About Me
My research focuses on thermal biology and functional ecology, with an interest in understanding how organisms respond and adapt to environmental variation. I integrate morphological, physiological and genomic approaches to investigate functional traits, environmental stress responses and their evolutionary basis.
During the last years, I used Cuban Polymita land snails as a Neotropical model system, combining the study of shell functional traits and tissue responses to acute thermal stress with the genomic characterization of molecular stress-response mechanisms. This integrative framework connects organismal phenotypes with cellular responses and gene-family evolution.
More broadly, my research interests lie at the intersection of functional ecology, evolutionary biology and conservation. A particular interest of mine is extending this work toward comparative thermal biology, contrasting organisms from tropical and temperate environments to understand how different thermal regimes shape functional traits, stress responses and adaptation.
Research Interests
- Thermal biology & thermal adaptation
- Functional & evolutionary ecology
- Ecophysiology & environmental stress
- Comparative & functional genomics
- Biodiversity & conservation under environmental change
Highlighted Publications
Gordillo-Pérez, M. J., Reyes-Tur, B., Chen, Z., Sigwart, J., Greve, C., Heleven, M., Smeets, K., & Beenaerts, N. (2026). Genome-wide identification and evolutionary characterization of predicted HSP70 proteins in the Cuban painted snail Polymita picta. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 14, 1933916. Frontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2026.1933916
Gordillo-Pérez, M. J., Beenaerts, N., Sánchez, D. L., Smeets, K., Arias-Sosa, Y. C., & Reyes-Tur, B. (2025). Shell colour luminance of Cuban painted snails, Polymita picta and Polymita muscarum (Gastropoda: Cepolidae). PLOS ONE, 20(1), e0314008. PLOS https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314008
Collaborators, Partners & Funders
- Hasselt University: PhD host institution; research on environmental stress, functional traits and conservation biology.
- Universidad de Oriente, Cuba: Long-term collaboration on the ecology, evolution, conservation and genomics of Cuban terrestrial molluscs.
- Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum: Collaboration on molluscan evolutionary biology, genomics and shell functional morphology.
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam & University of Nottingham: International research collaborations associated with the biological and genomic study of Polymita.
- Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS): Research collaboration in molluscan biology.