Researcher who listens to forests wins 2026 Pritzker Environmental Genius Award
Zuzana Burivalova, a tropical forest ecologist who uses sound to understand the health of forests globally, was recently named the winner of the 2026 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award. The award is an initiative of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). “Receiving this award feels really […]
Zuzana Burivalova, a tropical forest ecologist, has been awarded the 2026 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award. The award is given by the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA. Burivalova, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the principal investigator of the Sound Forest Lab, uses sound to study the health of forests worldwide.
She and her team place remote audio recorders in forests across the globe, from Papua New Guinea to Ecuador, allowing them to listen to wildlife 24/7. These sound recordings provide a baseline of current forest life and help monitor changes over time. Burivalova's work has been featured on Mongabay's Conservation Effectiveness platform, which assesses the effectiveness of various conservation strategies.
The award, Burivalova says, is both humbling and particularly significant during challenging times for environmental work. She feels a responsibility to continue her efforts for biodiversity conservation.
Written by urgent.news from Mongabay's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
