SCHEDULE

Yurena Arjona studied Biology at the University of La Laguna (2009), then she studied her master in Biodiversity and Conservation Biology at the University Pablo de Olavide, Seville (2010). In 2019, she got her Ph.D. from Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid. During her Ph.D. she studied the role of dispersal syndromes in plant inter-island dispersal combining floristic and genomic approaches. During her postdoctoral research, she worked on metabarcoding of beetle communities and population genetics of beetle species as part of the Island Ecology and Evolution research team (IPNA-CSIC, 2019-2020). Since 2021, she works in the Botany, Ecology and Plant Physiology department (ULL) in collaboration with IPNA-CSIC studying the urgent problem of invasive species on islands from an evolutionary and functional perspective.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yurena-Arjona

Doctor in Biology from the Universidade da Coruña (2010). After a postdoctoral stage at the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris, France) and at Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium), I am currently part of the BioCost research group and I am a teacher in the Biology Degree and in the Interuniversity Masters in Marine Biology and Aquaculture at the University of Coruña. I am also Correspondent of the Museum National d´Histoire Naturelle. My research focuses on red coralline algae, a group of calcareous algae with a global distribution and great ecological relevance for their role as ecosystem engineers. I am interested in different aspects of this group, from its evolutionary history, taxonomy, diversity and chorology, etc. to broader aspects related to habitat conservation and climate change. My research tries to be multidisciplinary and requires numerous international and national collaborations. As part of my research activity I also collaborate with advisory tasks to different institutions and groups. I have co-directed 3 doctoral theses, one of them in progress. I frequently participate in scientific outreach activities in order to make visible the importance of this group of algae, as well as the role of women in Science.

 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Viviana-Pena-2

Ruben Heleno is an assistant professor at the University of Coimbra and a researcher of the Centre for Functional Ecology where he coordinates the Community Ecology Lab. He completed his PhD in the University of Bristol (UK) in 2009, and since then his main research interests have orbited around the study of ecological networks, seed dispersal, biogeography, biological invasions and restoration ecology. He published >75 ISI papers, 8 book chapters, supervised 18 MSc and PhD students, and he is the coordinator of the Masters in Ecology of the University of Coimbra. He participated in 15 research projects in the Azores, Galapagos, Mozambique, São Tomé, Seychelles and mainland Portugal. He’s a member of the direction board of the Portuguese Ecological Society and associate editor of the journal Functional Ecology.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ruben-Heleno

Maria Romeiras (MR) has a PhD in Molecular Biology (University of Lisbon). Since 2017, is a Professor at Instituto Superior de Agronomia (School of Agriculture – ISA/ University of Lisbon). Currently, she is member of two research centres, “Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF/ISA)” and “Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c/FCUL)”. In 2018, she joined the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, and in 2019 she was distinguished by Ciência Viva (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT) in the book «Women in Science». Recently, she was invited to join the Vice-Chair of International network of “IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Macaronesian Islands Plant SG (MIPSG)” to lead the Cabo Verde group. She has published over 20 book chapters and more than 70 peer-reviewed papers, and has participated in several research projects, being PI in 2 projects focused on the study of Macaronesia’s flora. Over the last years, she organized several field-expeditions, particularly in Cabo Verde and Angola. From 2010 to 2015, she was Deputy-Director of the Tropical Botanical Garden (IICT/UL) and recently, she was nominated curator of the plant collections of “Tapada da Ajuda Botanical Park / ISA”, which represents a unique natural space of local vegetation of great floral significance in Lisbon.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maria-Romeiras

Oceanographer with more than 20 years of experience in marine ecology studies. She develops her research mainly in coastal systems, studying the ecological processes in marine benthic communities, analyzing the biotic interactions that are established between their components and the effects of various anthropogenic stressors, such as biological invasions, coastal urbanization or climate change. She has carried out part of her research at the Universidade dos Açores and the MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Center of Madeira, organizations with which she continues to collaborate. She is a founding partner of Hydrosphere, a spin-off from the University of Vigo, and is currently involved in the optimization of marine macroalgae cultivation protocols.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eva-Cacabelos

Christophe Vieira is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Jeju National University in South Korea. His research work initially focused on seaweeds ecology in coral reef systems, and expanded to the study of seaweeds diversity, taxonomy, phylogenetics, biogeography and evolution. His research uses molecular, morphological, ecological and geographical data to study seaweeds global biodiversity, historical biogeography, and evolution, with a focus on brown algae. He has largely contributed to our knowledge on the global diversity and biogeography of a tropical/warm-temperate algal group, including in the Macaronesian region. His current main interest dwells in elucidating the historical processes that shaped current diversity patterns of seaweeds. To this end he keeps documenting seaweeds biodiversity, geography, and works on resolving robust phylogenetic relationships using phylogenomic data.

 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christophe-Vieira

Carlos García-Verdugo is a botanist with a strong interest in the evolutionary processes and mechanisms that shape plant biodiversity patterns, particularly those operating at the intersection between macro- and microevolutionary scales. His research seeks to integrate complementary sources of evidence (mostly molecular, field and common garden data, but also meta-analysis) focusing on Macaronesian and Mediterranean plants.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carlos-Garcia-Verdugo

Brezo Díaz-Caneja martínez is a marine ecologist with a particular interest in investigating the environmental factors that determine the distribution of species. My line of research focuses on the study of the ecophysiological and demographic responses of threatened species at their distribution limits. Much of my work has involved the development of species distribution models in future scenarios, sometimes combining laboratory experimentation (obtaining tolerance thresholds) with modeling. Parallel to my research, and since 2003, I teach at the URJC in the degree in Biology and the Degree in Environmental Sciences. At this University I actively participate in the training of new researchers. I have also actively collaborated with the Spanish Society of Phycology, where I have been part of its board of directors.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brezo-Martinez