I was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. I have a doctoral degree from the Faculty of Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (2005) and a previous B. Sc. in Biology (1998) and a Master’s degree (2001) from Universidad de la República, Uruguay. I was a postdoc at the Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, CASEB, Chile (2006). Currently, I am an Aggregate Professor at the Universidad de la República, Uruguay. My research attempts to advance on the determinants of biodiversity patterns and function, and their interplay whit species richness and composition, ecosystems fragmentation, and climatic conditions. These variables are the putative determinants of biodiversity organization and also the main components of global change. I am convinced that a better ecological theory implies better capacities of societies to mitigate impacts of global changes and foster developments in our economies, societies, human health, and biodiversity conservation. To this aim I use theoretical and simulation models, analysis of databases and the monitoring of real metacommunities.