Fernanda Silva

I am a biologist and Ph.D. candidate in Ecology at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Florianópolis, Brazil. I am particularly interested in understanding the impacts of climate change on the functional diversity of reef fishes in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Supervised by Dr. Sérgio Floeter and Dr. Juan Quimbayo, my research explores fish communities through a spatial and temporal perspective using modern statistical techniques. I am assessing the status and trends of reef fish assemblies in terms of taxonomic and trait composition and comparing the results across different scales in the Atlantic.

My research is aligned with MISSION ATLANTIC WP5. In collaboration with Dr. Martin Lindegren at the Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU), I will quantify species' responses to climatic variation by inferring sea surface temperature and mapping the response dynamic of communities, will look for signals of tropicalization.

The results will contribute to the overall knowledge about the South Brazilian Shelf Case Study and will enable me to work with world-class researchers at DTU.