humboldt-University of Berlin,
the medical faculty Charité, the Faculty for Veterinary Medicine
of the Free University Berlin, the German Rheuma Research Center,
the Robert-Koch-Institute and the Max-Planck-Institute of Infection
Biology in the Center
for Infection Biology and Immunity (ZIBI);
- the implementation of joint research projects and scientific meetings
with international research institutes in France, Poland, Austria, Sweden,
Finland, Russia, Great Britain, China, Mongolia, Thailand and USA;
- implementation of research programmes within the European breeding
program EEP (www.eaza.net);
- cooperation with protected areas, national parks and development projects
in Berlin, Brandenburg, Poland, Tanzania
and Namibia;
- cooperative projects with zoos in Germany, Austria, Switzerland,
the Netherlands,
France, Great Britain, Czechia, Russia, and the USA.
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