Aquatic Ecology & Evolution

About Me

My primary research focus is to develop reliable theory to understand the drivers of biological diversity at different spatiotemporal scales. This research uses tools from disciplines such as statistical physics and applied mathematics. During my career, I have specialized in building models of different complexity to describe biological systems and to work in close collaboration with empiricists to test these models against data. I have worked with a variety of taxa, from terrestrial and aquatic systems, in both field and laboratory experiments. I am currently working on the development of integrative approaches to ecology and evolutionary biology, which bring together different disciplinary perspectives, including mathematical, natural and social sciences.

Research Interests

Ecological Theory; Population and Community Ecology; Biodiversity; Science of Sustainability.                 

Physics of Complex Systems; Stochastic Processes; Statistical Inference; Mathematical Biology.

Curriculum Vitae
2022 - present

Researcher, Department of Fish Ecology and Evolution,

Eawag, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland.
2021

Researcher, Theoretical and Computational Ecology,

Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes, Catalunya, Spain.
2018-2021

Research Scientist, Department of Systems Analysis,

Integrated Assessment and Modelling, Eawag, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
2010-2017

Ph,D. student and Postdoc, Integrative Ecology,

University of Zürich, Switzerland & Microsoft Research, Cambridge, UK
2003-2009 B.Sc. and M.Sc., Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
2000-2003 Mechanical Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

Selected Pubblications

  • Palamara* G.M., Rozenfeld*, A., Novaes De Santana*, C., Klecka*, J., Riera, R., Eguíluz, V., Melián, C. (2023) Biodiversity dynamics in landscapes with fluctuating connectivity. Ecography, e06385.   *Equal contribution https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.06385
  • Palamara G. M., Dennis S. R., Haenggi C., Schuwirth N., Reichert P. (2022) Investigating the effect of pesticides on Daphnia population dynamics by inferring structure and parameters of a stochastic model. Ecological Modelling 472 (110076), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.110076
  • Losapio G., Schöb C., Staniczenko P., Carrara F., Palamara G. M., De Moraes C. M., Mescher M. C., Brooker R. W., Butterfield R. W., Callaway R., Cavieres L. A., Kikvidze Z., Lortie C., Michalet R., Pugnaire F. I., & Bascompte J. (2021) Network motifs involving both competition and facilitation predict biodiversity in alpine plant communities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States,118 (6) https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2005759118
  • Pennekamp, F., Pontarp, M., Tabi, A., Altermatt, R., Alther, R., Choffat, Fronhofer E. A., Ganesanandamoorthy, P., Garnier, A., Griffiths, J., Greene S., Horgan, K., Massie, T. M., Mächler, E., Palamara, G. M., Seymour, M. & Petchey, O. L. (2018) Biodiversity increases and decreases ecosystem stability. Nature, 563, 109–112. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0627-8
  • Palamara, G.M., Carrara, F., Smith, M.J., Petchey, O.L. (2016) The effects of demographic stochasticity and parameter uncertainty on predicting the establishment of introduced species. Ecology and Evolution, 6, 8440-8451. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2495
  • Palamara, G. M., Childs, D. Z., Clements, C.F., Petchey, O. L., Plebani, M. and Smith, M. J. (2014) Inferring the temperature dependence of ecological parameters: the effect of experimental design and inference algorithm. Ecology and Evolution, 4, 4736-4750. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1309