I am primarily an ecologist, with complementary experience in microbiology and evolution. I worked on some of the earliest metacommunity models, demonstrating how dispersal among local communities may affect both local and regional diversity. These models are important for formalizing our understanding of metacommunity dynamics.
I have also incorporated elements of network ecology (trophic biogeography & metaweb), ecosystem functioning (metaecosystems) and ecophylogenetics into this framework. I developed integrated approaches to understand how coexistence mechanisms shape the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. I have incorporated elements of evolutionary dynamics mainly by developing experimental approaches with microorganisms.
I am now interested in disentangling the factors that shape the different facets of biodiversity, functional rarity, functional biogeography and the relationship between humans and nature through the aesthetics of biodiversity and the Nature for Future Framework. I have directed or collaborated in several reviews and conceptual syntheses.