Research interest
I am a taxonomist, phylogeneticist, and evolutionary biologist interested mostly in understanding the general patterns of diversification and evolutionary history of recent groups of freshwater fishes and to describe its biodiversity. The discovery of this diversity depends upon extensive and exhaustive work of taxonomists working with several sources of information (e.g., morphology, genetics, ecology, behavior), which powerfully predict aspects of these evolutionary lineages. My overarching research goal seeks the understanding about the biological patterns, and the ecological and evolutionary processes that in combination have shaped the fishes' biodiversity over temporal scale. Although my general interest in fishes, I have been studying Neotropical catfishes from two distinct families, the armored Loricariidae and the driftwood Auchenipteridae (Siluriformes) as a continuity of my Msc. and PhD. studies (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, and National Museum of Natural History-Smithsonian Institution) in order to understand the whole diversity through phenotypic and genotypic evidences in an integrative approach.
Currently, I am a postdoc at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution in association with Wyss Academy for Nature at University of Bern working in a large-scale project of mitigating climate change impacts on freshwater fish diversity in Switzerland. My research program spans the continuum from basic taxonomy to applied evolutionary questions. Through integration of phylogenetic reconstructions, genetic divergences, comparative biology, ecology, and fieldwork, my research efforts aim to determine the evolutionary origin of lineages, speciation, and the morphological traits that lead the diversity of fishes in Aare drainage, and therefore recognize and describe those shapes.
For more information on my research and publications, please, visit my personal homepage.
