He is currently the head of the Biodiversity and Animal Conservation Lab at the CTFC. His research objectives are focused on the study of interactions between agriculture and farmland birds, basically in steppe-land extensive farmland areas. Another main goal of his research is based on the knowledge transfer of conservation biology criteria to stakeholders, and help them to be applied and implement in nature conservation planning. Since 2003, Gerard Bota and his team has developed a close relation with the Catalan regional government dealing and giving advice to regional stakeholders on the conservation planning of the steppe-land species and Natura2000 protected areas in Catalonia.

He had participated in different research projects related to biodiversity, conservation and environmental services in agricultural systems like ERANET projects (FARMLAND) and a project funded by the Fundación General CSIC-Banco Santander (STEPPEAHEAD). He is also currently involved as a lead partner in a INTERREG Europe project (BID-REX ; From Biodiversity data to decions). 

The research outputs of this and other projects are more than 20 SCI papers co-authorship published in journals like Conservation Letters, Biodiversity and Conservation, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, Ecological Indicators, Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, PlosOne, Journal of Avian Biology, etc.

He has  been also first editor of the book "Ecology and Conservation of Steppe-land birds" published by Lynx Editions and co-author of different chapters (more than 10) in different international and regional books.

Llorente-Llurba, E.; Bota, G.; Bonfil, J., Pujol-Buxó, E.; Gàlvez, M.; Montés, G.; Bas, J.; Moncasí, F.; Pont, F.; Mañosa, S. (2019) Diet composition and breeding succes of Black-shouldered Kites in the Lleida Plains (NE Spain) in relation to population outbreaks. Ardeola 66(1), 33-51

Cuscó, F., Cardador, L., Bota, G., Morales, M.B., Mañosa, S. Inter-individual consistency in habitat selection patterns and spatial range constraints of female little bustards during the non-breeding season. BMC Ecology DOI:10.1186/s12898-018-0205-9

Lanzas, M., Hermoso, V., de Miguel, S., Bota, G., Brotons, Ll. 2019. Designing a network of Green Infrastructure to enhance the conservation value of protected areas and maintain ecosystem services. Science of the Total Environment 651, 541-550

Gómez-Catasús, J.; Pérez-Granados, C.; Barrero, A.; Bota, G.; Giralt, D.; López-Iborra, G.M.; Serrano, D.; Traba, J. 2018 European population trends and current conservation status of an endangered steppe-bird species: the Dupont’s lark Chersophilus duponti. PeerJ. DOI:10.7717/peerj.5627

Sardà-Palomera, F., Bota, G., Sardà, F., Brotons, Ll. (2018) Reply to “a comment on the limitations of UAVs in wildlife research - the example of colonial nesting waterbirds”. Journal of Avian Biology, DOI: 10.1111/jav.01902

Pérez-Granados, C.; Bota, G.; Giralt, D.; Traba, J. (2018) A cost-effective protocol for monitoring birds using Autonomous Recording Units: a case study with with a night-time singing passerine. Bird Study DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2018.1511682

Morán-Ordóñez, A.; Canessa, S.; Bota, G.; Brotons, Ll.; Herrando, S.;  Hermoso, V. (2018) Efficiency of species survey networks can be improved by integrating different monitoring approaches in a spatial prioritization design. Conservation Letters DOI: 10.1111/conl.12591