Dr. Catarina Siopa
![]() | Catarina Siopa | ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5289-9287 Web of Science ResearcherID: AAJ-7858-2020 |
phone: +49 (0)761 203 -3643 | ||
e-mail: catarina.constantino.siopa | ||
Room No. 501 |
Research
My research focus on plant-pollinator interactions and their importance to crop and food production. From this, I also became interested in understanding how human activity impacts pollinator communities and how can we protect and promote pollinators in agricultural systems.
During my PhD I was the lead researcher of the PolLimCrop, where we gathered a comprehensive dataset on global pollination deficits in crops. I also constructed an updated compilation of pollinator dependence levels for crops and their cultivars/varieties. In the last years, I also have been working with several crops, such as kiwi, sunflower, sweet cherry, apple and almond. In these, I studied their pollinator visitors, plant related factors and their impact on pollination (as compatibility and floral biology aspects) and the influence of field and landscape management on pollinator visitation and production.
Vita
Since 01/2025 | Postdoc and lecturer, Chair of Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg |
10/2024 – 12/2024 | Research collaborator, Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra, Portugal |
01/2020 – 09/2024 | PhD, Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra, Portugal, with a FCT research fellowship (48 + 6 months). Thesis: “Animal-pollinated crops: drivers and trends of pollinators and pollination in agricultural landscapes”, supervisors: Sílvia Castro & João Loureiro |
10/2023 – 12/2023 | Visiting scientist at INBIOMA, National University of Comahue, Argentina
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05/2022 – 07/2022 | Visiting scientist at Federal University of Goiás, Brazil, in the Luísa Carvalheiro Lab |
12/2018 – 12/2019 | Research assistant, InovKiwi project, at the Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra, Portugal |
09/2016 – 07/2018 | Master of Ecology at the Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra, Portugal. Thesis: “The role of selfing in the establishment of neotetraploid lineages of Jasione maritima” |
06/2016 – 08/2016 | Internship, Ecological Park Serra da Lousã, Portugal |
09/2012 – 07/2016 | Bachelor of Biology at the University of Coimbra, Portugal |
Publications
- Osterman, J., Mateos-Fierro, Z., Siopa, C., Castro, H., Castro, S., & Eeraerts, M. (2024): The impact of pollination requirements, pollinators, landscape and management practices on pollination in sweet and sour cherry: a systematic review. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 374, 109163.
- Loureiro, J., Afonso, A., Caetano, C., Castro, H., Castro, M., Castro, S., ... & Siopa, C. (2024): The Annual Meeting of the ECOFLOR goes out of the borders of Spain for the first time. Ecosistemas, 33(2), 2799-2799.
- Siopa, C., Carvalheiro, L. G., Castro, H., Loureiro, J., & Castro, S. (2024): Animal‐pollinated crops and cultivars—A quantitative assessment of pollinator dependence values and evaluation of methodological approaches. Journal of Applied Ecology, 61(6), 1279-1288.
- Siopa, C., Castro, H., Loureiro, J., & Castro, S. (2023): PolLimCrop, a global dataset of pollen limitation in crops. Scientific Data, 10(1), 905.
- Ferreira, M., Lopes, B., Granado, A., Siopa, C., Gaspar, H., Castro, H., ... & Loureiro, J. (2023): Video abstract production guide. Frontiers in Communication, 8, 1060567.
- Gaspar, H., Wood, T. J., Siopa, C., Tavares, D., Loureiro, J., & Castro, S. (2023): New contributions to the Portuguese bee fauna (Hymenoptera: Anthophila), with captures from recent pollination ecology studies. Boletín de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (SEA), 72, 199-211.
- Mota, L., Hevia, V., Rad, C., Alves, J., Silva, A., González, J. A., ..., Siopa, C., … & Castro, S. (2022): Flower strips and remnant semi‐natural vegetation have different impacts on pollination and productivity of sunflower crops. Journal of Applied Ecology, 59(9), 2386-2397.
- Gaspar, H., Loureiro, J., Castro, H., Siopa, C., Castro, M., Casais, V., & Castro, S. (2022): Impact of local practices and landscape on the diversity and abundance of pollinators in an insect-dependent crop. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 326, 107804.
- Gaspar, H., Wood, T. J., Siopa, C., Lopes, S., Loureiro, J., & Castro, S. (2022): New regional contributions to the knowledge of the Portuguese bee fauna (Hymenoptera: Anthophila). Boletín de La Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (SEA), 71, 54-62.
- Castro, H., Siopa, C., Casais, V., Castro, M., Loureiro, J., Gaspar, H., & Castro, S. (2021): Pollination as a key management tool in crop production: Kiwifruit orchards as a study case. Scientia Horticulturae, 290, 110533.
- Castro, H., Siopa, C., Casais, V., Castro, M., Loureiro, J., Gaspar, H., ... & Castro, S. (2021): Spatiotemporal variation in pollination deficits in an insect-pollinated dioecious crop. Plants, 10(7), 1273.
- Siopa, C., Dias, M. C., Castro, M., Loureiro, J., & Castro, S. (2020): Is selfing a reproductive assurance promoting polyploid establishment? Reduced fitness, leaky self‐incompatibility and lower inbreeding depression in neotetraploids. American Journal of Botany, 107(3), 526-538.
- Castro, M., Loureiro, J., Serrano, M., Tavares, D., Husband, B. C., Siopa, C., & Castro, S. (2019): Mosaic distribution of cytotypes in a mixed-ploidy plant species, Jasione montana: nested environmental niches but low geographical overlap. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 190(1), 51-66.
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