I am an ecologist and conservation scientist, with interest and expertise in the processes (ecological, behavioural and evolutionary) shaping biodiversity and their implications for conservation, environmental decisions and management. I have worked across multiple spatial scales, from global to local (examining latitudinal and altitudinal gradients), and in both terrestrial (birds and mammals mostly) and marine ecosystems, with focus on the Mediterranean Basin and Sea. I work in natural and human-dominated landscapes, examining the generality of spatial patterns and processes. I am interested in integrating socio-economic and historical factors as well as biological and ecological drivers in disentangling the role of the multiple factors that shape biodiversity. In this framework, I am interested in the links between science, practice and policy and in how we can improve science-based conservation.
Since July 2013, I am an Associate Professor and Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland, Brisbane (Australia) and have been Theme 1 Leader and a Chief Investigator at the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED; 2011-2018) and am currently Deputy Director of the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science at the University of Queensland and Leader of the Islands Project at the NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub.