Spyros Sfenthourakis

I received my Degree in Biology at the Univ. of Athens (1988) and my PhD at the same Department (1994). From 1996 to 2001, I worked as Research Assistant at the Zoological Museum of the Univ. of Athens. In 2001 I was elected as a Lecturer (Ecology of Terrestrial Animals) at the Univ. of Patras (Dept. of Biology), and as an Assistant Professor (Ecology and Biogeography of Terrestrial Animals) in 2006. In January 2012 I started working as an Associate Professor (Ecology and Biodiversity) at the University of Cyprus (Dept. of Biological Sciences). My research interests lie in the field of biodiversity analysis, with emphasis on terrestrial arthropod communities and theoretical and empirical aspects of biogeographic research, exploring factors that affect diversity in insular biota. I explore the differentiation of arthropod taxa in insular regions, particularly in the Aegean, semi-isolated habitats of continental Greece and in Cyprus, at both the phenotypical and the molecular levels. Furthermore, I am an expert in the taxonomy of terrestrial isopods (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea) and have described ca. 22 species new to science. Another line of my research includes the exploration of arthropod communities exploiting different habitat types and their responses to fire. I also worked on the reproductive and migratory behaviour of birds, such as Falco eleonorae and Calonectris diomedea.

Finally, I supervise doctoral theses of post-graduate student at the Univ. of Cyprus on subjects such as the ecology and behavior of lizards (e.g., Acanthodactylus schreiberi), phylogeography and evolutionary dynamics of Cyprus' endemic animal taxa, phytoplankton communities in Cypriot coastal seawater, applied entomology, fossil fish of Cyprus, and I also participate on several other projects relevant to biodiversity research.

September 2016