Emilio Pagani-Nunez
emilio pagani nunez

Dr Emilio Pagani-Nunez

Lecturer

Biography

I work as a Lecturer in Ecology and Conservation at the School of Applied Sciences of Edinburgh Napier University, where I also am a member of the Centre for Conservation and Restoration Science (CCRS). Prior to working at Edinburgh Napier University, I was Assistant Professor at the Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) of Suzhou, China (2019-2022). In China, I also worked as a postdoc at Guangxi University (2015-2016) and Sun Yat-sen University (2016-2019). I obtained my PhD from the University of Barcelona (2014). My PhD project, developed at the Natural Sciences Museum of Barcelona, focused on the relationships between diet, ecology, and plumage colouration, using Great Tits (Parus major) as model. Since 2020, I serve as an Associate Editor at Ecology and Evolution and Ornithological Applications.

RESEARCH
I am a field ecologist with broad interests in ecology, evolution and behaviour. I enjoy studying birds to understand how our activities impact biodiversity and to think in ways in which these impacts can be minimized. I employ an array of methodologies and techniques in my research. I am especially keen to conduct experiments and observations in the field but have also explored lab techniques such as stable isotopes and deep genomic sequencing. I also use citizen data sources. To date, I have published over 40 manuscripts in conservation, ecology and ornithology journals such as Conservation Biology, Ecography, Oecologia, Ibis or Journal of Avian Biology.

GRANTS AND SUPERVISION
I have recently completed the project 3177020270 “The impact of urbanization on genotypes and phenotypes of Barn Swallows” funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China with RMB640,000 (approx. £76,500). Linked to this project, I am supervising the PhD project "Resource use and genetic divergence in urban and rural populations of Barn Swallows (Hirunda rustica)" led by Sihao Chen, which is funded by XJTLU. I am also supervising the PhD project “Urbanization and community structure: the impact of habitat transformation on competition and predation in avian assemblages”, led by Yu Zeng and also funded by XJTLU.

MEDIA OUTPUT
My last publication, Trade-offs between economic development and biodiversity conservation on a tropical island, published in Conservation Biology (https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.13912) was picked up by several media outlets such as Phys.org, Science Magazine or UK Today News.

Themes

Esteem

Editorial Activity

  • Associate Editor, Ecology and Evolution (2020-now)
  • Guest Editor, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution – Conservation: Research Topic “Impacts of Habitat Transformation on Species, Biodiversity and Ecosystems in Asia” https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/14235 (2021-2022)
  • Associate Editor, Ornithological Applications (2020-now)

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • PhD Scholarship FPI grant BES-2010-040359 (2010-2014)

 

Invited Speaker

  • A commentary on the recent update of China’s wildlife conservation list - RICE - Cervantes Institute of Shanghai (Online) (2022)
  • Why urban biodiversity matters - Elefam NGO Summer School (Online) (2021)
  • Disentangling the community ecology mess - Xishuangbanna Botanical Garden CAS Seminars, Menla (Yunnan, China) (2021)
  • Stable Isotopes in Ecological Research - Youth Ornithologists Symposium of China (Changchun, China) (2019)

 

Media Activity

  • Phys.org , Science Magazine, UK Today News - featuring article in Conservation Biology "Trade‐offs between economic development and biodiversity conservation on a tropical island" (2022)

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Member, Spanish Association of Terrestrial Ecology (AEET) (2020)
  • Member, Ecological Society of China (ESC) (2020-now)
  • Member, British Ecological Society (BES) (2020-now)
  • Member, Spanish Society of Ethology (SEE) (2010-now)
  • Member, Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO/Birdlife) (2010-now)

 

Reviewing

  • I have reviewed paper for Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Journal of Animal Ecology, Conservation Biology, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Global Ecology and Conservation, Behavioral Ecology, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, Biological Invasions, Biotropica, Scientific Reports, Ecology and Evolution, Ecosphere, Ecoscience, Behavior, Animal Microbiome, Condor, Bird Study, Ardea, Ornis Fennica, Avian Research, Wilson Journal of Ornithology, Animal Biodiversity and Conservation, Journal of Urban Ecology, African Journal of Ecology, Pakistan Journal of Zoology, Animals Cells and Systems, Ringing & Migration, Catalan Journal of Ornithology

 

Date


49 results

Citizen science enabled planning for species conservation in urban landscapes: the case of Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in southern China

Journal Article
Chen, S., Liu, Y., Li, P., Patrick, S. C., Goodale, E., Safran, R. J., Zhao, X., Zhuo, X., Fu, J., Herr, C. M., & Pagani-Núñez, E. (2025)
Citizen science enabled planning for species conservation in urban landscapes: the case of Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in southern China. Landscape Ecology, 40(3), Article 65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-025-02071-7
Context: Urbanization has detrimental effects on biodiversity, yet how species respond to urban planning zoning outcomes and environmental changes at different spatial scales ...

The direct and indirect effects of road verges and urban greening on butterflies in a tropical city-state

Journal Article
Priyadarshana, T. S., Woodcock, B. A., Jain, A., Martínez-Núñez, C., Goodale, E., Pagani-Núñez, E., Gebert, F., Lee, J. S., & Slade, E. M. (2025)
The direct and indirect effects of road verges and urban greening on butterflies in a tropical city-state. Landscape and Urban Planning, 258, Article 105335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2025.105335
Road verges have considerable potential to benefit wildlife, but in highly urbanised areas management often limits their value for biodiversity. Evaluating how the management ...

Did you learn what to eat from your parents? A test of the early learning of the foraging niche hypothesis in great tits Parus major

Journal Article
Olivé-Muñiz, M., Pagani-Núñez, E., Kretzmann, M., & Carlos Senar, J. (2025)
Did you learn what to eat from your parents? A test of the early learning of the foraging niche hypothesis in great tits Parus major. Journal of Avian Biology, 2025(1), Article e03335. https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.03335
A growing number of studies suggest that individuals can develop long-term foraging specializations independently of phenotypic or environmental variation, yet little is known...

Effects of fishery bycatch-mitigation measures on vulnerable marine fauna and target catch

Journal Article
Huang, C., Rice, J., Richter, A., Zhou, K., Wang, Y., Wei, C., Pagani-Núñez, E., Maleko, P. N., Zhang, X., Lee, T. M., & Liu, Y. (2024)
Effects of fishery bycatch-mitigation measures on vulnerable marine fauna and target catch. Nature Sustainability, 7, 1535–1545. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01422-7
Reducing fisheries bycatches of vulnerable species is critical to marine biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries development. Although various preventive technical...

Crop and landscape heterogeneity increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes: A global review and meta‐analysis

Journal Article
Priyadarshana, T. S., Martin, E. A., Sirami, C., Woodcock, B. A., Goodale, E., Martínez‐Núñez, C., …Slade, E. M. (2024)
Crop and landscape heterogeneity increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes: A global review and meta‐analysis. Ecology Letters, 27(3), Article e14412. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14412
Agricultural intensification not only increases food production but also drives widespread biodiversity decline. Increasing landscape heterogeneity has been suggested to incre...

The impacts of host traits on parasite infection of montane birds in southwestern China

Journal Article
Zhan, X., Huang, X., Pagani-Núñez, E., Tang, Q., Ho, H., Zhou, W., …Liang, D. (2024)
The impacts of host traits on parasite infection of montane birds in southwestern China. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 12, Article 1305305. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2024.1305305
Parasitic infections have the potential to impact the hosts’ body condition, elevate physiological responses, and ultimately lead to increased mortality. Host-parasite interac...

A mixed black and whitelist approach for wildlife trade regulation in China: Biodiversity conservation is made of shades of gray

Journal Article
Xiao, L., Pagani‐Núñez, E., Han, X., Zhao, P., Li, X., Hong, Y., …Lu, Z. (2024)
A mixed black and whitelist approach for wildlife trade regulation in China: Biodiversity conservation is made of shades of gray. Conservation Science and Practice, 6(2), Article e13062. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13062
The Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework requires effective actions to bend the curve of biodiversity loss by 2030. Wildlife trade, a direct drive of biodiversity de...

Protecting China’s major urban bird diversity hotspots

Journal Article
Li, L., Yan, M., Hong, Y., Feng, W., Xie, D., & Pagani-Núñez, E. (2024)
Protecting China’s major urban bird diversity hotspots. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 53, 339-350. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-023-01943-z
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework puts forward a new conservation target to enhance urban biodiversity. Cities have a great potential for sustaining biodivers...

The effect of urbanization and exposure to multiple environmental factors on life-history traits and breeding success of Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) across China

Journal Article
Zhao, Y., Pagani-Núñez, E., Liu, Y., Xing, X., Zhang, Z., Pan, G., …Safran, R. J. (2022)
The effect of urbanization and exposure to multiple environmental factors on life-history traits and breeding success of Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) across China. Avian Research, 13, Article 100048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avrs.2022.100048
In addition to landscape changes, urbanization also brings about changes in environmental factors that can affect wildlife. Despite the common referral in the published litera...

Trade‐offs between economic development and biodiversity conservation on a tropical island

Journal Article
Pagani‐Núñez, E., Xu, Y., Yan, M., He, J., Jiang, Z., & Jiang, H. (2022)
Trade‐offs between economic development and biodiversity conservation on a tropical island. Conservation Biology, 36(5), Article e139121. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13912
Resolving trade-offs between economic development and biodiversity conservation needs is crucial in currently developing countries and in particularly sensitive systems harbor...

Pre-Napier Funded Projects

  • PI, External, 3177020270, “The impact of urbanization on genotypes and phenotypes of Barn Swallows”, National Natural Science Foundation of China, £76,000 (2018-2021)

Current Post Grad projects

Non-Napier PhD or MSc by Research supervisions

  • PS, Sihao Chen, XJTLU, Resource use and genetic divergence in urban and rural populations of Barn Swallows (Hirunda rustica) (2020-now)
  • PS, Yu Zeng, XJTLU, Urbanization and community structure: the impact of habitat transformation on competition and predation in avian assemblages (2020-now)