Andrea Landeira-Dabarca, Ph.D.
Overlooked human-made habitats Project
Various post-industrial habitats, such as fly ash deposits are common in many anthropogenic landscapes, including Central Europe, as an unavoidable consequence of industrialisation. These sites often bring erosion risks, acid rock drainage, stream sedimentation, toxin leaks, or public safety issues. Detailed understanding of biodiversity, as well as ecological processes and interspecific relationships, is crucial for efficient, evidence-based restoration of post-industrial habitats. This project aims to understand the drivers and patterns of freshwater biota in polluted standing waters.
Andean mayfly traits Project
Recently, Andean species are used as model species to assess tropical species vulnerability to climate change and other anthropogenical impacts.
For this reason, we studied ecuadorian Andesiops peruvianus' life history traits in response to temperature changes (warming) and predatory fish presence (native vs. introduced-exotic predator).
Temporal Project
The aim of this project is to assess temporal (inter and intra-annual) variability of the structural diversity and community dynamic of aquatic insects. As well as their food resources availability along an elevational gradient in tropical streams.
EVOTRAC Project
Understanding the responses of species, communities and ecosystems to climate change is a fundamental concern of biodiversity and conservation science. We propose that species sensitivities to climate change derive in large part from the physiological and dispersal traits that have evolved in response to past selection. Thus, understanding how historical processes have shaped present biodiversity and its sensitivity to climate shifts is key to predicting species loss in a rapidly changing world. EVOTRAC proposes a novel, integrative framework for predicting biodiversity vulnerability to climate change that is both mechanistic and general in its formulation, but applied specifically to tropical and temperate streams.
Designing a Mesocosm
The study of ecology and environmental change is an urgent scientific challenge, but the intractable global-scale problems are sufficiently extensive that mechanistic understanding of cause-effect relationships is difficult to gain.
For this reason, small-scale experimental systems, as microcosms and mesocosms help us to understand ecological processes that are applicable at larger scales.
Facilities located in Ecuadorian Andes, close to Papallacta River at 3300 masl.
Litter Quality Project
The Global decomposition patterns in streams: The leaf litter Quality Project propose a framework that integrates observational and experimental work to examine the interplay between leaf litter quality, temperature and phylogenetic constraints of detritivores (‘shredders’) in shaping leaf litter decomposition rates in stream ecosystems.
ChemiFish Project
Chemical signaling in salmonids and antipredator responses, is a project with an experimental approach focused on that many aquatic organisms, including invertebrates and vertebrates, show specific anti-predator responses to chemical cues emitted by predators. Therefore, chemical predator recognition may elicit avoidance or antipredator responses that significantly affect prey fitness. However, to date, few chemicals released by fish have been fully characterized in terms of origin, release, olfactory detection, and prey responses.
Fish skin mucus is the first line of defense in fishes, and this protective function is enhanced by the presence of a mutualistic bacterial community. Fish skin mucus is a complex biological matrix and highly multi-functional.
In this project, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) mucus was chemically, microbiologically and histologically characterised througthout its life cycle at different conditions - hatchery reared, naturalized and wild individuals-. Also, we investigated how diet and starvation affects fish skin mucus components.
Later, QualDIMUS was evolved as an innovative bussiness idea to promote a more efficient aquaculture.
QualDIMUS Project
Ecuador