Cristina Branquinho
Cristina Branquinho is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, in the Centre for Ecology and Environmental Changes ?– cE3c. Her main aim is improving human well-being through the understanding of the effects of anthropogenic factors (e.g. pollution, eutrophication, climate change) on the provision of ecosystem services. She monitors the structure and functioning of natural, semi-natural and urban ecosystems, and the development and implementation of strategies to mitigate, adapt and restore ecosystem to global-change. Her research is driven by three overarching objectives: i) Understand the structure and functioning of dryland ecosystems under environmental change scenarios (eutrophication, climate change and pollution); ii) Develop, test, model and track early warning ecological indicators of environmental change factors at global scale, as well as, ecotechnological solutions for restoring ecosystem structure and functioning; iii) Understand the role of urban green areas and of its biodiversity in ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services provision.