People - Guimarães Lab

Paulo R. Guimarães Jr. (Miúdo)

Currently, I am Associate Professor at the Departamento de Ecologia, IB - USP. I am interested in understand how species interactions mold and are molded by ecological and evolutionary processes. I explore this problem by combining empirical data on species interactions, mathematical models, and information on the natural history of studied systems.

Selected publications:

Guimarães, P. R., M. M. Pires, P. Jordano, J. Bascompte, J. N. Thompson. 2017. Indirect effects drive coevolution in mutualistic networks. Nature 550: 511–514.

Guimarães, P.R., P. Jordano, J. N. Thompson. 2011. Evolution and coevolution in mutualistic networks. Ecology Letters 14: 877-885 [PDF]. See also the article in Science highlighting this study: [Editors' Choice]

Guimarães, P.R., V. Rico-Gray, P. S. Oliveira, T. J. Izzo, S. F. dos Reis, J.N. Thompson. 2007. Interaction intimacy affects structure and coevolutionary dynamics in mutualistic networks. Current Biology 17: 1797-1803. [PDF] [Supplemental Data]

Ana Paula A. Assis

I am a postdoc researcher at the Departamento de Ecologia at Universidade de Sao Paulo (Fellowship: FAPESP). I am an evolutionary biologist interested in the interplay between genetic (co)variation and natural selection in determining how species coevolve and adapt to environmental changes. To study this I use a combination of empirical data and theoretical models grounded in community ecology and quantitative genetics theory. In my postdoc at Guimarães lab I am studying how genetic correlations between traits influence the coevolutionary dynamics in antagonistic and mutualistic interactions. Additional information at my website.

Selected publications:

Assis, A. P. A., D. M. Rossoni, J. L. Patton, G. Marroig. 2017. Evolutionary processes and its environmental correlates in the cranial morphology of western chipmunks (Tamias). Evolution 71: 595-609.

Assis, A. P. A., J. L. Patton, A. Hubbe, G. Marroig. 2016. Directional selection effects on patterns of phenotypic (co)variation in wild populations. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 283:1-9.

Assis, A. P. A., B. M. A. Costa, D. M. Rossoni, D. Melo, G. Marroig. 2016. Modularity and Integration. Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology, 1ed., vol:3,34-40.

Daniela Coelho

I am a PhD student in Ecology at Universidade de Sao Paulo. My research focuses on trophic interactions and in understand an evolution of defense strategies, especially aposematism, camouflage and mimicry. I will explore this problem by combining natural history data on species diets and network theory, as well as mathematical models. I enjoy fieldwork and the natural history.

Pamela C. Santana

I am a biologist fascinated in plant-pollinator interactions and a PhD candidate in the Ecology Program, at Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. I am interested in understanding how plant-pollinator interactions have contributed to phenotypic evolution and also to biodiversity patterns. To study this subject, I will use network theory, mathematical evolutionary models and empirical data.

Andres Rojas

I am a PhD candidate in the Ecology Program, at Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. I am interested in understanding how competitive interactions shape trait evolution in birds.

Lucas Camacho

My name is Lucas Camacho and i am a MSc student in Ecology at Universidade de São Paulo (Fellowship: CNPq). My main interest is in the interface between ecology and evolution, in how coevolution create, maintain and break ecological interactions and how these interactions affect the coevolutionary process. In my MSc, I will use mathematical models and empirical networks of interactions to investigate the role of the strength of mutualisms to different coevolutioanry dynamics.

Julia Nader Acquaviva (Coral)

I am a undergrad student in Biological Sciences at Universidade de São Paulo. I am interested in understandind the ecological and evolutionary consequences of ecological interactions. Currently I am studying commensalisms among extant megafauna and birds in South America

Anna C. Almeida

I am a undergrad student at the Institute of Biological Sciences at USP.

I am interested in the evolutionary ecology and I am stuying under the supervision of Ana Paula Assis.

Irina Birskis Barros

I am working in Guimarães’ lab as a technician (fellowship:FAPESP) performing computational tasks and data compilation. Previously, I was Paulo’s MSc student investigating ecological and evolutionary processes that generate some müllerian memetism patterns. Specifically in my Msc (fellowship: CNPq), I used mathematical modelling and computer simulations to understand the effects of the interaction between habitat heterogeneity and species generalism in the generation of mimicry rings.

Alice

Alice joined the lab in 2012.

Alice is interested in toucans, flowers, hummingbirds, sacis, and wonder woman. She is now working on testing predictions of entropy-based theories, using her bedroom as studied system.

Marina

Marina joined the lab in 2015.

Marina is interested in whales, mermaids, perching birds, and in applications of Chaos Theory to the dynamics of toy models.

We're all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?

Lucas Medeiros (Pinguim)

Lucas Medeiros started at my lab as Research assitant, studying how interaction intimacy affects the modular organization of mutualistic networks (Research Assistant, 2013-2014, fellowship: FAPESP). Then, he did his MSc at the Graduate Program in Ecology (USP) exploring how spatial processes shape coevolution in mutualistic networks (MSc in Ecology, 2015-2017, fellowship: FAPESP).Then, he worked as a lab technician (fellowship: FAPESP, 2018). He left the lab to join Saavedra's Lab at MIT, as a PhD student.

Learn more about his work in the lab at:

Dattilo, W., N. Lara-Rodriguez, P. Jordano, P. R. Guimarães, J.N. Thompson, R. J. Marquis, L. Medeiros, R. Ortiz-Pulido, M. A. Marcos-Garcia, V. Rico-Gray, 2016. Unraveling Darwin's entangled bank: architecture and robustness of mutualistic networks with multiple interaction types. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 283: 20161564.

Beatriz Gelinski (Bia)

Bia was a undergrad student in Biology (USP) and she was a lab member from 2017 to 2018. She was particularly interested in mathematical modelling and animal behaviour

Marília Gaiarsa

I am PhD student in Ecology at Universidade de São Paulo.

In my doctoral research I am studying the ecological and evolutionary consequences of cascading effects in mutualistic networks. To explore this broad topic, I am employing tools from network and information theory with natural history. Fellowship: FAPESP. Additional information at my website.

Learn more about her PhD work at:

Ponisio, L.C., M. P. Gaiarsa, C. Kremen. Opportunistic attachment assembles plant-pollinator communities. Ecology Letters 20: 1261-1272 [PDF] .

Gustavo B. Ferreira (Ari)

I am PhD student in Ecology at Universidade de São Paulo.

In my PhD project, my aim is to study the role of diet in the diversification dynamics of birds. Furthermore, I want to understand the role speciation and extinction rates on the building of plant-bird networks. Supervisor: Tiago Quental. Fellowship: FAPESP.

Learn more about his PhD work at:

Burin, G., W. D. Kissling, P. R. Guimarães , C. H. Sekercioglu, T. B. Quental. 2016. Omnivory in birds is a macroevolutionary sink. Nature Communications 7: 11250.

Lucas Nascimento (Taio)

Lucas worked as a research assistant in my lab (2015 to 2017).

He studied how megafauna-plant interactions shape plant traits. He is now at the graduate program at USP under Mathias Pires's supervision.

Rafael L. G. Raimundo (Simprão)

Rafael finished his PhD in Ecology at Universidade de Sao Paulo in 2015 (Fellowship: FAPESP) and he worked as a postdoc associate in my lab from 2015 to 2017 (Fellowship: FAPESP). He used different modeling approaches and natural history information to explore how multiple interactions such as competition and mutualism shape diversification in interacting species. He is now Professor in Evolutionary Ecology at Universidade Federal da Paraíba. Additional information at his website.

Learn more about his PhD work at:

Raimundo, R. L. G., J. P. Gibert, D. H. Hembry, P. R. Guimaraes. 2014. Conflicting selection in the course of adaptive diversification: the interplay between mutualism and intraspecific competition. American Naturalist 183: 363-375. [PDF]

Roberta M. Bonaldo

Roberta worked as a post-doc at my lab from 2013 to 2016 (Fellowship: FAPESP). Her work focused on how interactions among fish species are organized in coral reefs and how this organization is altered by human activities. She is now working as a writer for Ciência Hoje Crianças, and as producer and camerawoman in the Natural History Brazil Productions.

Learn more about her work in the lab at:

Bonaldo, R. M.,P. R. Guimarães, M. M. Pires, A. S. Hoey, M. E. Hay. 2017. Small marine protected areas in Fiji provide refuge for reef fish assemblages, feeding groups, and corals. PLoS ONE 12: e0170638.

Bonaldo, R. M., A. S. Hoey, DR Bellwood. 2014. The ecosystem roles of parrotfishes on tropical reefs. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 52: 81-132.

Bonaldo, R. M., A. S Grutter, I. Sazima, J. P. Krajewski. 2015. 24/7 service: nocturnal cleaning in a tropical Indo-Pacific reef. Marine Biodiversity 45: 611-612.

Cecília S. Andreazzi (Ciça)

Cecilia finished her PhD in Ecology at Universidade de Sao Paulo in 2016 (Fellowship: CAPES). She combined empirical data, adaptive networks, and evolutionary models to explore the coevolutionary dynamics among exploiters and victims in species-rich assemblages. She was a visiting student at Carlos Melian's Lab at the Center for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry, Switzerland. After finishing her PhD, Cecilia moved back to the Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz, where she works as a researcher.

Learn more about her PhD work at:

Andreazzi, C., P. R. Guimaraes, C. J. Melian. Eco-evolutionary feedbacks promote fluctuating selection and long-term stability of antagonistic networks. Proceedings of Royal Society B London (in press).

Andreazzi, C. S., J. N. Thompson, P. R. Guimarães. 2017. Network structure and selection asymmetry drive coevolution in species-rich antagonistic interactions. American Naturalist 190: 99-115.

Stella, M., C. S. Andreazzi, S. Selakovic, A. Goudarzi, A. Antonioni. 2017. Parasite spreading in spatial ecological multiplex networks. Journal of Complex Networks 5: 486-511.

Vinícius Bastazini

I co-supervised Vinicius in his PhD in Ecology at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (2015, supervisor: Valerio Pillar, Fellowship: CAPES). He investigated statistical tools for the analysis of ecological networks, using phylogenetic and ecological data.

Learn more about his PhD work at:

Bastazini, V. A. G. P.M.A. Ferreira, B.O. Azambuja, G. Casas, V.J. Debastiani, P.R. Guimaraes , V.D.P. Pillar. Untangling the tangled bank: a novel method for partitioning the effects of phylogenies and traits on ecological networks. Evolutionary Biology (in press).

Julia Astegiano (Juli)

Julia worked as postdoc at my lab from 2011 to 2015 (Fellowship: FAPESP). In her project, she explored how plant reproductive traits determine the persistence of plant-pollinator interactions in human-altered landscapes. She was a visiting researcher at Cheptou's Lab at Centre d Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Montpellier. She left my lab to become a researcher at CONICET, Argentina.

Learn more about her work in the lab at:

Astegiano, J., P. R. Guimarães, P. O. Cheptou, M. M. Vidal, C. Y. Mandai, L. Ashworth, F. Massol. 2015. Plant-pollinator network persistence and habitat loss: insights from trait-based metacommunity models. Advances in Ecological Research 53: 201-257.

Astegiano, J., F. Massol, M. M. Vidal, P. O. Cheptou, P. R. Guimarães. 2015. Linking Plant Interaction Patterns and Sensitivity to Pollinator Loss. PLoS ONE 10: e0117243 [PDF].

Danilo Muniz (Axpira)

I co-supervised Danilo in his PhD in Ecology at Universidade de Sao Paulo (2015, supervisor: Glauco Machado, Fellowship: FAPESP).

He explored how sexual networks are affected by resource availability and the spatial organization.

Learn more about his PhD work at:

Muniz, D., E.S.A. Santos, P. R. Guimarães, S. Nakagawa, G. Machado. A multinomial network method for the analysis of mate choice and assortative mating in spatially structured populations. Methods in Ecology and Evolution (in press)..

Muniz, D., P. R. Guimarães, B. Buzatto, G. Machado. 2015. A sexual network approach to sperm competition in a species with alternative mating tactics. Behavioral Ecology 26: 121-12.

Flavia M. D. Marquitti (Flor)

Flavia was my first student. She did her MSc at Unicamp (2011) and finished her PhD in Ecology at Universidade de Sao Paulo in 2015 (Fellowship: FAPESP). She combined empirical data, game theory, and spectral graph theory to explore how cheaters of mutualistic and aposematic species may affect ecology and evolution of ecological interactions. She was a visiting student at Simon Levin's Lab at Princeton and at Jorge Pacheco's lab at ATP Group, University of Lisbon, Portugal. After finishing her PhD, Flavia joined Marcus Aguiar's lab at Unicamp. Additional information at her website.

Learn more about her PhD work at:

Marquitti, F. M. D., P. R. Guimarães, M. M. Pires, L. F. Bittencourt. 2014. MODULAR: Software for the Autonomous Computation of Modularity in Large Network Sets. Ecography: 37: 221-224.

Esther Sebastián-Gonzalez

Esther was a postdoc associate at my lab from 2012 to 2014. Her work at Sao Paulo integrated spatial ecology and species networks, exploring how interactions between plants and their frugivores vary geographically. She was also a visiting researcher at Rodolfo Dirzo's Lab at Stanford University. Fellowship: FAPESP. Additional information at her website.

Learn more about her work in the lab at:

Sebastián-González, E. 2017. Drivers of species role in avian seed-dispersal mutualistic networks. Journal of Animal Ecology 86: 878-887.

Sebastián-González, E, M. M. Pires, C. Donatti, P. R. Guimarães, R. Dirzo. 2017. Species traits and interaction rules shape a species-rich seed dispersal interaction network. Ecology and Evolution 7: 4496-4506.

Sebastian-Gonzalez, E., B. Dalsgaard, B. Sandel, P. R. Guimarães. 2015. Macroecological trends in nestedness and modularity of seed-dispersal networks: human impact matters. Global Ecology and Biogeography 24: 293-303.

Mariana M. Vidal (Mari)

Mari finished her PhD in Ecology at Universidade de Sao Paulo in 2014 (Fellowship: FAPESP).

She investigated how habitat loss and fragmentation would affect mutualisms between plants and fruit-eating birds and mammals.She was a visiting student at Miguel Verdu's lab at Universitat de Valencia. As a postdoc asssociate, Mari joined Jean Paul Metzger's lab at USP to study conservation of ecological interactions.

Learn more about her PhD work at:

Vidal, M. M., E. Hasui, M. A. Pizo, J. Y. Tamashiro, W. R. Silva, P. R. Guimaraes. 2014. Frugivores at higher risk of extinction are the key elements of a mutualistic network. Ecology 95: 3440-3447. [PDF] [F1000-Recommendation].

Vidal, M. M.*, M. M. Pires*, P. R. Guimaraes. 2013. Large vertebrates as the missing components of seed dispersal networks. Biological Conservation 163: 42-48. * contributed equally.

Kate Maia

Kate finished her MSc in Ecology at Universidade de Sao Paulo in 2014 (Fellowship: FAPESP).

She investigated how social behavior shapes the role of species in pollination networks. She was a visiting student at Jens Olesen's lab at Aarhus University, Denmark. Kate joined the Jane Memmott's Lab as a PhD student at University of Bristol, UK.

Learn more about his work in the lab at:

Giannini, T.C., L.A. Garibaldi, A. L. Acosta, J. S. Silva, K. P. Maia, A. M. Saraiva, P. R. Guimaraes, A. M. P. Kleinert. 2015. Native and non-native supergeneralist bee species have different impacts on plant-bee networks. PLoS ONE 10: e0137198 [PDF].

Hagen, M., W. D. Kissiling, C. Rasmussen, M. A. M. de Aguiar, L. Brown, D. W. Carstensen, I. Alves-dos-Santos, Y. L. Dupont, F. K. Edwards, J. Genini, P. R. Guimaraes, G. B. Jenkins, P. Jordano, C. N. Kaiser-Bunbury, M. Ledger, K. P. Maia, F. M. D. Marquitti, O. McLaughlin, L. P. C. Morellato, E. J. O'Gorman, K. Trojelsgaard, J. M. Tylianakis, M. M. Vidal, G. Woodward, J. Olesen. 2012. Biodiversity, species interactions and ecological networks in a fragmented world. Advances in Ecological Research 46: 89-210 [PDF]

Mathias M. Pires (Treta)

I co-supervised Mathias in his MSc dissertation (Unicamp, 2008-2010, Fellowship: FAPESP) and supervised his PhD in Ecology at USP (2010-2014,Fellowship: FAPESP). He used empirical data on the diet of predators and prey, niche modelling and metrics developed in the study of the physics of complex networks to investigate how megafauna extinctions were modulated by ecological networks. He was a visiting student at Paul Koch's lab at UC - Santa Cruz. Mathias won the Premio Capes de Teses as the best 2014's PhD thesis on biodiversity in Brazil. He is now Assistant Professor at Unicamp. Additional information at his website.

Learn more about his PhD work at:

Pires, M. M., P. L. Koch, R. A. Farina, M. A. M. de Aguiar, S. F. dos Reis, P. R. Guimaraes . 2015. Pleistocene megafaunal interaction networks became more vulnerable after human arrival. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 282: 20151367. [PDF].

Pires, M. M., M. Galetti, C. I. Donatti, M. A. Pizo, R. Dirzo, P. R. Guimaraes. 2014. Reconstructing past ecological networks: the reconfiguration of seed-dispersal interactions after megafaunal extinction. Oecologia 175: 1247-1256.[PDF]

Pires, M. M., P. R. Guimaraes. 2013. Interaction intimacy organizes networks of antagonistic interactions in different ways. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 10: 20120649.[PDF]

Paula Lemos-Costa (Paulinha)

Paulinha finished her MSc in Ecology at USP in 2013 (Fellowship: FAPESP). She combined empirical data, optimal foraging models, and network approach to investigate how competition affect niche partitioning within populations. She was co-supervised by Marcio Araujo (Unesp) and she was a visiting student at Tim Tinker and John Estes's lab at UC-Santa Cruz. After finishing the MSc, Paulinha joined Marcus Aguiar's Lab at Unicamp to work with theoretical biology. Additional information at her website.

Learn more about her MSc work at:

Lemos-Costa, P., M. M. Pires, M. S. Araujo, M. A. M. de Aguiar, P. R. Guimarães. Network analyses support the role of prey preferences in shaping resource use patterns within five animal populations. Oikos 125:492-501.

Natalia Camps

Natalia was technician in our lab for a couple of months at end 2012 early 2013. She left the lab to work at Mamirauá, Amazon Forest.

Wesley Dáttilo

I co-supervised Wesley in his MSc at Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation Graduate Program at UFMT (supervisor: Thiago J. Izzo). He studied the underlying processes shaping networks formed by protective ants and plants. After finishing his MSc (2012) he did a PhD at Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico. He is now a researcher at the Instituto de Ecologia, Xalapa, Mexico. Additional information at his website

Learn more about his MSc work at:

Dattilo, W., F. M. D. Marquitti, P. R. Guimarães, T. J. Izzo. 2014. The structure of ant-plant ecological networks: is abundance enough? Ecology 95: 475-485. [PDF].

Dattilo, W., P. R. Guimarães, T. J. Izzo. 2013. Spatial structure of ant-plant mutualistic networks. Oikos 122: 1643-1648.

Justin D. Yeakel

I was the external member of Justin's committee at University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC's members of the committee: Paul Koch, Marc Mangel and Jim Estes). In 2012, Justin finished his PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology exploring multiple (and awesome!) aspects of predator-prey networks. He is now a professor at University of California - Merced. Additional information at his website

Learn more about his PhD work at:

Yeakel J. D*, M. M. Pires*, L. Rudolf*, N. J. Dominy, P. L. Koch, P. R. Guimarães, T. Gross. 2014. Collapse of an ecological network in Ancient Egypt. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 111: 14472-14477. *contributed equally. [PDF]

Yeakel, J. D., P. R. Guimarães, H. Bocherens, P. L. Koch. 2013. The impact of climate change on the structure of Pleistocene mammoth steppe food webs. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 280: 20130239.

Yeakel, J. D., P. R. Guimarães, M. Novak, K. Fox-Dobbs, P. L. Koch. 2012. Probabilistic patterns of interaction: The effects of link-strength variability on food-web structure. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 9: 3219-3228. [PDF]

Mauricio Cantor (Cabelo)

I co-supervised Mauricio in his MSc at Ecology Graduate Program at UFSC (supervisor: Paulo C. Simoes-Lopes).

He studied the social organization of dolphins Sotalia guianensis. After finishing his MSc (2011) he moved Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada where he is a PhD student. Additional information at his website

Learn more about his MSc work at:

Cantor, M., L. L. Wedekin, P. R Guimarães, F. G. Daura-Jorge, M. R. Rossi-Santos, P. C. Simoes-Lopes. 2012. Disentangling social networks from spatiotemporal dynamics: the temporal structure of a dolphin society. Animal Behaviour 84:641-651.

Jean P. Gibert

Jean was a member of our lab when he was a MSc. student in Ecology at Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay.

He was a member of our lab from 2010 to 2011. He studied how spatial organization might affect the evolutionary dynamics of coevolved antagonisms. He got a nice opportunity and moved to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he got his PhD. He is now Assistant Professor at Duke University. Additional information at his website.

Learn more about his work in the lab at:

Gibert, J. P., M. M. Pires, J. N. Thompson, P. R. Guimarães. 2013. The spatial structure of antagonistic species affects coevolution in predictable ways. American Naturalist 182: 578-591. [PDF].

Julieta Genini

I co-supervised Juli in her PhD in Botany at Unesp - Rio Claro (2008 - 2011) on seasonal patterns in plant-pollinator interactions (supervisor: Patricia Morellato).

Learn more about her PhD work at:

Genini, J., L. P. C. Morellato, P. R. Guimarães, J. M. Olesen. 2010. Cheaters in mutualism networks. Biology Letters 6:494-497. [PDF]

Helen Carlimbanchi

Helen studied at our lab from 2009 to 2010. At the time, she studied about cleaning interactions among fish. She was attending an undergrad course in Earth Sciences & Environmental Education at USP, Brazil.

Maria Clara O. Amatuzzi

I co-supervised Maria Clara in her MSc dissertation at Ecology Graduate Program at Unicamp (supervisor: Wesley R. Silva ) in 2009. She studied the fragility of a plant-frugivore network using numerical simulations.

Artwork by Rodolfo G. Batista