Sónia Ferreira

I’m currently an entomologist at Associação Biopolis/CIBIO-InBIO where I develop research activities within APPLECOL research group. 

I finished my bachelor’s degree in biology in 2004, my M.Sc. in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources in 2009, both at the University of Porto, and my Ph.D. in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution on the "Evolutionary history, biogeography and conservation of endangered odonates in the Mediterranean Basin, in the University of Porto and University of Lisbon (2016). I gained experience as a Postdoc in two projects (ExpandTree and PORBIOTA) and as a researcher in EnvMetaGen Era Chair. My work focus mainly on freshwater biodiversity, taxonomy, conservation and evolution, linking molecular tools and morphology. Since 2021 I have been involved in several projects in Africa and conducted fieldwork in Guiné-Bissau, São Tomé & Príncipe and Namibia to identify species, pinpoint undescribed species and generate DNA barcoding reference collections on vertebrate and invertebrate taxa.

My main research lines focus on 1) Species inventories and distribution data compilation; 2). Conservation genetics: Evolutionary history and species delimitation; 3) DNA barcoding: building a database for species identification; 4) Conservation status assessments; 5) Training and outreach.

I aim to transfer and apply all the knowledge and experience acquired to study the evolutionary history of arthropods, generating baseline information as updated checklists, establishing a DNA barcode database, revising the taxonomy of selected taxa and describing species, evaluating the conservation status of taxa, training young researchers (Master and PhD thesis) on freshwater insect taxonomy using both morphological and molecular methods.