Alejandro Ordonez

I am global change ecologist, whose research centres on gaining insights into how past and present global environmental changes shape diversity patterns and ecosystem process, and the implication of these changes for conservation. Currently, I am an assistant professor at the section of Ecoinfoatics and biodiversity. I am also a core member of the BIOCNAGE centre.
The aim of my work is answering the question “how should humanity respond to the challenges imposed by climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation and invasive species?”. My work approaches this question using a broad geographical and temporal perspective centred on extensive comparative studies. For this, I use recent conceptual and methodological advances in biogeography, macroecology, paleoecology, spatial ecology, ecophysiology, community ecology and phylogenetics. My current research focuses on three areas. First, creating metrics to measure the exposure to past and present environmental changes, and assess to what extent these changes would result in novel ecosystems. Second, evaluating to what extent shallow and deep time historical environmental changes define present species and functional diversity, and possibly ecosystem functioning. Third, establish how human activities act as drivers of ecosystem change, and the implication of this for nature management and conservation efforts. Through this research, I hope to understand, predict, and advise on future ecosystem behaviour in the face of earth’s changing ecological, biogeochemical, climatic and disturbance gradients.