Ferran Sayol Altarriba

I am a La Caixa Junior Leader researcher at CREAF, in Barcelona. My research aims to understand how biodiversity is originated and organized, and how it can be lost by anthropogenic impacts. Most of my research is focused on animals (mainly birds and mammals), combining different approaches including measurements at Natural History collections, compilation of global datasets from the literature, phylogenetic comparative analysis and camera-trap surveys from citizen science initiatives.

I defended my Ph.D. at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB, 2018) where I focused on the evolution of brain size in birds. After my PhD, I have been leading various projects as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Gothenburg (2018-2020), as a Marie-Curie Postdoc fellow at University College London (2020-2022), and as a Beatriu de Pinós Postdoc fellow at CREAF (2022-2023).

I obtained a PhD in Terrestrial Ecology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2018), focusing on the evolution of brain size in birds. After my PhD, I have been leading various projects as a postdoctoral researcher at the University de Göteborg (2018-2020), as a Marie-Curie Postdoc fellow at University College London  (2020-2022), and as a Beatriu de Pinós Postdoc fellow at CREAF (2022-2023).

Currently, my main project is AVOTREX: Unravelling the ecological consequences of bird extinctions, funded by La Caixa Foundation. I am also one of the coordinators of the Wildcat project, which maintains a network of camera trapping sites for the long-term monitoring of the wildcat (Felis silvestris) and other mesocarnivores. This project is supported by the Institució Catalana d’Història Natural (ICHN), Generalitat de Catalunya, Diputació de Barcelona, and the Barcelona Zoo Foundation.