News & Updates

(about Theresa Ranieri's PhD Project) Cities are often seen as biodiversity deserts. But with the right habitats and a little help from people, urban environments can become important refuges for wildlife - including pollinators. This week, the citizen science project UrbanBEE reached a new milestone: the installation of the 200th wild bee hotel in Vienna, on the rooftop of the Austrian Umweltministerium . Solitary bees play a critical role in pollination and ecosystem functi

(by Shane Sumasgutner) The Crowned Eagle is one of Africa’s most powerful forest raptors - and, somewhat surprisingly, a resident in and around the growing city of Durban, South Africa. Although this species is a forest specialist, a long-term research project has documented numerous breeding pairs in suburban green spaces, showing that these spectacular eagles aren’t just surviving, but breeding successfully even amid urban expansion. Crowned Eagles are famed for their agili

(about Vivian Huacuja García) A recent article by the Galapagos Conservation Trust highlights the recovery of Galápagos short-eared owls on Floreana Island. The project is part of a large-scale island restoration initiative aimed at removing invasive species and restoring native ecosystems while ensuring the safe return of this unique owl population. The article features our former Master’s student Vivian Huacuja García, who is working with Island Conservation and local partn

Beginn:  März 2026 (Sommersemester) Einbettung:  EU-Projekt UrbanBee 🔗  https://www.myurbanbee.com/ 📌   https://www.citizen-science.at/projekte/urbanbee   Projektbeschreibung Im Rahmen einer Masterarbeit vergeben wir ein Thema zum standardisierten Biodiversitätsmonitoring in urbanen Lebensräumen , mit klarem Schwerpunkt auf Feldornithologie . Ziel ist die Erfassung und Analyse der Brutvogelgemeinschaften entlang urbaner Gradienten sowie deren Einbettung in ein breiteres...

(by Petra Sumasgutner) Kestrel chicks in urban centres are paler than their brightly yellow-and orange coloured rural conspecifics, and show lower blood levels of antioxidants (circulating carotenoids). Both indicate that urban food webs are poor in carotenoids, starting with plants - caterpillars - birds and rodent prey - and accumulating in kestrels. In intensively farmed areas of Finland, food shortages during a low vole year revealed striking sex differences: females with

(by Petra Sumasgutner, Celiwe Ngcamphalala & Susan Cunningham) Red-winged starlings are a lively part of campus life at the University of Cape Town — bold, vocal, and famously fond of stealing student snacks! These charismatic birds are also the focus of long-term research by the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology and the Konrad Lorenz Research Center, exploring how wildlife adapts to city living. By colour-ringing individuals and even training them to hop onto digi

The University of Vienna is recruiting female candidates in the so-called E-STEEM programme ( https://careers.univie.ac.at/en/postdoc/e-steem ), a fellowship specifically supporting outstanding female postdoctoral researchers. I am a registered host for the call ( https://careers.univie.ac.at/.../faculty-of-life-sciences ), and would be offering a 4-year position. From my experience, longer-term postdoc contracts like this are rare and can truly open doors for independent, fu