A double trans-Sahara expedition for biodiversity research: 20 years of memories

The objective of this CSE is to celebrate the 20th anniversary of an epic double trans-Sahara crossing made by two researchers, José Carlos Brito and Hugo Rebelo, back in 2004. The expedition was funded by a National Geographic grant. It was developed during 104 days between September and December 2004, it covered 8 countries in a total of nearly 20,000 km of overland travel, and it was performed on-board a single lonely vehicle. The expedition had the objective to study the phylogeny and phylogeography of Acanthodactylus lizards, an emblematic reptile group that is highly representative of the biodiversity of the Sahara Desert. The Seminar will share with the audience the general context of the expedition and the challenges that it went through, a selection of pictures and videos made, and a summary of the research developed afterwards based on the 1,285 observations made and the 633 samples collected. This Seminar also aims to stimulate the audience, in particular the community of students, to pursue their research dreams, even in the face of adversities and perils.

José Carlos Brito completed the PhD at the University of Lisbon in 2003 and he is a member of CIBIO/BIOPOLIS since then. Since 2011 that he is the Principal Investigator of the group BIODESERTS at CIBIO/BIOPOLIS.

Hugo Rebelo completed the PhD at the University of Bristol, UK, in 2010 and he was a member of CIBIO/BIOPOLIS until 2023. Presently, he is an Auxiliary Professor at the Science Faculty of the University of Lisbon.