Maria Conceição Caldeira

I serve as an Assistant Professor at the School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, where I also lead the Forest Ecology Research Group and the Tree Ecophysiology and Breeding Lab within the Forest Research Centre. My educational background is in Forestry and Forest Production. Despite this, my PhD research focused on grasslands, enriching my understanding of species interactions and their critical role in ecosystem resilience and functioning, especially in response to disturbances like extreme droughts. My research takes an integrated approach to ecosystem functioning, emphasizing the synergy between trees, shrubs, and grasslands and their resilience to climate and land-use changes. I am particularly interested in how trees adapt to recurrent droughts, especially when influenced by other biotic and abiotic factors. Through my work, including a significant study on cork oak resilience within shrub-invaded oak woodlands, I’ve gained profound insights into ecosystem dynamics and the potential for trees to thrive under multiple stressors. This understanding is critical for the sustainable management of ecosystems. To date, I have authored over 70 scientific papers in ISI journals, achieving an h-index of 30 and with 4409 citations according to Scopus. My work has been published in high impact factor journals, including Science, Nature Ecology & Evolution, Global Change Biology, and Nature Communications. I have led over seven scientific projects and contributed to more than 20 international projects. In addition to my research, I play an active role in the academic community as an invited Editor of Forests and an Associate Review Editor for Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, Agroecology and Ecosystem Services, and Frontiers in Plant Science-Functional Plant Ecology. I have supervised 4 PhD and 15 MSc students, with ongoing supervision of 3 PhD and 4 MSc students. I reviewed papers for over 30 scientific journals, including Nature Plants and Global Change Biology. I have also contributed to the Portuguese National Science Foundation and the European Union as a reviewer and coordinated the Evaluation Panel for PhD grants in Agriculture, Silviculture, and Fisheries for the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT), underlying my engagement in the scientific community’s development and funding processes.