Carmen Galán Acedo, PhD

Funding: European Research Council. Starting Grant. Role: Principal Investigator.

Project under evaluation

Funding: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Alliance Grants - Advantage. Role: Research Collaborator.

Project under evaluation

Funding: Multidisciplinary Research Catalyst Fund (2026). Role: Co-Principal Investigator.

Brief summary:

There has been a surge in interest and funding for nature-based solutions (NbS), a concept being used to shape Canadian policy to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, and declining human health and well-being. NbS are interventions designed to protect, restore, and create ecosystems while addressing societal challenges. Crucial to the momentum of NbS as a concept is that these actions are assumed to provide significant co-benefits for biodiversity, climate adaptation, and human health. However, empirical evidence to support this assumption is extremely limited and the mechanisms that drive the relationship between biodiversity, climate, and human health benefits of NbS are poorly defined and untested [1, 2]. As such, it is difficult to improve existing NbS programs to maximize real-world benefits and minimize undesired trade-offs. Given the multiple, interdisciplinary goals of NbS, successful research and implementation require close collaboration across actors, institutions, and sectors. A conceptual framework is a prerequisite for jointly framing the processes of knowledge production, decision-making, and evidence-based NbS implementation. We will bring together a transdisciplinary team of NbS practitioners and experts with expertise across biodiversity, climate change, human health and well-being, and policy to co-create a conceptual framework and identify key knowledge gaps, implementation pathways, and challenges of effectuating NbS in Canada. This framework will allow us to develop a strong network and form the basis of a NSERC Alliance grant application.

Funding: Ottawa Field Naturalist Club (2023). Role: Principal Investigator.

Brief summary:

The increasing use of drones for species monitoring improves our understanding of wildlife and the potential drivers of species populations decline. Drones provide a cost-effective and efficient way to accurately estimate population size of certain species. Yet, it is not clear which flight parameters (e.g., speed, height, camera angle) increase the probability of detection and count individuals. For instance, the number of individuals counted can differ depending on drone flight speeds. Drone flights at low altitudes provide higher quality imagery and videos in which it is easier to detect and count individuals. However, flying at a higher altitude increases the overall sampling area. The angle at which the camera is positioned can also influence both the detectability and count of the species. Thus, developing an appropriate methodology is key to improve our understanding of species ecology, particularly for those that are of particular interest in certain areas, such as the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris). In this project, I will estimate the Wild turkey population size in a portion of Gatineau Park. With this aim, I will create a methodology to identify the optimal parameters to use during drone flights to maximize the detectability and count of the Wild turkey using a drone with an integrated thermal infrared camera. Additionally, I will map the main occupied habitat of the Wild turkey, as well as potential threats (e.g., habitat loss or fragmentation) that the species face in Gatineau Park.

Funding: PAPIIT-DGAPA, Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico (2020-2022). Role: Principal Investigator.

Brief summary:

The conversion of natural landscapes into croplands and pasturelands constrains the global distribution, abundance, and diversity of species. Primates may be particularly vulnerable to habitat alteration, which can lead to population declines, local extinctions, and even global extinction. Understanding how attributes of human-modified landscapes affect primates is critical for proposing appropriate management and conservation strategies. However, our understanding of how landscape change affects primates is far from complete. Although a growing number of studies address this topic, they remain relatively scarce and many study designs have limitations that bias the accuracy and reliability of their results. In addition, most studies assess the effects of anthropogenic landscape attributes on one or a few primate species, across few landscapes (<40), and within a single region. In this project, I will evaluate primate responses to human-modified landscapes at the global scale. I will also examine how species traits (e.g., habitat type, locomotion, group size, diet) best predict primate vulnerability to human disturbance in the landscape. To do so, I will use a database built from 600 studies in which I compiled occurrence (presence/absence), abundance, and species richness in forest fragments and continuous forests, encompassing 296 primate species (~60% of all extant species) across 69 countries. Using available global maps of forest change, I will quantify landscape composition (i.e., habitat loss) and landscape configuration (i.e., fragmentation or patch density, and mean patch size). I will create 20 buffers around the geographic centroid of each forest fragment to identify the spatial scale at which each landscape variable best predicts each response variable for each species (i.e., the scale of effect). I will then use the identified scales to evaluate the effects of landscape attributes on occurrence, abundance, and species richness, and to test which species traits (e.g., habitat type, locomotion, group size, diet) best predict those effects. Based on theoretical models and some empirical evidence, I expect that (a) habitat-loss effects will be stronger and more negative than those of the other landscape variables; (b) fragmentation will have weaker and positive effects on primates; and (c) habitat-, locomotion-, or diet-specialist species will be more vulnerable to landscape alteration. The results of this study will provide a foundation for developing appropriate local and regional management guidelines to conserve primate populations. In addition to generating original scientific knowledge, publishing it in high-impact journals, and disseminating it at academic meetings, this project will train a postdoctoral researcher in spatial analyses of biodiversity, ecology, and conservation.

Funding: Government of Mexico (2020-2022). Role: AWARD.

Funding: National Science Foundation of China (2020-2024). Role: Research Collaborator.

Brief summary:

Selecting an appropriate overnight habitat for sleeping in primates is the consequence of natural selection and environmental adaptation, which is shaped by many factors, and differs greatly between species, and within the same species in different places. Mt. Qinling characterized by seasonal food shortage and low temperature during the winter has formed a great challenge for the animals living there, particularly the golden monkeys, the folivorious colobines, to obtain enough energy for going through the winter. Thus, we hypothesize that they have to adopt a unique strategy of either increasing energy input before the winter or reducing energy consumption in the winter. Since it is difficult for the monkeys to increase energy intake during the winter a specific adaption of the microclimate that is suitable for their overnight must be an important adaptation strategy for their survival. Therefore, one of the core scientific issues of this subject is to explore the adaptive strategy adopted by the Sichuan Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) in the way of coping with low temperature.

Funding: Idea Wild and Primate Conservation Inc. (2020). Role: Principal Investigator.

Brief summary:

Human activities transform natural ecosystems into uniquely and variably disturbed landscapes and have resulted in over 60% of the world’s forests being degraded. Unfortunately, our knowledge about the drivers of use of disturbed forests by primates are still scarce as studies have mainly focus on natural habitats. Also, studies assessing the effects of disturbance often categorize forest by age, but it is likely a very poor indicator of successional development. Additionally, the effect of landscape attributes on animal responses to secondary forests, besides forest cover, are rarely assessed and most studies do not identify the scale of effect (the landscape size at which the species-landscape relationship is stronger). Here we propose to assess the effect of forest landscape restoration on the golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana). We will assess the effect of three successional stages (early, intermediate, and late), and primary forest on primate species’ occurrence and relative abundance in the Qinling Mountains, China. Using the scale of effect, we will evaluate the effect of landscape structure (forest cover, open areas, patch density, and forest edge density) on R. roxellana responses in each vegetation type. Our project will be of key relevance to inform regional and national restoration and conservation programs and it will play an important role in the training of the next generation of conservation biologists in China, a country that is just starting to recognize the importance of forest conservation.

Funding: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Mexico (2014-2019). Role: Principal Investigator

Brief summary:

The accelerated deforestation of tropical forests has ‘forced’ an increasing number of primate populations to inhabit fragmented landscapes with different composition and spatial configuration. The impact that changes in landscape composition and configuration may have on primates is largely unknown, as most studies have been conducted at local spatial scales. Also, the response of primates to landscape changes can vary among species and regions, thus limiting the identification of adequate management and conservation strategies. This study will assess the relative effect of landscape composition and configuration on the distribution and abundance of Mexican primates (Alouatta palliata, A. pigra, and Ateles geoffroyi). The research will be performed in 5 tropical regions with different patterns of land-use change to identify: (1) the species that are more sensitive to landscape changes; (2) the landscape attributes with highest impact on primates within each region; and (3) the regional context (e.g. remaining forest cover, matrix composition) that promotes the most drastic changes on primate populations. Using a multi-scale approach, we will also determine the so-called “scale of landscape effects”, i.e. the most appropriate spatial scale (i.e., landscape size) to assess the response of species to changes in landscape structure. This study will therefore have key ecological implications, and will help to improve management strategies for primates’ conservation at different spatial scales in these (and potentially) other Neotropical regions.

Funding: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Gobierno de México (2014-2018). Role: Research Collaborator

Funding: The Rufford Foundation (2016-2018). Role: Principal Investigator

Brief summary:

In the las decades an increasing number of primate populations inhabit fragmented landscapes. The impact that it may have on primates is largely unknown, as most studies have been conducted at local scales and their responses vary among species and regions. Here I will assess the relative effect of landscape structure on the distribution and abundance of all the Mexican primates’ species. This research will be performed in five tropical regions with different patterns of land-use change. This study will have key ecological and conservation implications, and will help to improve management strategies for primates’ conservation at different spatial scales.