Jorge Ramón López Olvera, DVM, PhD - Management of common wildlife for ecosystem integrity - when management becomes complicated
Wildlife researcher and teacher at the Veterinary School, my research interests include: wildlife handling, including capture, anaesthesia and consequences and modulation of stress; wildlife diseases, including pathogenesis, pathophysiology, host response, disease dynamics, epidemiology, surveillance, management and control; wildlife population management, population dynamics and management strategies and techniques, including social aspects.
Gregorio Mentaberre, DVM, MSc, PhD - Management of common wildlife and ecosystem integrity - when management becomes complicated
I have a Bachelor's Degree (2000) and a Doctorate (2008) in Veterinary Medicine and I am interested mainly in health and population management of wildlife species that intervene in situations of conflict with humans. Between bachelor's and doctoral degrees, I worked during four years in population health and management both in the private company and in the administration, which made me acquire a practical and applied vision of the research to be done from my current position at the university; the aim, obtaining results and conclusions directly transferable to real management. For this reason, my current interests are focused on issues that I consider a priority for society and for management: sociological aspects of (animal) management, wildlife health surveillance, ethical management of wild ungulates overabundance and tick-borne diseases.
Emmanuel Serrano, PhD -Common wildlife and ecosystem integrity
I am a wildlife ecologist, and my research integrates ecology, physiology, pathology, microbiology, parasitology and statistical modelling to address wildlife disease and management issues. Because pathogens and food availability influence both population health and dynamics, I am particularly devoted to understand the impact of co-infections and nutritional status on wildlife health and therefore ecosystem integrity. Resolving mechanisms and contributing to a better understanding of the impact of overabundance on terrestrial ecosystems is also in my research agenda. During my initial postdoctoral training period (3 yrs) at the Wildlife Ecology unit (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, INRA, France), I gained experience on animal ecology (large mammals) and statistical modelling to cope with the complexity of ecological data. Later, at the Servei de Ecopatologia de la Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS) of the faculty of Veterinary Science (UAB), I started to apply much of the knowledge gained on animal ecology to animal health in several model of disease. Later, I greatly improved my skills on statistical modelling in the department of Mathematics, Statistic and Operational Research area of the University of Lleida (UdL, Spain) for the last two years. Finally, I joined the Servei d’Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS) after three years and a half recruited as a research associate at the Universidade de Aveiro (Portugal). I am currently heading the Wildlife Ecology & Health group (WEH) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain.
Roser Velarde DVM, PhD, DVSc General (passive) wildlife health surveillance, an important piece of the puzzle
Wildlife pathologist, passionate about wildlife disease diagnostics and research. I got my DVM and PhD degrees at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and afterwards I spent three years at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison (Wisconsin) as a visiting scientist, and three years at the Ontario Veterinary College as a pathology resident in the DVSc program in anatomical pathology. I perform necropsies of wild animals and I love trying to solve the mystery behind any case. Try to elucidate the impact of those findings in both animals and human populations, and in the ecosystem, and what can we do about it are the following steps. The complexity of this makes it necessary to involve different disciplines, and I enjoy learning with every collaboration.