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The Doctoral Programme in Biodiversity and Conservation that we are presenting is the result of the need for specialisation in this field in a geographical area such as the Canary Islands. This programme derives in part from previous doctoral programmes, with much broader and more diverse objectives, such as the extinct Doctorate in Life and Environmental Sciences (RD 778/1998, of April 30) and Doctorate in Biology (RD 1393/2007, of October 29), also in demand by students currently more inclined to other programmes.
The degrees that mainly feed the doctoral program are the Masters currently in force in Terrestrial Biodiversity and Conservation in Islands and Marine Biology: Biodiversity and Conservation, attached to the Biology Section, Faculty of Sciences, of the ULL. However, the access profile is broader taking into account that the disciplines taught in other ULL master's degrees or external, national or foreign, encompass topics of the lines of research that make up this program. It is worth highlighting the continuous requests received by potential doctoral students, graduates of different degrees attached to other Spanish universities or from European or American countries, requesting information about the program.
The PhD in Biodiversity and Conservation is supported by consolidated lines and research teams, both in the terrestrial and marine fields. It constitutes a quality training proposal, with an interdepartmental and interfaculty scope. The program offers a wide coverage of doctoral training in the different branches of Biology and the Environment. It aims to contribute to the promotion of the employability of highly qualified personnel in an area of social interest, through the professional development of postdoctoral researchers in the areas of Biodiversity and Conservation, the training of university teaching-research staff, and the training of researchers aimed at administrations in issues related to conservation and management.
The study of Biodiversity and Conservation has been a strategic area of the ULL. In the areas related to marine ecosystems, it has been part of the Campus of International Excellence (Intercontinental Atlantic Campus) granted by the MINECO in 2010, including projects for teaching and scientific improvement and adaptation to the EHEA. In addition to the ULL's own resources, this program has resources from other participating centers or those that collaborate regularly with the researchers of this program for its development.
Research into biodiversity conservation and management is currently a matter of survival, especially in a territory such as the Canary Islands where population pressure is very high. Island environments, and especially those of oceanic islands, have peculiar characteristics (isolation, simple ecological communities, high number of endemisms, scarcity or absence of predators, etc.) that make them more susceptible to various threat factors.
The Canary Islands' terrestrial and marine biodiversity is of extraordinary interest at a national and international level. The Canary Islands, together with Madeira and the rest of the Macaronesia archipelagos, are a hot spot of interest for researchers from many countries, especially European ones. Above all, in recent decades, the volume of research work on these islands has tripled with the collaboration of specialists from all over the world. The conservation of the terrestrial and marine environment requires a comprehensive approach that requires both classical disciplines and molecular and paleobiological approaches that help to catalogue the different living beings and their relationships, and to understand their spatial and temporal distribution. In addition, living beings offer numerous ecosystem services and are also sources of wealth yet to be explored.
Currently, public and private organizations are demanding highly qualified technicians in both environmental knowledge and conservation: assessment, monitoring, and recovery of endangered species, restoration of degraded natural areas, environmental impact assessment, eradication of exotic species, planning of public use in protected areas, ecological monitoring of protected ecosystems, among others. The evidence described supports the need for and justification of this doctoral program.