The Barcelona Zoo Foundation has awarded the grants it gives annually to fund wildlife and biodiversity research, conservation, protection, and preservation projects (PRICs). A total of 29 applications were received this year, from which the jury has selected 11 projects. This year, the Foundation will allocate €88,000 to fund the 11 projects, a 14.3% increase on the amount awarded in 2018. In all, the Barcelona Zoo Foundation has now given over a million euros in grants since the programme began in 2005.

Most of the grants awarded this year (8 out of the 11 projects chosen) are for projects that focus on the study of Mediterranean wildlife and ecosystems, the rest of projects centre at taxons of others bioregions. Seven of the projects will be implemented in situ, that is, in the species’ natural habitats, and three at the Zoo or in primate sanctuaries in Africa. The last one is adopting the One Plan Approach, in other words, it integrates the management and conservation work of all those involved in the project, in both the natural and the controlled environments.

The priority lines of action that feature most among the projects awarded grants are applied conservation research, in situ research and conservation actions involving native Mediterranean species and habitats, or those under serious threat, and the use of new technologies applied to zoological research.

The beneficiaries of these grants, which will enable them to implement their research and conservation projects, include departments from four universities: the University of Barcelona (UB), the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the University of Girona (UdG), and the Pompeu Fabra Unversity (UPF-CSIC). Three others are NGOs, two of them Catalan (the Emys Foundation and the Parets del Vallès Nature School), and the other international, the Chimpanzee Health Group; Beyond numerous naturalists in our country linked to these organizations and universities.

The full list of 11 projects is as follows:

1. Estudi de la persistència ambiental del virus de la influença aviària / Study of the environmental persistence of the bird flu virus

Albert Perlas

Autonomous University of Barcelona

2. Cognición, conservación y bienestar en ungulados en peligro: gacela dorcas, gacela dama y órix cimitarra / Cognition, conservation, and well-being in endangered ungulates: gacela dorcas, gacela dama, and órix cimitarra

Montse Colell

University of Barcelona

3. Ampliación de la distribución de la rana híbrida de Graf (Pelophylax klepton grafi) en Cataluña, y estudio de su cría en cautividad / Expanding the distribution of the Graf hybrid frog (Pelophylax klepton grafi) in Catalonia, and a study of its reproduction in captivity

Daniel Fernández

Parets del Vallès Nature School Research Group (GRENP)

4. Chimpanzee Reproductive Health Assessment Project

Yedra Feltrer

Chimpanzee Health Group

5. Conservació del corb marí emplomallat (Phalacrocorax aristotelis desmarestii) i la interacció amb la pesca recreativa / Conservation of the European Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis desmarestii), and its interaction with recreational fishing

Carlos Tobella

University of Girona

6. Estudio de la salud de las poblaciones de murciélagos de Catalunya / Study of the health of bat populations in Catalonia

Óscar Cabezón

Autonomous University of Barcelona

7. Exposició a rodenticides anticoagulants en els voltors comuns que s’alimenten en abocadors / The exposure to anti-coagulant rodenticides of common vultures that feed on landfill sites

Ignasi Marco Sánchez

Autonomous University of Barcelona

8. La conservación de la biodiversidad y el turismo en las calas de la Costa Brava / The conservation of biodiversity and tourism in the inlets of the Costa Brava

Alberto Maceda

University of Barcelona

9. Estudi genètic i climàtic per a la reintroducció de la papallona grogueta del desert a Catalunya / Genetic and climatic study for reintroducing the yellow desert butterfly in Catalonia

Roger Vila

Pompeu Fabra University - CSIC

10. Estudi i conservació d’Emys orbicularis a la plana de la Selva / Study and conservation of the Emys orbicularis on the Selva plain

Pau Sunyer

Emys Foundation

11. Determinació hormonal en saliva: una eina potencial per al maneig reproductiu i la conservació del dragó de Komodo / Hormone determination in saliva: a potential tool for the reproductive management and conservation of the Komodo dragon

Manel López-Béjar

Autonomous University of Barcelona