Mariana Oliveira e Castro

Experiência

Mariana Castro is a member of the Centre for Functional Ecology at the University of Coimbra and part of the FLOWer Lab, within the Biodiversity, Conservation, and Natural Capital research line. She earned her PhD in Biosciences with a specialization in Ecology from the University of Coimbra (2018).

Her research investigates polyploidization as a speciation mechanism, floral biology, pollination ecology, ecological niche modeling, and conservation. She is recognized for synthesizing neotetraploids and integrating them into experimental studies, enabling the separation of immediate genome duplication effects from subsequent selective pressures. Her work has advanced understanding of polyploid establishment and demonstrated that distinct cytotypes can exhibit different ecological performances, supporting their recognition as independent conservation units.

She leads the Flow Cytometry Laboratory at CFE-UC, with extensive experience in genome size and ploidy estimation across diverse taxa and plant tissues. Co-author of a methodological paper on best practices in flow cytometry, she has overseen genome quantification across species in contexts ranging from fundamental ecology to climate-resilient crop breeding.

Mariana has contributed to numerous national and international projects on biodiversity and ecosystem services (pollination), producing scientific publications and technical guidance, including for the European Food Safety Authority. She remains highly engaged in student supervision, mentoring, and science outreach.