Fernando VILLATE

UPV/EHU Associate Professor in Ecology and Principal Researcher of the MEPE CRG. He worked as Senior Technician in the Department of Oceanographic Research of the Basque Government in 1986-1987, and initiated the teaching activity in the Department of Plant Biology and Ecology of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in 1987. His research activity has been mainly focused on plankton ecosystems of estuaries ad coastal waters and is responsible for a program of environmental and biotic monitorization of plankton ecosystems in two estuaries of the Basque coast initiated in 1997 to assess the effect of climate change and local anthropogenic actuations on these systems. He also works in the assessment of estuarine ecosystems health and the impact of non-native zooplankton on the biodiversity and ecosystem services, and collaborates in studies on the ecology of pelagic fish and the implementation of molecular methods for zooplankton taxonomy. He has collaborated with researchers of AZTI-Tecnalia (Basque Country),  the Institut de Ciènces del Mar, CSIC (Catalonia), the Station Marine d’Arcachon, EPOC, Université de Bordeaux (France), and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the Marine Laboratory of the Marine Scotland Science (UK) in different projects. He participates in the Working Groups on Zooplankton Ecology and Towards a European observatory of the invasion of Pseudodiaptomus marinus of the ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea), and collaborates with the IGMETS (International Group for Marine Ecological Time Series) and the ICES and NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US) cooperative COPEPOD project. He has supervised 12 PhD Thesis (2 of them European/International) and 9 master Thesis. He has participated in 25 competitive research projects (18 as principal investigator) funded by the University of the Basque Country, the Basque Government and the Spanish Ministry; and in 23 contracts with companies or institutions (16 as principal investigator). He is author of more than 80 publications, which include 62 indexed publications, and several proceedings, articles in national journals and technical reports. Hi has H-index: 20 and six-year terms positively evaluated. He has evaluated manuscripts for more than 15 journals, is referee of the Agency for Assessment and Forecasting (ANEP) of the Spanish Investigation Agency (AEI). He has also taken part in committees of external experts for the Basque Government (Strategic plans for fishery and for the Biosphere Reserve of Urdaibai).