I am a landscape ecologist working on biodiversity conservation using a landscape approach that integrates ecological and socio-economic aspects in order to monitor and assess the impacts of policy scenarios on biodiversity and networks of protected areas. My academic background is interdisciplinary, with a BSc in Agricultural Sciences from the Agricultural University of Athens, a PhD in vegetation ecology from Imperial College London and ten years of research experience, collaborating with economists, sociologists and rural geographers on major national and European funded research projects in the field of biodiversity conservation. Prior to my appointment at Kent as a lecturer in Landscape and Biodiversity conservation, I worked as research fellow at Wye College, Imperial College London, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and CAER (University of Reading).

My main research interests include:

• Reconciling biodiversity conservation and sustainable development on rural areas; collaborating with scholars across disciplines to identify drivers of change and actors involved in complex land-use systems, unearth conflicts among stakeholders and competing sectors and develop strategies and policy recommendations for sustainable development
• Impacts of land-use changes and landscape fragmentation on mountain and island ecosystems, including agricultural landscapes and their biodiversity
• Plant ecology including vegetation succession, spatial modelling, estimation of disturbance thresholds, agro-ecology
• Nature conservation policy and governance: issues of scale and space in socio-ecological systems

Recent Publications

Tzanopoulos, J., Kallimanis, AS., Bella, I., Labrianidis, L., Sgardelis, S., Pantis, JD. (2011) Agricultural decline and sustainable development on mountain areas in Greece: sustainability assessment of future scenarios. Land Use Policy, 28, 585-593

Tzanopoulos, J & Vogiatzakis, IN. (2011). Processes and patterns of landscape change on a small Aegean island: the case of Sifnos, Greece. Landscape and Urban Planning, 99, 58-64

Henle, K., Kunin, W., Schweiger, O., Schmeller, D.S., Grobelnik, V., Matsinos, Y., Pantis, J., Penev, L., Potts, S.G., Ring, I., Similä, J., Tzanopoulos, J., van den Hove, S., Baguette, M., Clobert, J., Excoffier, L., Lengyel, S., Marty, P., Moilanen, A., Porcher, E., Storch, D.,  Steffan-Dewenter, I., Sykes, M.T., Zobel, M., Settele, J. (2010). Securing the Conservation of biodiversity across Administrative Levels and spatial, temporal, and Ecological Scales – approach of the SCALES project. GAIA 19(3), 187-193

Mazaris, A., Kallimanis, A., Tzanopoulos, J., Sgardelis, S.,  Pantis, J. (2010). Can we predict the number of plant species from the richness of a few common genera, families or orders?Journal of Applied Ecology 47(3), 662-670

Complete list of publications

BSc in Wildlife Conservation

DI504: Design and Management of Protected Areas

MSc in Conservation Biology

DI841: Managing Protected Areas DI884: Research Methods for Natural Sciences

Research Interests

• Biodiversity conservation using a landscape approach that integrates ecological and socio-economic aspects in order to monitor and assess the impacts of policy scenarios and other human activities on biodiversity and networks of protected areas
• Reconciling biodiversity conservation and sustainable development on rural areas
• Landscape ecology and GIS
• Conservation policy and governance
• Vegetation ecology, including vegetation succession, spatial modelling, estimation of disturbance thresholds, agro-ecology
• Impacts of land-use changes on mountain and island ecosystems
• Scenario analysis and Sustainability Assessment
• Ecosystem Services – study of pollination networks

Research Projects

I have been involved in a number of significant research projects:

• SCALES: Securing the Conservation of biodiversity across Administrative Levels and spatial, temporal, and Ecological Scales (7th Framework)
• Priority Habitats, Protected Sites and Climate Change: Three Investigations to Inform Policy and Management for Adaptation and Mitigation (DEFRA)
• SOILSERVICE: Conflicting demands of land use, soil biodiversity and the sustainable delivery of ecosystem goods and services in Europe (7th Framework)
• JRC Framework contract for the provision of thematic studies in the field of Agri-Environment
• The potential of the High Weald AONB to supply the food needs of its population under conventional and organic agriculture (Funded by High Weald AONB)
• Assessing the effectiveness of the NATURA 2000 network in Greece (Enter04 - project).
• RELU nutrition: Implications of a nutrition driven food policy for land use and the rural environment (RELU)
• BioScene: Scenarios for reconciling biodiversity conservation with declining agricultural use in the mountains of Europe (5th Framework)
• SPIN: Spatial Indicators for Nature Conservation (5th Framework)

PhD/MRES students

Dimitrios Bormpoudakis: DICE/Reading, Green Infrastructure and Regional Connectivity in South East England

Nicola Abram: DICE, Designing a conservation corridor in an oil palm dominated landscape: applying an integrated, systematic conservation planning approach in Sabah, Borneo

Monica Stalio: DICE, Evaluating the impact of Marine Protected Areas on local communities in Kia, Fiji. A case study

Oswaldo De Carvalho Junior: Biodiversity conservation in an acricultural frontier of Amazon: present and future.

Alexandros Tsiridis: DICE, Landscape change and ecosystem services in forest of Fracto (Greece): implications for sustainable management

Liliana Bravo: Reading, Social and ecological drivers of coffee pollination in Santander, Colombia

International Liaison Officer for the School of Anthropology and Conservation

Member of the Editorial Board: Nature Conservation, http://www.pensoft.net/journals/natureconservation