David
Serrano
My research interests lie predominantly in the interplay between behavioural and population ecology, a space that allows understanding and solving some important ecological problems such as management needs of threatened species or emergent properties of populations at different spatial and temporal scales. Particularly, I am highly interested in the relationship between dispersal, survival and fecundity with movement and habitat selection decisions and constraints in a changing and heterogeneous world, and how this relationship translates into population patterns. My most applied work has dealt with conservation problems of steppe birds and birds of prey, especially in relation to dispersal, habitat loss and fragmentation and, more recently, aimed at mitigating the impact of human infrastructures (renewable energy facilities, power lines). I am also interested in the evolutionary side of these problems, trying not to lose sight of the evolutionary history and potential of species even in my most applied research. I have dedicated an important part of my scientific effort to study movement ecology and dispersal, both within conservation and evolutionary ecology frameworks, using animals exhibiting different life-history traits and population trends, from impressive vultures and storks to small passerines and their tiny mites. In recent years, I've had a renewed interest in host-symbiont relationships, particularly from an evolutionary perpective.