I am ecologist working in the interface between fire ecology, nature conservation and environmental management. My complete record of publications and research projects can be found at https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1983-936X

My research contributed to developing and consolidating a new strategic research line around fire management in the host groups. I have supervised 2 early-career post-doctoral researchers and 5 technicians, 10 master and 7 bachelor students, whose results have been published in SCI journals (see list TFM/TFG). Since 2021 I supervised 5 PhD thesis. My profile facilitated the incorporation of advanced remote sensing and biodiversity modeling techniques, and conservation planning tools into the teaching guide of master programs where I have taught classes (USC and the University of Porto). Furthermore, I make the datasets, R code, and software (e.g., REMAINS model) freely available, dissemination, and knowledge transfer materials (e.g., outreach videos, policy brief) derived from my research.

I teach at the University of Santiago de Compostela at the BSc and MSc levels. Below you can find more information about the courses that I am involved in, an overview of recent BSc and MSc projects that I have supervised, and team members (students and Postdocs) involved in ongoing projects.

Courses

I teach the following courses at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and the University of Porto (Portugal).

Recent BSc and MSc projects

- Jader Lamas da Costa (2022). A influência das paisagens resilientes ao fogo na disponibilidade hídrica e no controlo da erosão do solo: lições para a Reserva da Biosfera Transfronteiriça Meseta Ibérica. Mestrado em Ecologia e Ambiente. Universidade de Porto (Co-Supervision; Main Supervisor: Claudia Carvalho-Santos).
- Paula Fernandez (2022). Impacto de los incendios forestales en la comunidad de aves del Parque Natural ‘Baixa Limia-Serra do Xurés‘. Master degree (TFM). Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.
- Nerea Novo (2022). Modelización do hábitat reprodutor de Charadrius alexandrinus (Linnaeus, 1758) na costa de Galicia mediante imaxes de satélite. Master degree (TFM). Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.
- Noelia Guisande Alonso (2021). Modelos de distribución de aves invernantes en medios dulceacuícolas de Galicia. Master degree (TFM). Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.
- Pablo Gómez-Rodríguez (2021). Sistema de seguemento da comunidade de aves reprodutoras do LIC Macizo Central e Bidueiral de Montederramo basado na teledeteción e modelos de distribución de especies. Bachelor degree (TFG). Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.
- Beatriz Albuquerque (2021). Impacts of firESmart scenarios on functional diversity in the Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Gerês-Xurés. Estágio Curricular. Universidade de Porto.
Francisco Moreira (2020). Padrões e determinantes da abundância da galinhola (Scolopax rusticola) na migração outonal e invernada no Sudoeste da Europa. Master degree (TFM). Universidade de Porto.
- Sara Rodrigues (2020). Future impacts of fire-smart landscape management on biodiversity under rural abandoment and climate change scenarios. Master degree (TFM). Universidade de Porto.
- Marta Marmelo (2020). Behavioural flexibility and adaptation of birds to environmental change in Northwestern Iberia. Estágio Curricular. Universidade de Porto.
- Miguel Cánibe Iglesias (2020). Efectos de los procesos de clasificación de imágenes de satélite en la capacidad predictiva de los modelos de distribución de especies. Master degree (TFM). Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.
- Sara Ponce Fontenla (2020). Modelos de distribución de tres especies de plantas endémicas de Galicia mediante teledetección. Master degree (TFM). Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.
- Silvana D. Pais (2019). Cenários de gestão fire-smart da paisagem: impactos sobre o regime de fogo e a conservação da biodiversidade numa área protegida transfronteiriça. Master degree (TFM). Universidade de Porto.
- Denise Abel Varela (2019). Estudo da comunidade de aves nidificantes das zonas de especial conservación (ZECs) Macizo Central e Bidueiral de Montederramo. Bachelor degree (TFG). Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.
- Daniel Ríos Tubío (2019). Análisis de los factores sociales, económicos y ambientales que determinan el régimen de incendios en la Reserva de la Biosfera Transfronteriza Gerês-Xurés y el LIC Baixa Limia (NO Península Ibérica). Bachelor degree (TFG) (ERASMUS intership). Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.
- Abel Chamorro Garcia (2019). Assessing the effect of past land use and fire disturbance on bird species distributions. Bachelor degree (TFG – ERAMUS plus). CIBIO/InBIO – Universidade de Porto.
- Laura Otero Villalpando (2019). Análise da dieta do Cormorán grande (Phalacrocorax carbo) en Galicia a partir de egagrópilas. Practicas externas. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.
- Laura Gagne (2017). Satellite-derived ecosystem functional attributes and temporal transferability of bird species distribution models. Master thesis. Entity: Master of Research in Life and Health Sciences – University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis (under ERASMUS Intership at CIBIO/InBIO).

I have participated in 7 contracts with regional administrations, being the PI of one of them (Budget: 5.999,88 €) and published 10 articles in dissemination journals and 9 project reports. These papers provide the datasets (see Zenodo repository) and R programming code (see e.g. PeerJ paper). We are aware of the great ecological and socioeconomic relevance of our results, therefore we elaborated numerous specific dissemination and knowledge transfer materials which are disseminated through social media and websites. I would like to highlight the following:
1. The development of the REMAINS model, a spatially explicit process-based model that simulates fire-vegetation dynamics (i.e., fire ignition, spread and extinction; natural succession and post-fire recovery) and land-use changes (e.g., agricultural abandonment) (Pais et al 2019). It was developed during the FirESmart project and is currently available at GitHub.
2. A policy brief (summary for policymakers) of the FirESmart project, available at Zenodo.
3. Animation video (with already more than 500 views), booklets, press releases (more than 50 mentions in the radio and press media).
4. The first spatial database of historic burned areas in Galicia —in an online viewer, and a book chapter ‘A Storyboard of Wildfires in Galicia’ with Dra. Díaz-Raviña (Springer-Nature).
5. The first theoretical-practical guide for Spanish-speakers on the development of species distribution models in forest systems: data sources, modeling techniques, protocols, packages, etc. This chapter is accompanied by an online tutorial in R.
6. Databases of vertebrates for the Biosphere Reserves ‘Gerês-Xurés’ and ‘Meseta Ibérica’, published as book and data paper.

I would also like to remark that new proposals of Spanish World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and International Union for Conservation of Nature organizations and experts in France (French IUCN) for creating resilient landscapes to wildfires and climate change were partially based on the results of the FirESmart project (see report). Likewise, during the last decade I have been collaborating with the Xunta de Galicia in Natural Parks evaluating and monitoring the fire impacts on environment (vegetation, soil, biodiversity) and predicting potential risks for helping forest managers to implement measures for protection, conservation and restoration of the biodiversity of these high value ecosystems. My social media network aims to boost knowledge transfer beyond academia (https://linktr.ee/adrianregos).