We are a young research team based at Quinta do Lorde Marina in Caniçal, in Madeira Island. We have broad interests and formal training in marine biology, community ecology, marine biogeography and invasion biology and our research is focused primarily on marine benthic communities.

 

Our team has developed a solid baseline of knowledge about the taxonomy and ecology of marine benthic organisms, and our approach combines intensive descriptive and experimental field data with statistical models to test key questions.

 

Our goal is to use these techniques to answer questions that are topical and are of interest to a multitude of people, sectors and/or stakeholders. For example, we are interested in understanding:

 

i)    why some regions are more species rich than other regions;

 

ii) why some habitats/and regions have high diversity and high abundance of non-indigenous species (NIS);

 

iii)  what are the effects of marine pollution in certain habitats and species and whether this pattern changes across latitude.

 

To answer most of these questions it is key to develop and participate in international collaborative projects and networks. For example it is easy to understand that the geographic shift of NIS is a dynamic process with no boundaries across seas and country waters. This phenomenon can only be observed, understood and studied at large geographic scales, for which international collaboration is deemed necessary.