Education Profile

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Portuguese Institute for Fisheries and Sea Research and Institute of Marine Sciences of Andalusia, Spain, 2008-2012
  
• Ph.D., University of Algarve, Portugal, 2007
  
• M.Sc., University of Aveiro, Portugal, 2000
  
• B.Sc., Biology, University of Aveiro, Portugal, 1998
  

Research Interests

​Prof. Carvalho's expertise blends the fields of marine ecology, ecotoxicology, and coastal management. Prof. Carvalho is interested in untangling the role natural and anthropogenic stressors play in shaping marine biodiversity patterns and ecosystem functioning, using field and laboratory-based approaches. Her research advances fundamental knowledge of how marine organisms respond to environmental changes and the intrinsic patterns driving those changes. 

While her research aims to identify the main threats to the marine environment it has an applied aspect by incorporating the views of stakeholders into management pathways. Her goal is to keep fostering interactions with local stakeholders to improve decision-making in the field of marine science and ultimately contribute to the sustainability of the Red Sea.

Selected Publications

• Peixoto RS, Voolstra CR, Sweet M, Duarte CM, Carvalho S, Vilela H, Lunshof JE, Gram L, Woodhams DC, Walter J, Roik A, Hentschel U, Thurber RV, Daisley B, Ushijima B, Daffonchio D, Costa R, Keller-Costa T, Bowman J, Rosado AS, Reid G, Mason CE, Walke JB, Thomas T, Berg G (2022) Harnessing the microbiome to prevent global biodiversity loss. Nature Microbiology, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01173-1
  
• Aylagas E, Atalah J, Sánchez-Jerez P, Pearman J, Casado N, Asensi J, Toledo-Guedes K, Carvalho S (2021) A step towards the validation of bacteria biotic indices using DNA metabarcoding for benthic monitoring. Molecular Ecology Resources 21:1889-1903
  
• Aylagas E, Borja A, Pochon X, Zaiko A, et al., Carvalho S (2020) Translational Molecular Ecology in practice: Linking DNA-based methods to actionable marine environmental management. Science of the Total Environment 744:140780
  
• Ellis JI, Jamil T, Anlauf H, Coker D, Curdia J, Dasari H, Hewitt J, Jones BH, Krokos G, Roth F, Carvalho S, Hoteit I (2019) Multiple stressor effects on coral reef ecosystems in the Red Sea. Global Change Biology 25:4131-4146
  
• Carvalho S, Aylagas E, Villalobos R, Kattan Y, Berumen M, Pearman JK (2019) Beyond the visual: introducing the hidden reef cryptobiome. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 286: 20182697