Roberto Novella-Fernandez
Postdoctoral researcher, ecologist
Background
Since 2021 Postdoctoral researcher at the Biochange Lab, Chair of Terrestrial Ecology, Technische Universität München 2016- 2020 PhD Biogeography at the University of Southhampton, United Kingdom. 2015- 2015 M.Sc. Terrestrial Ecology at Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. 2010- 2014 BSc. Environmental Biology at Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. My formal academic training in ecology initiated with a BSc degree in Environmental Biology, (2010-2014) and a MSc Terrestrial Ecology (2015) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. Soon later, I started a PhD at the University of Southampton (United Kingdom, 2016-2020) where I specialised in biogeography. During my PhD thesis I focused on understanding the role of habitat filtering and biotic interactions driving biogeographic patterns of European bats.
My current research interests turn around developing comprehensive understanding on how ecological processes drive diversity patterns, which is a key necessary step for predicting global change impacts on biodiversity. I am particularly interested in the operation of environmental and biotic filtering processess through species functional traits across spatial scales, from local essembles to species ranges and across taxa. For that I combine fieldwork-based data with GIS modelling and DNA metabarcoding tools. As an animal ecologist, I have broad taxonomic interests, including vertebrate and invertebrate groups, from bats and birds to several insect orders.
Publications
2021
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Novella‐Fernandez, Juste, J., Ibañez, C., Rebelo, H., Russo, D., Alberdi, A., Kiefer, A., Graham, L., Hynek, P., Doncaster, P.C., Razgour,.O.. 2021. Broad‐scale patterns of geographic avoidance between species emerge in the absence of fine‐scale mechanisms of coexistence (C Capinha, Ed.). – Divers. Distrib. 12: ddi.13375. DOI: 10.1111/ddi.13375 PDF
2020
- A. Alberdi, O. Razgour, O. Aizpurua, R. Novella-Fernandez, J. Aihartza, I. Budinski, I. Garin, C. Ibáñez, E. Izagirre, H. Rebelo, D. Russo, A. Vlaschenko, V. Zhelyazkova, V. Zrnčić and M. T. P. Gilbert. 2020. DNA metabarcoding and spatial modelling link diet diversification with distribution homogeneity in European bats. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14961-2 PDF
- R. Novella-Fernandez, C. Ibañez, J. Juste, E. L. Clare, and O. Razgour. 2020. Trophic resource partitioning drives fine-scale coexistence in cryptic bat species. Ecology and Evolution. DOI:10.1002/ece3.7004 PDF
- Novella-Fernandez, R.. 2020. Biogeographic processes determining the distributions of European bats across spatial scales: The role of biotic interactions and habitat preferences. University of Southampton. Docotoral Thesis
2019
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Novella-Fernandez R., Rodrigo, A., Arnan, X., Bosch, J.. 2019 Interaction strength in plant-pollinator networks: Are we using the right measure? PLOS ONE DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0225930 PDF
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, O., ,B., J.B., , M., , J., , C.,, S.J., , R., ,A., Considering adaptive genetic variation in climate change vulnerability assessment reduces species range loss projections. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DOI:10.1073/pnas.1820663116 PDF
2018
- , C., NOvella-Fernandez, R., Alonso, P., Agirre-Mendi, P.T.. 2018 New longevity record for the Mediterranean horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus euryale Blasius, 1853). Journal of bat research and conservation. DOI:10.14709/BarbJ.11.1.2018.09 PDF
Books & other publications
2018
- Novella-Fernandez, R. and Miralles Núñez, A. 2018. Els Odonats del Delta del Llobregat. – In: Germain i Otzet, J. and Pino i Vilalta, J. (eds), Els Sistemes Naturals del Delta del Llobregat. 1st ed.n. pp. 525–539. Book chapter
