
Welcome to my page!
I am a biologist working internationally in the fields of Biodiversity Conservation, Agro-Ecology and Science Communication - both in tropical and temperature ecosystems. Currently, I work as a PostDoc in Austria (University of Vienna & BOKU Vienna), Germany (Agroecology Group Göttingen), and Peru (DiFFcacao project).
My projects focus on the study of birds, bats and arthropods in an agricultural context - to improve the scientific understanding and applied management of functional diversity and ecosystem services. Multidisciplinarity continously flows into the design, application and communication of my research - for example through collaboration with agricultural stakeholders and social scientists, or the development of software applications for advanced ecological data collection, analyses and decision-making.
Working as an Associate Editor (BIOC & PECON), teaching international students (UVIE), and completing several courses (e.g., science communication, animal training) allowed me to develop a deep understanding of the scientific publication process, improve my leadership skills, and explore innovative approaches for biodiversity conservation and science communication.
My research in keywords: Agroecology, Biodiversity Conservation, Conservation Science, Ecological Modelling, Ecosystem Service Management, Environmental Education, Functional Diversity Analyses, Landscape Ecology, Science Communication and Socio-Ecology.
Short CV | Publications | Talks | Google Scholar | ORCID | Research Gate | Twitter | Contact
I am a biologist working internationally in the fields of Biodiversity Conservation, Agro-Ecology and Science Communication - both in tropical and temperature ecosystems. Currently, I work as a PostDoc in Austria (University of Vienna & BOKU Vienna), Germany (Agroecology Group Göttingen), and Peru (DiFFcacao project).
My projects focus on the study of birds, bats and arthropods in an agricultural context - to improve the scientific understanding and applied management of functional diversity and ecosystem services. Multidisciplinarity continously flows into the design, application and communication of my research - for example through collaboration with agricultural stakeholders and social scientists, or the development of software applications for advanced ecological data collection, analyses and decision-making.
Working as an Associate Editor (BIOC & PECON), teaching international students (UVIE), and completing several courses (e.g., science communication, animal training) allowed me to develop a deep understanding of the scientific publication process, improve my leadership skills, and explore innovative approaches for biodiversity conservation and science communication.
My research in keywords: Agroecology, Biodiversity Conservation, Conservation Science, Ecological Modelling, Ecosystem Service Management, Environmental Education, Functional Diversity Analyses, Landscape Ecology, Science Communication and Socio-Ecology.
Short CV | Publications | Talks | Google Scholar | ORCID | Research Gate | Twitter | Contact
![]() February 2021 Things are simmering in the manuscript kitchen! Please stay tuned for upcoming publications, press releases and presentations on ecosystem services, agricultural sustainability and diversity in scientific communities. Also, I'm looking forward to advance my science PR and outreach skills in a three-month intensive weekend course on "digital communication". January 2021 This year I'm looking forward to starting new projects and getting to work with even more inspiring people around the globe! My last PostDoc projects are coming to an end (we all can't wait to share the results with you soon!) and new cross-disciplinary work is ready to start soon. I can only reveal that they all focus on (1) combining biodiversity conservation and food production by (2) integrating ecosystem services of birds, bats and arthropods into landscape management and (3) coordinating diverse perspectives and interests through cross-disciplinary approaches and science communication. If you are interested in such topics, feel free to get in touch via Twitter or Email to discuss potential collaborations! December 2020 A very unusual year is coming to and end, for me, mainly with gratitude to have remained healthy and active and a lot of science communication such as wrapping up my press office work for the Austrian Conservation Dog Center (Naturschutzhunde), running the GfÖ Twitter Account, participating in SkypeAScientist, giving online lectures in scientific writing & conservation science, and working on a brochure summary of our REGRASS project for farmers and everyone else interested in farmland-biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Stay tuned for updates in 2021 and have healthy and relaxing holidays! November 2020 Our recent TREE paper is freely available via this link until 07 January 2021 (please share)! Meanwhile, we are working diligently on data sets, publications and webinars in our ongoing projects and in the ATBC DEI committee. Please stay tuned and stay safe! October 2020 The pandemic restricts us all very much, but could not stop me from a field trip to Italy to prepare the upcoming ECOLIVES project (biodiversity and ecosystem services in olive agroforestry systems) - at least mapping potential study sites is still possible... If you want to receive weekly updates on my work and be the first to hear about the start of this project, follow me on Twitter or get in touch directly via Email! September 2020 I'm honored and excited to have received the GfÖ prize from the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland for my ecological research and science communication activities! Our new collaborative paper in Trends in Ecology and Evolution highlights novel opportunities to protect ecosystem services and human well-being by transforming tropical agroforestry towards higher socio-ecological standards! Check out our FFC project website for more updates from our ongoing cacao agroforestry projects in Peru. August 2020 A new collaborative paper on bat conservation and zoonotic disease risk is published in Animal Conservation (here), as well as a preprint of our work on ant community composition in newly established grasslands in Austria (REGRASS project), currently under review in Ecology and Evolution. More updates on ongoing publications coming soon! July 2020 I use the summer break between two projects for writing applications, publications, and giving interviews - as well as for my work with conservation dogs in Austria, as one of the first certified teams in Austria for collision monitoring of birds and bats. Stay tuned and follow my Twitter (@MaasBea) for weekly updates on our work. June 2020 We published a call to the entire scientific leadership to center diversity, equity and inclusion at all COVID-19 related efforts in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Our call was written in response to the pandemic but also applies to the current riots about lack of diversity and persistent racism within and beyond academia. Stay tuned and follow my Twitter (@MaasBea) for weekly updates on our work. May 2020 I'm excited to announce that I have joined the ATBC Diversity&Inclusion Committee and that we are currently working on online events and actions to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in our international scientific community. Keeping up academic work during COVID-19 has been really challenging and I'm very grateful to my international colleagues for our fruitful collaboration in teaching, mentoring, research, editing and writing publications about which there will be more updates soon - stay tuned or follow my Twitter (@MaasBea) for weekly updates on our work. April 2020 See our BiolCons editorial on COVID-19 impacts on biodiversity conservation, revealing editorial insights beyond direct consequences of the pandemic and the opportunity to remind people of the links between healthy, resilient ecosystems and human well-being. Stay tuned for more updates on ongoing publications (ORCID; Google Scholar), scientific events and research projects from me and my international collaborators to be posted here and on Twitter (@MaasBea)! March 2020 We could finish our yearly DiFFcacao project meeting in Peru just in time before international borders were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All colleagues are currently well and safe. Nobody can say for sure how things will continue - I can only reveal that editors at Biological Conservation are working on an editorial on the topic and other manuscripts are progressing well. Best wishes to all my colleagues and their families around the globe - I hope you are all safe and well! |