Rubén Bernardo Madrid

I am an ecologist with an interest in both theoretical and applied aspects of biodiversity. I completed my PhD and first postdocs at the Doñana Biological Station-CSIC (Spain), focusing on general patterns in population dynamics, human-wildlife conflicts, and alien invasive species. Currently, I am developing my own research line at the intersection of biogeography, macroecology, species assemblage, evolutionary biology, functional biology, and physics.

Current core personal projects:

1.- Understanding and conserving biodiversity across biogeographical regions. These regions are classifications of the Earth's surface based on the presence of distinct assemblages of biota, whose species have faced unique historical and eco-evolutionary pressures. In this project, I am observing a potential new rule on the organization of biodiversity across the tree of life and space, indicating that general processes may be more relevant than the idiosyncrasies of geographical areas and life forms.

2.- Understanding how species are assembled and identifying the underlying mechanisms. Using birds as a case study, I have observed that the proportion of species belonging to distinct trophic guilds is constant across the Earth. I am evaluating if diet-related constraints are leading to universal structures in species assemblages, which could suggest the existence of energetic and ecological rules shaping life on Earth.

3.- Evaluating the ancestral signals of evolution on the current morphology and geographical distribution of species. I aim to determine which speciation events from the past have left a significant mark on our current biodiversity.

4.- Delineation of biogeographical regions using phylogenetic data to test hypotheses on the primary factors shaping current biodiversity on Earth. 

Selected publications

1.- Bernardo-Madrid et al. (2019). Human activity is altering the world’s zoogeographical regions. Ecology Letters.

2.- Calatayud et al. (2020). Positive associations among rare species and their persistence in ecological assemblages. Nature Ecology and Evolution.

3.- Bernardo-Madrid et al. (2022). Stopping winter flooding of rice fields to control invasive snails has no effect on waterbird abundance at the landscape scale. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

4.- Forcina et al. (2019) From groups to communities in western lowland gorillas. Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

5.- Vimercati et al. (2022). The EICAT+ framework enables classification of positive impacts of alien taxa on native biodiversity. Plos Biology.

6.- Calatayud et al. (2019). Exploring the solution landscape enables more reliable network community detection. Physical Review E.

7.- Olalla-Tárraga et al. (2017). Contrasting evidence of phylogenetic trophic niche conservatism in mammals worldwide. Journal of Biogeography.

8.- Clavero et al. (2022). Severe, rapid and widespread impacts of an Atlantic blue crab invasion. Marine Pollution Bulletin.