Wesley is a Postdoctoral researcher at the AMAP (botAnique et Modélisation de l’Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations) research group in Montpellier, France. He is a functional ecologist with special focus on tropical forests and savannahs. Here, Wesley shares his recent work on the distribution of plant functional traits across ecotones.

Early career researcher, Wesley, after a field day on the southern edge of the Amazon, Brazil.

Personal links. Google Scholar

Institute. AMAP (botAnique et Modélisation de l’Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations), CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Montpellier, France.

Academic life stage. Postdoc

Major research themes. Functional ecology, tropical forests and savannahs, ecotones, biogeography, ecophysiology, disturbances, vegetation monitoring.

Recent paper (citation). Cruz, W. J. A., Marimon, B. S., Junior, B. H. M., Morandi, P. S., Longhi, S. G., Prestes, N. C. C. D. S., … & Phillips, O. L. (2025). Functional Biogeography and Ecological Strategies of Trees Across the Amazon–Cerrado Transition. Journal of Vegetation Science, 36(5), e70076. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.70076

Current study system. In central Brazil, the Cerrado, Amazon, and Pantanal converge, forming one of the most complex ecological mosaics on Earth. Acting as a continental regulator, this interconnected system links hydrological and climatic processes across tropical South America. The Amazon drives regional rainfall through atmospheric moisture transport; the Cerrado functions as a major water source feeding continental river basins; and the Pantanal acts as a vast hydrological buffer. This unique transition zone, hosting a mosaic of forests, savannas, and grasslands, remains poorly understood regarding its vulnerability to compound drought–fire–heat stresses.

Motivation behind this paper. Understanding how species traits and ecological processes respond to environmental variations and disturbances in this region. This ecotone is home to striking gradients in climate, soil, and vegetation structure, which directly influence the functional strategies of plants and the resilience of ecosystems. By integrating species distribution patterns and ecological functions, it is possible to identify mechanisms that determine the maintenance of biodiversity and predict responses to climate change and land use. In addition, little-explored types of vegetation, such as woodland savannahs, seasonal forests, floodplain forests and riparian forests, represent key components of this transition, but still lack detailed studies on their ecological functions and biogeographical roles.

Wesley crossing bridges and investigating transitional forests in the ecotone between the Amazon and the Cerrado, at the Serra das Araras Ecological Station, Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Key methodologies. The paper presents a relevant methodological innovation by applying a standardised protocol for collecting functional traits of trees in a transition zone between biomes. We gathered data for approximately 200 tree species distributed across six different vegetation types, generating 55,895 measurements of functional traits. We selected 15 traits, covering key aspects of ecological processes and species strategies, and applied the same measurement protocol in environments ranging from typical savannahs to moist forests. Thus, the study enables a robust and homogeneous comparison between different vegetation formations, something rare until now on this ecological and biogeographical scale. The single, standardised protocol ensures that the differences observed reflect real variations in functional traits rather than methodological biases, strengthening inferences about how environmental filters and species strategies change along this Amazon–Cerrado gradient.

Mega structure of Wesley’s Functional Ecology and Ecophysiology Laboratory. Set up outdoors, within a savannah, in central Brazil. At the time, measuring functional leaf traits and the water potential of leaves at midday.

Unexpected challenges. To me, the greatest challenge of this research was the intense fieldwork and complex processing of samples collected across a wide spatial scale. The study areas were spread over approximately 1,000 km between different types of vegetation in the Amazon–Cerrado transition zone, requiring careful logistics, long expeditions, and rigorous standardisation of collections. Obtaining functional data for approximately 200 species required precision and consistency at all stages, from collection to laboratory analysis. This effort was only possible thanks to the dedication of a highly trained team and the technical support of a laboratory of excellence – Plant Ecology Laboratory of the Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso (UNEMAT), Nova Xavantina, Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Major results. The main result of this paper was to demonstrate how the functional strategies of tree species vary systematically along the gradient between the Amazon and the Cerrado, reflecting the combined influence of climatic and edaphic factors. This novel approach integrates functional biogeography into one of the most ecologically complex regions on the planet, providing a solid empirical basis for understanding how biodiversity and ecosystem functioning respond to broad environmental gradients. The study also advances our understanding of the functional structure of underexplored vegetation types such as the Cerradão (woodland savannah), gallery forests, and semi-deciduous and evergreen seasonal forests. The study represents a significant contribution to functional ecology and to the development of predictive models of tropical vegetation response to climate change and land use.

Flowers and colours of the herbaceous component of a transitional savannah in Brazil, at the Serra das Araras Ecological Station.

Next steps for this research. The next logical step in this research is to investigate the intraspecific variability of the functional traits of species occurring along the Amazon–Cerrado transition. Although the current study revealed robust patterns between species and vegetation formations, understanding the variation within species themselves is essential to assess their adaptive potential in the face of environmental gradients and disturbances. This approach will allow us to identify locally adapted populations and draw boundaries of functional plasticity, providing crucial information for predicting ecological responses to climate change and guiding conservation and restoration strategies.

Wesley walking on the ashes of a transitional forest burned in the catastrophic fires of August 2024. Assessing the impact of fire on forests in the transition zone between the Amazon and the Cerrado (photo: Francisco Navarro-Rosales).

If you could study any organism on Earth, what would it be? I consider the duality of trees that live in seasonally flooded savannahs to be fascinating. Trees established in floodplain savannahs play a key ecological role in maintaining the structure and functioning of these ecosystems. They must cope with extreme environmental conditions, alternating between long periods of flooding and phases of intense drought, which requires remarkable physiological plasticity.

Axel Arango is a postdoctoral researcher at the Universität Würzburg, Germany. He is a evolutionary biologist with special focus on Macroecology and Macroevolution. Here, Axel shares his recent work on how ecological specialization, rather than geographic dispersal, shapes diversification in Emberizoidea songbirds.

Axel Arango, postdoc at the Universität Würzburg, Germany.

Personal links. https://axelarango.github.io

Institute. Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology (CCTB), Universität Würzburg, Germany

Academic life stage. Postdoc

Major research themes. Evolutionary Macroecology; Biogeography; Phylogenetics; Macroevolution

Current study system. Birds

Recent paper (citation). Arango, A., Pinto-Ledezma, J., Rojas-Soto, O., & Villalobos, F. (2025). Broad geographic dispersal is not a diversification driver for Emberizoidea. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 292(2039), 20241965.

Essay. Emberizoidea is a bird lineage that has long captivated both scientists and cultures with their vibrant plumage, beautiful songs, and ubiquitous ecological range, inhabiting the whole of the New World and most of Eurasia, and Africa. Their diversity includes tanagers, cardinals, sparrows, warblers, and buntings. Darwin observed the beaks and diet of Galapagos finches, which played an essential role in the inception of the natural selection theory while later becoming a classic example of adaptive radiation. A century later, MacArthur observed that some good warblers were sharing the same trees but using them subtly differently. These species of the then Dendroica, now Setophaga genus became textbook examples of niche partitioning. But long before evolutionary and ecological theory, pre-Hispanic cultures across the Americas had already incorporated Emberizoidea into their worldviews. The Mexicas honored the tzanatl (Great-tailed grackle) and oropéndolas (Montezuma’s oropendula) for their song and majesty; the Mayans saw cardinals as symbols of fertility and life.

Pradero Tortillaconchile (literally translated to “Meadow Tortilla with chilli”; Sturnella magna) in the dry forest of Ozuluama,Veracruz. Distinctive member of the Icteridae family.

While finishing my Master’s, I became captivated by this dazzling avian diversity. As someone from the Americas, I couldn’t help but notice how unevenly bird species are distributed across the continent. Some areas (like the Andes or Mesoamerica) are bursting with species, while others have fewer species. Why? What drives these differences?

A leading hypothesis in evolutionary biology is that geographic dispersal (species colonization of new areas) plays a central role in triggering speciation. This idea presents an intuitive possibility: when a lineage moves into a novel area, it might escape competitors and predators, find unexploited resources, and become geographically isolated. That isolation can break gene flow, allowing populations to diverge, adapt to new conditions, and eventually become a distinct species. So, in theory, the more a group disperses, the more opportunities it has to diversify.

So, is this actually true for Emberizoidea?

To find out, we used phylogenetic bioregionalization to define geographic regions based on where species live and their evolutionary relationships. Then, we reconstructed the historical biogeography of lineages using several models of range evolution. This approach allowed us to figure out the most likely scenarios of when and where lineages expanded into new territories (dispersal) and when their distribution shrunk (range contraction). Finally, we quantified the changes in evolutionary rates across the Emberizoidea tree, detecting when certain lineages had higher speciation rates, and asked whether lineages that moved into new bioregions actually diversified faster.

The iridescent tzanatl (Great-tailed grackle; Quiscalus mexicanus), former Aztec treasure. Now in most Mexican cities (and beyond).

The surprising answer? Despite the proposed hypothesis, the lineages that dispersed didn’t speciate faster.

In fact, most diversification in Emberizoidea seems to have happened within regions, not after colonizing new ones. We even tested this statistically by comparing nodes that dispersed with similarly aged nodes that didn’t and found no consistent increase in speciation. Furthermore, families that maintained stable ranges over millions of years tended to be more diverse. In short, staying put may be more beneficial for speciation than spreading out.

This challenged a major assumption. Dispersal is often treated as the spark that lights the diversification fire. For instance, the Corvidae family, shows significantly elevated rates of both speciation and regional transition, suggesting that diversification is promoted by frequent dispersal and colonization events (Kennedy et al., 2017). In anurans, the interplay between regional geomorphology and species-specific dispersal abilities drives distinct diversification patterns (Fouquet et al., 2021), and likewise, in plants, the Chamaesyce clade of Euphorbia diversified through repeated dispersal followed by local adaptation (Yang & Berry, 2011), but in Emberizoidea, dispersal looks more like a side story.

     Chingolo (Rufous-collared sparrow; Zonotrichia capensis) in the temperate forest. An abundant South American bird of the Passerellidae family.   

Currently, we’re focusing our attention to ecological specialization. If movement isn’t the main driver, maybe what matters more is how lineages adapt to specific roles within their environments. Could specializing in certain diets or habitats drive diversification from within a stable range? For example, Galapagos finches could also dramatically illustrate how a single ancestral population on a stable island system gave rise to diverse species through dietary specialization. Or how wood warblers could have specialized to have different foraging behaviors, minimizing competition and fostering divergence. To test that, we’re exploring the effects of traits like diet, habitat specialization, and foraging behavior in speciation dynamics.

Ultimately, this work has reshaped how we think about evolution in a group of birds and perhaps even reminded us that sometimes, the story we do not expect is the one worth telling.

A colony of Montezuma Oropendolas (Psarocolius montezuma) in the Neotropical Forest.

Reference list.

Kennedy, J. D., Borregaard, M. K., Jønsson, K. A., Holt, B., Fjeldså, J., & Rahbek, C. (2017). Does the colonization of new biogeographic regions influence the diversification and accumulation of clade richness among the Corvides (Aves: Passeriformes)?. Evolution, 71(1), 38-50.

Fouquet, A., Marinho, P., Rejaud, A., Carvalho, T. R., Caminer, M. A., Jansen, M., … & Ron, S. (2021). Systematics and biogeography of the Boana albopunctata species group (Anura, Hylidae), with the description of two new species from Amazonia. Systematics and Biodiversity, 19(4), 375-399.

Yang, Y., & Berry, P. E. (2011). Phylogenetics of the Chamaesyce clade (Euphorbia, Euphorbiaceae): Reticulate evolution and long‐distance dispersal in a prominent C4 lineage. American Journal of Botany, 98(9), 1486-1503.

Gabriel is a PhD researcher at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). He is a plant ecologist with special focus on floristic patterns and distributions. Here, Gabriel shares his recent work on the diversity patterns in continental islands along the Brazilian coast.

Early career researcher Gabriel Pavan Sabino in front of a granite cliff covered with Tillandsia alcatrazensis (Bromeliaceae), an endemic species recently described by the research team [Photo by Gabriel Marcusso].

Personal links. Researchgate | Instagram

Institute. Universidade Estadual de Campinas – UNICAMP

Instituto de Biologia

Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Campinas, São Paulo, Brasil

Academic life stage. PhD researcher

Major research themes. I’m interested in plant ecology and evolution, particularly in floristic patterns, biogeography, and species distributions. My current research focuses on the diversity patterns in continental islands along the Brazilian coast.

Recent paper (citation). Sabino, G. P., Pinheiro, F., Cabral, J. S., Koch, I., Marcusso, G. M., Tavares, M. M., Cunha, I. M., & Kamimura, V. A. (2025). Islanded Islands: Dual isolation drive distinctive and threatened floras of Neotropical maritime inselbergs. Journal of Vegetation Science, 36(3), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.70037

Current study system. Plant communities of Neotropical maritime inselbergs:
Inselbergs, which are isolated rock outcrops, host unique plant communities and are considered insular environments due to their distinct conditions, compared to the surrounding landscape. During interglacial periods, sea level rise can turn some of these inselbergs into true islands, further increasing their isolation from the mainland. This isolation promotes local adaptations and endemism, making these systems natural laboratories for studying ecological processes and the mechanisms that shape plant communities.

Motivation behind this paper. This study started with a pretty simple idea: to survey the plants growing on Alcatrazes Island, a stunning and ecologically unique island off Brazil’s southeastern coast. But the deeper we got into its flora, the more we started asking ourselves a bigger question: How does all this plant diversity compare to what we find on other islands? This question opened the door to a broader, macroecological view. However, we soon realized that it wasn’t enough to compare Alcatrazes to just any island. So, we turned our attention to islands with similar geological characteristics, shifting our focus to other coastal inselbergs, as well as to their continental counterparts. By bringing together plant data from these sites, we were able to dive deeper into how factors like oceanic isolation and climate influence both species richness and their evolutionary uniqueness. In other words, we weren’t just asking how many species live there, but also how different they are from one another in evolutionary terms.

An overview of Alcatrazes Island, located 35 km off the southeastern coast of Brazil [Photo by Luciano Candisani].

Key methodologies. We introduced the concept of maritime inselbergs (MIs), isolated rocky outcrops that became true islands after sea level rose, and, for the first time, explored the unique plant communities living on them. To understand how these ocean-bound systems work, we compared them with continental inselbergs (CIs). Instead of focusing only on species, we looked at the deeper evolutionary patterns behind them, asking how different these communities are—not just in terms of who’s there, but in terms of what lineages they belong to. Are the plants on MIs close relatives of those on CIs, or do they represent distinct branches on the tree of life? We also wanted to know if climate plays a role in shaping these patterns and whether certain conditions favor specific species or evolutionary histories. Beyond that, we examined the conservation status of the plants we found, using Brazil’s official Red List. Then we went one step further: We used modelling to simulate what might happen to entire evolutionary lineages under different extinction scenarios.

Landscape showing the rupicolous vegetation of Alcatrazes Island and, on the horizon, the mainland [Photo by Gabriel Pavan Sabino].

Unexpected challenges. A well-established idea in biogeography is that similar environments located closer together tend to share more species than those farther apart. However, in our floristic similarity analysis, we found the opposite. The MIs in Rio de Janeiro (The archipelago of Cagarras), which are only about 10 km from the nearest CI (like Pão de Açúcar), are actually more similar to other MIs located at least 280 km to the southwest. This highlights how strong the environmental filters imposed by the ocean can be in shaping the plant communities of these environments. 

Fieldwork in such extreme environments is already a major challenge in itself. We experienced this firsthand while conducting fieldwork on Alcatrazes Island. This helps explain why floristic surveys on islands in Brazil are so rare. We also noticed this during our literature review, as we searched for floristic surveys to include in the compilation used for our study.

Returning to camp after a day of fieldwork. Moving across such steep terrain with all the equipment is a real challenge [Photo by Yan Marcos].

Major results. In addition to identifying that MIs possess a distinct floristic identity, we found substantial heterogeneity among the communities, with only 11% of species shared between them. Roughly 10% of all recorded species are officially threatened, underscoring the role of inselbergs as key refuges for endangered flora. Climate also played a major role in shaping these communities, especially variables like annual temperature range, temperature of the warmest quarter, and isothermality, which reflects how stable day-to-night temperatures are compared to annual shifts. Perhaps most striking, our models suggest that losing 25% of species could significantly disrupt the evolutionary structure of these communities. We argue that the most important insight from this work is understanding how plant communities assemble under a combination of permanent ecological isolation, due to the natural insularity of inselbergs, and temporary geographic isolation caused by sea level changes over glacial and interglacial cycles.

Some examples of the flora of Alcatrazes Island (left-to-right and top-to-bottom): Pleroma clavatum (Melastomataceae); Coleocephalocereus fluminensis (Cactaceae) and Magnificent frigatebird, Fregata magnificens in the background; Cereus hildmannianus (Cactaceae); Passiflora mucronata (Passifloraceae); Cattleya x intricata (Orchidaceae); Schwartzia brasiliensis (Marcgraviaceae); Tillandsia uiraretama (Bromeliaceae); Hippeastrum blossfeldiae (Amaryllidaceae); Begonia venosa (Begoniaceae); Ouratea parviflora (Ochnaceae); Tillandsia alcatrazensis (Bromeliaceae) [Photos By Gabriel Pavan Sabino].

Next steps for this research. We know this is a multi-generational effort, but we are highly motivated to expand our sampling across different types of islands along the Brazilian coast. Currently, we are focusing on how functional traits vary between insular species and their continental populations. We aim to identify the adaptive strategies of plants that are isolated from pollinators, herbivores, and other plant species that would normally compete with them in continental environments but are no longer present in insular systems. This will provide important ecological insights and help us understand how evolutionary processes operate in plant communities within highly diverse systems.

If you could study any organism on Earth, what would it be? One of the organisms that intrigues me the most are rupicolous plants. They germinate and anchor their roots directly onto rocks in extremely harsh environments, often exposed to strong winds, high salinity, and extreme temperature fluctuations. They are true champions of adaptation! I began studying them accidentally during my PhD.

Josh is a Postdoc researcher at King’s College London. He is a community ecologist with special focus on plant invasions. Here, Josh shares his recent work which reviews the use of scale terms in plant biology and consequent implications for biogeographic research.

 Josh standing in ‘BigBio’, one of the longest-running experiments testing the role of plant diversity on ecosystem function.

Personal links. Personal website | Google Scholar | X | Bluesky

Institute. King’s College London

Academic life stage. Postdoc

Major research themes. Community assembly, diversity and persistence, with a particular emphasis on plant invasions and cross-trophic interactions (e.g. parasitism, mutualism, herbivory), and how evidence for all the above varies with the scale at which communities are studied!

Recent paper (citation). Hung, C. Y., Pérez‐Navarro, M. Á., & Brian, J. I. (2025). Lost in Space: When Spatial Scale Terms Blur Actual Study Size in Plant Community Ecology. Journal of Vegetation Science, 36(3), e70035. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.70035

Current study system. We study plant communities, particularly terrestrial grasslands, though this paper covered all major terrestrial plant habitats (e.g. forests, shrublands, etc). Grasslands are globally distributed and highly diverse, which means they provide a great opportunity for understanding how factors like environmental variation drive community diversity and interactions. Grasslands are also highly invaded ecosystems, so by studying which grasslands are more or less invaded, we might be able to understand more about the biogeography of invasion. However, this relies on being able to make fair comparisons between studies carried out in different locations, which stimulated the motivation for this paper.

Motivation behind this paper. It is well recognised that many biogeographic patterns are scale-dependent: For example, at ‘small’ scales, invasive plant diversity and native plant diversity are negatively correlated (possibly reflecting signals of plant-plant competition), but at ‘large’ scales they are positively correlated (likely reflecting increased habitat heterogeneity at larger scales). Many different words, which we call ‘scale terms’, are used to denote these different scales. Scale terms like “local” or “neighbourhood” are used to indicate the scales at which plants might compete, while terms like “region” are used to indicate scales where the role of habitat type might be detected. However, we were unsure whether these terms are used consistently: are different papers that use the term “local” actually referring to similar study scales? Or does one paper use it to refer to 1m² plots (for example), while another uses it to refer to 20m² plots? If these scale terms are used inconsistently, it could have major negative implications for drawing biogeographic conclusions by synthesising results from different studies.

Key methodologies. To our knowledge, we carried out the first review of this question in plant biology. We searched studies that use one or more scale terms to frame their results and conclusions, then examined the methods to see what actual area they were referring to when they used these scale terms. We also tested whether the area referred to by scale terms varies with habitat type (e.g. grassland vs. forest), geographic location (e.g. Europe vs. Asia) and type of study (e.g. experimental vs. observational). This provides the first insights into how these scale terms, which are often used and accepted uncritically by authors, are employed across the globe.

Experimental plots like these are common in plant ecology. But how transferable are findings from this experiment to plots that are bigger or smaller? (Drone photo Maggie Anderson; experimental set-up Josh Brian)

Unexpected challenges. One unexpected challenge was how difficult the literature review was! We had expected that the area (e.g. the size of a plot used) should be easy to find, as this is basic methodological information. However, this information was often hard to interpret, buried in the supplementary materials, or not there at all! Over 21% of studies didn’t report the actual area for at least one of the scale terms they used – so 21% of studies are not reproducible from this minor methodological point alone!

Major results. We found massive variation in the use of individual scale terms – on average, 4.7 orders of magnitude. While this variation could partially be explained by the type of study (e.g. observational scales tend to be larger than experimental scales for any given scale term) and habitat type (e.g. forest scale terms tend to be larger than in grasslands), there was still variation of 3.8 orders of magnitude within single habitats. For example, “local” scales in grasslands alone can refer to areas from 1m² to 100,000m²! We did a little simulation, and found that this inconsistency could have major implications for calculating and comparing biodiversity metrics (e.g. Shannon’s Index) across studies. If biogeographic research is going to be reproducible and synthesisable, attention needs to be paid to how we use such terms.

Next steps for this research. The next step is really up to the community! We provide some guidelines in the paper on how we can improve matters. Authors of individual papers should make sure that the actual study area is clearly stated in the methods (at a minimum!), and authors of syntheses should make sure studies are being combined or compared based on their actual areas of investigation, rather than relying on scale terms to combine papers.

If you could study any organism on Earth, what would it be? I would love to study parasites of organisms in Antarctica – parasites in general are understudied, and I’m sure the extreme conditions there must have led to some amazing adaptations for transmission and survival. Plus, who wouldn’t want to go to Antarctica?

Is there anything else you would like to tell us about yourself or your featured research? This work was led by an undergrad, Chung Yi Hung, and funded by a King’s College London Undergraduate Research Fellowship. It’s absolutely amazing to see an undergrad do most of the work for a scientific paper – my co-senior author María and I got incredibly lucky to work with someone so talented!

Felipe Zuñe is a PhD researcher at the Universidade Federal Do Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. He is an ecologist with special focus on vegetation dynamics. Here, Felipe shares his recent work on ecological drivers on vegetation dynamics of the Trindade Island.

Felipe Zuñe, PhD researcher at the Universidade Federal Do Rio de Janeiro.

Personal links. instagram | X

Institute. Programa de Pós-graduação Em Ciências Biológicas (Botânica), Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal Do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Academic life stage. PhD Candidate

Major research themes. Vegetation dynamics; Biodiversity conservation; Ecology; Botany.

Recent paper (citation). Zuñe, F., Rogério, M. G., Alves, R. J. V., & Silva, N. G. (2025). From Disturbance to Recovery: Unveiling the Role of Goats and Ecological Drivers on Vegetation Dynamics of Trindade Island, South Atlantic, Brazil. Journal of Vegetation Science, 36, e70039. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.70039

Current study system. Our research examines vegetation dynamics across tropical ecosystems, with particular focus on Trindade Island, a remote Brazilian oceanic island that serves as a natural laboratory for studying ecosystem responses to human disturbances and climate change. Using remote sensing in combination with field ecology methods, we analyze how invasive species legacies affect vegetation structure, document recovery patterns following eradication, and identify climate-vegetation interactions. These island studies directly complement my work in continental tropical forests, where I investigate similar ecological processes, including disturbance impacts, successional pathways, and resilience mechanisms. Together, this integrated approach contributes to the development of robust frameworks for biodiversity conservation in changing environments.

Motivation behind this paper. Understanding the precise magnitude of invasive herbivore impacts on island ecosystems remains a critical knowledge gap. While previous studies documented goat-induced degradation on Trindade Island, the quantitative extent of their ecological effects was unknown, representing a fundamental gap that motivated our research. Three centuries of uncontrolled herbivory had clearly transformed the landscape, but we lacked systematic measurements of how different vegetation types responded to this prolonged pressure. The 2005 eradication created an unprecedented opportunity to quantify these legacy effects. Our study addressed this need by precisely measuring goat impacts across ecosystems and their interaction with environmental variables, providing essential baselines for restoration science.

Felipe and Nílber Gonçalves da Silva working behind the scenes on the development, planning, and structuring of this study. Nílber is one of the researchers and also the project coordinator.

Key methodologies. Our study combined multi-temporal satellite imagery with field surveys to reconstruct vegetation changes across Trindade Island. The innovative integration of Random Forest classification with NDVI time-series analysis allowed precise tracking of recovery patterns post-eradication. We developed a novel modeling framework using Generalized Linear Models to disentangle legacy goat impacts from environmental drivers. Crucially, our backcasting approach extended the observational period beyond satellite records by incorporating historical field data. This methodological synergy provided unprecedented resolution for detecting nonlinear recovery trajectories across different vegetation types, offering new capacity to predict ecosystem responses to invasive species removal in island environments.

Unexpected challenges. One major challenge was accurately monitoring vegetation changes on Trindade Island, given its extreme remoteness and restricted access. The island’s limited accessibility required developing specialized remote sensing methods that could function with minimal field validation. We implemented multi-temporal NDVI analysis to track subtle recovery patterns. Incorporating historical expedition data through backcasting approaches allowed us to extend the observational record. These methodological innovations not only addressed the study’s logistical constraints, but also established new protocols for ecological monitoring in similarly isolated island ecosystems where traditional field validation remains impractical.

Major results. Our study revealed that goat eradication led to significant forest (65 ha) and grassland (325 ha) recovery by 2024, though climate factors (e.g., precipitation) amplified these changes. Hybrid models (anthropogenic + climate) had the highest explanatory power, underscoring the need for integrated conservation strategies. This work advances understanding of island ecosystem resilience and informs invasive species management worldwide.

Vegetation comparison on Trindade Island, between 1994, when goats were still present, and 2010, showing ecosystem recovery after goat eradication.

Next steps for this research. Our current research group is studying the functional diversity of Trindade’s endemic ferns (Cyathea copelandii) to understand their role in the island’s recovery. With these insights, we will: develop preventive monitoring strategies to detect reinvasions; refine high-resolution remote sensing for small islands; and analyze genetic diversity in recovering populations.

Felipe and Márcia Gonçalves Rogério, one of the researchers involved in the study published in the Journal of Vegetation Science, measuring endemic ferns on Trindade Island.

If you could study any organism on Earth, what would it be? I would like to study tortoises, especially the Galápagos tortoises. I’m fascinated by their size, ancient lineage, and role as ecosystem engineers.

Is there anything else you would like to tell us about yourself or your featured research? Trindade Island’s story is a testament to nature’s resilience, but also a warning. Even after goat removal, non-native plants and mice persist, showing that eradication alone isn’t enough. Collaborative, adaptive management is key!

Felipe enjoying the view and sunset on Trindade Island.