Sílvia Raquel Cardoso Castro

Experiência

Sílvia Castro is Assistant Professor at the Department of Life Sciences of the University of Coimbra and researcher at the Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE), where she co-leads the FLOWer Lab. She holds a PhD in Biology from the University of Aveiro and completed postdoctoral research at the Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

Her research focuses on floral biology, plant reproduction, polyploidy, and the evolution of flowering plants, with particular emphasis on plant–pollinator interactions and pollination services. She develops both fundamental and applied research, including studies on the reproductive biology and conservation of endangered plant species, the ecology of invasive plants, and the role of genome duplication in plant diversification and reproductive strategies. Her work also quantifies pollination processes in natural and managed ecosystems and tests strategies to conserve and enhance pollination services in agroecosystems.

She coordinates Polli.NET, the Portuguese network for pollinator and pollination conservation and sustainability, and the PolinizAÇÃO project, which supported the development of the Portuguese National Action Plan for Pollinator Conservation, currently being implemented by the Ministry of Environment.