Arthur Domingos de Melo
Life Sciences
Much to the amusement of his friends and family, botanist Arthur Domingos de Melo works hard to keep his houseplants happy, a consequence of his demanding fieldwork in the Caatinga and frequent visits to Garanhuns that leave him with little time for his ferns and succulents. As a result, he prefers to appreciate plants in their natural habitats.
Melo’s current research focuses on the flowers of the Caatinga biome. While the scientific understanding of bee and hummingbird pollination is extensive, much less is known about nocturnal pollinators, especially bats. His work aims to reveal the influence these mammals have on the characteristics of flowers.
Originally from the interior of Pernambuco, Melo moved to Vitória de Santo Antão to pursue his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in plant sciences at the Federal University of Pernambuco, as well as a postdoctoral fellowship.
He is now a professor and researcher at the Federal University of Sergipe, splitting his time between Itabaiana, Sergipe, and Garanhuns, Pernambuco, where his husband, a professor at UPE, lives. Together, they share a household with three cats and maintain a flourishing partnership despite the distance.
Projects
Flowers function as billboards, using signals such as color and scent to attract pollinators. Flowers with more appealing signals are more likely to be visited by pollinators, resulting in higher rates of pollination and reproduction. Consequently, pollinator preferences are the primary force shaping the evolution of floral traits, although other ecological influences also play a role. While the evolutionary impact of insects and birds is well documented, much less is known about the role of bats, one of the most distinctive pollinator groups. To address this knowledge gap, our project will conduct extensive fieldwork in the Caatinga, a vast Neotropical dry forest notable for its many chiropterophilous, or bat-pollinated, plants. We will assess the intraspecific variation of floral signals in different species and populations. By connecting measures of floral variation with reproductive outcomes, we will construct phenotypic selection models to evaluate the extent and direction of evolutionary changes in these signals. Finally, we will directly investigate the mechanisms underlying patterns of selection by conducting behavioral experiments with bats in flight tents.
Amount invested
Institutions
- Universidade Federal de Sergipe
