Since 2014 I have been an ICREA Research Professor in Computational and Theoretical Ecology at CEAB-CSIC and hold an associate research position at CREAF. I hold an MSc in plankton ecology (1997) and a PhD in Biological Sciences (2005) from the University of Barcelona, Spain. I joined the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University (USA) from 2006 to 2009. I completed my postdoctoral research on vector-borne diseases at the Institut Català del Clima (IC3). With a Ramón y Cajal position (2010), I founded my lab at CEAB-CSIC. Currently, it is a joint lab with other researchers named the Theoretical and Computational Ecology Group. In 2018, I was awarded as Distinguished Researcher by the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) and the City Council of Barcelona (Spain) Premi Ciutat Barcelona 2017.
Research interests
My research lies at the intersection of computational and theoretical ecology, with a particular emphasis on movement and disease ecology. I work across disciplines to connect animal behaviour with spatial population dynamics at unprecedented resolution, addressing questions relevant to invasion biology, disease spreading, and fundamental ecological and behavioural processes.
I am currently involved in the development of next‑generation, high‑throughput behavioural infrastructures that enable large‑scale tracking of movement in model organisms under laboratory conditions. In parallel, I am leveraging emerging technologies, including internet‑based tools, smartphones, and citizen‑science platforms, to generate rich ecological datasets in the context of mosquito-borne disease. My broader interest is in developing innovative approaches to quantify ecological interactions across spatial and temporal scales, a key step toward improving population and disease ecology predictions.
Selected publications
– Fernández-López P, Oro D, Lloret-Cabot R, Genovart M, Garriga J & Bartumeus F 2025, ‘Foraging ants as liquid brains: Movement heterogeneity shapes collective efficiency‘, Proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america, 122 – 31 – e2506930122.
– Froxán-Grabalosa J, Mariani S, Cerecedo-Iglesias C, Richter-Boix A, Torner AO, Pla M, Brotons LL & Bartumeus F 2025, ‘Ecological drivers of arboviral disease risk: Vector-host interfaces in a Mediterranean wetland of Northeastern Spain‘, PLoS Negl Trop Dis 19 – 8 – e0013447.
– Falk M, Garriga J, Eritja R, Sanpera-Calbet I, Pou E, Richter-Boix A, Palmer JRB & Bartumeus F 2025, ‘Augmenting community-driven vector surveillance with automated image classification: Lessons from the Artificial Intelligence Mosquito Alert (AIMA) system‘, Epidemics, 53 – 100863.
– Abourashed A, Cerecedo-Iglesias C, Dellar M, Palmer JRB & Bartumeus F 2025, ‘Spatial inference of Culex pipiens abundance and biting activity distribution in the Netherlands using citizen science‘, Parasites & vectors, 18 – 1 -162.
– Bellver-Arnau J, Blanco-Sierra L, Escartin S, Mariani S & Bartumeus F 2025, ‘Climate-responsive vector control strategies for Aedes albopictus‘, Parasites & vectors, 18 – 1 – 168.
– Eritja, R et al. 2025, ‘Integrating Citizen Science and Field Sampling into Next-Generation Early-Warning Systems for Vector Surveillance: Twenty Years of Municipal Detections of Aedes Invasive Mosquito Species in Spain‘, Insects, 16 – 9 – 904.
Selected research activities
PhD Thesis. 2020-2025 Marta Pardo-Araujo. Understanding the impact of climate and human mobility of the spread of mosquito vectors and diseases. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). 3 Oct 2025. Excellent. Cum Laude.