Research
Three lines that sustain one another: a theoretical one, on biological adaptive processes and the adaptability of networks in terms of resilience; another on what happens to ecology when it meets other ways of knowing; and a third on how those perspectives translate into socio-bioeconomies and forms of governance. Applications live at the boundary between the three.
Research lines
Structure and dynamics of ecological and socio-ecological networks
How interactions between species organize into networks, how they respond to extinctions and disturbances, and what structure reveals about resilience. The foundation is that of adaptive networks, in which topology and evolution feed back on each other: architecture shapes the selective pressures that, in turn, redesign it (Raimundo et al. 2018). The mechanism reappears at different scales — in the conflict between mutualistic selection and intraspecific competition in adaptive diversification (Raimundo et al. 2014), in the relationship between biological intimacy and pollination networks involving seed parasites (Hembry et al. 2018), and in the nestedness that repeats itself across very different biological scales (Cantor et al. 2017).
In dynamics, the interest lies in the demographic feedbacks that decide whether a network absorbs or propagates extinctions (Maia et al. 2021), part of a larger effort to give precision to a term each subdiscipline uses in its own way (Capdevila et al. 2021). The socio-ecological extension treats social and ecological factors as a single system, as in the mapping of zoonotic risk in Brazil (Winck et al. 2022). The payoff is practical: resource partitioning between fisheries and endangered sharks (Márquez-Velásquez et al. 2021), plant mixes that maximise ecosystem services in agriculture (Windsor et al. 2021), and restoration that operates on the whole network rather than species by species. Behind this is a claim made without jargon: complexity science is the key to treating sustainability as a property of whole systems, not as the sum of well-behaved parts (Raimundo 2023).
- Raimundo, R. L. G. A ciência da complexidade como chave da sustentabilidade. Folha de S.Paulo, Ciência Fundamental blog, 29 Sep. 2023.
- Winck, G. R.; Raimundo, R. L. G.; Fernandes-Ferreira, H.; Bueno, M. G.; D'Andrea, P. S.; et al. Socioecological vulnerability and the risk of zoonotic disease emergence in Brazil. Science Advances, v. 8, n. 26, eabo5774, 2022.
- Márquez-Velásquez, V.; Navia, A. F.; Rosa, R. S.; Guimarães, P. R.; Raimundo, R. L. G. Resource partitioning between fisheries and endangered sharks in a tropical marine food web. ICES Journal of Marine Science, v. 78, p. 2518–2527, 2021.
- Maia, K. P.; Marquitti, F. M. D.; Vaughan, I. P.; Memmott, J.; Raimundo, R. L. G. Interaction generalisation and demographic feedbacks drive the resilience of plant–insect networks to extinctions. Journal of Animal Ecology, v. 90, n. 9, p. 2109–2121, 2021.
- Windsor, F.; Tavella, J.; Rother, D.; Raimundo, R. L. G.; Devoto, M.; Guimarães, P. R.; Evans, D. M. Identifying plant mixes for multiple ecosystem service provision in agricultural systems using ecological networks. Journal of Applied Ecology, v. 58, n. 12, p. 2770–2782, 2021.
- Capdevila, P.; Stott, I.; Oliveras Menor, I.; Stouffer, D. B.; Raimundo, R. L. G.; White, H.; Barbour, M.; Salguero-Gómez, R. Reconciling resilience across ecological systems, species and subdisciplines. Journal of Ecology, v. 109, n. 9, p. 3102–3113, 2021.
- Hembry, D. H.; Raimundo, R. L. G.; Newman, E. A.; Atkinson, L.; Guo, C.; Guimarães, P. R.; Gillespie, R. G. Does biological intimacy shape ecological network structure? A test using a brood pollination mutualism on continental and oceanic islands. Journal of Animal Ecology, v. 87, n. 4, p. 1160–1171, 2018.
- Raimundo, R. L. G.; Guimarães, P. R.; Evans, D. M. Adaptive networks for restoration ecology. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, v. 33, n. 9, p. 664–675, 2018.
- Cantor, M.; Pires, M. M.; Marquitti, F. M. D.; Raimundo, R. L. G.; Sebastián-González, E.; et al. Nestedness across biological scales. PLoS ONE, v. 12, n. 2, e0171691, 2017.
- Raimundo, R. L. G.; Gibert, J. P.; Hembry, D. H.; Guimarães, P. R. Conflicting selection in the course of adaptive diversification: the interplay between mutualism and intraspecific competition. The American Naturalist, v. 183, n. 3, p. 363–375, 2014.
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2018 – ongoing
Structure and dynamics of ecological networks: theories and applications
Rafael's own research line at UFPB's Department of Engineering and Environment, which houses the doctoral and master's supervision on the structure, dynamics and resilience of interaction networks.
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2010 – 2025
Interaction Web Database
Development and maintenance of the ecological network database run by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), University of California.
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2019 – 2024
SinBiose — Neglected tropical diseases
Integrating eco-evolutionary and socio-economic network data and models
Applied the complex-networks approach to understanding how the combination of environmental degradation, changes in ecological communities and social vulnerability drives the emergence of tropical diseases. Funded by CNPq/MCTIC, SinBiose call no. 17/2019.
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2015 – 2017
Phenotypic divergence and ecological speciation in mutualisms
Effects of spatial structure and interaction intimacy
Individual-based models investigating how the topology of spatial networks and selective regimes shape diversification in metapopulations of mutualistic species. Postdoctoral project at USP, FAPESP fellowship.
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2011 – 2015
Natural selection and the structure, dynamics and diversification of mutualistic species assemblages
Doctoral thesis in Ecology at USP: how mutualism and intraspecific competition generate antagonistic selective regimes, whether adaptive reconfigurations of interactions explain the structural variation of mutualistic networks, and how different speciation modes alter the properties of those networks. FAPESP fellowship.
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2002 – 2004
Predictive modelling of the distribution of Chromolaena odorata and Cecidochares connexa
Master's dissertation at UNICAMP: biogeographic modelling of the invasive plant and the tephritid fly used for its biological control, using the Genetic Algorithm for Rule-set Production (GARP).
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2001 – 2004
Species and interaction diversity in plants and phytophagous insects
FAPESP Thematic Project on the structure of diversity in community subsets formed by Asteraceae and the endophagous insects of their capitula, decomposing diversity into components at different spatial and temporal scales in the São Paulo cerrados.
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2001 – 2003
Seed dispersal and predation in Crotalaria pallida
Escape and chemical defence
Study of the role of extrafloral nectaries as a deterrent mechanism against seed predators in a chemically protected legume.
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2000 – 2001
Natural history and behavioural ecology of harvestmen
Defence, sociality and parental investment
Behavioural ecology of Opiliones, focused on the evolution of subsocial behaviour and parental care. CNPq fellowship.
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1999 – 2000
Natural history and foraging ecology of Odontomachus chelifer
Activity rhythms and foraging ecology of a ponerine ant of neotropical forests. FAPESP fellowship.
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1997
Natural history and behavioural ecology of Goniosoma longipes
Activity shift, gregariousness and defensive behaviour of a cave-dwelling harvestman. FAPESP fellowship.
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Doctorate · 2026
Dr. Fabrício Ferreira Jerônimo
Redes de interações mutualistas entre plantas e animais frugívoros em fragmentos florestais do litoral norte paraibano: subsídios para uma abordagem metacomunitária de conservação e restauração da biodiversidade.
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Doctorate · 2021
Dr. Viviana Márquez Velásquez
Structure, dynamics and conservation of a food web in the Colombian Central Pacific.
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Doctorate · 2020
Dr. Kate Pereira Maia
Insect–plant interaction networks with perspectives for restoration. Co-supervised the chapter on adaptive network models. Winner of the British Ecological Society's Elton Prize.
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Master's · 2024
MSc. Alan Felix Meyer Carletto
Structure and topological roles of species in interaction networks between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi along a coastal-dune gradient on Paraíba's north coast.
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Master's · 2019
MSc. Fabrício Jerônimo de Oliveira
Interaction networks between ornithochorous plants and frugivorous animals in the Guaribas Biological Reserve, Paraíba.
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Master's · 2019
MSc. Amanda Santana de Oliveira
Coevolution between traits and sexual preference: effects of the interplay between natural and sexual selection in a mutualistic system.
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Undergraduate · 2020
Caroline Souza dos Santos
Modularity and topological roles of species in two Atlantic Forest fragments with different degrees of disturbance.
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Undergraduate · 2020
Rafaela Raillem Notine Batista
Necrophagous insect assemblages associated with cadavers in Lisbon: successional variation in composition, abundance and interspecific competition. Preceded by undergraduate research on ecological networks as modelling tools in forensic entomology.
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Undergraduate · 2019
Amanda Santana de Oliveira
The interplay between natural and sexual selection in the origin of biodiversity: mating patterns and adaptive diversification in mutualistic systems.
Pluriversal ecology
Philosophy of ecology, anthropology and Indigenous sciences in dialogue. The question is not to translate one knowledge system into the terms of the other, nor to treat them as unequal versions of the same thing — it is to examine what each one makes visible and what each one leaves out. The central argument is that suppressing Indigenous and local knowledge systems is also an epistemic loss for science and a concrete risk to Amazonian resilience (Raimundo & Grupioni 2025), and that knowledge connectivity — not only ecological connectivity — is a condition for any sustainability project in the region (Val et al. 2025). From there follows the case for admitting those systems as science essential to biodiversity, rather than as accessory knowledge to be consulted afterwards (Levis et al. 2026).
The line has old roots in intercultural education work in the Upper Juruá (Raimundo 2006) and also turns to the categories ecology itself naturalises: what happens to the distinction between native and exotic when native predators and introduced megaherbivores come to compose unprecedented trophic cascades (Raimundo 2022). The same unease returns in the question of what it means to restore in an already-ruined world: recovering biodiversity and generating social inclusion are not two agendas that meet at the end of the road, and treating them as separate is part of the problem (Raimundo 2023). In collaboration with Marina Hirota, Carolina Levis, João Paulo Lima Barreto and Silvio Sanches Barreto.
- Levis, C.; Lima Barreto, J. P.; Raimundo, R. L. G.; Lima Felix, V. J. Sistemas de conhecimento indígenas devem ser admitidos como ciência essencial à biodiversidade. The Conversation Brasil, 2026.
- Val, A. L.; Hirota, M.; Encalada, A. C.; Marcovitch, J.; Neves, E. G.; Paéz, B.; Raimundo, R. L. G.; et al. Knowledge Connectivity in the Amazon: Bridging Scientific, Technological, Indigenous, and Local Perspectives for Sustainable Development. In: Amazon Assessment Report 2025. New York: Science Panel for the Amazon, 2025.
- Raimundo, R. L. G.; Grupioni, L. D. B. Stop Epistemicide and Support Indigenous and Local Sciences for a Resilient Amazon. In: Amazon Assessment Report 2025. New York: Science Panel for the Amazon, 2025.
- Raimundo, R. L. G. Como recuperar a biodiversidade e gerar inclusão nas ruínas do Antropoceno. Folha de S.Paulo, Ciência Fundamental blog, Oct. 2023.
- Raimundo, R. L. G. How cougars and feral donkeys change desert wetlands: novel interactions between native predators and non-native megaherbivores shape trophic cascades in the Anthropocene. Journal of Animal Ecology, v. 91, n. 12, p. 2342–2347, 2022.
- Raimundo, R. L. G. A filosofia da floresta: educação intercultural e os meios de produção do conhecimento e do poder. Retratos do Juruá, Cruzeiro do Sul, AC, v. 4, p. 32–35, 2006.
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2024 – ongoing
Plantando uma Escola Viva Potiguara
Outreach project built with the Potiguara people of Paraíba's north coast, weaving together Indigenous sciences, revitalisation of the Tupi language and territorialised education.
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2024 – ongoing
Multicultural ecology: bridges between Indigenous and academic sciences
Research and training line that includes the courses Foundations of Ecology and Ecology Methods for Indigenous Doctoral Students, taught with Carolina Levis and André Junqueira.
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Undergraduate research · since 2025
Fred Karakará Potiguara
Potiguara Rekoabeté: governance of the Potiguara body-territory.
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2024 – 2025
Multicultural ecology: bridges between Indigenous and academic sciences
First phase of the project, dedicated to building the theoretical framework for dialogue between philosophy of ecology, anthropology and Indigenous sciences.
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2003 – 2006
Biodiversity and social processes in São Luiz do Paraitinga
Interdisciplinary project between ecology and anthropology, supported by the Biota/FAPESP Programme, using landscape as a link to study the relationship between social processes and patterns of biological diversity across four rural neighbourhoods.
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2002 – 2004
Participatory research and monitoring in conservation areas managed by traditional populations
Cooperation between the Association of Rubber Tappers and Farmers of the Upper Juruá Extractive Reserve and UNICAMP, assessing environmental and social change from 1990 to 2002 using satellite imagery, hunters' diaries and biological indicators. Fifty Reserve residents joined the research teams, and the project produced a series of monitoring manuals and handbooks.
Socio-bioeconomies and governance
How the two lines above translate into concrete economic and institutional arrangements: open data infrastructures, socio-biodiversity chains and participatory processes of socio-ecological governance. The methodological bet is that transition pathways towards coviability can be discovered from data, not merely postulated — combining ecological and socio-environmental data within a single network architecture (Berti-Équille & Raimundo 2023) and using machine learning to identify the transformation pathways available (Berti-Équille & Raimundo 2022).
This depends on a layer of infrastructure that tends to stay invisible: research data management under open-science principles (Rodrigues, Dias & Raimundo 2025) and regional syntheses that make knowledge gaps explicit before proposing any sustainable use (Márquez-Velásquez et al. 2026). When that layer exists, it responds fast under pressure — as in the analysis of the role of super-spreader cities and the highway network in the early stages of COVID-19 in Brazil (Nicolelis et al. 2021). The underlying question is what needs to be in place — in data, institutions and local technical capacity — for pathways of adaptive transformation to actually be decided in the territories, rather than merely described about them (Raimundo 2026).
- Márquez-Velásquez, V.; Rosa, R. S.; Marinho, M. M. F.; Silva, J. P. C. B.; Ramos, T. P. A.; et al.; Raimundo, R. L. G. Ichthyofauna of Paraíba State, Brazil: diversity patterns, knowledge gaps, and challenges for fish conservation and sustainable use. Neotropical Ichthyology, v. 24, n. 2, e250176, 2026.
- Raimundo, R. L. G. Por políticas científicas ousadas: conectando a pesquisa de ponta ao Brasil profundo. The Conversation Brasil, 2026.
- Rodrigues, A. A.; Dias, G. A.; Raimundo, R. L. G. Gestão de dados de pesquisa: ampliando a geração de conhecimentos científicos no contexto da ciência aberta. 1st ed., 2025.
- Berti-Équille, L.; Raimundo, R. L. G. Combining ecological and socio-environmental data and networks to achieve sustainability. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards, v. 7, e112703, 2023.
- Berti-Équille, L.; Raimundo, R. L. G. Discovering transition pathways towards coviability with machine learning. Proceedings of the 1st AAAI Fall Symposium Series on the Role of AI in Responding to Climate Challenges, Arlington, VA, 2022. Available at: arXiv:2301.10023.
- Nicolelis, M. A. L.; Raimundo, R. L. G.; Peixoto, P. S.; Andreazzi, C. S. The impact of super-spreader cities, highways, and intensive care availability in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic in Brazil. Scientific Reports, v. 11, art. 13001, 2021.
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2023 – 2027
LMI IDEAL
Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics and Earth Observation applied to Sustainability
International Joint Laboratory bringing together 11 institutions and 52 researchers from Brazil and France. Applies artificial intelligence and data science to describe socio-ecological conditions from large datasets and co-build models of adaptive-transformation pathways towards sustainable agroecological landscapes in northeastern Brazil. Includes academic training and scientific exchange via ITAN, the network connecting institutions and territories facing similar challenges.
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2025 – ongoing
MIASAGA
Methodologies and Innovative Approaches for Sustainable Agroecology and Governance Adaptivity
Teaching project under IRD's PSF-SUD programme, with Laure Berti-Équille.
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2018 – ongoing
Continuing education for environmental analysts at CEMAVE/ICMBio
Outreach project in programming and data analysis linked to the training of environmental analysts, producing technical and theoretical input for biodiversity conservation policy.
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Doctorate · since 2022
Tarcianne Maria Lima de Oliveira
Theoretical and methodological foundations for integrated strategies of governance, research and community development based on sustainability big data in the state of Paraíba.
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2021 – 2025
DATAPB
Integrated, interoperable and open data base for Paraíba
Transdisciplinary project funded by FAPESQ-PB, with three fronts: an environmental, social and economic data repository built under FAIR and CARE principles; pilot projects on data integration and synthesis for participatory socio-ecological governance; and training teachers as producers of territorialised knowledge about sustainability.
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2021 – 2022
Inovale — Solidarity economy and sustainability in the Mamanguape Valley
Outreach project on solidarity-economy and sustainability arrangements in the Mamanguape Valley, on Paraíba's north coast, with undergraduate student participation.
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Master's · 2025
MSc. José Afonso Santana de Almeida
Opportunities and challenges for socio-ecological coviability in buriti-palm extractivist communities in Barão de Cocais, Maranhão.
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Undergraduate · 2020
Taquiria Kauna Oliveira de Souza
Input for building a socio-ecological governance strategy on Paraíba's north coast.