THE TEAM
Core team
Fernando P. Lima
Group Leader, Biogeography
Fernando is a marine scientist and group leader at CIBIO, University of Porto, Portugal. Broadly trained as a marine biologist, he has been studying the consequences of climate change on biodiversity and biogeography. His research tries to integrate processes and mechanisms that operate from the very finest to the very broadest scales. He is a co-founder of ElectricBlue, a tech start-up developing instruments for environmental monitoring and bio-logging.
Rui Seabra
Researcher, Thermal Landscape
Rui studies how temperature fluctuates in rocky shores across both small and large spatiotemporal scales. He is the leader of the CCTBON research project, which is implementing a network aimed at monitoring rocky shore temperatures and biodiversity patterns at over 160 sites across the entire Atlantic. Rui is also an expert in drowning prevention, and is a co-founder of ElectricBlue, a tech co-op developing instruments for environmental monitoring and bio-logging.
Cátia Monteiro
Researcher, Biodiversity
Cátia Monteiro is a marine biologist with a strong track record on studying the impacts of climate change on macroalgae. She is an expert on algae physiology,taxonomy, biogeography and genetics. Her work at CIBIO focuses on the biogeography of rocky shores communities, its induced changes due to global warming and how these are modulated by their microhabitat.
Rita Silva
Researcher, Data Science
Rita is a conservation scientist passionate about the power of data to drive efficient decision-making. Her research focuses on using emerging technology and globally shared information to improve knowledge of coastal ecosystems that can serve the scientific and non-scientific communities. Rita has a background in marine biology and evolving expertise in data science.
Bruno Loureiro
Researcher, Electronics Engineer
Bruno is an electronics engineer with extensive experience in the development of solutions for marine and maritime research. He designs hardware, firmware and mobile applications to manage scientific instruments and dataloggers. Bruno is also a co-founder of ElectricBlue, a tech co-op developing instruments for environmental monitoring and bio-logging.
Rocío Nieto Vilela
Researcher, Thermal Physiology
Rocío is a marine biologist specialised in understanding how physical stress affects rocky intertidal organisms. She is interested in the consequences of thermal stress, both under natural and experimental conditions. She has a broad experience with a variety of model species, in a wide range of geographic regions (NE and SW Atlantic).
Luís Pereira
PhD Student, Electronics Engineer
Luís is a PhD student at the doctoral program BIODIV at CIBIO. His main interest is in the development of prototype electronics for bold ecological research. Luís has extensive experience in the realistic simulation of environmental conditions in the lab. He is currently developing an automated experimental chamber that simulates intertidal conditions for studying the role of local adaptation on rocky shore biogeography.
Joana Pereira
PhD Student, Biodiversity
Joana Pereira is a PhD student at the doctoral program BIODIV at CIBIO. She has been gaining experience in a variety of biodiversity survey techniques, as well as on the identification of European intertidal fauna and flora. Her PhD thesis focuses on understanding the mechanistic links between climate change and coastal biodiversity, using a marine foundation species and its associated biodiversity as a model.
Gabriela Borer
Lab Technician, Molecular Taxonomy
Having finished her MSc, Gabriela plans to start her PhD in 2024. Her main interest is the application of genetic tools in the study of intertidal biodiversity. She is currently comparing the performance of different sampling techniques (visual in situ and ex situ, photoquadrats and eDNA) in the identification of rocky intertidal species.
João Nunes
MSc Student, UAS Surveying
João is a MSc Student at ICBAS. His thesis focuses on systematic and automated aerial surveys of rocky intertidal communities using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (drones).
Mar Humet
MSc Student, Physiology
Mar is interested in the physiological responses of intertidal invertebrates to thermal stress. She is currently working on the usability of a new method to assess thermal stress in the field, trying to understand how that stress is modulated by environmental variability and change.
Hajer Bouraffa
MSc Student, Thermal Stress
Hajer is a MSc Student at IPB. Her thesis focuses on the buffering effect of rocky intertidal pools on the consequences of global warming.
External collaborators
Francisco Arenas
CIIMAR
Francisco (Paco) is a marine scientist at CIIMAR, University of Porto, Portugal. He is interested in the ecology of marine invasions, impacts of climate change on marine systems, and the importance of biodiversity in the functioning of coastal ecosystems.
David S Wethey
University of South Carolina
David's research interests include biogeography, population dynamics, predator-prey and competitive interactions, conservation genetics, and the mechanisms by which organisms escape the physics of their habitats. He uses a combination of field and laboratory experiments and modelling to examine these processes. His field studies are currently being carried out on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America, the Pacific coast of Asia, and the Atlantic coast of Europe.
Brian Helmuth
Northeastern University
Brian's research and teaching focus on predicting the likely ecological impacts of climate change on coastal ecosystems, and on the people who rely on them for their well-being. His lab applies a wide range of approaches, including the development and deployment of novel sensors, physiological and ecological experimentation to measure the vulnerability of key marine organisms, and the mapping of these vulnerabilities to inform marine spatial planning.