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Paulo de Sousa

Research Interests

• Population Genomics
• Evolution
• Wild Bees
• Biogeography

CV: Academic

PhD student: since Sep.2022

• Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Biology, General Zoology

Post-Graduation: Sep.2020-May 2021

• Topic: Geography and Land Management (specialization in Natural Resources and Environment)
• University Nova of Lisbon, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences

Master's degree: Sep.2017 - Jul2021:

• Master's name: Evolutionary and Developmental Biology
• Dissertation Title: "Genetic diversity and structure of wild bee
  species with different life-history traits"
• University of Lisbon, Faculty of Sciences

Bachelor's degre: Sep.2014 - Jun.2017

• Bachelor's name: Biology
• University of Lisbon, Faculty of Sciences

CV: Contracts/Grants

PhD student: since September 2022

• Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Biology, General Zoology

Assistent curator of Entomological collections: Nov.2021 - Aug.2022

• Portuguese National Museum of Natural History and
  History of Science

Researche Fellow: Jul.2020-Jun.2021

• Portuguese National Institute of Veterinary and
  Agrarian Research (INIAV)

Researche Fellow: Jun.2019-Jan.2020

• Center of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c)

Publications

• Sousa, P., Theodorou, P., Martins, A. C., Aguiar, A. J. C., Shibata, A., & Kahnt, B (2025). Integrating Population Genomics and Historical Occurrence Data to Assess the Impact of Land-Use Changes on Centris Oil Bees in the Brazilian Cerrado. Molecular Ecology, e70153. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.70153   

• de Sousa, F., Bilro, J., Viegas, M. B., Henriques, A., Sousa, P., Galhofa, D., Príncipe, A., Vanhove, M., Rocha, P., Galinat, F., Rzigui, T., Torche, Y., Jalila, A., Ouadji, M., Forte, L., Cavallaro, V., Saulle, D., Dettori, S., Cillara, M., … Paulo, O. S. (2025). Natural selection preserves trans-specific chloroplast diversity in a Mediterranean evergreen oak. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, voaf125. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voaf125   

• Sousa, P. Henriques, A.; Silva, S.E.; Carvalheiro, L.G.; Smagghe, G.; Michez, D.; Wood, T.J.; Paulo, O.S. (2023). Genomic Patterns of Iberian Wild Bees Reveal Levels of Diversity,  Differentiation and Population Structure, Supporting the “Refugia within  Refugia” Hypothesis. Diversity, 15, 746. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15060746   

• Vanhove, M., Pina‐Martins, F., Coelho, A. C., Branquinho, C., Costa, A., Batista, D., Silva, A., Sousa, P., Henriques, A., Marques, I., Belkadi, B., Knowles, L. L., & Paulo, O. S. (2021). Using gradient Forest to predict climate response and adaptation in Cork oak. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, May 2020, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13765   

Conferences and Talks

• June 2024: European Congress of Conservation Bioloy, Bologna. Talk: "Population genomics of oil-collecting bees in a threatened tropical biodiversity hotspot"
• Feb 2024: European Conference of Tropical Ecology, Lisbon. Talk: "Does diet specialization affect the population genetics of two oil-collecting bee species in the Brazilian Cerrado?"
• Out 2023: Seminars in Zoology; Pos-Graduation Program of University of Brasília Department of Zoology. Talk: "Efects of landscape fragmentation on population genomic of oil-collecting Centridini tribe".
• Sep.2021: XIX Iberian Congress of Entomology, Coimbra (Portugal). Talk: "Genetic diversity and structure of wild bee species with different life-history traits in the Iberian Peninsula"

Projects

since 2022: Do the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on the population genomics of bees and bee-plant-interactions differ across functional traits (diet and body size) in Centris oil-bees of South America?

2020-2021: Keep Pace: Selection of trees keeping pace with fast environmental changes, a science based approach for sustainable XXI century Oak forests

2018-2021: Effect of EUtrophication and CLimate on POllinators andecosystem service provision (EUCLIPO)

2017-2021: SilvPast (Dispersion and genetic diversity in Quercus pyrenaica)

Workshops

September 2024: "Summer school Marcello La Greca on Biodiversity"; (Theory and concepts); Catania (Italy)

May 2024: "Model-Based demographic inference from populations genomics - Physalia Courses"; (Theory and Bioinformatic analysis); Online

Jul.2022: "Measuring Biodiversity: How to get data, assess its quality and measure different aspects of diversity"; (Theory and concepts); Lisbon (Portugal)

Jan.2020: "RadCamp Lisbon 2020"; (Bioinformatic analysis); Lisbon (Portugal)

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