Advisory Board and Editors Ecology
Blanca Moncunill-Solé
I am a palaeobiologist interested in unravelling the biology and evolutionary dynamics of extinct small mammal taxa, particularly on lagomorphs. During my early career, I have developed models for reconstructing the size of past small mammals, and the use cutting-edge palaeontological techniques (e.g. palaeohistology) for disentangling their biology and evolutionary history. These studies allow me to establish the first long-term database of evolutionary responses of small mammals to insularity, being useful for conservation purposes of extant ones. Besides, I am an active researcher in outreaching (articles, workshops, media interviews, exhibition curator, social and outreaching projects, etc.), to bring science to society and to spread my results. At present, my research lines are focused on determination of the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of extinct lagomorphs to past climate and environmental changes, identifying the drivers, biological shifts and extinction rates. In fact, revealing how this family evolved to past environmental changes will contribute to the development of more effective conservationist strategies and policies for threatened extant taxa, helping, hence, in the present and future ecosystem management and protection
Leonardo Montagnani
I graduated in Forest Science from the University of Tuscia, Viterbo, in 1996. I took my Ph.D. in Forest Ecology at the University of Padova in 2000.
Since then I worked as a consultant for different Institutions, primarily the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, then with the Free University of Bolzano as Assistant Professor, teaching Agroecosystems at the University of Innsbruck.
Starting in 2023 I was appointed as an Endowed Professor at the Free University of Bolzano.
My main research area is the interaction between natural and cultivated systems and the atmosphere. In particular, as an expert in eddy covariance measurements, I developed a new mass conservation approach to quantify the non-turbulent transport of carbon dioxide from the forest to the atmosphere. More recently, I acted as the lead author of the protocol for the quantification of the storage of CO2 and other gasses in the canopy air layer. I'm working also on soil processes and on the exchange of alpine vegetation and the atmosphere.
Jose M Montoya
Senior Researcher at the Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS, at Moulis, France. Leader of the Ecological Networks and Global Change Research Group.
Xosé Anxelu G. Morán
Research Professor at the Oceanographic Center of Gijón/Xixón (IEO, CSIC), Spain. I was Associate Professor of Marine Science, Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, from 2014 to 2020 (currently adjunct). I joined the IEO in 2001 after my PhD training at the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM, CSIC) in Barcelona. I am a biological oceanographer and microbial ecologist addressing the role of microbial plankton in biogeochemical carbon cycling from different perspectives. My research interests include the trophic relationships between phytoplankton and heterotrophic prokaryotes, the long-term dynamics of planktonic microorganisms and their response to global change, with particular emphasis on warming using the metabolic ecology framework. I combine experimental approaches with large-scale observations, both spatial and temporal, in order to predict the future direction and extent of change in the structure and functioning of marine microbial food webs.
Boyd A Mori
Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Ecological Entomology in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta.
Research in our lab focuses on varying aspects of insects in agricultural systems. Our focal areas of research include chemical ecology, population genetics, and insect-plant interactions. We use a variety of techniques from field and laboratory bioassays to transcriptomics and genomics to examine basic and applied ecological questions.
Craig L Moyer
My specialty is the marine microbial ecology and geomicrobiology of hydrothermal vent systems. I also maintain interests in terrestrial and aquatic microbial ecology, microbe-macrobe symbiotic relationships, bioremediation and microbial cycles that impact global climate change. My focus has been the study of microbial mats in and around hydrothermal vents, this includes the biodiversity and biogeography of the Zetaproteobacteria.
Kevin Mueller
I'm an assistant professor at Cleveland State University. My primary area of research is the ecology and biogeochemistry of temperate forests and grasslands, with an emphasis on plant-environment interactions. For example, I've studied the impacts of climate change, land management, and diversity loss on ecosystem functions of North American grasslands. I frequently use measures of plant functional traits or stable isotope ratios to better understand a variety of ecological concepts and biogeochemical processes, including how plants respond to the environment and interact with cycles of water, nutrients, and carbon.
Hannah S Mumby
Dr. Hannah Mumby is Assistant Professor within the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on behavioural ecology, applications of animal and human behaviour to conservation and the conservation of large mammals. Dr. Mumby does interdisciplinary work using both natural and social science approaches to conservation science.
Petteri Muukkonen
Dr. Petteri Muukkonen is a senior lecturer in geoinformatics. He is a geographer, and specifically owns a strong background in biogeography and in geoinformatics. He has mainly studied various biogeography and forestry themes in the boreal forest environment. For example, Dr. Muukkonen has studied carbon sequestration and carbon cycle, biomass surveys and monitoring, spatial autocorrelation of soil characteristics, landscape fragmentation, habitat changes and remote sensing of forest landscape. Geoinformatics (GIS and remote sensing) has been present in some way in all of his research topics.
Craig E Nelson
I am a microbial systems biologist specializing in the structure and function of natural bacterial communities in aquatic habitats such as coral reefs, lakes, streams, and the open ocean. My research broadly seeks to identify novel bacteria and understand their role in ecosystem processes and biogeochemical transformations. Much of my work centers around culture-independent phylogenetic and metagenomic characterization of natural microbial communities and measurement of biogeochemical processes and chemical constituents in the surrounding environment which regulate and are regulated by these microbes. I maintain ancillary projects understanding the microbiomes of eukarya (corals, humans, amphibians, macroalgae) and studying bacterial pathogens in natural waters in the context of water quality.
David M Nelson
David is a stable isotope ecologist. He studies diverse topics across various spatial and temporal scales, including the ecology and evolution of C4 grasses, bird and bat migration in the context of renewable-energy development, and forest and watershed biogeochemistry. He is also interested in the development of novel tools for isotopic analysis of small organic materials.
Darren Norris
Lecturer at the Federal University of Amapá, Brazil. My research interests are broad and are currently focused on the conservation of biodiversity and traditional livelihoods around waterways that traverse political (national and international), cultural and ecological boundaries. I am particularly interested in inter-disciplinary approaches, comprising population and community ecology, population biology, landscape and spatial statistics.