Vasco Valdez
PhD StudentVasco Valdez is conducting a Ph.D. in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution (BIODIV) by the University of Lisbon starting in 2024 within the Conservation Ecology & Society group of CE3C. He is conducting the project "The effect of climate changes on the spatial-temporal ecological patterns of European rear-edge populations of small mustelids", under the supervision of Luís Miguel Rosalino, from the Department of Animal Biology at Lisbon University, and Pablo Ferreras, from Spanish Research Council (CSIC) at the Spanish Wildlife Research Institute (IREC).
His PhD project aims are:
- Identify the worldwide effects of climate change on meso and small carnivores' ecological patterns;
- Understand the land use and climatic thresholds determining the current distribution of stone marten and weasel populations in Iberia and forecast their future distributions under different climate change scenarios;
- Understand how microscale weather variations (daily or weekly variations) affect the activity patterns of both species and their implications for species conservation under climate change scenarios;
- Understand the effect of different temperature gradients on the land use patterns of both species and its implication for species conservation under global change scenarios;
- Assess the importance of watercourses for stone marten and weasel survival in Mediterranean weather contexts.
- Email: vfvaldez@fc.ul.pt
- Web References: ORCID
- Research Group: Conservation Ecology & Society