Research

Experience

Climatic change and naturally fragmented habitats. Advisor: Dr. Thais N. C. Vasconcelos

One of the greatest challenges in conservation sciences is to define areas of priority for efficient preservation of the biodiversity in face of growing anthropic pressure and forecasted climate changes. Due to the intimate relationship between organisms and their physical environment, areas of elevated species richness and endemism levels are particularly prone to biodiversity loss resulting from anthropogenic environmental damage. This can be particularly difficult when we consider naturally fragmented habitats, as the Espinhaço Range in the east of Brazil, a mountain chain with high values of both species richness and endemism.

To assess whether the distribution of species endemic of the chain regions will be affected differently by predicted scenarios of climate change, I performed species distribution models for different species that differ in their distribution. This approach corroborates previous studies suggesting that the endemic flora of the Espinhaço Range is under severe threat from climate change.

Risk assessment, evolutionary distinctiveness and “sky” island system. Advisor: Dr. Thais N. C. Vasconcelos; Co-advisor: Dr. Eimear NicLughadha

Global biodiversity is under extreme pressure as a consequence of human activity, being the decline in plant diversity particularly noticeable. Approaches that consider hot spots of biodiversity, as well as endemism areas, are commonly used to identify priority regions for conservation. However, although this is an effective method, conserving the evolutionary process is now also important, demanding new analysis that incorporates this feature. Mountain chains, “sky” island systems, had called attention for their impressive biodiversity, being the high numbers of species richness and endemism result from rapid and recent radiations. In this project, I am interested in evaluating the conservation of the evolutionary history of a particularly diverse environment in Brazil, the campo rupestre ecosystem, and the mountain chains associated with it.

To assess that, I performed the Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) and phylogenetic diversity methods for the Chamaecrista ser. Coriaceae (Fabaceae) clade. With this approach, we are now able to understand the evolutionary history of this group and the challenges in applying conservation policies that link these factors in megadiverse environments.

My work has been supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP).

The role of assembly processes in shaping dominant tree communities in the Amazon rainforest. Advisor: Dr. Christopher Dick; Co-advisor: Dr. Stephen Smith

I am studying phylogenetic community structure in the Chrysophylloideae subfamily of Sapotaceae to understand local patterns of coevolution and coexistence. I aim to answer the following kinds of questions (1) How did clades of Chrysophylloideae assemble in the Neotropics?; (2) What are the roles of phylogenetic niche conservatism and niche divergence for the colonization of the Americas by a highly diverse and dominant rainforest lineage? (3) What is the level of genomic and functional divergence across the Amazon basin?; (4) What is the role of plant-insect interactions in defining biotic niche differences among locally coexisting species? This work will entail phylogenetic and biochemical analyses. My main goal is to explore the drivers of the diversification of a dominant Amazonian tree family considering different assembly processes and their consequences to the current community structure observed.