Sónia Alexandra Fernandes Ferreira

Biography

"I devoted previous studies to the ascertainment of the country inventories and to the taxonomic revision of specific groups. Presently in my PhD project I am working on Insect Conservation and Molecular Genetics. Dragonflies (Odonata) are excellent model organisms to integrate environmental, genetic and modelling data to address insect conservation issues, because they are one of the best studied groups in Europe. Numerous species are Endangered or Near Threatened in Europe with known decline trends and with shifting distributions. In general almost nothing is known concerning genetic diversity of Odonata in south-western Europe and North Africa regarding either their evolutionary history or their population dynamics. Coenagrion mercuriale and some Cordulegaster species are among the endangered species with distribution area restricted to south-western Europe and North Africa. Additionally other species with similar distributions present taxonomic ambiguities. Thus, while the state of the art for Iberian Peninsula biogeography and phylogenetics is very exciting, current knowledge of these fields for Odonata from this geographical area is extremely poor. Combination of environmental, genetic and distributional data will provide a comprehensive insight into endangered Odonata species diversity and aid conservation planning."

Research Interest

I am interested in Entomology with special focus on taxonomy, chorology, biogeography and conservation of Portuguese Insects of the orders Odonata and Orthoptera.