Alexandre Siqueira

Current

29 May

Written By David Bellwood

Post Doc

Being born where the Brazilian savannah meets the rainforest, Ale has always been fascinated with biological diversity. This fascination led him to study Biological Sciences, and during his degree he started working with freshwater fishes. Although these fishes taught him a lot, he decided to fulfill a passion for the sea and went on a search for more salty environments.

In 2015, he earned a MSc degree in Ecology from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, examining evolutionary processes related to the latitudinal distribution of reef fish biodiversity. Between 2015 and 2016 he was hired as a lecturer of Ecology and Vertebrate Zoology at the same university.

Then, to dive deeper into the evolution of coral reefs, he decided to make a move far from home and settled in Australia. He finished his PhD at JCU in early 2021 under the supervision of Peter Cowman and David Bellwood, examining the evolution, macroecology and biogeography of coral reef fishes from a trophic perspective. Now, as a Post Doc at the Reef Function Hub, Ale will investigate the evolution of key functions in coral reef organisms and its consequences for present-day biodiversity patterns.