We are excited to kick-off the TEBlab blog with a post on our exciting collaboration with Jagoba Malumbres-Olarte. With a PhD in Ecology, Jagoba is a researcher and scientific designer who is passionate about the visual communication of research and science in general. Our collaboration began a few years ago with the goal of improving the communication of our lab’s scientific findings and breakthroughs through images. Not only that, Jagoba also designed the logos of our lab and our Time-Lines project.
Back in 2021, we initiated TEBlab’s Island Biodiversity Research Series with a paper, published in the journal Science and produced in collaboration with a group of fantastic researchers, where we revealed that human arrival significantly accelerated compositional turnover on islands. Notably, the rates of turnover were faster on islands colonised within the past 1500 years compared to those colonised earlier. This finding underscores the dynamic nature of island ecosystems and the impact of human presence. Our first collaboration was an absolute treat and Jagoba contributed with this beautiful summary illustration of the paper.
Expanding on this series, our second illustration was based on a paper (published in Nature Ecology and Evolution in 2024) led by Nichola Strandberg. There, we found evidence of large-scale plant similarity driven by ancient human impacts on islands. Through this discovery, we contributed to improving our understanding of how historical impacts have shaped plant communities across different islands.
And this is not over! Our collaboration will continue within the ERC-COG TIME-LINES project, where we delve into the temporal dynamics in island ecological systems. Stay tuned for more scientific visual summaries!