RESEARCH LINE:
Global Change Biology and large-scale biodiversity modelling
My main research line aims at quantifying biodiversity status and trends, the causes of biodiversity loss and the consequences for ecosystem functioning, with a particular emphasis on the impacts of hunting and land transformation. By employing meta-analytical approaches and large-scale predictive models, I have been able to synthesize the scientific knowledge on the functional responses of mammals and birds to roads and other transportation networks, and to quantify and map the impact of hunting pressure on vertebrate populations across the tropics. Follow-up research aims at elucidating the cascading effects of defaunation for ecosystem functioning, including the ability of tropical forests to continue to act as carbon sinks. I am also interested in identifying and mapping areas with carbon-biodiversity co-benefits that should be prioritized for conservation.
Research Projects
TROPECOLNET: Characterizing the role of interacting species, the drivers and the structure of plant-frugivore ecological networks along a defaunation gradient in tropical forests (2023-2026). Proyectos de GeneraciĆ³n de Conocimiento 2022.
DEFTROP: Cascading effects of defaunation on ecosystem functioning of tropical forests: a pantropical approach (2019-2021). Juan de la Cierva-IncorporaciĆ³n grant.