Projects as PI

Rapid environmental alterations caused by human activities are causing one of the greatest biodiversity losses ever observed in Earth's history. Most efforts to mitigate these losses have been concentrated on rarer species. However, evidence is accumulating that some common species are also rapidly declining. Despite their greater importance in terms of ecosystem function and service provision, the causes of these unexpected declines are little understood. Corvustrack focuses on one of these species, the jackdaw (Corvus monedula), a social, medium-sized corvid, well-known for their remarkable intelligence. While the species is classified as least concern at a global scale, it is rapidly declining in some areas of Europe that have undergone a more intensive urbanization. The reasons behind such declines are not completely understood but could be related to an innate fear to humans, which would interfere in their daily activities and ultimately reduce their survival and breeding success. To start addressing this hypothesis, we propose to analyse the spatiotemporal patterns of habitat use of individuals in a highly populated urban area. 

Novel environments can generate sudden mismatches between individual’s phenotypes and the environment causing maladaptation and local extinction. Environmental similarity between the place of origin and introduction of alien species has been thus considered as an important driver of invasion success. However, recent evidence is accumulating that some species may also have notable success in areas climatically distinct from those occupied in its native ranges. This project aims to analyse how variation in species-specific traits can allow species to deal with environmental mismatches and how this can affect acuracy of species distribution models. 

Awareness of biological invasion impacts and the critical importance of evidence-based decision making have led to a persistent effort to understand the factors driving invasion success so as to be able to predict invasion outcomes. To this end, a range of modelling tools has been developed. Among them, species distribution models (SDMs) play a critical role in invasion risk assessments.  In this project, two unresolved challenges faced by SDMs when applied to the biological invasion process are examined: how (1) species’ association with human-modified habitats in native ranges and (2) intraspecific niche variation shape the distribution of invasive species at biogeographical scales and how these effects influence the reliability of predictions of invasion risk.