Thiago is a digital ecologist and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Informatics. Thiago has been at University of Stirling since 2019, where he teaches Geomatics, Plant Ecology, Statistics with R and Field Biology.
Thiago is a National Geographic Explorer, and an Associate Editor for Global Ecology and Biogeography.
Thiago's main ecological focus is on how plant communities and ecosystems assemble and function in complex, abiotic-driven environments like wetlands, dry forests, savannas, and high-elevation vegetation - and how they are being affected by the climate crisis. Thiago is a firm believer that ecology should focus a bit less on 'species' and a bit more on functions and mechanisms.
As a geoscientist, Thiago specialises in using Earth Observation (Remote Sensing), environmental sensing and other Earth science methods to capture how ecosystems are shaped by their environment. On his recent projects he has strongly focused on the use of laser scanning (LiDAR, terrestrial and airborne) to understand vegetation structure and plant architecture.
And as a computer scientist, he uses 'traditional' statistics and machine learning, mostly coded using R and Python, to analyse, simulate and forecast ecological processes. Thiago is also looking for opportunities to use game design methods and tools to improve ecological modelling and visualisation, especially in combination with VR/AR/XR for data exploration and science education.