OUC lecture: squashed on the roads: wildlife on the roads 

The rapid development and expansion of the road network on the one hand is considered necessary to achieve the economic, social and residential development of an area, but on the other hand leads to an unprecedented fragmentation of habitats and biodiversity reduction indirectly or directly with secondary effects on ecosystems.

Guided by the research activity of recent years by the Open University Cyprus (OUC),  professor Ioannis Vogiatzakis will speak about the situation in Cyprus in a teleconference The lecture will take place on Wednesday March 31, starting at 6pm.

It will be broadcast online through the University e-learning tools at the link https://tinyurl.com/y3t8h2cy and is part of the fourth cycle of the series of specialised lectures in issues of environmental management, environmental engineering and chemical engineering.

Recent studies in Europe estimate that 10-100 million birds and mammals are killed each year due to vehicle collisions on the road network.

What is the situation in Cyprus regarding the killing of wildlife on the road network, and what are the effects on nature protection and wildlife in particular?

Professor Ioannis Vogiatzakis will talk about four topics, habitat fragmentation, the combined effect of fragmentation and noise on birds, species killings and potential ways of designing the road network to mitigate the effects on species and habitats.

Ioannis Vogiatzakis is a professor in the programme environmental management and protection of the Open University of Cyprus. He held positions and developed research and teaching activities at the universities of Reading (England), Cagliari, Bologna, Milano (Italy) and Ioannina (Greece).

His research interests include environmental change in Mediterranean islands and mountains, species and vegetation mapping, ecology and landscape assessment, ecosystem services assessment and the effectiveness of protected areas.

His research has been funded by the European Union Horizon2020 programme, the LIFE +, INTERREG, ENPI-CBCMED, Erasmus+ programmes and by ministries and government agencies of the Republic of Cyprus and the UK.