Guy Pe'er (1975, Haifa) is an ecologist and works at the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) in Leipzig in the Department of Ecosystem Services, and at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), which is associated with both institutions. He studied Life Science in Jerusalem and received his PhD from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
His research combines different levels and areas of ecology: He works on animal behavior, population dynamics, and structures and patterns of biodiversity. He combines model approaches with practical field experiments and seeks to draw conclusions for conservation measures. To this end, he is working with different animal groups, especially butterflies and rams, but also mammals, birds and various plants.
Since 2010, he has been intensively involved in EU agricultural policy and environmental issues within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The central question here is how the CAP affects socio-ecological systems - in terms of the interactions between agricultural structure and economy, biodiversity and ecosystem services and, consequently, the vitality of rural areas and the well-being of farmers. As a first author, he has published articles on these issues in the journal Science (2014 and 2019). In 2017, a fitness check report on the CAP, which he led, was commissioned by the Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU) and BirdLife International. In 2020 he initiated a call to the European Commission for a sustainability-oriented reform of the CAP. Since then he has been involved in many interactions with policy makers.
Pe'er is also a butterfly expert and observer and tries to counteract insect mortality. He oversees butterfly monitoring in Israel and since May 2020 has been involved in the new project VielFalterGarten, which tries to bring butterflies back to Leipzig.
Through politics as well as cooperation with volunteers and the public, he is trying to combat insect mortality in Germany, the EU and worldwide.