Dario Massimino

Research Ecologist

Dario Massimino

Dario works on a range of projects aimed at modelling species distribution, understanding the effects of recent climate change, predicting the effects of climate change on bird populations, assessing bird population trends and producing biodiversity indicators.

Jan 2004 – PhD Natural and Environmental Sciences ‘Assessment of forest quality in the province of Bergamo using bioindicators’ (University of Milano)
Mar 2000 - MSc Environmental Sciences (University of Milano-Bicocca)

Interests & Responsibilities

Dario's research interests mainly focus on the analysis of large datasets to answer questions relevant to wildlife conservation. He is particularly interested in studying the effects of climate change and predicting its long-term consequences on bird populations. Dario is also interested in understanding the effects of climate change on bird phenology. He is responsible for developing and running software for the assessment of species population trends from Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and Waterways Breeding Bird Survey (WBBS) data, and for the production of the Wild Bird Population Indicators.

Recent BTO Publications

Finch, T., Gillings, S., Green, R.E., Massimino, D., Peach, W.J. & Balmford, A. 2019. Bird conservation and the land sharing‐sparing continuum in farmland‐dominated landscapes of lowland England. Conservation Biology Link to publication View at journal website (DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13316)
Lamb, A., Finch, T., Pearce‐Higgins, J.W., Ausden, M., Balmford, A., Feniuk, C., Hirons, G., Massimino, D. & Green, R.E. 2019. The consequences of land sparing for birds in the United Kingdom. Journal of Applied Ecology View at journal website (DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13362)
Massimino D. & Gillings S. 2018. Updating information on the period of reproduction and prenuptial migration for UK and Irish species included on Annex II of the EU Birds Directive. Research Report no. 711. British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford ISBN: 9781908581976 30pp
Jennifer A. Border, Dario Massimino, Simon Gillings 2018. Potential Future Distribution & Abundance Patterns of Common Buzzards Buteo Buteo. Research Report no. 707. British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford ISBN: 978-1-908581-95-2 34pp
Massimino D., Harris S.J., Gillings, S 2018. Evaluating spatiotemporal trends in terrestrial mammal abundance using data collected during bird surveys. Biological Conservation 226 : 153-167 View at journal website (DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2018.07.026)
Dario Massimino & John Calladine 2017. Modelled abundance and change in abundance of Red Deer and Roe Deer in Scotland from Breeding Bird Survey data. British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford
View all BTO publications for this author

Other Publications

Massimino, D., Orioli, V., Pizzardi, F., Massa, R. & Bani, L. 2010. Usefulness of coarse grain data on forest management to improve bird abundance models. Italian Journal of Zoology 77: 71-80.

Bani, L., Massimino, D., Orioli, V., Bottoni, L. & Massa, R. 2009. Assessment of population trends of common breeding birds in Lombardy, northern Italy, 1992-2007. Ethology Ecology and Evolution 21: 27-44.

Massimino, D., Orioli, V., Massa, R. & Bani, L. 2008. Population trend assessment at large spatial scale: integrating data collected with heterogeneous sampling schemes by means of habitat modelling. Ethology Ecology and Evolution 20: 141-153.

Massimino, D., Masin, S., Bani, L., Dranzoa, C. & Massa, R. 2008. Partial recovery of an African rainforest bird community 35 years after logging. Ethology Ecology and Evolution 20: 391-399.

Bani, L., Massimino, D., Bottoni, L. & Massa, R. 2006. A multi-scale method for selecting indicator species and priority conservation areas: a case study for broadleaved forests in Lombardy, Italy. Conservation Biology 20: 512-526.

Massa, R., Bani, L., Massimino, D. & Bottoni, L. 2002. Forest biodiversity evaluated by means of bird communities [in Italian]. Lombardy Region, Milano. 

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