Naturalist traveller

We're going to meet an old fashion naturalist A Portuguese biologist who has roamed deserts, jungles and forests observing and studying the natural world. I'm reaping the exuviae The exuviae are the external skeleton that insects have They exchange for developing or to change their state. This gathering of dragonflies exoskeletons is part of the fieldwork that Luísa Ferreira Nunes is developing with other Iberian researchers. I'm studying two species because we realized that along the central mountain system rivers the same species appear to show a different morphology or morphological dimension. And so we want to understand the cause of this differences. Scientific research and university teaching are Luísa main activities. But expeditioning, in a 19th century naturalist fashion, is what she likes most. I like wide horizons very much e like forests a lot. The willing to do expeditions and to know the natural world comes since childhood by my father's influence. She concluded the PhD in Insect Ecology in the US where she toured trough the south Alaska and where once she crossed the desert. One of the expeditions I did alone was to the Mojave desert, thus I crossed it alone. And it was the loneliest travel I had. So for many days I did not say a word. And I had to sleep in a car in the desert. And I could not leave. I had some concern. There were many coyotes. I have photographs taken with my phone where you only see their eyes all shining around the car. But the most striking experience happened in her last expedition with a group of biologists and nature photographs to the jungles of South and Central Americas. One episode I'll never forget was the fact we were persecuted by a person who wanted to attack us and that, eventually, was guarding an area in the jungle where we were not supposed to enter. The group was dismembered and we ended up lost in the jungle. And we were lost until the night. And I thought I would not get out of there. The drawings and the memories of this trip are now contained in another book and will be on display at the Aquarium Vasco da Gama from November 20. When I got back, on the plane, I thought I would never make any other expedition but as soon as I landed I started thinking where would be the next. And destiny is already chosen, the Arctic. In my illustrative publications I've been following a colourful biodiversity line. Very colorful ecosystems. Now I would like to move to a more extreme region and with a major importance nowadays in the context of climate change. Especially for some species that are not as known to the public. And I would love to portray and talk about them. In Portugal, she gives classes in Lisbon and Castelo Branco and whenever possible she dives in the country's natural landscapes. I miss the silence and freedom. Like any self-respecting naturalist; is trough contact, observation and study of nature that Luísa Ferreira Nunes finds her place.