Research group

Dr. Ambra Tosto – Met Office funded post-doctoral researcher

Ambra is coordinating the collection of hydraulic trait data at the Amazon Free Air CO2 experiment in Manaus. Her principle objective is to understand how elevated CO2 effect the water transport systems of plants and what this means for the water cycle in the Amazon Rainforest.

Juan Pablo Benavides Tocarruncho – NERC funded PhD student

Working on the resilience of savanna ecosystems to drought and fire, Juan is working across Brazil and African savannas to measure and contrast traits of key woody species.

Leonardo Medeiros – CASPER funded PhD Student

Working in silvopasture systems in the Arc of deforestation in Southern Brazil, Leonardo is studying the mechanisms through which native legume tree species can increase the productivity and fertility of pastures for small holder farmers.

Adler Santana de Medeiros– CASPER funded PhD Student

Adler focuses on understanding how soil legacy effects from former agricultural use of land impact restoration success in the Brazlian Cerrado Biome. Specifically he is exploring the soil microbial communities which exist across native vegetation and pasture systems and how restoration techniques alter the soil microbial community.

Patricia de Britto Costa – Post-doctoral Researcher 

Patricia is an experienced field ecologist specializing in soil to root feedbacks in tropical ecosystems. She is currently working within the CASPER- Carbon Storage in Pastures through Ecological Restoration project to understand how interactions between native and exotic grass species controls plant to soil feedbacks and therefore soil legacy effects in restoration projects within the Brazilian Cerrado.

Raissa Leite Jardim– CASPER funded PhD Student

Raissa’s research focuses on understanding the ecosystem services delivered by native plants within Cerrado pasture systems. Specifically she is focusing on the how the existence of and mode of reproduction of native plants varies between productive and degraded pastures and how this may impact key services like Carbon storage.

Mateus Silva – Post-doctoral Researcher 

An experienced functional ecologist who undertook a PhD funded by WWF to understand how to use knowledge of plant function to enhance our capacity to restore Cerrado vegetation. Now Mateus is a Met Office CSSP funded post-doc, working on the impact of drought and drought recovery on saplings at the world’s longest running tropical rainforest drought experiment site in , Caxiuana, in NE Brazil.

Rosie Clegg – NERC Funded PhD student

Rosie is studying the biodiversity, biogeography and conservation of inselberg and rock outcrop flora in the dry biomes of Latin America, focusing on the areas across Bolivia and Brazil.  She aims document the flora and understand the evolutionary processes that shaped these environments.

Kennedy Lewis – Postdoctoral Researcher

Kennedy is using a mixture of remote sensing and eddy covariance techniques to explore the carbon and water cycling impacts of different land-use types across the Brazilian Cerrado. Working on the CASPER- Carbon Storage in Pastures through Ecological Restoration project, she aims to understand how different land management practices alter the carbon and water fluxes within ecosystems.

Dr. Fernanda Barros – Lecturer and research fellow

Fernanda is a biologist with background in plant ecology and ecophysiology, with a specific interest in understanding the connection of plant function with species evolution and geographic distribution. She is currently working on a CASPER- Carbon Storage in Pastures through Ecological Restoration project, to understand how native plants can be used to enhance the sustainable use of pastures to support conservation and restoration in Brazilian.