ABS-IGERT research teams focus on two cross-cutting themes:

A) Ecological Functions and Biodiversity

B) Communities and Governance

Research in Ecological Functions and Biodiversity is aimed at the following types of questions:

• What local and historical processes determine presence and distribution of biodiversity?
• How are ecological functions altered by what people do?
• How does society decide which biodiversity to protect? Once priorities are set, how are ecological functions maintained and secured?

Research in Communities and Governance addresses the following types of questions:

• How do political, economic, and historical relations of power and inequality at different scales explain uses and values of biodiversity?
• How do institutional and organizational arrangements affect access, use, and protection of biodiversity?
• Under what conditions can adding economic value to biodiversity create incentives for conservation (e.g., ecotourism or sustainable use of wildlife and fisheries)?