Maria João Feio in Público - What is an Ecologist?

Ecology Day is on 14 September, and in celebration, Público spoke to six experts in the field, including MARE researcher Maria João Feio​.

In the interview, the MARE researcher represented her area of study, riverine ecosystems, explaining their importance for human health. ‘I have dedicated myself to aspects such as assessing the health of riverine ecosystems and developing ecological indicators that allow us to understand how the ecosystem is doing - not just the water, but also the organisms,’ explained Maria João Feio.

The researcher is currently coordinating the European project OneAquaHealth, the concept of which is that ‘the protection of rivers, particularly urban streams, also has an impact on the protection of human health and that of other organisms’.  Among the various activities carried out under the project, the study of diseases that can arise in a degraded river ecosystem stands out. Maria João Feio explains that the diseases ‘are the most varied, from those that have to do with the consumption of contaminated or plastic-polluted water to the presence of disease vectors that, when infected, can transmit these diseases to people, such as mosquitoes’.

As an ecologist, the MARE researcher says she does a bit of everything, from ‘going into the field, identifying species, calculating indices and analysing data’. According to Maria João Feio, fieldwork is ‘intense, prolonged, requires a lot of travelling and physical effort, while laboratory work “requires patience and sitting for a long time looking at a microscope”. In addition, part of her work also includes writing and publishing scientific articles, and communicating with the general public.

Maria João Feio concludes her interview by emphasising the importance of riverine ecosystems, not only because of their direct impact on human health, but also because of the services they can provide us.

 

To access the interview, click HERE

 

Monday, 23 September 2024