Research interests

My main interests are in the field of systematics and phylogeny of spiders with emphasis on the family Pholcidae and the orbweaver spiders (Araneoidea). My Ph.D. dissertation research focused on a detailed taxonomic revision of the genus Pholcus in the Canary Islands. This taxonomic work was followed by a phylogenetic analyses based on morphological and molecular data. I am also interested in the systematics, taxonomy and evolution of spiders. The processes of speciation in general and the factors involved. Modeling spatial patterns of biodiversity and quantifying the impact of human and climate changes on them, by combining remotely sensed spatial and temporal data sets on the status of environment with geo-referenced taxonomic data. As the world is a very complex system I believe in the utility of the modeling approaches. They help to make the problems explicit, lay out their limitations, and have the potential to lead us to otherwise counter-intuitive findings. However, in order to model things such as the biodiversity and its responses to diverse factors first we need to know it. I am convinced that we can achieve this goal only by performing an extensive taxonomical inventory. The main principle of my research organization is based on the idea that a successful research is the one that not only produces important scientific achievements but also involves big and diverse team and succeeds in disseminating its results to a wider audience. One very powerful tool for the dissemination of information is the World Wide Web. I am working on the development of web sites to host the results of my current work and this will be one of the important goals for future projects.