Fostering Collaboration: Gonzalez Lab and Schaepman-Strub Lab Forge Connections for Urban Biodiversity Solutions

Montreal and Zurich are two cities that are working to improve their relationship with nature and have much to learn from each other. Both are committed to improve people’s connection to nature through the use of green and blue spaces, and to protect local biodiversity. Even though they are continents apart, the concepts used in ecology and conservation science remain highly relevant to both and this science is most effective when it is shared.

As such, new efforts are being made for research teams across universities to work on common challenges and help each other in finding solutions to the biodiversity crisis in cities.

The Gonzalez lab has been meeting with the Schaepman-Strub lab from the university of Zurich in Switzerland to explore new and exciting collaboration opportunities. These meetings are the start of what we hope to be a fruitful collaboration between both labs.

So far, members of each lab shared their projects with each other to explore options for teamwork on common topics. Both labs have a breadth of expertise on multiple topics from ecosystem services (e.g. freshwater and nature appreciation) to connectivity (the degree of connection between natural environments) of wild species in cities.

Although the teams have been working in different systems and with different species, they have much to share with each other and face common challenges in supporting their host cities to protect and manage biodiversity.