Fernando T. Maestre

Short bio

Dr. Maestre leads the Dryland Ecology and Global Change Lab at the University of Alicante (Spain), devoted to understanding how dryland ecosystems work and how they are responding to ongoing global environmental change. Beyond his research interests, he is committed to train the next generation of scientists, to promote open science by providing public access to all his research outputs, to disseminate his research to non-scientific audiences, and to create healthier, people-centred and collaborative research labs.

In the footsteps of Humboldt: Understanding the ecology of our planet through global scientific collaboration

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) developed a unified vision for the environmental sciences that integrated traditional disciplines (botany, zoology, physics and astronomy) with emerging fields (ecology, climatology, geology, geography, anthropology and economics). His work launched a distinctly Humboldtian style of science, comprising vast numbers of spatially and temporally referenced observations of environmental variables and cultural practices. In this talk I will present how we are following Alexander von Humboldt´s steps in my lab to study the ecology of global drylands using a multidisciplinary approach and the power of international collaboration. Using the experience gained by coordinating multiple global networks over the years, I will provide some recommendations for those interested in setting up an international and inclusive network of researchers to address ecological questions and problems at the global scale.