Mariana Bender, PhD

Professor at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria

PI of the Marine Macroecology and Conservation Lab

My research interests include the ecology, evolution and conservation of reef fish communities. For more information on my LAB's research projects and about me, see RESEARCH and ABOUT MARIANA.

POST-DOCs.

André Luza

Post-doc

André is the post-doctoral researcher of ReefSYN project. His main interest within Ecology is on the statistical modeling of species distribution over space and time – using the perspectives of single- and multi-species – and on the emerging properties of local sets of co-occurring species. He is also interested on hierarchical modeling applied to ecology, and on best practices of organization, curatorship, and release of ecological data sets. For more info on A. Luza, click here.

Linda Eggertsen

Post-doc

Linda is a post-doctoral researcher within the ReefSYN Project, working with Brazilian reef fisheries and food security. Her main research interests are reef fish ecology, seascape ecology,  connectivity and marine spatial planning. 
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STUDENTS.
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Luiza Waechter Severo

Ph.D. candidate

In her thesis project, Luiza is investigating the aesthetic values of reef fish and seascapes, and the economic value and contribution of fish groups to provisioning (i.e., fishing) and cultural ecosystem services (i.e., diving) on Brazilian reefs. 
​Lattes - ResearchGate - Short CV

Melina Forgiarini Maxwell

Ph.D. candidate

In her work, Melina is investigating (i) the determinants of reef fish rarity across spatial scales, and (ii) the drivers of reef fish species abundance distribution patterns from local to global scales.
Twitter - Lattes - ResearchGate

Maria Luiza Gallina

MsC candidate

Malu is a MSc student currently foccusing in Brazilian fisheries resources and its nutritional values. Also, she is interested in the dynamics of bluefood consumption by the human population, especially local fisher communities. 
Twitter - Lattes - ResearchGate

Hanna Moro

Undergraduate student

Hanna is a Bachelor in Biological Sciences. She is interested in reef fish ecology, reef fisheries end their impacts  on marine ecosystems.

ALUMNI.

PhD. Carine Fogliarini

Supervised by M. Bender

During her PhD, Carine has developed research on the past of the Brazilian marine megafauna and reef  environments. She has visited numerous Brazilian museums, libraries and private collections gathering historical information on marine organisms and ecosystems.

Msc. Samara Danielski

Co-supervised by M. Bender

Samara has investigated the functional structure of reef fish assemblages across different spatial scales and along a broad species richness gradient in the Atlantic Ocean.
Short CV

Msc. Rafaella Nunes

Undergraduate and Msc candidate

Rafaella has obtained her masters degree in 2022. She has developed research on the patterns and drivers of reef fish species co-occurrence and agonistic interactions, from local to the global scale.
Twitter - Short CV

Msc. Samanta Pereira

Msc candidate

Samanta has investigated the patterns and drivers of taxonomic and trait beta-diversity in Atlantic Forest plant-hummingbird interaction networks.

Msc. Bruna Ceretta

Msc candidate

Bruna has developed research on the impacts of fisheries in the functional diversity of marine vertebrates, from the Aboriginal period (Sambaquis), to the Colonial and Modern period (current time) in Southeastern Brazil. She has completed her masters in 2022.

Jéssica Bornholdt

Undergraduate student 

Jessica has investigated and compiled data on spearfishing records in Brazilian reefs.

Anderson Rodrigues

Undergraduate student (co-supervised by M. Bender)

Anderson worked with individual-level variation in herbivorous reef fish traits, as body size and bite rates on benthic organisms.

Gabriella Cardoso

Undergraduate student

Gabriella 

Elisa Abbad

Undergraduate student

COLLABORATORS.
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Dr. Sergio R. Floeter

Assistant professor at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina.

Link to his website here.

Dr. Osmar Luiz

Associate researcher at  Charles Darwin University, Australia.

More on Osmars' publication here.

Dr. Carlos Ferreira

Assistant professor at Universidade Federal Fluminense.

Link to his website here.

Dr. Guilherme Longo

Professor at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte.

Link to his website here.

Dr. Stephanie D'agata

Post-doc at Macquarie University, Australia.

Link to her CV here.

Dr. Fabien Leprieur

Associate professor at the University of Montpellier, France

Link to his website here.

Dr. Juan P. Quimbayo

Post-doc at Universidade de São Paulo.

Link to his website here.

Dr. Mauricio Cantor

Post-doc at Max-Planck Institute.

Link to his website here.

Dr. Vinicius Giglio

Professor at Universidade Federal do Estado do Pará (UFOPA)

Link to his publication list here.