Navinder J Singh

Restoring biodiversity through ecology, innovation and collaboration

The world’s ecosystems are undergoing unprecedented change. Climate change, habitat loss, land-use intensification, pollution and biological invasions are transforming forests, rivers, mountains and agricultural landscapes at a pace rarely experienced in human history. While conserving remaining biodiversity remains essential, it is becoming increasingly clear that conservation alone will not be enough. The future of biodiversity will depend equally on our ability to restore ecosystems, recover ecological processes and build resilient landscapes capable of supporting both nature and society.

My research is driven by a simple but fundamental question:

How can ecological science help restore biodiversity in a rapidly changing world?

As the Chaired Professor of Restoration Ecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), I lead research that combines ecological theory, quantitative ecology, long-term field studies and technological innovation to better understand how ecosystems function, respond to disturbance and recover. Our work spans forests, freshwater ecosystems, mountains and agricultural landscapes, integrating terrestrial and aquatic ecology while recognising that ecological processes rarely operate within the boundaries of individual ecosystems.

Throughout my career I have been fascinated by ecological complexity. Understanding why ecosystems differ in their resilience, why some populations recover while others decline, and how species respond to environmental change has shaped my scientific journey—from mountain ungulates in the Himalayas and migratory wildlife across Central Asia to boreal forests, river systems and raptor populations in northern Europe. Although these systems differ enormously, they all address the same fundamental challenge: understanding how ecological systems change through time and how science can help guide their recovery.

Today, restoration ecology provides the framework that brings these interests together. It is a discipline that combines curiosity-driven ecological research with one of the most pressing societal challenges of our time. I see restoration not simply as repairing damaged ecosystems, but as an opportunity to deepen our understanding of ecological processes while developing knowledge that supports conservation, sustainable management and environmental policy.

Master programme in Fish and Wildlife Management

Animal Migration Course - Lund University

A systems perspective on restoration

Nature functions as an interconnected system. Species interact through complex ecological networks, landscapes are connected by the movement of organisms, and ecological processes operate across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Successful restoration therefore requires more than restoring individual habitats or conserving individual species—it requires understanding how these ecological systems function as a whole.

Our research adopts this systems perspective. We seek to understand how biodiversity responds to environmental change across landscapes and how restoration can strengthen ecological resilience under future climatic and societal conditions. By integrating ecological theory with applied restoration, we aim to generate knowledge that is both scientifically robust and directly relevant for environmental management.

A central ambition of our research is to move restoration ecology towards greater predictability. Restoration projects are increasingly expected to deliver measurable outcomes for biodiversity, ecosystem services and climate adaptation, yet ecological responses often remain difficult to forecast. We believe that combining long-term ecological data, quantitative modelling and emerging technologies can improve our ability to anticipate restoration outcomes before management actions are implemented. Developing a predictive understanding of ecological restoration represents one of the major scientific frontiers of our discipline.

Questions that inspire our research

Rather than organising our work around individual projects, we organise it around fundamental ecological questions that will remain important long after individual projects have ended.

1.     How can ecological restoration become more predictable?

2.     What determines whether ecosystems recover—or shift into alternative ecological states?

3.     How can biodiversity be monitored more effectively using emerging technologies?

4.     How do species interactions and movement shape ecosystem resilience?

5.     How can restoration simultaneously benefit biodiversity, climate resilience and human well-being?

6.     How can ecological science better support environmental policy and practical restoration?

These are the questions that define our research agenda and motivate our work.

We welcome students, researchers and collaborators who share our curiosity about how ecosystems function, our passion for understanding biodiversity, and our ambition to contribute knowledge that helps nature recover.

PhD

Marco Cunico (2026-)

Benjamin Lindberg (2025-)

Jani Ahonen (2022-)

Christian Fohringer (2017-) Global change and animal movements. SLU

Sabine Pfeffer (2016-) Ecosystem impacts of ungulate communities. SLU

Andrew M Allen (2016) Linking movement ecology with the management of mobile species. Swedish University of agricultural sciences.

Alina Evans (2015) Ecophysiology of brown bear. Hedmark University College, Norway. Cosupervised with Prof. Jon Arnemo.

Joseph Bull (2014) Biodiversity offsets for moving conservation targets. Imperial College London. Cosupervised with Prof. E.J. Milner-Gulland.

Master Theses

Eirini-Lamprini Daouti (2017) Breeding dynamics of Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) population in the boreal forest of Sweden. (SLU). 

Linnéa Näsén (2015) Synchronizing migration with birth: An exploration of migratory tactics in female moose. (SLU).

Rebecka Hedfors (2014) Movement ecology of Golden eagles (Aquila crysaetos) and risks associated with wind farm development. SLU.

Augusta Dorey (2014) Habitat-performance relationships on an island: fitness landscape of moose in Öland, Sweden. Imperial College London. U.K.

Mattias Nilsson (2014) Movement ecology of the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and the semi-domesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) - Synchronous movements in a boreal ecosystem. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå.

Vera Steinberg (2013) Predicting spatio-temporal patterns of human-wildlife conflicts in a Trans-Himalayan landscape for dynamic conservation. University of Freiburg, Germany.

Benno Dillinger (2013) Impact of natural and man-made fires on female moose movement and resource selection. BOKU, Austria.

Peter Lojander (2013) Site fidelity of a migratory species towards its annual range. Master Thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå.

Jens Lindberg (2013) Selection of habitat and resources during migration by a large mammal. Master Thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå.

Alexandra Haydn (2012) Calving site selection by moose (Alces alces) along a latitudinal gradient in Sweden. BOKU, Vienna.

Matthew Brown (2010) A trophy hunting model for saiga antelope. Imperial College London. U.K.

Aigual Temirzhanova (2010) Timing of green up and saiga antelope migrations in Kazakhstan. University of Aberdeen. U.K.

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