The research is generally aimed at determining the diversity, evolutionary patterns, ecological adaptations - and at promoting the conservation - of biodiversity-rich areas in Eastern Africa, especially the mountain rainforests of Tanzania, with a marked target on the vertebrates. Scientific and applied research moves from inventories of vertebrates in poorly known forests, population and ecology studies on forest mammals especially primates and ungulates, diversity and biogeography of amphibians and reptiles. Conservation-relevant results are used to provide technical support to local stakeholders for enhancing protection of these sites.
The results have included the description of numerous species new to science. Besides research documenting biodiversity, advanced research lines adopt multidisciplinary approaches that integrate ecology, genetics, phylogeny and physiology, and are applied – through different modalities and spatial/temporal scales – to study dynamics of threatened meta-populations or evolutionary patterns.
Research lines and projects