María
Paniw
I am a Ramón y Cajal fellow and lead the DEMOCAST research group. The overarching theme of our research is to assess how feedbacks between phenotypic and genetic traits, individual behavior, life-history processes, and biotic interactions can allow natural populations and communities to "cope" with environmental change. To us, understanding biodiversity change begins with observations of individuals. We are working with long-term data on animal and plant populations to generate iterative short-term forecasts and to project population dynamics under global-change scenarios - trying to create theoretical principles and empirical applications to anticipate and mitigate emerging threats to natural communities.
The results of my research are transferred to society through the development of digital twins of ecosystems and ecological prediction tools that support decision-making in conservation and environmental management. These systems allow for a prospective assessment of the impact of different management actions and global change scenarios on biodiversity, providing public administrations, protected area managers, and other stakeholders with scientific information to design more effective strategies. In addition, I work closely with European research infrastructures, such as LifeWatch ERIC, to ensure that these tools are open, reproducible, and accessible to the scientific community, government agencies, and society.
