Antonio Castro

Biography

Dr. Castro joined the Biological Sciences Department in 2015. His interest focuses on the characterization and study of Social-Ecological Systems, and the multidimensional assessment of Ecosystem Services. He combines GIS models (ARIES or InVEST) and social sampling strategies to quantify and map both the biophysical supply and social demand of ecosystem services. While a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Oklahoma, he began a project implementing an ecosystem services framework to explore trade-offs in watershed management in the Kiamichi River in southeastern Oklahoma. During his scientific carrier, he has developed strong international collaborations with leading institutions including the Laboratory of Social-Ecological Systems (Spain), the Laboratorio de Análisis Regional y Teledetección (Argentina), the Institute for Land, Water, and Society (Australia), the Institute for Environmental Studies (the Netherlands), and the Oklahoma Biological Survey (USA). The Social-Ecological Research lab focuses on 1) the understanding of human-nature interactions for conservation management and planning, and the importance of valuing the multidimensional nature of ecosystem services as an approach to work toward sustainability; (2) to open spaces for interdisciplinary discussions and collaborative learning in order to develop in students a reflexive thinking, and (3) mentor and train future scientists and resource managers. Dr. Castro has over 20 publications and since 2014 he is the leader of the Dryland Biome Working Group at the Ecosystem Services Partnership.

Research Interest

Social-ecological systems; ecosystem services; dry lands; landscape ecology; watershed management and planning; GIS and mapping; and socio-cultural and economic valuation.