Corvid collective punishment? The ecological and ethical case for the year-round protection of Eurasian jays in Austria

The final lecture for the 2026 VAS Summer Lecture Series will be on the challenges of ecological and species protections. Dr.  Mario Pesendorfer is Professor of Forest Ecology at BOKU University. His research focuses on the ecological and evolutionary drivers of plant and animal population dynamics and behavior, with particular emphasis on mast seeding, forest regeneration, and species interactions in temperate ecosystems. His doctorate is in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and he has held research positions at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.