Dr Clarissa Fontes

Senior Carbon Ratings Scientist, Avoided Deforestation Sector Lead

Dr Clarissa Fontes's interests

Nature-Based Solutions
Blue Carbon
Forestry
Soil Carbon & Agriculture
Biomass-Based Carbon Removals
Biodiversity
Biomass sampling
Carbon mapping
Causal inference
Conservation science
Field scientist
Fire dynamics
Forest carbon
Plant sciences

Dr Clarissa Fontes is a forest ecologist whose work looks at intersections of climate, conservation, vegetation dynamics and forest productivity, with a particular focus on nature-based solutions, carbon estimations, carbon markets and offsets. Her dissertation research assessed climate change's impact on plant physiology and vegetation productivity, with a critical focus on the impact of water availability on tropical forest dynamics.

Before joining BeZero, she was a Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Brasília, examining the impact of fire on tropical savannah vegetation.

Selected publications

2022, Adaptive variation among oaks in wood anatomical properties is shaped by climate of origin and shows limited plasticity across environments.

2020, Convergent evolution of tree hydraulic traits in Amazonian habitats: implications for community assemblage and vulnerability to drought.

Education

Universidade de Brasília (University of Brasília), Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
University of Minnesota, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (University of Rio Grande do Norte), Lecturer
University of California Berkeley, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Integrative Biology looking at climate change impact on Tropical forests
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (National Institute of Amazonian Research), Masters in Science of Tropical Forest

Research association

Research Fellow at Universidade de Brasília (University of Brasília)
2021 Scientista Award, Dimensions Sciences, an award for Brazilian Women doing outstanding science in the US.

Learn more about Clarissa's academic history and publications

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