Jorge Miguel Ribeiro Pereira
Email: jorge.pereira@uc.pt | Twitter: @Jormipereira | Research Institute: MARE-UCoimbra
CienciaVitae | Google Scholar | ResearchGate | Scopus
I am a physical geographer and GIS expert with a strong focus on species distribution modelling and its applications in conservation and spatial planning.
My research primarily uses seabirds as indicators of global change, spanning topics such as at-sea behaviour, fisheries bycatch, climate change impacts, marine conservation, and animal tracking.
More recently, I’ve expanded my research to consider extreme climatic events, cross-ecosystem comparisons, integrative approaches across disciplines (e.g. physiology), and global-scale perspectives.
Background
2022 - present: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Coimbra (Portugal)
2022: PhD in Ecology, University of Coimbra (Portugal) and University of Exeter (UK)
2016: MSc in Geographic Information Technologies, University of Coimbra (Portugal)
2014: BSc in Physical Geography, University of Coimbra (Portugal)
Research interests and key publications
Full details on my publication record can be found in (Google Scholar | ResearchGate)
-- Explore the role of intrinsic population characteristics on individuals' at-sea distribution
Pereira JM, et al (2024). Boldness predicts foraging behaviour, habitat use and chick growth in a central place marine predator. Oecologia
Pereira JM, et al (2022). Foraging costs drive within-colony spatial segregation in shearwaters from two contrasting environments in the North Atlantic Ocean planning. Oecologia
Almeida N..., Pereira JM, et al (2021). Year-round at-sea distribution and trophic resources partitioning between two sympatric Sulids in the tropical Atlantic. PLOS One
Krüger L, Pereira JM, et al (2019). Personality influences foraging of a seabird under contrasting environmental conditions. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
Pereira JM, et al (2018). The devil is in the detail: small-scale sexual segregation despite large-scale spatial overlap in the wandering albatross. Marine Biology
-- Unravel the effects of environmental change on seabird life-history traits
Darby J..., Pereira JM, et al (2024). Strong winds reduce foraging success in albatrosses. Current Biology
Santos SH..., Pereira JM, et al (2023). Omega-3 enriched chick diet reduces the foraging areas of breeders in two closely related shearwaters from contrasting marine environments. Journal of Experimental Biology
Cerveira LR..., Pereira JM, et al (2020). Inter-annual changes in oceanic conditions drives spatial and trophic consistency of a tropical marine predator. Marine Environmental Research
Pereira JM, et al (2020). Facing extremes: Cory’s shearwaters adjust their foraging behaviour differently in response to contrasting phases of North Atlantic Oscillation. Regional Environmental Change
Krüger L, Pereira JM, et al (2018). How the future climate may modulate the non-breeding distribution of a Vulnerable gadfly petrel. Marine Ecology Progress Series
-- Predict the impacts of Human stressors on seabird's' at-sea behaviour
Pereira JM, et al (2025). Seasonal variation in seabird abundance and bycatch at artisanal bottom-set net fisheries in the southern Iberian Atlantic coast. Ocean & Coastal Management
dos Santos, I..., Pereira JM, et al (2025). The role of seabird foraging strategies on the uptake of mercury: a case study using gulls and shearwaters from the Portuguese coast. Journal of Hazardous Materials
Clark BL..., Pereira JM, et al (2023). Global assessment of marine plastic exposure risk for oceanic seabirds. Nature Communications
Laranjeiro MI..., Pereira JM, et al (2021). Year-round element quantification of a wide-ranging seabird and their relationships with oxidative stress, trophic ecology, and foraging patterns. Environmental Pollution
Pereira JM, et al (2021). Low spatial overlap between foraging shearwaters during the breeding season and industrial fisheries off the west coast of Portugal. Marine Ecology Progress Series
-- Assist the development of conservation strategies and ecossystem-based approaches to marine spatial planning
De la Cruz A, Pereira JM, et al (2025). Global distribution, threats and population trends of the critically endangered Balearic shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus. Biological Conservation
De la Cruz A, Pereira JM, et al (2023). Using long-term data series to design adequate protected areas that ensure the conservation of inconspicuous small petrel species. Journal of Applied Ecology
Pereira JM, et al (2023). Tracking marine megafauna for conservation and marine spatial planning. Frontiers in Marine Science
Pereira JM, et al (2022). Tracking seabirds for conservation and marine spatial planning. In Seabird Biodiversity and Human Activities. CRC Press
Pereira JM, et al (2018). Using a multi-model ensemble forecasting approach to identify key marine protected areas for seabirds in the Portuguese coast. Ocean & Coastal Management
Lecturing
2025: Biodiversity Conservation and Management. Master degree in Marine Biology and Global Change, Master degree in Biological Resources, Territorial Development and Sustainability and International Master in Applied Ecology, University of Coimbra (Portugal)
2025: Evolutionary Biogeography Modelling and Spatial Modelling. Master degree in Ecology and International Master in Applied Ecology, University of Coimbra (Portugal)
2024: Invited lecturer to the course "Spatial Data Analysis in Ecology with R". International Doctoral School in Sea Studies, University of Cádiz (Spain)
2023 - present:Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Modelling. Master degree in Ecology and International Master in Applied Ecology, University of Coimbra (Portugal)
Editorial board
Diversity (Guest editor in a thematic section on ecology, diversity and conservation of seabirds; 11 papers)
Frontiers in Marine Science (Guest editor in a thematic section on the use of biologging in marine megafauna to inform conservation and marine spatial planning; 34 papers)
Blog posts and media
The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 2024: Extreme weather challenges albatrosses foraging success
Video abstract for Current Biology 34 (23), 2024: Video credit by Jamie Darbie
Front cover for Journal of Applied Ecology 60 (12), 2023: Photo credit by Andrés de la Cruz
LIFE Ilhas Barreira website video (PT only), 2022: Seabirds from Ria Formosa
The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 2020: Cory's Shearwaters vary their foraging patterns in relation to the North Atlantic Oscillation
Lusa, 2019: Investigadores de Coimbra ajudam a salvar aves marinhas ameaçadas em Cabo Verde (PT only)
The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 2019: Bold or shy? Individual Cory’s Shearwaters exhibit differences in foraging behaviour related to their personalities
The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 2018: Differences in foraging strategy between the sexes in Wandering Albatrosses
The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 2018: ACAP-listed Balearic Shearwaters help choose Portuguese MPAs
Massive Science, 2017: Want to know where hard-to-find squid live? Ask their predators
Oceanbites, 2017: Using seabirds to study squid
