People Detail

My academic background is characterized by a multidisciplinary path, with a common line of studying the relationships between human well-being and Nature: I got a bachelor in Geography (2004); a master in Ecology and Environment (2009); and a PhD in Biodiversity and Ecology (2014), all from the University of Porto, Portugal. During my PhD, I spent the first two years in the Netherlands, collaborating with the Environmental System Analysis group, Wageningen University. After concluding the PhD studies, I joined the Earth System Processes team in CESAM, University of Aveiro for two years. Bewteen 2016 and 2018 I returned to CIBIO-InBIO, University of Porto as a post-doc in the H2020 project Ecopotential. In 2019 I joined CBMA and IB-S, under the project EcoAgriFood. Currently I'm Researcher under Contrato-Programa of CBMA.

As both geographer and ecologist, Cláudia is interested in exploring the human relations between the environment and biodiversity for building sustainable options for land management decisions. In particular, she is interested in exploring the consequences of different land-use options, fires and future climate conditions on the hydrological services provision. She is also interested in making Earth Observation products usable for monitoring ecosystem functions and services, especially related to water. Cláudia has been involved in several research projects on environmental and ecological topics, published a vast list of peer-reviewed publications related to water resources, hydrological modelling, climate change and fire. She has been developing many dissemination and outreach activities, organizing training schools, advanced courses and teaching university classes. Cláudia has been working at four research institutions in Portugal and in The Netherlands. She is very enthusiastic, self-motivated and competent in her work, including experience in international panels such as member of the Ecosystem Services Partnership, very active in the Mediterranean group, and MC representative in the COST action PESFOR-W (Forests for Water).

RIPARIANET – Prioritising riparian ecotones to sustain and connect multiple biodiversity and functional components in river networks financed by FCT DivProtect/0010/2021 (2023-2026) – Team member

Trees4Water - Tree-based solutions for water quality improvement financed by FCT (2022.06375.PTDC), (2023-2024) - Coordinator

WATER-CoRe: Laboratório Colaborativo focado na ÁGUA para Comunidades Resilientes (2022 onwards)

Selina: Science for Evidence-based and sustainabLe decIsions about NAtural capital, financed by Horizonte Europa grant agreement No 101060415 (2022 – 2027) - Team member


SoilRECON - Soil Ecosystems in the XXI Century: pressures, conservation and future scenarios, financed by FCT (2021-2024) – Team member

River2Ocean - Socio-ecological and biotechnological solutions for the conservation and valorisation of aquatic biodiversity in the Minho Region - financed by Norte 2020 (2021-2023) - Team member


FirESmart - Fire management as a cost-effective and nature-based solution to maximise co-benefits between wildfire suppression and ecosystem services, financed by FCT (2019-2022) - Team member

STREMECO - Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning under climate change: from the gene to the stream, financed by FCT (2019-2021) – Team member

Climalert - Clima alert smart system, financed by Climate JPI (2017-2020) – Team member

PESFOR-W COST Action - Payments for Ecosystem Services - Forests for Water (2016-2021). MC representative Portugal

EcoAgrifood -Innovative green products and processes to promote Agri-Food BioEconomy, financed by Norte 2020 (2016-2020) - Research Assistant (contract)

ECOPOTENTIAL - improving future ecosystem benefits through Earth Observations, financed by H2020, grant agreement 641762, (2015-2019) - Post-doc Research fellow

GestAqua.AdaPT - Adapting Reservoir Management Strategies to Climate Change in Alentejo, financed by APA (Portuguese Environment Agency) through EEA grants and the Portuguese Carbon Fund (2015-2016) - Post-doc research fellow

IND_Change - INDicator-based modelling tools to predict landscape CHANGE and improve the application of social-ecological research in adaptive land management, financed by FCT (2013-2015) - Part of the team and Research Fellow

PhD students:

Kelly Nancy Adelina de Oliveira (2019 - on-going) - Alterações climáticas, disponibilidade hídrica e ocupação do solo na bacia hidrográfica do rio Sado. Doutoramento em Geografia, Universidade de Lisboa.
Supervisor: Eusébio Reis
Co-supervisor: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos

José Pedro Ramião (2024) - Modelling ecosystem services under climate change. Doctoral Program in Molecular and Environmental Biology, Universidade do Minho.
Supervisor: Cláudia Pascoal
Co-supervisors: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos e Rute Pinto

Master students:

Maria João Basílio Anão Madureira (2023 - on-going) Florestas riparias e serviços dos ecossistemas em cenários de alterações globais.
Mestrado de Biodiversidade e Alterações Globais, Universidade do Minho.
Orientador: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos
Co-orientador: Giorgio Pace

Larissa Pego (2023 - on-going) Certificação florestal para serviços dos ecossistemas hídricos e conservação do solo: metodologia aplicada ao caso Baldios do Gerês de Fafião e Picães. Mestrado de Biodiversidade e Alterações Globais, Universidade do Minho.
Supervisor: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos
Co-Supervisor: Giorgio Pace

Simão Freitas (2023 - on-going) Identify riparian ecological hotspots within the Cavado river basin based on remote sensing and evaluate the influence of riparian forest fragmentation on freshwater biodiversity and functions. Mestrado de Biodiversidade e Alterações Globais, Universidade do Minho.
Supervisor: Giorgio Pace
Co-Supervisor: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos

Nunes Paulo Boco (2024) Perspetivas da relação entre humanos e o elefante da floresta na província de Cabinda (Angola.
Mestrado de Biodiversidade e Alterações Globais, Universidade do Minho.
Supervisor: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos
Co-Supervisor: Cláudia Pascoal

Ana Francisca Castro (2023) Forest based solutions to promote water quality and other co-benefits in the Cávado River Basin (NW Portugal).
Mestrado de Biodiversidade e Alterações Globais, Universidade do Minho.
Supervisor: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos
Co-Supervisor: Cláudia Pascoal

Catarina da Silva (2022) Mapeamento de serviços dos ecossistemas culturais relacionados com os rios no noroeste de Portugal. Mestrado de Ecologia. Universidade do Minho.
Supervisor: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos
Co-Supervisor: Cláudia Pascoal

Maysa Toledo (2022) Food system relocalisation and water footprint: modelling changes under different diets. Mestrado Ecologia e Ambiente. Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto.
Supervisior: Andreia Saavedra
Co-Supervisor: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos

Jader Costa (2022) A influência das paisagens resilientes ao fogo na disponibilidade da água e no controlo da erosão do solo: lições para a reserva da Biosfera Transfronteiriça da Meseta Ibérica. Mestrado de Ecologia e Ambiente. Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto
Supervisor: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos
Co-Supervisor: Adrián Regos


Emanuel Juipa (2019) Impacts of climate change on water ecosystem services: SWAT applied to the watershed of Rio Homem. Mestrado em Ecologia, Ambiente e Território. Universidade do Porto.
Supervisor: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos. Co-supervisor: João Honrado.

Vânia Sofia Azevedo Santos (2013) Plant traits and hydrological services of forest areas in Northern Portugal. Mestrado em Ecologia, Ambiente e Território. Universidade do Porto.
Supervisors: João Honrado. Co-supervisior: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos.

Articles (ISI)

(30) Padilha J., Carvalho-Santos C., Cássio F., Pascoal C., (in press). Land Cover Implications on Ecosystem Service Provision: A Multi-Scenario Study of Trade-offs and Synergies in River Basins. Environmental Management.
doi.org/10.1007/s00267-023-01916-8


(29) Duarte, A. C., Guerra, C. A., & Díaz, C. C. (2024). Effects of protected areas on soil nematode communities in forests of the North of Portugal. Biodiversity and Conservation. 33(1) pp 73-89.

(28) Cano-díaz, C., Zeiss, R., Carvalho-santos, C., Carvalho, R. P., Costa, S. R., Duarte, A. C., Guerra,C. A. (2023). Mapping socio-environmental pressures to assess Portuguese soil vulnerability. Applied Geography, 161(March), 103103

(27) Lecina-Diaz, J., Campos, J., Pais, S., Carvalho-Santos, C., Azevedo, J., Fernandes, P., Goncalves, J., Aquilue, N., Roces-Diaz, J., Agrelo de la Torre, M., Brotons, L., Chas-Amil, D., Lomba, A., Duane, A., Moreira, F., Touza, J. M., Hermoso, V., Sil, A., Vicente, J., ... Regos, A. (2023). Stakeholder perceptions of wildfire management strategies as nature-based solutions in two Iberian Biosphere Reserves. Ecology and Society. 28(1), 39

(26) Ramião JP, Carvalho-Santos C, Pinto R, Pascoal C (2023) Hydropower Contribution to the Renewable Energy Transition Under Climate Change. Water Resources Managament, 37, pages 175–191.

(25) Ramião JP, Carvalho-Santos C, Pinto R, Pascoal C (2022) Modeling the Effectiveness of Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Reducing Sediments and Nutrient Export from a River Basin. Water 14, 3962

(24) Pace G., Gutiérrez-Cánovas C., Henriques R., Carvalho-Santos C., Cássio F., Pascoal, C. (2022) Remote sensing indicators to assess riparian vegetation and river ecosystem health. Ecol. indicators, 144

(23) Iglesias, M.C., Hermoso, V., Campos, J., Carvalho-Santos, C., Fernandes, P.M., Freitas, T.R., HoIglesias, M.C., Hermoso, V., Campos, J., Carvalho-Santos, C., Fernandes, P.M., Freitas, T.R., Honrado, J.P., Santos, J.A., Sil, Â., Regos, A., Azevedo, J.C., 2022. Climate- and fire-smart landscape scenarios call for redesigning protection regimes to achieve multiple management goals, Journal of Environmental Management, 322, 116045

(22) Hummel H, Kalle V, Bienfait L, Boyer Y, Heurich M, Svajda J, Adamescu M, Cazacu C, Medina F., Morkūnė R, Razinkovas-Baziukas A, Poursanidis D, Tasevska O, Al Malla A, Stritih A, Rossi C, Arenas-Castro S, Carvalho-Santos C, Smit IPJ, Valentini E, Xuan AN, Orenstein D, Provenzale A, de Wit R, Hummel C, (2022) A bottom-up practitioner-derived set of Essential Variables for Protected Area management., Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, In press
doi: 10.1016/j.indic.2022.100179

(21) Monteiro, A.T., Alves, P., Carvalho-Santos, C., Lucas, R., Cunha, M., Marques, E. & Fava, F. (2022) - Monitoring Plant Diversity to Support Agri-Environmental Schemes: Evaluating Statistical Models Informed by Satellite and Local Factors in Southern European Mountain Pastoral Systems, Diversity, 14(1), 8

(20) Crouzat, E., Frutos, A. De, Grescho, V., Carver, S., Büermann, A., Carvalho-Santos, C., Kraemer, R., Mayor, S., Rossi, C., Schr, M., Watzema, J. & Bonn, A. (2022) - Potential supply and actual use of cultural ecosystem services in mountain protected areas and their surroundings, Ecosystem Services, 53, 101395

(19) Espinha Marques J., Antunes S.C., Honrado J., Carvalho-Santos C, Carreira P.M., Marques J.M. & Mansilha C. (2021) - Geoethical implications of water pollution by road de-icing: lessons and way forward in a mountain protected area (Serra da Estrela, Central Portugal). Mediterr. Geosci. Rev. 3, 349–360.

(18) Gonçalves C, Honrado JP, Cerejeira J, Sousa R, Fernandes PM, Vaz AS, Alves M, Araújo M, Carvalho-Santos C, Fonseca A, Fraga H, Gonçalves JFi, Lomba A, Pinto E, Vicente JR, Santos JA (2022) On the development of a regional climate change adaptation plan: Integrating Model-Assisted Projections and Stakeholders’ Perceptions, Science of the Total Environment 805, 150320

(17) Vaz AS, Graça M, Carvalho-Santos C, Pinto E, Vicente JR, Honrado JP, Santos JA (2021) Perceptions of Public Officers Towards the Effects of Climate Change on Ecosystem Services: A Case-Study from Northern Portugal 9, 1–12.

(16) Monteiro AT, Carvalho-Santos C, Lucas R, Rocha J, Costa N, Giamberini M, Marques E, Fava F (2021) Progress in Grassland Cover Conservation in Southern European Mountains by 2020 : A Transboundary Assessment in the Iberian Peninsula with Satellite Observations ( 2002 – 2019). Remote Sensing, 13, 3019

(15) Portela AP, Vieira C, Carvalho-Santos C, Gonçalves J, Durance I & Honrado J (2021) Regional planning of river protection and restoration to promote ecosystem services and nature conservation. Landscape and Urban Planning, 211, 104101

(14) Rocha J, Carvalho-Santos C, Diogo P, Beça P, Keizer J, Nunes JP (2020) Impacts of climate change on reservoir water availability, quality and irrigation needs in a water scarce Mediterranean region (southern Portugal). Science of the Total Environment, 736, 139477

(13) Nunes JP, Carvalho-Santos C, Pastor A (2020) Impacts of Wildfires on Hydrological Ecosystem Services. Proceedings, 30, 48

(12) Carvalho-Santos C, Marcos B, Nunes JP, Regos A, Pallazi E, Terzago S, Monteiro AT, Honrado JP (2019) Hydrological Impacts of Large Fires and Future Climate: Modeling Approach Supported by Satellite Data. Remote Sensing, 11 (23), 2832

(11) Balzan, M. V, Pinheiro, A.M., Mascarenhas, A., Ruiz-frau, A., Carvalho-Santos, C., et al. (2019) Improving ecosystem assessments in Mediterranean social-ecological systems : a DPSIR analysis, Ecosyst. People 15, 136–155.

(10) Carvalho-Santos C, Monteiro AT, Arenas-Castro S, Greifeneider F, Marcos B, Portela AP, Honrado JP (2018) Ecosystem Services in a Protected Mountain Range of Portugal: Satellite-Based Products for State and Trend Analysis. Remote Sensing, 10(10), 1573

(9) Lopes AF, Macdonald JL, Quinteiro P , Arroja L, Carvalho-Santos C, Cunha-e-Sa A, Dias A (2019) Surface vs. groundwater: The effect of forest cover on the costs of drinking water. Water Resources Economics, 28, 100123

(8) Nunes JP, Naranjo-Quintanilla P, Santos J, Serpa D, Carvalho-Santos C, Rocha J, Keizer J, Keesstra S (2018) Afforestation, subsequent forest fires and provision of hydrological services: a model-based analysis for a mediterranean mountainous catchment. Land Degradation & Development, 29: 776-788

(7) Vaz, A.S.; Crouzat, E.; Santarém, F.; Grescho, V.; Carvalho-Santos, C.. 2018. "From pork to fork: The social experience of bundles of interacting ecosystem services through gastronomy". Ecosystem Services 32: 170-172

(6) Valatin G, Abildtrup J, Accastello C, et al (2017) PESFOR-W: Improving the design and environmental effectiveness of woodlands for water Payments for Ecosystem Services. Research Ideas and Outcomes, 3:e13828.

(5) Carvalho-Santos C, Monteiro AT, Azevedo J, Honrado JP (2017) Climate change impacts on water resources and reservoir management: uncertainty and adaptation for a mountain catchment in northeast Portugal. Water Resources Management, 31, 3355-3370.

(4) Sil A, Rodrigues AP, Carvalho-Santos C, Nunes JP, Honrado J, Alonso J, Marta-Pedroso C, Azevedo JC (2016) Trade-offs and Synergies Between Provisioning and Regulating Ecosystem Services in a Mountain Area in Portugal Affected by Landscape Change. Mountain Research and Development, 36(4), 452-464

(3) Carvalho-Santos C, Silva AR, Gonçalves J, Honrado J (2016) Ecosystems services and biodiversity conservation under forestation scenarios: options to improve watershed management in the Vez watershed, NW Portugal. Regional Environmental Change, 16:1557-1570

(2) Carvalho-Santos C, Nunes JP, Monteiro AT, Hein L, Honrado J (2016) Assessing the effects of land cover and future climate conditions on the provision of hydrological services in a medium-sized watershed of Portugal. Hydrological Processes, 30/5: 720-738

(1) Carvalho-Santos C, Honrado J, Hein L (2014) Hydrological services and the role of forests: Conceptualization and indicator-based analysis with an illustration at a regional scale. Ecological Complexity 20: 69-80

Book Chapters:
(4) Vaz AS, Moreno-Llorca R, Carvalho-Santos C, Cardoso AS, Honrado JP, Cabello J, Alcaraz-Segura D (2022) Earth observations of human-nature interactions from a cultural ecosystem service perspective, eds. Misiune et al., in: Exploring the Multiple Values of Nature Connecting Ecosystems and People across Landscapes, Springer Nature

(3) Berta Martín-López, Elisa Oteros-Rozas, Emmanuelle Cohen-Shacham, Fernando Santos-Martín,Marta Nieto-Romero, Claudia Carvalho-Santos, José A. González, Marina García-Llorente, Keren Klass, Ilse Geijzendorffer, Carlos Montes and Wolfgang Cramer (2016) Ecosystem Services Supplied by the Mediterranean Basin Ecosystems. In Potschin M, Haines-Young R, Fish R, Turner R K (eds),
Routledge Handbook of Ecosystem Services, Taylors and Francis group, London.

(2) Carvalho-Santos C, Marcos B, Espinha Marques J, Alcaraz-Segura D, Hein L, Pradinho Honrado H (2013) Evaluation of hydrological ecosystem services through remote sensing. In Alcaraz Segura D, Di Bella C M; Straschnoy J V (eds), Earth Observation of Ecosystem Services, CRC Press Taylors and Francis group, Boca Raton, pp. 219-249

(1) Carvalho Ribeiro S, Azevedo J C, Guerra C, Proença V, Carvalho Santos C, Pôças I, Pinto Correia T, Honrado J P (2011) Condições e tendências recentes dos serviços dos ecossistemas florestais no Norte de Portugal. In Tereso JP, Honrado JP, Pinto AT, Rego FC (eds.) Florestas do Norte de Portugal – história, ecologia e desafios de gestão, pp 205-249, InBio - Rede de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Biologia Evolutiva. Porto

Publications in national journals:
(2) Escobar, E., & Carvalho-Santos, C. (2022). Impactos do clima futuro nos serviços dos ecossistemas relacionados com a água na bacia do rio Homem (noroeste de Portugal). Finisterra, 57(120)

(1) Carvalho-Santos C (2012) Monitorização integrada da biodiversidade e da paisagem em Paisagens Agrícolas de Elevado Valor Natural. Ecologia revista online da Sociedade Portuguesa de Ecologia, nº5.

Publications in conference proceedings:
Carvalho-Santos C, Nunes JP, Monteiro A, Honrado J (2014) Os efeitos das condições climáticas futuras e alteração do uso do solo na prestação de serviços hidrológicos na bacia do rio Vez. Livro de atas do Clima 2014 - IV Congresso Nacional sobre Alterações Climáticas, 4-5 Dezembro 2014, Aveiro, Portugal, pp. 47-58

Carvalho-Santos C, Jongman R, Alonso J, Honrado J (2010) Fine-scale mapping of High Nature Value farmlands: novel approaches to improve the management of rural biodiversity and ecosystem services. In: João Carlos Azevedo, M.F., Castro, José, Pinto, Maria Alice (Eds.), Proceedings of the IUFRO Landscape Ecology Working Group International Conference. Instituto Politécnico de
Bragança, Bragança, Portugal, pp. 182-187.