Wilson Robert J.

Investigación

Climate change is a major challenge for biodiversity conservation, especially in the face of additional threats such as habitat loss and fragmentation. My research focuses on ecological responses to these interacting drivers, testing how climate and habitat availability influence the habitat associations, population dynamics, and ultimately the distributions and conservation status of species. The distributions and diversity of species at their range margins, over environmental gradients, and in fragmented landscapes form the model systems.

I have worked mainly (but not exclusively) on butterflies, and aim to apply the understanding gained about the mechanisms driving ecological responses to environmental change to propose guidelines for conservation - and in particular for adapting conservation to climate change.

My research is primarily field-based, and takes a multi-scale approach: from fine-scale studies of microclimate, population dynamics, habitat use and dispersal; through landscape-scale research into metapopulation dynamics (colonization and extinction); to large-scale patterns and processes of distribution change. I am also interested in how natural history collections can help provide evidence and understanding about the effects of global change on biodiversity, and insects in particular.

I became a permanent scientist at Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC) in 2018. Since 2018 I have held three national Spanish research projects using butterflies in Iberian mountain ranges as exemplar systems to understand ecological responses to climate change. In 2018, I obtained the project Identifying climate change refugia using Iberian mountain butterflies (RTI2018-096739-B-C21; MCIU/AEI/UE, 2019-2022) to test effects of climate change on ecological communities and species' elevation ranges in four mountain systems using new and historical field data. The results show that regions of high topographic variation have buffered changes in butterfly communities against recent warming. In the same system in 2022-2025 we researched the capacity of range shifts by multiple species to cause biodiversity tipping points, with the project Detecting Abrupt Responses to climate change using the butterflies of Mountain elevation gradients (PID2021-126293OB-I00; MCIU/AEI/UE, 2022-2025). In this research line I was a project partner for the UK grant Predicting sudden and widespread biodiversity loss on a rapidly warming planet - when and where does biology change things? (NE/W006618/1; NERC, 2022-2025) led by Professor Alex Pigot from University College London. My current project Testing the Role of Adaptation in Climate Change Responses using Mountain Butterflies (PID2024-156940OB-I00 ; MCIU/AEI/UE, 2025-2028) aims to understand the role of local adaptation in terms of thermal physiology in determining species’ vulnerability to climate change.

I have also been PI for two projects which work with the entomology collection here in the museum to act as exemplars for how scientific collections can contribute to research and engagement. I worked with Markus Bastir (MNCN-CSIC) on the project Digitization to adapt an entomology collection to the environmental challenges of the 21st century (TED2021-130795B-I00, MCIU/AEI/UE, Proyectos Orientados a la Transición Ecológica y a la Transición Digital, 2022-2025). I was also PI for the project Instigating a National Reference Collection for Spain’s Threatened Pollinators (EU WP7 Third Party Project, TETTRIs Transforming European Taxonomy through Training, Research and Innovations) which brought together five insect collections in Spain to develop a national reference collection for six taxonomic groups of pollinators: the butterfly families Papilionidae (swallowtails) and Hesperiidae (skippers), the hoverfly sub-family Eristalinae, and the bee genera Bombus (bumblebees), Colletes (cellophane bees) and Xylocopa (carpenter bees). These projects provide the opportunity to work with fantastic colleagues in the entomology collection, and to take advantage of the museum's rich insect collections.

I combine research with academic roles in teaching, training and administration. At the MNCN-CSIC I am Deputy Director of Scientific and Professional Training since 2021. In this role I am developing initiatives to promote research and wellbeing among >100 pre- and post-doctoral researchers - this is an important and rewarding part of my work. I am also Editor-in-Chief of the journal Ecological Entomology since 2022 (Associate Editor since 2018), and have been Associate Editor for Proc R Soc B since 2014.

Recent and current colleagues and close collaborators are:

Working on field-based projects on climate change responses:

Mario Alamo del Olmo, Natalia Iris del Castillo Martins, Guim Ursul, Juan Pablo Cancela, Hugo Alejandro Alvarez, Marta Goded, Mario Mingarro López

Working on insect collection digitisation and analysis:

Mercedes París, Manuel Sánchez Ruiz, Adrián Sánchez Albert, Marina González Cristóbal, Eva Rojas Rubio, Víctor Alonso Arribas, Alicia Carbonero Herrera