Dr Vasileios Bontzorlos

Dr Vasileios Bontzorlos has graduated from the School of Forestry & Natural Environment, in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he followed the discipline of Ecology & Wildlife Management. He received a national and a European grant in order to realize post-graduate studies in the Iberian Peninsula. He obtained his M.Sc. and his Ph.D. from the University of Salamanca, in Spain. His doctoral research focused on the interaction between intensively managed agro-ecosystems and wildlife fauna. He worked upon two axes (spatial & temporal), where he studied the interaction of the complex structure of Thessaly agricultural plains in central Greece with the trophic ecology of Barn owl (Tyto alba) and small mammal species. He has participated and co-ordinated numerous environmental projects, studies and research programs. In the Agricultural Economics & Policy Research Institute, he realized a post-doctoral research in the framework of AGROETAK programs. His research proposal received the 4th best ranking from 158 chosen proposals, and focused on biodiversity indices and the structure of landscape. In the context of agro-environmental schemes of Pillar I and II of the new CAP, his main aim was to construct targeted and appropriate restructuring guidelines for elements of the agricultural landscape, in order to halt biodiversity loss in intensively exploited and human induced ecosystems.