I study the ecological conditions under which the use of social information is adaptive and how it impacts animal development and evolution. Among many works on different topics, the behaviour I have been studying more is mate-choice copying, using experimental, but mostly conceptual and theoretical approaches. Mate-choice copying is a type of social learning in the sexual selection context and occurs when animals lack information about the quality of potential mating partners. It can impact the direction and strength of sexual selection by changing innate mating preferences. It has also the potential to affect species evolution by facilitating or hampering, depending on the ecological setting, the mechanisms of speciation and hybridization.
See my reference publication on this topic: Varela SAM, Matos M & Schlupp I. 2018. The role of mate-choice copying in speciation and hybridization. Biological Reviews 93(2): 1304-1322. DOI: 10.1111/brv.12397. pdf.
Cognition encompasses the underlying psychological and neural mechanisms of behaviour that allow animals to acquire, encode, store and recall information about their social and non-social environments. It is, however, unknown whether there is a special-purpose cognitive mechanism for social cognition (namely social learning) or whether there is a general-purpose mechanism for the processing of both social and non-social information. To answer this question, I study the behavioural, genetic and neural bases of social cognition in fruit flies and zebrafish.
See my reference publication on this topic: Varela SAM, Teles MC & Oliveira RF. 2020. The correlated evolution of social competence and social cognition. Functional Ecology, 34: 332–343. DOI:10.1111/1365-2435.13416. pdf.
I have always been interested in conservation, although my scientific path is only indirectly related to this subject. Nonetheless, I have been co-supervising the works of many students with conservation subjects. My general goal is to study social information use in contexts that could be relevant to conservation problems. I ask how animals share information about their environment, either intentionally or inadvertently, that could help them to better cope with environmental changes.
In a complementary way, I am also interested in Conservation Psychology and Neuroscience. Given the current state of our planet's ecosystems due to environmental change caused by human actions, it is paradoxical that, despite our knowledge about this issue, it is not easy for us to take action. Therefore, I am interested in studying the mechanisms of cognition, communication, language, and emotion that inhibit or trigger human conservation behaviors.
Due to my teaching experience, I realized that it is important to discuss more and teach more and better about best practices in the use of animals in scientific research, in data collection and manipulation, and in the publication of articles. Moreover, Science Education and Outreach to the general public, but also to university students, are crucial for the formation of better-informed citizens. I have been collaborating with colleagues on these issues.