Hugo Renato Marques Garcia Calado is conducting a Ph.D. in Ecology by the University of Azores starting in 2021 within the Island Biodiversity, Biogeography & Conservation - IBBC. He is conducting the project Phenotypic Plasticity of Pest and Biological Control Agents: Contrasting Mainland and Insular Agroecosystems, under the supervision of Professor Professor António Onofre Soares and Professor Paulo Borges, from University of Azores and Professor Ruben Heleno, from University of Coimbra.
The aims of the project are:
i) To compare the geographical variation in food resource availability as well as ladybirds’ food niche breadth;
ii) To compare the phenotypic variation of life-history traits in Scymnus sp. in continental and insular environments;
iii) To test whether a predator exposed during a long period to a less biodiverse habitat entails a loss of phenotypic variation in life-history traits;
iv) To determine life-history trade-offs that arise after long-term exposure to contrasting biogeographic environments;
v) To test if the new predicted climate conditions of the Azores may affect the extant of Scymnus species.
