EPHI Switzerland & International collaborators

I am the leader of the Spatial Evolutionary Ecology Group at the Swiss Federal Research Institute (WSL). I study how the spatial and temporal arrangement of habitats influences avian diversity and plant-bird interactions. I evaluate mechanisms that act across spatial and temporal scales by integrating hypotheses, tools and data from a range of fields, including ecology, evolutionary biology, biogeography, climatology, geology and conservation biology. Much of my current work is focused on the role of plant-hummingbird interactions in the generation and maintenance of high tropical diversity.

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I am a researcher in the Spatial Evolutionary Ecology Group at WSL. I am a quantitative ecologist with broad interests in community ecology and macroecology. A recent focus of my research addresses the functional roles of species in ecological processes for which I combine ecological networks with methods from functional ecology. I am currently investigating possible consequences of environmental changes for species communities and ecological processes involving plant-animal interactions.

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I am Post Doc at the Swiss Federal Research Institute (WSL). Throughout my career, I have studied how plant and animal interactions modulate biodiversity through time and space and how these interactions produce secondary effects in ecosystem services. Particularly in this project, I am exploring the mechanisms that influence the interactions between plants and hummingbirds to develop a model to predict interactions. I also explore how network properties change with variation in resource abundance and competition along the elevation gradient.

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I am a postdoctoral fellow within the Spatial Evolutionary Ecology Group at WSL and the Laboratory for Theoretical Ecology and Synthesis at the Federal University of Goiás (Brazil). My research focuses on investigating evolutionary aspects of species interaction, such as the coevolution between plants and hummingbirds. I employ macroecological and macroevolutionary methods to detect phylogenetic patterns of interactions and their potential drivers.

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I am an evolutionary biologist interested in biological interactions and ecology, especially in the use of technological solutions. I have studied at Padua University (Italy), and I have completed my PhD at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK), where I studied the evolution of the Asteraceae in the Alps. In that project, I looked at how genome size and polyploidy influence species’ ecology and traits, as well as spearheading the use of automated pollinator monitoring systems at high elevations. At WSL, I will apply computer vision and machine learning techniques to biological monitoring data, developing data science tools and answering ecological questions with new and better data.

I am interested in a wide range of topics in Ecology and Evolution. However, my research focuses mainly on understanding the mechanisms structuring and (de-)stabilising natural communities, as well as the anthropogenic perturbations affecting these species assemblages. I mainly use plant-pollinator interactions as a study model, coupled with mechanistic and theoretical approaches to investigate how the distribution of direct and indirect interspecific interactions affects species coexistence. In parallel, I use macro-ecological and empirical approaches to estimate the impact of global changes on the distribution, co-occurrence and evolutionary trajectory of the species studied. This empirical aspect of my research focuses on the statistical analysis of past temporal dynamics to understand the mechanisms and consequences for biodiversity, from species to communities.

I am a PhD student within the Spatial Evolutionary Ecology Group at WSL and Landscape Ecology Group at ETHZ. My dissertation is supervised by Prof. Dr. Catherine Graham and co-supervised by Prof. Dr, Loïc Pellisier. In my dissertation I am investigating the effects of deforestation on plant-hummingbird interactions. I use network and trait-based approaches combined with field experiments to understand if and how deforestation influences changes in 1) network structure, 2) functional space of plant and hummingbird communities, and 3) hummingbird specialization.

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I am a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Florida studying ecological communities and populations. I use image-based data collection and machine learning to automate biodiversity surveys. I am particularly interested in combining these tools with predictive modeling to assess ecological theory and conservation.

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My research aims to better understand the past evolution, current structure, and future maintenance of biodiversity. As trained plant ecologist, I am studying plants in systems that span various temporal and spatial scales, using a variety of approaches from multiple disciplines. Studying interactions (with a focus on the plant side) is rather new to me but I’m excited to dive into the topic of interactions and how these lead to hummingbird-plant networks that change across the steep ecological gradients considered in this project. Next to the research aspects, my work includes coordination and management of the project, as well as data management.

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