Curriculum vitae
Education
🎓 2010-2015: Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE, Brazil).
🎓 2018-2020: Master’s Degree in Genetics, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE, Brazil).
🎓 2020-2025: Doctoral Degree in Zoology (Ecology), University of Tartu, Estonia.
🏁 2025-2028: Postdoctoral Researcher, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
Courses & Workshops
📝 2025: Computational Molecular Evolution, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Greece, Instructors: Alexandros Stamatakis, Ben Redelings, Bruce Rannalla, Mike May, Maria Anisimova, Ziheng Yang, Adam Leache.
📝 2024: BayesTraits Workshop, University of Reading, United Kingdom, Instructor: Joanna Baker.
📝 2023: Evolutionary Analysis of Morphology, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan, Instructors: Liam J. Revell, Luke J. Harmon, Michael E. Alfaro, Evan P. Economo, Anjali Goswami, Emma Sherratt, Peter Wainwright.
📝 2022: RevBayes Workshop, University of Oslo, Norway, Instructors: Sebastian Höhna, Rachel C. M. Warnock.
Teaching
📊 Data Analysis in Community Ecology (3 ECTS), University of Tartu, Lecturer in charge: Meelis Pärtel, Carlos P. Carmona.
📊 Phylogenetic Trees in Ecology and Evolution (2 ECTS), University of Tartu, Lecturer in charge: Robert B. Davis.
📊 Using Statistics in Ecology (6 ECTS), University of Tartu, Lecturer in charge: Toomas Tammaru.
Presentations
📄 2025: Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB 2025), Spain, Poster: Co-evolutionary dynamics of dietary breadth and body size in moths.
📄 2025: EMBO Practical Course Computational Molecular Evolution, Greece, Poster: Evolutionary transitions in dietary breadth and their relationships with body size in geometrid moths.
📄 2022: XXII European Congress of Lepidopterology, Laulasmaa, Estonia. Poster: You do not need a scale to weigh a Geometridae moth: applying allometric relationships to predict dry body weight at maturation stage.
Selected publications
My full publication list is available here.
- Foerster, S. Í. A. (2025). Body size prediction in scorpions: A phylogenetic comparative examination of linear measurements of individual body parts. PeerJ, 13, e18621. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.18621
- Foerster, S. Í. A., Clarke, J. T., Õunap, E., Teder, T., & Tammaru, T. (2024). A comparative study of body size evolution in moths: Evidence of correlated evolution with feeding and phenology-related traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 37(8), 891–904. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voae072
- Foerster, S. I. A., DeSouza, A. M., & Lira, A. F. A. (2019). Macroecological approach for scorpions (Arachnida, Scorpiones): β-diversity in Brazilian montane forests. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 97(10), 914–921. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2019-0008
- Foerster, S. I. A., Javoiš, J., Holm, S., & Tammaru, T. (2024). Predicting insect body masses based on linear measurements: A phylogenetic case study on geometrid moths. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 141(1), 71–86. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blad069
- Lira, A. F. A., Araujo, J. C., Rego, F. N. A. A., Foerster, S. I. A., & Albuquerque, C. M. R. (2021). Habitat heterogeneity shapes and shifts scorpion assemblages in a Brazilian seasonal dry tropical forest. Journal of Arid Environments, 186, 104413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2020.104413
- Lira, A. F. A., De Moura, G. J. B., & Foerster, S. Í. A. (2024). Scorpion assemblages in threatened Brazilian forests: The role of environmental factors in explaining beta‐diversity patterns. Insect Conservation and Diversity, 17(1), 128–138. https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12699
- Lira, A. F. A., Foerster, S. I. A., Albuquerque, C. M. R., & Moura, G. J. B. (2021). Contrasting patterns at interspecific and intraspecific levels in scorpion body size across a climatic gradient from rainforest to dryland vegetation. Zoology, 146, 125908. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zool.2021.125908
- Lira, A. F. A., Foerster, S. I. A., Salomão, R. P., Porto, T. J., Albuquerque, C. M. R., & Moura, G. J. B. (2021). Understanding the effects of human disturbance on scorpion diversity in Brazilian tropical forests. Journal of Insect Conservation, 25(1), 147–158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-020-00292-6
- Ude, K., Foerster, S. I. A., Fetnassi, N., & Tammaru, T. (2025). Forest clear‐cuts support diverse moth fauna but lack common grassland species. Journal of Applied Ecology, 1365-2664.70063. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.70063
- Ude, K., Õunap, E., Kaasik, A., Davis, R. B., Javoiš, J., Nedumpally, V., Foerster, S. I. A., & Tammaru, T. (2024). Evolution of wing shape in geometrid moths: Phylogenetic effects dominate over ecology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 37(5), 526–537. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voae033