The Iberian Ponds is a multi-site experimental facility at 6 sites in the Iberian Peninsula covering climates ranging from arid to alpine (Évora, Porto, Murcia, Toledo, Jaca, Madrid). The aim of this facility is to assess the responses of aquatic food-webs to climate change.

Experimental ponds include 3 trophic levels: phytoplankton, zooplankton and macroinvertebrates.

My specific projects is about testing size-abundance scaling across biogeographical gradients in multi-trophic pond communities as well as reconstrcuting food webs. This scaling of body size with abundance provides key information on energy transfer and ecosystem functioning in the aquatic food-webs. Thus, understanding how the predator-prey interactions and energy flow under different climates will give valuable insight into the future management and restoration strategies of these ecosystems.

See more about Iberian Ponds here: http://www.iberianponds.uevora.pt

Relevant publications

Ersoy, Z., Castillo-Escrivá, A., Pereira, CL., Raposeiro, PM., Sroczynska, K., Araújo, MB., Matias, MG. Environment mediates body mass-abundance scaling regardless of species richness. Under revision in Ecology.

Pereira, CL., Ersoy, Z. Gravel, D., Araújo, MB., Matias, MG. Future-proofing environmental DNA and trait- based predictions of food webs. Under revision in Trends in Ecology and Evolution