Lisieux Franco Fuzessy

I am an ecologist and evolutionary biologist from Brazil. My research focuses on understanding how anthropogenic pressures reshape ecological interactions and affect biodiversity. Throughout my career, I have developed two complementary lines of research: first, investigating the effects of land-use change, habitat loss, and landscape heterogeneity on community composition, functional diversity, and key ecological processes; and second, exploring mutualistic networks, particularly frugivory, with emphasis on phylogenetic congruence and functional traits as drivers of network structure and stability. I have joined several research groups in Brazil, Spain, and the United States, including postdoctoral positions at Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP, Brazil) and CREAF (Spain). During my first postdoctoral experience (UNESP), I studied the role of Neotropical primates as seed dispersers and their influence on plantanimal codiversification, combining fieldwork, meta-analitical, and comparative approaches. A research stay at Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC, Spain), allowed me to deepen my understanding of mutualisms in megadiverse ecosystems. Later, as a Marie Sk#322;odowska-Curie fellow at CREAF, I broadened my scope to global syntheses on environmental changes effects on biodiversity and ecosystem. Recently, back at UNESP, I have led the integration of large-scale ecological interaction databases (e.g., NeoFrugivory), applied advanced statistical modelling, and developed predictive frameworks to assess how mutualisms reorganize under anthropogenic pressures. Over the years, I have demonstrated leadership, independent thinking, and fund acquisition capacity. I have published 34 scientific articles in SCI journals (3 under review), with 80 in Q1 journals and average Impact Factor ~3.0. These publications have received 904 citations (Google Scholar; h-index = 17, i10-index = 20) and 529 citations in Web of Science (h-index = 14). In 16 of these articles I was the first author. My research has been supported by a prestigious Marie Sk#322;odowska-Curie Actions fellowship and grants from FAPESP and CNPq. I am committed to disseminating knowledge, mentoring students, and promoting international collaboration. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)