Researcher (University of Salento - EMBC+)
Beatriz Vinha is a marine biologist specializing in deep-sea research and cold-water coral ecosystems. She holds a PhD in Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies from the University of Salento (Italy) and an International MSc in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation (EMBC+) from a consortium of European universities.
Her research focuses on the characterization, mapping and trophic ecology of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) dominated by cold-water corals. Her PhD research investigated these ecosystems in the waters off Cabo Verde and Angola, in the Central and South Atlantic Ocean, with the goal of providing information to support area-based conservation planning. Before her PhD, Beatriz conducted research on the cold-water coral communities of the Cassidaigne Canyon, in the Western Mediterranean Sea, contributing to the evaluation of their ecological status within the framework of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
Beatriz is currently working within the Ocean Citizen project, an EU HORIZON project aiming to develop a common protocol for restoring marine forests. Within the framework of the project, Beatriz’s work at the “Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals” at the “Universitat de Barcelona” focuses on restoring mesophotic coral communities in Tarragona.
Selected articles:
Vinha, B., Murillo, F. J., Schumacher, M., Hansteen, T. H., Schwarzkopf, F. U., Bias- toch, A., Kenchington, E., Piraino, S., Orejas, C., Huvenne, V. A. I. (2024). Ensemble modelling to predict the distribution of vulnerable marine ecosystems indicator taxa on data-limited seamounts of Cabo Verde (NW Africa). Diversity and Distributions, 00, e13896. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13896
Vinha, B., Rossi, S., Gori, A. Hanz, U., Pennetta, A., De Benedetto, G. E., Mie- nis, F., Huvenne, V. A. I., Hebbeln, D., Wienberg, C., Titschack, J., Freiwald, A., Piraino, S., Orejas, C. (2023) Trophic ecology of Angolan cold-water coral reefs (SE Atlantic) based on stable isotope analyses. Scientific Reports 13, 9933, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-37035-x
Fabri, M. C., Vinha, B., Allais, A. G., Bouhier, M. E., Dugornay, O., Gail- lot, A., Arnaubec, A. (2019). Evaluating the ecological status of cold-water coral habitats using non-invasive methods: An example from Cassidaigne canyon, northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Progress in Oceanography, 178, 102-172, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2019.102172