Erika Buscardo has an extensive experience in terrestrial ecosystem ecology. She holds degree in Biology (B.Sc. / M.Sc., University of Padua, 2000), Forest Ecology (M.Sc., University of Coimbra, 2006) and in Ecology (Ph.D. University of Coimbra, 2011; summa cum laude). She has developed detailed and thorough understanding of soil microbial ecology and its links with other research areas such as ecosystems ecology, molecular biology, biogeochemistry and earth system research and has experience in Europe and South America. Erika's research has been focusing on soil microbial dynamics and function to quantify their natural spatio-temporal variability and use it as a baseline to detect significant divergence in ecosystem function in response to natural events and global change drivers. Inworking in a highly international setting during her career, she has developed a holistic view of terrestrial ecosystem ecology that she applies in her interdisciplinary research. Erika is highly experienced in molecular laboratory techniques, soil analysis, in-situ and laboratory experiment, numerical data analysis and project management techniques and tools. She has been involved in several international projects, being responsible for the below-ground component in five of them. Between 2019 and 2023 Erika was a visiting researcher/visiting associate professor, at the Post-graduate Programme in Forest Science at the University of Brasília where she lectured, Scientific Writing, Project Seminars in Forest Sciences and Research Methods. She had co-supervised 3 MSc theses (concluded) and she is currently co-supervising 2 PhD students. She is first author of 11 peer review papers in top ecology, mycology and multidisciplinary science journals. Since 2012 she has been the managing editor of Plant Ecology Diversity. In July 2021, she was invited to join the editorial member of Communications Earth Environment, a new journal of the Nature Group, and in 2022 she joined the editorial member of Biogeosciences, a journal of the European Geosciences Union. Erika has been a reviewer for 28 ISI journals including top ecology titles Functional Ecology, Molecular Ecology, New Phytologist, Global Change Biology.
