Research Interests

Ecology, Behaviour and Conservation of Aquatic/Semiaquatic (e.g., Semiaquatic mammals, Fish, Crayfish) and Terrestrial (particularly Carnivores and other Mammals) organisms, which I study using Field (VHF/GPS telemetry, resource sampling, sign surveys, camera traps) and Molecular techniques, as well as advanced Statistical and ecological Modelling approaches (e.g., Mixed-effects models, Geostatistical models applied to Dendritic Networks, Home Range/Movement Models).

I'm also strongly interested in Theoretical as well as Applied ecology.

I'm also enthralled by novel methods. Here two examples:

I've used novel stream geostatistical models accounting for spatial autocorrelation in dendritic ecological networks (e.g. rivers) to model the distribution of two invasive crayfish species (Filipe et al. 2017) and Pyrenean desman (Quaglietta et al. 2018).

My friend and colleague M. Porto and I released a new open source software - the R package SiMRiv - filling a software gap: simulating spatially-explicit movements in linear/dendritic environments (e.g., rivers). The package, which can be applied to any species, in any landscape, simulates individual-based, spatially explicit multistate movements accounting for habitat heterogeneity, providing random trajectories that can then be used as null models to test a bunch of hypotheses within the framework of movement ecology. See our first showcase illustrating software's capabilities on Movement Ecology and its application in the context of road ecology.

Research Lines

• Effects of hydroelectric infrastructures and other anthropogenic stressors on semiaquatic mammals' ecology and freshwater habitat fragmentation;

• Movement ecology, particularly in linear habitats (e.g. rivers) and heterogeneous landscapes, including prediction of wildlife road mortality risk;

• Distribution, feeding ecology, landscape genetics and conservation of the endangered Pyrenean desman;

• Feeding ecology of invasive crayfish through DNA barcoding.

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Research/Academics activities

I act as REFEREE for:

Mammal Review

Ecological Applications

Animal Conservation

Journal of Mammalogy

PLoS ONE

Ecological Indicators

Mammalian Biology

Hystrix - the Italian Journal of Mammalogy

Intergovernamental Painel for Climate Change 2013/2014

Wildlife Society Bulletin

Journal of Nature Conservation

Mammal Study

Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals

IUCN Otter Specialist Group Bulletin.

I count on an established worldwide network of collaborations.

MEMBER of:

International Bio-Logging Society

IUCN SSC Otter Specialist Group

IUCN SSC Small Mammal Specialist Group

IUCN SSC/WI Freshwater Fish Specialist Group

IUCN CEM Mediterranean-Type Ecosystem Group

IUCN CEM Climate Change Adaptation Group

IUCN CEM Ecosystem Restoration Group

IUCN CEM Ecosystems Red List Group

Sociedad Ibérica de Ictiología (SIBIC)

Sociedad Española para la Conservación y Estudio de los Mamíferos (SECEM)

Associazione Teriologica Italiana (ATIt)

Associazione Ricercatori Italian in Portogallo (Hipácia).

Authored & coordinated my Ph.D. project, including the recruitment, formation and supervision of many students and volunteers, Portuguese and foreigners (from USA, UK, Brasil, Ukraine, Portugal, Italy), and the establishment of several national and international collaborations. 2007 - 2010. 

I was member of the Scientific Committee of the IUCN OSG XII International Otter Congress held in Brazil in August 2014.

I've been 5 times in academic juries (5 Msc and 2 Bsc theses).

Consultancies: My expertise as carnivore researcher was early recognized, e.g., by the ICNF (Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas), which firstly came to Évora to learn about the trap-alarms I was using for otter trapping and then made me scientific supervisor of a project aiming to release orphaned otter cubs into the wild involving ICNF, Zoomarine and Évora University.

I've provided consultancy for a similar project in Italy and was recently hired as consultant by the Wildlife Conservation Trust to train local researchers on otter ecology, trapping and tagging, for a project aimed at investigating the ecology and biogeography of a population of Eurasian otters recently discovered in Central India.

I currently work as consultant for Freshwater for the Portuguese NGO ANP|WWF, leading its program on Fluvial Barriers Removal, within the European Initiative Living European Rivers. 

I am part of an informal "Bio-logging" internal sub-group of the CIBIO (together with F. Lima, N. Queiroz, R. Seabra, J.P. Silva and F. Álvares), aimed at fostering research and collaborations on this topic in Portugal and within the CIBIO, as well as at planning and building new, low­cost bio data­loggers.

Participation in Research Projects

Sabor-LTER – Sabor fragmentation experiment: undertanding long-term ecological consequences of infrastructure development and compensatory mitigation. 2011-2015

EnvMetaGen - Capacity Building at InBIO for Research and Innovation Using Environmental Metagenomics project (H2020-WIDESPREAD-2014-2; Proj Nº 668981). 2015-

FRESHING - Next-generation biomonitoring: freshwater bioassessment and species conservation improved with metagenomics. 2018-

FRESHCO - Multiple implications of invasive species on Freshwater Mussel coextinction processes. 2016-

Aquatic mammal research in the Brazilian Amazon, including visits to traditional riverine communities for assessment of human-Giant otter conflicts, Giant otter trapping trials, and Giant otter and pink dolphin necropsies (Mamirauá Institute, Tefé, Amazonas).

Patterns of habitat use by fish in Mediterranean intermittent streams and Monitoring Program of water quality and ecological status of the primary net of EFMA in Portugal.

Mammal nocturnal counts and radio-tracking in the Mediterranean Montado in Portugal.

Roe deer captures in Mediterranean forests in Italy.