General Research Interests
My research integrates multidisciplinary approaches aimed at the resolution of problems in Vertebrate Ecology and Conservation. This work relies on a wide range of collaborations in areas including ecological modelling, immunology, infectious diseases, molecular ecology, population genetics, population viability and toxicology.
The main axis of my research focuses on the population ecology of long-lived vertebrates. I am interested in those aspects of life-history strategies fundamental to the understanding of both the selective pressures limiting populations and the processes (density-dependent productivity, dispersal strategies, age-dependent survival, conspecific attraction) regulating their spatial and temporal dynamics. Currently, I am deepening into the movement ecology of long-distance avian foragers in relation to the spatial distribution of sources of trophic resources. Also in relation to the variability of resources (in this case, temporary) I have made inroads into the effects of irregular pulses of food, such as locust outbreaks and seed masts, on vertebrate communities.
As a transversal axis relating all of these areas of research, a good part of my work falls within the realm of Conservation Biology of threatened vertebrates and systems. I look for scientific answers to current ‘hot topics' such as conservation genetics of declining populations and the effects on them of new developments and changing land uses.
My main research models are birds of prey and within them, vultures and other avian scavengers. In addition, I have developed an extensive investigation with other vertebrate groups from seabird to mammal communities. My studies focus on species and systems of the Iberian Peninsula and Macaronesia, as well as on biomes of the Central Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Patagonia and Central Asia.