Hi, I'm Hugo.

Ecophysiologist

I'm a Portuguese scientist currently living in Canada. These days, I am studying the movement and physiology of aquatic animals! My main areas of interest are ecology, fish biology, and physiology.

Contact Me

About me

My introduction

My academic career started in Portugal, with a bachelor in biology and a masters in ecology. During both, I explored the ecology of rivers, and learned how to determine their ecological health by understanding the animal communities that live in them.

From there, I flew to Denmark for an EU funded project on hard-bottom reefs. It was also there that I eventually did my PhD, using radio and acoustic telemetry to track Atlantic salmon migrations.

These days, I am in Halifax (Canada), using and acoustic telemetry and aquatic respirometry to study the movements of aquatic animals and the impacts we may impose on them when we tag them. I am a big fan of opensource software, and over the years I have learned a lot about using R, arduino, and other tools to help me develop cool experiments.

Qualifications

My journey so far
Education
Work
2017 - 2020

PhD in Fish Ecology

Technical University of Denmark
2015 - 2016

Masters in Ecology, Environment and Territory

University of Porto
2011 - 2014

Bachelor in Biology

University of Porto
2008 - 2010

Professional course in Environmental Management

Professional School Conde S. Bento, Portugal
2024 - Present

Post-doctoral fellow

Dalhousie University, Canada
2020 - 2024

Post-doctoral fellow

Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada
2017 - 2020

PhD candidate

Technical University of Denmark
2017

Student assistant

Short term researcher

Technical University of Denmark
2010 - 2016

Student assistant

Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal

Interests

My scientific focus

Ecology

The interactions between living things

This is my foundational interest, having driven most of my studies and research. I am fascinated by the interactions between living beings, as well as their relationships with the abiotic environment that surrounds them. These interactions inform us about the health of the ecosystem, and therefore help us understand and repair any damage we might have done.

Animal telemetry

Unveiling movements and patterns

I first entered the world of animal telemetry when I moved to Denmark. So far, I've tried acoustic, radio, and PIT telemetry. Tracking animals in the wild gives us an incredible window into their life stories, revealing hidden worlds where we least expect them. This information can feed into our management plans, allowing us to plan a future that is sustainable and respectable for all living beings.

Aquatic respirometry

Underwater oxygen consumption

This is a fascinating topic, both from a physiological and technical point of view. I've spent a fair amount of time designing equipment to help me reliably measure and remotely monitor the oxygen consumption of fish using intermittent flow respirometry. Oxygen consumption is a proxy for metabolic rate. When we measure it under different circumstances, we can learn how well an animal copes in different environments.

Thermal physiology

Responses to temperature changes

Temperature plays a crucial role in the reactions that happen inside living organisms. Some organisms, like us, tightly regulate their body temperature to ensure stable conditions. Others allow their internal temperature to fluctuate as the environment does. Throughout the living world, beings have developed a wide range of solutions applied in nature to either resist changes in temperature, or try and maintain normal functioning in the presence of such changes. Understanding them is fascinating, and particularly important under the current climatic circumstances.

Skills

Things I've learned along the way

Course
teaching

View More

Course teaching

I've taught bachelor-level courses in ecophysiology, highlighting the role and importance of comparative physiology in advancing our knowledge of the natural world. Students are encouraged to attentively observe their surroundings, and in-class debates foment and healthy exchanging of ideas and viepoints.

I've also led several study groups focused on R coding and statistical analyses, and past workshop topics include biomonitoring of rivers, acoustic telemetry data analysis, and R coding in general.

R stats
programming

View More

R stats programming

Over the years I have developed a strong background in R programming, including for data cleaning and statistical analyses. On top of being the developer and maintainer of the R package actel, I have also collaborated with other people in the development of supeRbaits and RSP. I am also currently working on pyroresp.

Equipment
assembly

View More

Equipment assembly

From concetualization, to CAD, to assembling, wiring, and programing, I've done a bit of everything. Most of my constructions relate to my respirometry work, and my strong believe in being able to monitor experiments remotely :)

I'm gradually starting to write down my projects and creations in the section of this site. It is still a work in progress, but fell free to have a look!

Aquatic animal
husbandry

View More

Aquatic animal husbandry

Recirculating Aquatic Systems (RAS) are a great way to maintain aquatic organisms. I have been trained in the different life-support systems for aquatic animals, and can confidently build RAS. This also extends to the gradient that goes from fully flow-through systems to fully closed systems.

Experimental
design

View More

Experimental design

Both for my own experiments and when mentoring students, experimental design plays a central role in how I prepare my research. From the numbers of animals required, to the groups we need and the variables we aim to collect, everything is thought through before the experiment starts. This, together with a previously-drawn timeline, ensures that no time nor animals are wasted when we do research.

Team
leadership

View More

Team leadership

Over the years, I have learned how to work with a wide variety of personalities. I strive to be a present colleague and mentor. I make a strong effort to get to know those working with me and understand what matters to them. I aim to make sure our work environment feels safe and welcoming for everyone. I want students to feel that their ideas are welcome, and that we are working together to achieve a common goal. Ultimately, I want science to be challenging but fun for everyone involved :)

Portfolio

Most recent work

Review article

Hard-bottom habitats support commercially important fish species: A systematic review for the North Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea.

Flávio, H., Seitz, R.D., Eggleston, D.B., Svendsen, J.C., Støttrup, J.G. (2023).

PeerJ, 11, e14681.

PDF DOI

Dan Kollmann,
CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Research article

Using acoustic telemetry to locate flatfish spawning areas: Estuarine migrations of turbot Scophthalmus maximus and European flounder Platichthys flesus

Baden, C., Christoffersen, M., Flávio, H., Brown, E., Aarestrup, K., Svendsen, J.C. (2022)

Journal of Sea Research, 183, 102187.

PDF DOI

Paul Nute,
CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Research article

Investigating angler satisfaction: the relevance of catch, motives and contextual conditions.

Gundelund, C., Arlinghaus, R., Birdsong, M., Flávio, H., Skov, C. (2022)

Fisheries Research, 250, 106294.

PDF DOI

Resource article

Fishing for DNA? Designing baits for population genetics in target enrichment experiments: guidelines, considerations and the new tool supeRbaits.

Jiménez-Mena, B., Flávio, H., Henriques, R., Manuzzi, A., Ramos, M., Meldrup, D., Edson, J., Pálsson, S., Ólafsdóttir, G. A., Ovenden, J. R., Nielsen E. (2022)

Molecular Ecology Resources. 22, 5, 2105-2119.

PDF DOI

Want to learn more? Visit the complete portfolio!

See full list of works

How to reach me

e-mail: hflavio@dal.ca

BlueSky: @hugoflavio.bsky.social

Mastodon: HugoMFlavio@ecoevo.social

GitHub: hugomflavio