Ricardo Martins

Biography

"My academic and professional background includes several areas of bird study, such as scientific research in ecology, conservation, environmental consultancy and citizen science. More specifically, my wide research/conservation interests include: (1) The impact of human structures on wild birds, mainly power lines, not only to assess direct mortality but also to study their ecological consequences, such as changes on habitat usage by local populations of target species; (2) The ecology and conservation of migratory shorebirds in estuarine environments, research developed both in the scope of my Licentiate graduation (2001-2002) and recently under my PhD project (2008-2015) (both degrees obtained by the Faculty of Sciences - University of Lisbon); (3) Habitat fragmentation of agro-forest environments, using passerine bird community as model of study; (4) Understanding the relationships between raptor abundance and their prey (game) species in hunting states with different management practices; and (5) Monitoring of common birds in Portugal to obtain long-term trends and its use as national wide bio-indicators. Currently, I’m holding a post-doc fellowship for the REN Biodiversity Chair, with the following main aims: (i) providing scientific advice to REN, related with the impact of power lines (and other REN infrastructures) on biodiversity; (ii) deepen the knowledge on bird mortality by collision and electrocution, effectiveness of bird flight diverters, and of mitigation and compensatory measures, by gathering scientific data available both in “gray literature” and standard research; and (iii) undertake research on white storks nesting in power lines, addressing population trends, use of nest platforms, drivers of pylon use and effectiveness of nest-avoiding structures."

Research Interest

Several areas of bird study, such as scientific research in ecology, conservation, environmental consultancy and citizen science.