André Ferreira
Personal jorney
I graduated in Biology at the University of Coimbra and completed a MSc on Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution at the University of Porto where I joined The Sociable Weaver project during the last year of my masters. I later decided to continue working on The Sociable Weaver project by joining CEFE and the University of Montpellier as a PhD student. With my PhD project I aim at testing if propensity to cooperate can be personality trait, if individuals that cooperate more are more easily chosen by others as social partners and what are the associated benefits for co-operators arising from their social bonds.
Reserach Interests
I’m broadly interested in the fields of evolutionary and behaviour biology, and more specifically on the evolution of cooperative breeding in birds. More recently, I became interested in designing automated data collection methods based on low-costs technologies such as Arduino, Raspberry PI and RIFD, as well as on the implementation of Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning in the field of behaviour biology.
Email: andrem343@hotmail.com
Selected Publications
Ferreira, A. C., Silva, L. R., Renna, F., Brandl, H. B., Renoult, J. P., Farine, D. R., Rita Covas & Doutrelant, C. (2020). Deep learning-based methods for individual recognition in small birds. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 00:1–14. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13436
Ferreira, A. C., Covas, R., Silva, L. R., Esteves, S. C., Duarte, I., Fortuna, R., … & Farine, D. R. (2020). How to make methodological decisions when inferring social networks. Ecology and Evolution;00:1–12. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6568
Silva, L. R., Lardy, S., Ferreira, A. C., Rey, B., Doutrelant, C., & Covas, R. (2018). Females pay the oxidative cost of dominance in a highly social bird. Animal Behaviour, 144, 135-146. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.08.006
Ferreira, A. C., Atwell, J. W., Whittaker, D. J., Ketterson, E. D., Cardoso, G. C, (2016). Communication value of mistakes in dark-eyed junco song. The American Naturalist, 188(3), 289-305. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1086/687520
Leitão, A. V., Ferreira, A. C., Funghi, C., Trigo, S., & Mota, P. G. (2015). Evidence for multiple functions in a sexually selected ornament. Animal Behaviour, 110, 155-161. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.025
Funghi, C., Leitão, A. V., Ferreira, A. C., Mota, P. G., & Cardoso, G. C. (2015). Social dominance in a gregarious bird is related to body size but not to standard personality assays. Ethology, 121, 84-93. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12318
Sociable Weaver Project 