IUCN COMMISSION GROUP

IUCN SSC Atlantic Islands Invertebrate Specialist Group

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Overview and description

Description:
Invertebrates, namely arthropods and molluscs are particularly threatened in island ecosystems. This Specialist Group is a network of experts dedicated to the science required to save them, supporting ...

Invertebrates, namely arthropods and molluscs are particularly threatened in island ecosystems. This Specialist Group is a network of experts dedicated to the science required to save them, supporting invertebrate conservation across the following islands: Gough, Tristan, St Helena, Ascension, Cape Verdes, Canaries, Madeira, Azores, and São Tomé and Príncipe.

Group leadership

Prof Paulo BORGES

Co-Chair
For many years I have been involved in island research using as model system the Macaronesian islands and in particular Azores, publishing extensively, with 80 published papers in ISI recognized…
For many years I have been involved in island research using as model system the Macaronesian islands and in particular Azores, publishing extensively, with 80 published papers in ISI recognized journals. From those, 60% are from the First Quartile in the areas of Ecology, Entomology and Multidisciplinary Sciences. I also published 11 books as author or editor (including the complete lists of the terrestrial biodiversity of Azores and Madeira archipelagos), and 54 book chapters. I have ongoing research projects with 12 Associate Research Fellows from seven countries. I also lead the development of the Azorean Biodiversity Portal (http://www.azoresbioportal.angra.uac.pt/), a web interface for communicating biodiversity research in the Azorean region. I supervised already 13 Post-Doc projects, 6 Ph.D .students and 22 MSc Students, and I am currently supervising 5 Post-Docs and 8 Ph.D. Students. In the last three years I coordinated or participated in more than 20 projects. My current research is driven by three overarching objectives: i) collect long-term ecological data to investigate the processes affecting patterns of species diversity, abundance and distribution at different spatial scales; ii) use Macaronesia as a model system to investigate ecological and evolutionary mechanisms responsible for shaping island biotas; iii) identify pathways that impact oceanic indigenous assemblages under global change for conservation purposes

Ms Vicky WILKINS

Co-Chair

Invertebrate Conservation Specialist

Mr Dinarte TEIXEIRA

Red List Authority Coordinator

At a glance

Official name:
IUCN SSC Atlantic Islands Invertebrate Specialist Group
Associated Commissions: