Geraldo Wilson Fernandes

Geraldo Wilson Fernandes obtained a B.Sc. in Ecology at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, specializing in ecological interactions.  He obtained his Masters (1987) and Ph.D. (1992) in Ecology at Northern Arizona University under the supervision of Prof. Peter W Price.  His masters was devoted to the work on the geography of plant tumors induced by insects (insect galls).  His Ph.D. addressed the ecological processes and evolutionary mechanisms influencing the geography and biodiversity of plant galls.  Since 1988 he is a faculty at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, where currently he is a full professor at the General Biology Department.  Fernandes current research are primarily on climate change, plant-animal interactions, biodiversity, ecosystem services, and restoration ecology. Fernandes has more than 400 published peer reviewed articles and book chapters, edited three books. He has supervised more than 50 M.Sc. and 40 PhD students in botany, ecology and genetics. He is the coordinator of a Long Term Ecological Site on climate change on mountain ecosystems in Brazil (PELD/CNPq) and the coordinator of the Brazilian program for the Cerrado conservation (ComCerrado MCT/CNPq). 

During fall quarter 2015, Professor Fernandes teaches BIO 355: Ecology and Conservation of the Brazilian Cerrado: a neglected Latin American Ecosystem.