His professional career started in 1987 as an Associate Researcher for the Spanish Council for Scientific Research. In 1996 he was promoted to the position of Scientific Researcher, a position he held until 2004. From 1997 to 2002 he was also Scientific Coordinator for the Molecular Biology Laboratory at Estación Biológica de Doñana. In 2001 he became the Director of the Dept. of Evolutionary Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC. From 2004 to 2008 he was a representative in Eurocores EuroDiversity Program for the European Science Foundation. During the same time period he was the National Research Panel officer for the Biodiversity, Ecology and Global Change Program, Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. From 2008 to 2013. He was appointed a Chair for the Spanish Panel for the National Research Plan, program of Biodiversity, Ecology and Global Change in Ministry of Economy and Innovation. At present he holds two titles: Professor of Research for CSIC, and Chair of the Environmental Sciences and Technologies Program, State Research Agency, Ministry of Science, Universities, and Innovation, Spain.
Research
Jordano's research focuses in evolutionary ecology. He is devoted to explain how ecological interaction, more precisely pollinators and seed dispersers, evolve and are vital for biodiversity survival and proliferation. He has spent most of his research time in Spain, but he also conducts research in Brazil in collaboration with Dr. Mauro Galetti and others. Together, they have studied the role of seed dispersers in Brazilian ecosystems including the Atlantic Forest and Pantanal; they also created a course on Frugivory and Seed Dispersal as part of the post-graduate program in Ecology and Biodiversity at the State University Paulista "Julio de Mesquita Jr.". Current research projects include components of pollination effectiveness and their consequences in insular pollinator assemblages, ecological correlates of interaction in complex plant-animal mutualistic networks and ecological networks in a fragmented world. Here they are:
González-Varo, Juan P.; Arroyo, Juan M.; Jordano, Pedro. "Who dispersed the seeds? The use of DNA barcoding in frugivory and seed dispersal studies". Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 5 : 806–814. doi:10.1111/2041-210x.12212. ISSN 2041-210X.
This paper is intended to take DNA samples of defecated or regurgitated seeds to determine which animals are spreading the seeds. And with that, explain long-distance dispersal, safe-delivery of seeds and colonization to new sites. This paper was to identify and document how pollinators and plants coevolution have affected in individual and highly diverse individuals.
Jordano, Pedro; Bascompte, Jordi; Olesen, Jens M.. "Invariant properties in coevolutionary networks of plant-animal interactions". Ecology Letters. 6 : 69–81. doi:10.1046/j.1461-0248.2003.00403.x. ISSN 1461-023X.
Doñana Biological Station
Dr. Pedro Jordano holds the title of Research Professor at the Doñana Biological Station, the highest position for any researcher at the station. His most recent research project is an ongoing study named "Dispersión por animales frugívoros y expansión de área en plantas: una aproximación con redes multicapa". The project is trying to demonstrate how plants expand and colonize new areas due to frugivores seed dispersal and travel patterns.
Honors and awards
2018 Premio Ecosistemas-Luis Balaguer. Spanish Ecological Society.
2014 Rey Jaime I Award, Environmental Conservation, in its XXVII edition. 2014. This is the most prestigious scientific award in Spain, with an international jury including 18 Nobel laureates. Awarded by the Generalitat de Valencia.
2009–present. Honorary professor. University of Sevilla, Spain.
Selected publications
Jordano, P., Forget, P.M., Lambert, J.E., Böhning-Gaese, K., Traveset, A., and Wright, S.J. 2011. Frugivores and seed dispersal: mechanisms and consequences for biodiversity of a key ecological interaction. Biology Letters 7: 321–323.
This paper discusses the consequences of losing frugivores as seed dispersers due to extinction and anthropogenic factors.
Jordano, P. 2010. Pollen, seeds, and genes: the movement ecology of plants. Heredity 105: 329–330.This is a comment on Richard Ennos' 1994 paper in Heredity:
This paper discuss how plants 'move' through pollen dispersal. The dispersal of plant by pollen grains or seeds, affects genetic patterns because it pinpoints the demographic regeneration process that depends on successful establishment of new individuals.
Jordano, P. 2007. Frugivores, seeds and genes: analysing the key elements of seed shadows. Pages 229–251 in: Dennis, A., Green, R., Schupp, E.W., and Wescott, D.. Frugivory and seed dispersal: theory and applications in a changing world. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau International, Wallingford, UK.
Seed shadows are the spatial distribution a seed is traveled from its parent tree. Jordano et al. used this element to determine the relationship between plant-animal.
Jordano, P., Bascompte, J. and Olesen, J.M. 2006. The ecological consequences of complex topology and nested structure in pollination webs. In: Waser, N.M. and J. Ollerton. Specialization and generalization in plant-pollinator interactions. University of Chicago Press, EEUU. Pages: 173–199.
This document intends to demonstrate how many pollinator interaction are not specific, thus not having tight mutualism. However, some interactions are very specific between pollinator and plant. The forever debate between generalization and specialization.
