Rui Morgado

My broad research interests are in the area of biodiversity monitoring, management and conservation in human-modified landscapes. My specific interests include: (i) the study of the drivers of current land-use and management changes across the Mediterranean (e.g. agricultural intensification) and of its impacts on biodiversity (e.g. farmland birds) and ecosystem services (e.g. pest-control services by birds/bats); and (ii) the study of the interactions between energy infrastructures (solar photovoltaics, wind farms and transmission power lines) and biodiversity (e.g. impact assessment and mitigation). 

I completed my graduation in Biology at the University of Lisbon (1997), with a graduation work on the ecology of the great bustard (Otis tarda). I have then worked as a researcher at Centro de Ecologia Aplicada Prof. Baeta Neves, Instituto Superior de Agronomia (1999-2008), where I mostly conducted research on the ecology and conservation of farmland/steppe birds; and as an environmental consultant at the private company ERENA - Ordenamento e Gestão de Recursos Naturais S.A. (2008-2014), where I participated in different projects in the fields of (i) human infrastructure impact assessment and monitoring (e.g. roads, dams, irrigation blocks, airports, wind farms) and (ii) land planning and management (e.g. Management Plans for Protected Areas). I have recently concluded my PhD in Forest Engineering and Natural Resources at Instituto Superior de Agronomia (2022), in which I studied the effects of olive farming intensification on biodiversity and ecosystem services (using birds as a biodiversity proxy).

I am since September 2022 a Post-Doc Researcher at BIOPOLIS-CIBIO, where I have been working mainly within the scope of existing partnerships with companies of the energy sector such as Lightsource bp and REN. My activities include carrying out applied research on energy infrastructures-biodiversity interactions and providing scientific advisory to these companies in the context of Environmental Impact Assessment.