The group includes 2 senior researchers, three Ph.D. students and one research grant holder. Until recently this group included two further PhD students, who have in the meantime successfully concluded their thesis. Starting as a group that studied mainly the impacts of invasive freshwater crayfish in amphibian communities, our interests have now a broader scope, but keeping the “herpetological” and “invasion ecology” main themes. Most of our fieldwork is also carried out in aquatic systems, with a main focus on temporary ponds.
Our herpetological background has also enabled some of us to start work on sea turtle ecology and conservation, a “minor” departure from the main group themes!
Currently, our research activity continues to be focused on several aspects of invasion ecology, trying to address several common subjects of this emerging discipline:
- Assessment of impacts of invasive aquatic animals, as well as of the responses from the native communities;
- Assessment of impacts of emergent diseases (most of them also the result of introductions/ expansions of pathogens out of their native ranges);
- Assessment of the interactions between invasives and climate change;
- Herpetofauna conservation ecology.
BiNatUr - Bringing nature back – biodiversity-friendly nature-based solutions in cities
BIO-LX - BIODIVERSITY MONITORING IN THE CITY OF LISBON
Consolidation of sea turtle conservation in Guinea-Bissau
