Dr. Sara Mendes

Postdoc
email: sara.marquesmendes[at]uni-goettingen.de


Research Interests
I am interested in how global change drivers – such as defaunation, climate change and habitat degradation - affect ecological communities. My current research focuses on understanding how animal seed dispersers can help plants track climate change and contribute to restoring degraded areas.

Selected recent and representative publications
Mendes S.B., Nogales M., Vargas P., Olesen J.M., Marrero P., Romero J., Rumeu B., González‐Castro A., Heleno R. (2025). Climb forest, climb: diverse disperser communities are key to assist plants tracking climate change on altitudinal gradients. New Phytologist, 245: 1315–1329.

Mendes, S.B., Olesen, J.M., Memmott, J., Costa, J.M., Timóteo, S., Dengucho, A.L., Craveiro, L., Heleno, R. (2024). Evidence of a European seed dispersal crisis. Science, 386: 206–211.

For a full list of my publications, please visit my Google Scholar profile


Education
2025: PhD in Biosciences, Specialization in Ecology, University of Coimbra, Portugal
Advisors: Prof. Dr. Ruben Heleno, Prof. Emeritus Jens Mogens Olesen

2018: MSc. in Ecology, University of Coimbra, Portugal
Advisors: Prof. Dr. Sílvia Castro, Dr. Sérgio Timóteo, Prof. Dr. João Loureiro

2016: BSc. In Biology, University of Coimbra, Portugal