Connections matter– whether you're an aspiring politician or a species of tiny lizards in the Amazon rainforest. We know that deforestation is a critical driver in our global biodiversity crisis, and it's natural to blame logging as the primary reason. But the creation of hydropower is another cause for species loss. Damming tropical rivers not only drowns wildlife and lowland habitats, it turns ridge top forests into islands, isolating animal populations that need connections between their habitats to survive and flourish.
Ana Filipa Palmeirim background is in ecology. Her research focuses on the complex biodiversity responses to habitat loss, and fragmentation and tropical forests, particularly with the structure of food webs and ecosystem functioning. She's worked with a wide range of biological groups, and her research has taken her to Brazil, Malaysia and China theta.
