Prof Maria Dornelas
Professor
Overview
I have a BSc from the Universidade de Lisboa, and a PhD from James Cook University.
Research
My research focuses on quantifying biodiversity and understanding the processes that shape it. I often work on tropical systems and specifically coral reefs, but I also work with tropical freshwater fish, mangrove crabs and plants for example, as I am more question-driven that organism-driven. I like to combine ecological theory, synthesis of existing data, and fieldwork (preferably in exotic places!) in my research, and most of the research questions I’m interested in fall under the disciplines of community ecology, macroecology and biogeography. I tend to work on intermediate spatio-temporal scales (that is communities and networks of communities over time-scales of years to tens of years).
Some questions I am interested in include:
– How has global biodiversity changed in the past century?
– What are the causes and consequences of species spatial distributions for coexistence?
– How do coral species differ in their demographic rates?
Current students
Ph.D. Students
Jessica Haghkerdar
Victoria Dale
Garrett Fundakowski
Masters and Honours Students
Chloe Stanley
Sophie Berlouis
Amelia Errington