Securing a biodiverse planet

This challenge area studies the natural world from individuals to populations and from communities to ecosystems.

This research allows us to identify how biodiversity contributes to the functioning of ecosystems and responds to environmental change, particularly the environmental pressures caused by humans and the consequences for people of biodiversity degradation.

Our main research strengths are in tropical forests, drylands, conservation biology and management, wildlife disease, behavioural ecology, the contributions that biodiversity makes to human wellbeing, and assessing how nature-based solutions can be used to address some of the key global challenges.

Research snapshots

Watch Dr Phil Platts and a team of scientists explore an untouched forest in Mozambique. The Lost Forest | Nobel Peace Prize Shorts

Watch Dr Bryce Stewart describe York's research of Scotland's first fully protected marine reserve. The science of seabed recovery off the Isle of Arran