Photo by Mathias M. Pires
Here you find information about our current lab members. After 16 years at USP I was lucky to have the opportunity to work with a special group of people. Information on former lab members is available here. Our lab also host undergraduate and visiting students, please click here.
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Paulo R. Guimarães Jr. (Miúdo)
Full Professor at the Departamento de Ecologia, IB - USP Interests: how ecological networks shape and are shaped by ecological and coevolutionary processes. I explore this problem by integrating data and natural history of ecological interactions, network science, and mathematical modelling. Selected publications: Guimarães, P. R. 2020. The structure of ecological networks across levels of organization. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 51:433-460. Guimarães, P.R., M. M. Pires, P. Jordano, J. Bascompte, J. N. Thompson. 2017. Indirect effects drive coevolution in mutualistic networks. Nature 550: 511–514. Guimarães, P.R., P. Jordano, J. N. Thompson. 2011. Evolution and coevolution in mutualistic networks. Ecology Letters 14: 877-885 [PDF]. See also the article in Science highlighting this study: [Editors' Choice]. |
Postdocs
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Caroline Dracxler
Postdoc Interests: networks of antagonisms and mutualisms Fellowship: FAPESP Selected publications: Dracxler, C. M. & Kissling, W. D. 2021. The mutualism–antagonism continuum in Neotropical palm–frugivore interactions: from interaction outcomes to ecosystem dynamics. Biological Reviews (early view) Mittelman, P., Dracxler C. M., Santos-Coutinho, P. R. O. & Pires, A. S. 2021. Sowing forests: a synthesis of seed dispersal and predation by agoutis and their influence on plant communities. Biological Reviews 96: 2425-2445. |
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Solimary García-Hernández
Postdoc Interests: networks of sexual interactions among animals Fellowship: FAPESP Selected publications: García-Hernández, S., Machado, G. 2022. Short- and long-term effects of an extreme case of autotomy: does “tail” loss and subsequent constipation decrease the locomotor performance of male and female scorpions? Integrative Zoology, 17:672–688. García-Hernández, S., Machado, G. 2021. Fitness implications of nonlethal injuries in scorpions: females, but not males, pay reproductive costs. The American Naturalist, 197:379–389 García-Hernández, S., Machado, G. 2020. ‘Tail’ autotomy and consequent stinger loss decrease predation success in scorpions. Animal Behaviour, 169:157–167 
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Paulinha Lemos-Costa
Postdoc Interests: community assembly models Selected publications: Lemos‐Costa, P., Z. R. Miller, S. Allesina. 2024. Phylogeny structures species' interactions in experimental ecological communities." Ecology Letters 27: e14490. Costa, C. L., P. Lemos-Costa, F. M. Marquitti, L. D. Fernandes, M. F. Ramos, D. M. Schneider, A. B. Martins, M. A. de Aguiar. 2019. Signatures of microevolutionary processes in phylogenetic patterns. Systematic biology, 68:131-144. Lemos‐Costa, P., M. M. Pires, M. S. Araújo, M. A. de Aguiar, P. R. Guimarães. 2016. Network analyses support the role of prey preferences in shaping resource use patterns within five animal populations. Oikos, 125:492-501. |
Grad Students
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Marcelos Schwade
PhD student - Ecology (USP) |
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Mariana Franciscão Costa
PhD student - Ecology (USP) Co-supervised student - (supervisor Ana Paula A. Assis) Interests: seed dispersal and evolutionary dynamics of birds |
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Lily Ulvee
MSc student Environmental Science University of Manchester 
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Undergrad Students
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Augusto Carvalho
Undergrad student - Biological Sciences (USP) Co-supervised student (supervisor: Marcio Martins) |
Technicians
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Pâmela Friedemann
PhD student in Ecology - USP (2014) MBA student - Data Science e Analytics (USP/ESALQ) Lab Technician (2025 - FAPESP) Interests: individual-based networks of plants and seed dispersers Fellowship: CAPES More about her work in our lab: Friedemann P., M. C. Cortes, E. R. Castro, M. Galetti, P. Jordano, P. R. Guimarães. 2022. The individual-based network structure of palm-seed dispersers is explained by a rainforest gradient. Oikos 2022: 08384. |
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Bruno Melati
Lab Technician (2023 - FAPESP) "Special Guest Grad Student" (2017-2018) Research: Ant-plant interactions |
Special Guest Members
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Alice
Alice joined the lab in 2012. Alice is interested in butterflies, toucans, flowers, hummingbirds, sacis, arts and science (especially Albert Einstein's ideas). She is now testing predictions of entropy-based theories, using her bedroom as studied system. |
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Marina
Marina joined the lab in 2015. Marina is interested in whales, mermaids, perching birds, Dengo's chocolate, turtles, giraffes, and especially sloths (what makes me pround). She is now applying Chaos Theory to the dynamics of toy models. |
