ReseaRch Quality assuRance foR the futuRe a ... - Lund University

Panel 12 – science bio/geo
less often than once a year, often in collaboration with other research
groups. Immune mediated competition and cryptic speciation are important
topics here and more should have been done to develop them as
well-funded central research themes, rather than the subject of occasional
papers. The current grading is very good.
Biodiversity and conservation ecology. This is a very mixed group of
research projects, generally working at a local or national level. Research
papers tend to be either very specialist or published in specialist journals
or both, although there are exceptions when populations in different
countries are compared. For such a diverse grouping, not many papers
are published each year, and few are in top-flight journals. Taxonomic
coherence is weak – it seems that individuals stick to working on their
own taxon, and the grouping has been put together for pragmatic reasons
rather the use of common methodologies or tools. The current grading is
insufficient to good. However, it is important to bear in mind that conservation
biology must be carried out on the ground and local centres are
desirable, so the relatively parochial nature of the group at Lund does not
mean it should be abandoned.
Molecular evolution. This is a huge and varied area, which is virtually
impossible to evaluate as a whole because it is so heterogeneous in quality
of work. Very standard molecular tools are being used to answer the sorts
of questions that are being tackled in many other universities. Evolutionary
ecology is a case in point, with Lund being perfectly adequate but
having no identity of its own. In contrast the avian malaria work has the
potential to mark the Department apart. Conservation ecology is an area
that no organismic ecological department can ignore, but there is a lack
of focus with a clear need to identify the Department’s potential position
as a world research leader. The overall assessment is somewhere between
good and insufficient for an overall grading, with the exception of those
working on migration and flight energetics, which are in a different class.
Within the subdivision Animal Ecology of the Department of Ecology
very strong and internationally known groups on animal migration and
flight energetics exist. This special area of animal migration and movement
is a unique endeavour with also unique facilities such as a special wind
tunnel equipped with state of the art velocimetry. This unit is also equipped
with radar and satellite-based radio telemetry including GPS-based
location systems for studying migrating birds. There are also good facilities
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