Ecology of Environmental Change - eChanges

Melanie Köbel

PhD Student

Drylands woodlands Plant functional diversity Climate change Grazing

I’m a PhD student at the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, working in the eChanges group, under the supervision of Doctor Cristina Branquinho and Doctor Alice Nunes.
My PhD project is called “Using ecological indicators of ecosystem structure and functioning to track the effects of global change in open woodlands”.

I’m graduated in Biology, by the Universidade do Algarve, MSc in Ecology and Environmental Management, by the Universidade de Lisboa, and since 2017, I’m a PhD candidate in Ecology.

My interests rely, in broad terms, in understanding the response of ecosystems to human-induced and environmental drivers, hopefully contributing to the knowledge on how ecosystems function and how can we better manage the systems we rely on.
In particular, I have been studying plant communities of dryland woodlands, studying their taxonomic and functional diversity, in response to climate (mainly aridity) and management (such as grazing intensity or nutrient deposition). Most of these works have been conducted in the Montado ecosystem (an open oak woodland) in the southern, dryland, regions of Portugal.
A little on a side note, during the PhD studies, I have been learning more about open science and good scientific practices, subjects that interest me a lot.